Future bright for Bliss after third-place run

LAS VEGAS -- Mike Bliss started out the 2002 season a lot like he's starting out 2003.

If '03 ends the same way, Bliss will be the NASCAR Busch Series champion.

Of course, there's a lot of racing between now and the end of the season. And Bliss' No. 20 Busch Series Chevrolet is obviously a lot different than his championship-winning No. 16 Craftsman Truck Series ride.

	Mike Bliss

But after Bliss scored his first career Busch Series top-five finish by coming home third in Saturday's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his 2003 season looks bright.

"I've got a great team," Bliss said. "These guys finished fifth in the points last year. They know what they're doing. I'm just riding along here. It's given us some momentum.

"It's kind of mirroring my year I had last year with the trucks -- the way we finished at Daytona and now a top-five here. I feel good about it."

Bliss started 2002 by finishing 33rd at Daytona, and then finished third and second in his next two races. For 2003, he finished 33rd at Daytona, and then finished sixth and third in his next two races.

"If it keeps going like this," Bliss said, "it looks like it's going to be a good year."

Sam's Town 300  Unofficial Results  Unofficial Standings  Video Highlights

After winning five races and the NCTS title, Bliss was hired to drive Joe Gibbs Racing's Busch Series entry for 2003.

"It's going really good," Bliss said. "It's surprising how (well) we are getting along and how fast things are happening. They're changing some setups to my driving style."

Saturday, Bliss' car started out on the loose side, and the Tim Shutt-led crew worked to get it better.

"We were pretty free all day," Bliss said. "At the start of the race we were pretty free. We just had to tighten it up a little bit. I was just kind of riding along there. I didn't want to do anything dumb."

Bliss played it smart as the field raced toward an impending rain storm past the halfway mark.

VIDEO CLIPS Victory Lane Play video Final Laps Play video Burton has problems Play video Harvick dominates Play video Park spins Play video

"I could see smoke and banging and stuff, so I went back behind Joe (Nemechek) and said, 'I just need to single-file here,'" Bliss said. "It was pretty exciting before the rain fell. I honestly thought that was the end of the race."

But the race restarted after an hour delay, and Shutt brought Bliss in for a four-tire pit stop. That cost Bliss some track position, but it was the right move.

"We thought it would hurt us at first, but we knew in the long it would be better, and it paid off," Bliss said. "I'm glad. Tim did a good call."

Bliss slowly carved through the field, and in the closing laps, he caught third-place Steve Park. Bliss made a run on the outside, but Park blocked, and Bliss darted underneath.

"He was getting really tight," Bliss said. "I didn't want to drive in there and get loose because we were pretty loose at that point. I thought, 'Well, we'll just drag-race off the corner.' The last two laps, I kind of set it up to see if it would do that."

Bliss won the drag race to claim his best career Busch Series finish.

"Man, I'm happy," Bliss said. "This Rockwell Automation Chevy was really good. I'm just proud of these guys."