The Nationwide Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300. The race is a homecoming for Vegas natives Kyle Busch and Brendan Gaughan, but if recent statistics are any indication, this race is a race for the rookies.
Of course, Gaughan was one of those rookies whose star shone at LVMS a year ago, as he was one of four rookies to post top-10 finishes in the 2009 event by finishing seventh.
Nationwide Series heads into Vegas
Gaughan is hoping to turn his 2010 season around with this weekend’s visit to Las Vegas. He comes into Saturday’s race 28th in points with finishes of 30th and 24th in the season’s first two events.
Of last year’s rookie class, Justin Allgaier -- the 2009 rookie of the year -- heads into LVMS riding perhaps the biggest wave of momentum. After two races, Allgaier doesn’t seem to be suffering from a sophomore slump, as he currently occupies the fourth spot in the driver points standings.
Allgaier finished eighth in last year’s Sam’s Town 300, but many “experts” in the NASCAR garage seem to agree that Allgaier’s first career Nationwide Series victory could come any given weekend. This weekend would be just as good a weekend as any.
**********
On a somewhat unrelated note, Saturday’s Vegas race will be the last NASCAR event for Danica Patrick, at least for awhile. After the Sam’s Town 300, Patrick will shift her attention to the IndyCar Series, at least until June.
She’ll be back in the No. 7 Nationwide car for the June 26 event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Live television coverage for the Sam’s Town 300 is scheduled for a 4 p.m. ET Saturday start on ESPN2.Read more Nationwide Series coverage from this author at NASCAR Nationwide Series Examiner. You can also follow her on Twitter or become a fan of NASCAR Examiner on Facebook.
See More:
