Sluggish start doesn't faze optimistic Wimmer

LAS VEGAS -- A lot of folks figured Scott Wimmer would do in the NASCAR Busch Series what Kurt Busch is doing in Winston Cup. Busch, Winston Cup's hottest driver at the end of 2002, has posted back-to-back second-place finishes this season.

Meanwhile, Wimmer, who won four of the last eight Busch races of '02, hasn't started quite so quickly. Not that he's been horrible, but finishing 12th and 11th in the first two races won't turn a lot of heads.

SCOTT WIMMER  •  Driver Page  •  Wimmer confident despite team changes  •  Rice replaces Barker as Wimmer's crew chief

"I'm not disappointed," Wimmer said as he waited out the rain in preparation for Saturday's Sam's Town 300 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "We've been running well. Our finishes just haven't been that good. Rockingham, we were running in the top five and had a problem on pit road where we didn't get a tire tight and had to come back in.

"We're running good. We're putting ourselves in position to where we could win some races. Circumstances haven't worked out that way. Hopefully, we can turn that luck around a little bit here at Vegas."

Part of Wimmer's problem, if you can call it that, is that the team with which he ended 2002 isn't the same team he's started with in 2003. Sure, it's still Bill Davis Racing. And it's still the No. 23.

But Pontiac is out as manufacturer, replaced by Chevrolet. And Robert "Bootie" Barker moved to Winston Cup, replaced by Chris Rice.

So Wimmer figured the momentum might not exactly carry over from 2002.

VIDEO CLIPS Scott Wimmer wins at Phoenix. Play video Wimmer celebrates his win at Memphis. Play video At Dover, Wimmer scores his first career win. Play video

"With a new crew chief and a new car make, it's hard to get it all rolling right off the bat," Wimmer said. "We've done real well so far."

The relationship with Rice is improving, Wimmer said. Rice is a bit of a comedian, keeping things loose among the team. But when the green flag drops, well, you know the saying.

"We've built a lot of chemistry already," Wimmer said. "We had 14 laps (on our Rockingham) car before we raced it. We felt real good about the race. We weren't the fastest car, but we weren't way out to lunch either. We were pretty close and ran real competitive.

He's come up with some good ideas, and we're working hard to get better. I'm trying to learn exactly how to talk to him. I think we're doing real good so far."

And Wimmer said he thinks the move to Chevrolet is ahead of schedule.

"We get a lot of feedback from Chevy," Wimmer said. "The problem is our Winston Cup cars are Dodge, and we can't pull a lot of information off it. For the most part, we're kind of on our own a little bit. I figured it would take a little time. I figured it would take three, four races to get the feel that I'm looking for in a car and to get our cars to where we want them. I actually think we're a little better than that. We had a real good race at Rockingham, and our cars are getting better and better. We've got as real good car for here, too."

Wimmer tested at Las Vegas three weeks ago, and he said the team learned a lot about its Monte Carlo then. That boosted his confidence about the team's progress with the Chevy.

So two races into the season, even though they haven't been spectacular races, Wimmer is keeping an eye on the big picture. After all, he's only 83 points behind Busch Series points leader Jamie McMurray - and only 55 behind the first full-time Busch driver, Todd Bodine.

So a championship is still in Wimmer's plans.

"We didn't capitalize on what we had at Rockingham," Wimmer said. "We really needed to have a good top-five finish there. We let that one slip through our fingers, but I don't think it hurt us too bad. People that I feel like we're racing for the championship had bad Daytonas or didn't have a real good Rockingham.

"We're still right there with them. Just as long as we don't go six, seven, eighth races into the season 100 points out of the lead, we should be all right."