Roush’s Fords Are Formidable

Long before car owner Jack Roush had won consecutive Nextel Cup championships with Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch the last two years, his Fords seemed to own Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Mark Martin won the inaugural race for Roush in 1998 and since then Roush cars have won five of the seven times NASCAR has visited the Nevada gambling oasis. After Martin, it was Jeff Burton in 1999 and 2000, then Kenseth in 2003 and ’04.

Add to that the victory by Greg Biffle two weeks ago in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in another of Roush’s five team cars and all signs point to another Ford party Sunday in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

“My guys really like mile-and-a half racetracks,” Roush said Friday as he prepared his fivesome for time trials over the tri-oval. “Their input back to the crew chiefs, and selections they make for bars, springs and shocks will make more difference here than it will other places.”

Biffle qualified third, Busch fifth, Kenseth eighth, Martin 19th and Carl Edwards 20th, but records indicate that qualifying is not significant here. Since Martin won after starting seventh, no winner has started better than 11th. Kenseth came from 25th last year.

Ryan Newman, driving a Roger Penske-owned Dodge, won the pole Friday with a lap of 173.745 mph. Newman, posting his hot lap in the heat of the day, was only the third driver out to qualify. When nobody topped his car’s speed, he had the 23rd pole of his Nextel Cup career, in only 95 races.

“That was pretty impressive on my part, as far as just getting speed and everything,” said the Purdue engineering graduate. “I felt like I pretty much nailed everything.

“It wasn’t a nerve-racking lap. You hang it out there as far as you can and this is a place where it’s relatively flat, compared to most racetracks, so when you’re on the edge, you’re on that much more of an edge. It was a great run.”

The next four fastest qualifiers, Elliott Sadler in a Ford, Biffle, Scott Riggs in a Chevrolet, and Busch, qualified later in the day, when it was cooler.

“I wanted to give Doug and Robert Yates a pole so much,” said Sadler, who ran 173.712 in a Ford. “They work so hard in the engine shop, but we came up just a little short. That’s a great position for us, though. I wouldn’t want to run it again. It was a great lap.”

Kevin Harvick actually had the fourth-fastest lap of 172.293, but his Chevrolet’s time was disqualified because he did not have a full fuel load. That is a new rule this year. At most tracks, cars are impounded immediately after qualifying and released just before race time, which is why they must be fueled. Las Vegas, however, is one of the few tracks where cars are not impounded until after two practice sessions today, but the fuel ruling is no different.

Harvick will start 42nd. Riggs, who moved up to fourth when Harvick was moved back, will also go to the rear of the field because his crew changed the transmission in his Chevrolet after he’d qualified.

Newman, driving the same car in which he finished ninth at Fontana, said he felt that by winning the pole he had no excuses for not winning the race.

“We’ve proven we have the fastest race car,” he said. “Obviously, we’ll have a good pit and track position to get our bonus points [for leading a lap], but just being there for 267 laps is going to be the ultimate goal.

“Historically, the Roush cars are dominant at this track. It’s usually the same basic group, but we’re just going to do our best and see how we stand up.”