Lady Luck Is Fan of Roush Racing

There is nothing like coming to Las Vegas and heading for a favorite roulette table or slot machine, where you nearly always were a winner.

That must be the feeling Jack Roush has when he brings his NASCAR Nextel Cup team to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, sort of a high speed 1 1/2-mile roulette wheel, where he will have five cars in today’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

If the past is an indicator, the winner will probably be among Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle, all driving Fords powered by Roush engines.

Four times in the six years since the superspeedway opened a few miles east of the gambling capital, Roush cars have won; Martin in 1998, Burton in 1999 and 2000 and Kenseth last year.

“The guys are really good at adapting to new race tracks,” Roush said in explaining his success. “This isn’t a new track, but it is a racetrack where we’ve only been coming to once a year, so I think most drivers don’t have a good book on what the racetrack requires. I think our guys are a little better than average on the new situation.”

Sort of like knowing how to pull the handle on a favorite slot machine.

Martin, a crafty 45-year-old who was Roush’s first driver when he joined NASCAR in 1988, fits that description perfectly.

He won the opener on an untested track, beating teammate Burton by 1.06 seconds, and was the only driver to finish in the top five in the first five races here. He also has won two poles and won once in three Busch series races on the same track.

Martin still relishes the memory of that opening-day win.

“I’ll never forget that race because it was a brand new track and a brand new car,” he said. “That night, when all the media work was over and we were flying out in the helicopter, I looked down over the track and realized what we had accomplished.

“It was kind of overwhelming. I’ve had a lot of success in NASCAR, but it seems I was always looking forward to the next week. That night, I looked down at that track and realized that it wasn’t some quarter-mile dirt track that we had just won on.”

Busch, the hometown favorite, will start in the front row, alongside pole-sitter Kasey Kahne, a rookie from Enumclaw, Wash., driving a Dodge.

Biffle is ninth, Kenseth is 25th, and Martin and Burton are starting side-by-side in the 14th row.

Starting up front has not been important on the wide Las Vegas track, where it is easy to pass. Five of the six races have been won from a starting position outside the top 10, two of those from 24th.

Kenseth, who won last year after starting 17th, was not particularly concerned with his position.

“Roush Racing really seems to have this place figured out,” said the defending Cup champion. “I’m pretty excited. I thought the car ran pretty decent everywhere. I knew we weren’t going to be pole material.

“We weren’t last year, either, but [in the race] it was almost like the car drove itself because it had such good handling. It’s a lot of fun for a driver when your car is hooked up like that, kind of like [two weeks ago] at Rockingham.”

Kenseth had not won since last year in Las Vegas before he squeaked through to edge Kahne and Jamie McMurray in the Subway 400 on Feb. 22.

“We have some pretty good momentum going,” he said. “I think our team is hitting on all cylinders right now, with the pit crew having such great stops and the car performing so well. All I have to do is my part and that’s the fun part.”

Burton, whose luck has been sour the last two years, has not won since Phoenix in 2001, but sees hope now that he is back where he won twice.

“I really like the track,” he said. “We tested here earlier in the year and the test went good. We have not produced the results in the first two races that we had hoped for, so we are definitely looking for a good finish Sunday.”

Burton’s Pennzoil car will have a different look. On its deck lid, it will carry a logo for “Race Day,” the Fox Sports radio show.

Busch, a Las Vegas native, is thinking as much about racing against his brother as he is the race itself. Kyle Busch, 18, is making his debut in Nextel Cup today, driving a Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick.

“It’ll be a challenge for the two of us to blend together and to work with two different organizations and then for me to be a mentor and to help guide him in different areas,” Kurt Busch said. “That’s what my father has done for me and that’s what Jack Roush has done for me, so it’s unique to be on that side of it.”

Kurt, seven years older than Kyle, said the two have not been in the same race since 1999, when they raced legends cars on the short track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kurt was running in the Featherlite Southwest Series at the time but raced legends on off weekends.

“We probably raced against each other a dozen times that year, but that was really just for fun,” Kurt said. “Our dad never wanted to have both of us on the same track when we had go-karts, but as we got older, we would go out to a local parking lot and just set up some cans to indicate where the corners were and race.

“It’ll be a lot different now because there will be 41 other drivers on the track. It will be fun. Maybe we’ll have a chance to run side by side for a little bit and get some pictures out of it. I think it would be nice to say we raced each other in his first race, but anything can happen.

“It’ll be very special for Mom and Dad. She’ll be running a video camera and he’ll be up in the spotters’ stand, so they’re very involved in both our careers. Now, we all live together in North Carolina, so it’s a cool family day in Las Vegas. Even though we don’t live here anymore, you always have one hometown.”

The Facts

* What: UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

* When: 11:30 a.m. today, Ch. 11.

* Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

* 2003 winner: Matt Kenseth.