Homecoming for Busch brothers

NASCAR’s Busch brothers love returning to their hometown of Las Vegas, where they learned their early racing skills as teenagers.

But Kurt and Kyle have yet to win a Nextel Cup race here, a shortfall each hopes to erase today at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“It’s my big race,” said Kurt, the older brother at 28 and the 2004 Cup champion. “It’s like a dream as a kid when you see the track built from the ground up,” he said of the 1.5-mile oval that held its first Cup race in 1998.

They’ve come close. Kyle, 21, and Kurt finished second and third in 2005, respectively, and Kyle was third last year in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

But the track has been redesigned, and it’s questionable whether the Busch brothers or any of the field’s 43 drivers have an edge.

The speedway was repaved and its corner banking was hiked to 20 degrees from 12. That instantly produced faster speeds. Kasey Kahne won the pole Friday with a lap of 184.856 mph in his Dodge Charger, emphatically breaking his track record of 174.904 set in 2004.

In response, Goodyear gave the teams harder tires to prevent blowouts during the weekend’s Cup and Busch Series races. NASCAR also has required smaller fuel cells in the cars to foster more pit stops, so teams can better gauge the tires’ wear.

The result?

“Nobody really knows what to expect,” said Richard Petty, NASCAR’s all-time Cup race winner with 200 victories and owner of the Petty Enterprises racing team. “They don’t know about how the track is going to change, how the cars are going to handle, how the tires are going to work. There’s no favorite.”

Indeed, Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 Busch race was strewn with accidents as drivers struggled with the new track and the tires. But the Busch brothers signaled that they’re adapting quickly.

Kyle and Kurt together led more than half of the 200 laps in the Busch race, and Kyle lost by a nose to Jeff Burton at the finish line. Kurt finished fourth.

“It’s been a fun track for me, but now it’s completely different for all of us,” Kyle said. “The key to the race [today] will be starting up front and staying there.”

But Kyle also said Saturday that his Cup car, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, wasn’t sticking to the track as well as his Busch car.

“It’s all over the place,” he said. “It’s just a hunk of junk and we have our work cut out for us tonight to try and make it work.”

Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and others complained that the new tires were too hard, making the cars tough to handle, and after Saturday’s wreckage, they predicted more of the same today.

Goodyear stood by its decision.

“We felt we had to do something ... to try to slow them down,” said Greg Stucker, a Goodyear racing director.

Stewart said after the Busch race, “Part of the responsibility has to be taken by the speedway. If they didn’t change the track, Goodyear doesn’t have to bring a different tire.”

Track officials defended the changes, saying they’ll promote closer racing.

For Kurt Busch, who starts 10th today, a win also would help him rebound from a mediocre 2006 as he tries to earn the first Cup championship for team owner Roger Penske.

Kurt moved to Penske last year from what is now Roush Fenway Racing, replacing former champion Rusty Wallace in the No. 2 Dodge. But Kurt won only one race last year, in Bristol, Tenn.

He also finished 16th in points, so he missed the Chase for the Cup, NASCAR’s playoff during the season’s final 10 races. Kurt won the Chase in its inaugural year in 2004.

Kurt is 19th in points after this year’s opening two races, and Kyle is ninth.

Kyle, the series rookie of the year in 2005, did make the Chase last year and finished 10th. He starts 12th today.

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It’s only the third race of the season, yet today is critical for Chevy driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. if he hopes to make this year’s Chase. Earnhardt is mired 40th in the points, 225 behind leader Mark Martin, after placing 40th and 32nd in the season’s opening two races.

“We’re not happy about it, but we’re keeping our heads up,” said Earnhardt, who starts 28th today. “We’ve had some rough starts before and came back strong.”

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james.peltz@latimes.com