Kyle Busch excited about racing on Las Vegas’ high banks; Crash cuts Goodyear test short for Biffle

Greg Biffle

LAS VEGAS – Testing tires is pretty boring stuff for most drivers, but this week’s two-day Goodyear test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway left Kyle Busch excited and Greg Biffle with a headache.

The two drivers spent Wednesday and Thursday testing tires to help the tire manufacturer find the proper tire combination for the new 20-degree banking at LVMS. It will determine which tires Goodyear brings back for the NASCAR-sanctioned test Jan. 29-30 as well as for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup event on March 11.

“There are a lot of neat characteristics to the track,” said Busch, a Las Vegas native. “It’s still pretty wide and a great racing surface. It’s wide enough that we’ll be able to run two and three wide. The transitions from the corner to the straightaways and then the straightaways to the corners are awesome. It’s a great layout.”

Biffle said Wednesday that he is looking forward to racing on the new layout. But his test ended early on Thursday when he made hard contact with the wall between turns one and two. The impact knocked the fuel pump off the car and made for a fiery scene. Busch, who was closely following Biffle, helped the veteran driver from his car. Biffle wasn’t injured, but decided to discontinue testing for the day.

“That was a really hard hit and we lost a good car,” Biffle said. “But I’m O.K.”

Unofficially, the drivers were clocked at speeds near 187 miles per hour, but Biffle said that may pick up to closer to 190 once the Nextel Cup teams start qualifying in March. Kasey Kahne holds the track qualifying record of 174.904 mph set in 2004.