Kickin' the Tires with Jerry Jordan: 3/1/09

By Jerry Jordan

Motorsports Editor

LAS VEGAS — Lady Luck smiled on Kyle Busch today as he battled from the back of the field to the front in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and held off the field to get his first victory of the 2009 season, his 13th career victory and his first win in front of his hometown crowd.

"This is petty cool," Busch said in Victory Lane after a tremendous celebration with his crew. "I didn't know exactly what it would mean. Coming to the checkered flag there were knots in my stomach. This is probably as big as the Daytona 500 — I said it wasn't going to be but it is. I want to thank M&M's, Interstate Batteries, the fans, Marquee Jets, Toyota, TRD, NOS Energy Drink, Pedigree, Combos — everybody on this team. They're phenomenal, what can I tell you. Should have got one yesterday but missed out on it. I apologize to the Nationwide guys but this is sort of a little bit of redemption here today.

"We started out having to go to the back and methodically fought our way through there. I wasn't sure if it was all me or all car. I said to myself 'You better man-up and drive this thing or you're not going anywhere,'" Busch said. "I thought I was the one that was scared from wrecking yesterday but it wasn't just me and we made some adjustments on the car and fought our way up from the back."

On Friday, Busch blew an engine on the fourth lap of the first practice session. He said that instead of loosing his cool, he went to his motor coach and watched the rest of practice on television while his crew changed the power plant in the No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry. He said he learned a little bit from the lines that the other drivers were running on the track and was able to pick one that looked pretty fast. He got out on the track for qualifying with only a single practice session under his belt but was able to put his Toyota on the pole. It was bittersweet because per NASCAR rules he was forced to start at the back of the pack because of the earlier engine change.

Busch, who is usually cold as ice on the track, admitted that he had some jitters with about 20 or 30 laps to go. Busch was extremely successful when he ran late models at The Bullring outside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"This was nothing but dirt lot, part of the parking lot for The Bullring," Busch said of the track's development. "I kept watching it go up, garages go up. We saw what was happening."

With snow in the Charlotte, N.C. area just about all the flights back to NASCAR's home base have been cancelled but that really didn't matter to Busch, who predicted some serious partying on the Las Vegas Strip tonight.

"We're partying it up big," Busch said. "The plane can't go home tonight so it's going to be one heck of a party in Las Vegas."