Duo of Stewart, Busch look to make it three in a row

With victories in the first two Nationwide Series races of the season, Tony Stewart is the favorite to win Saturday's running of the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But putting money on Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch wouldn't be a bad bet, either. Busch finished second at Las Vegas last year and has finished right behind Stewart in the first two races of the season.

Fast Facts

What	Sam's Town 300
When	4 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	ESPN2
Radio	PRN

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But don't put all of your money on the JGR duo just yet. Defending champion Jeff Burton has won the Sam's Town 300 a record three times.

"The racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is pretty exciting," Burton said. "The racing surface is still fairly new, and the banking in the corners are a lot steeper than what they used to be. It's quite a challenge for the drivers, to be quite honest, but we typically run well at that track so that's always exciting."

Stewart finished third on the 1.5-mile track last year, when the biggest issue was the performance of the Goodyear tires on the new track surface. Stewart says that no longer should be a factor.

"The good news is that we're not going to have to be on that tire this year for either the Nationwide race or the Cup race," he said. "And the track has seasoned in pretty quick for a year."

It is also a matter of comfort.

"Obviously when you don't like the tire you're on and you don't feel comfortable out there, when you go out and have a good run, it definitely does help your confidence for Sunday," Stewart said.

Busch's desire to snag a win in his hometown is obvious. His run toward the checkered flag last year made that clear. Heading to the finish, Busch made a hard-charging move on Burton but lost control, wrecking as he crossed the finish line. Burton walked away with the win while Busch was left with a mutilated racecar.

"It was a fun race, but you would like to be able to win the thing instead of finishing second," said Busch, who enters the weekend first in the Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck points standings and second in Nationwide. "This year, hopefully, we'll at least have the opportunity to race up in the front with all of those guys.

"This year I think I know what I can do a little bit differently in order to come out on top."

Welcome, Cindy

Cindy Woosley didn't set out to be a pioneer. She'll be the first to tell you she's "all about the cars."

Numbers: Vegas

Las Vegas one of Jeff Burton's strongest tracks with three wins and six top-10s in seven races.

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But this weekend at Las Vegas, a woman who has always had an affinity for working on cars, has worked as a sheet metal fabricator as well as a skilled home builder, will add another line to her resume -- the first female crew chief in NASCAR national series history.

Woosley will lead the No. 01 Chevrolet of JD Motorsports with Kertus Davis as the driver at Las Vegas.

She moved to the top of the pit box following a six-race suspension imposed on regular crew chief Gene Allnut, who was one of five crew chiefs suspended due to a rule violation at Daytona.

A native of Kentucky, Woosley has been with the team since last year and has been involved in racing for two seasons.

Bliss back home

It hasn't taken long for Mike Bliss to get back in the Nationwide Series groove.

Ranked eighth in the series standings, Bliss has improved his finish in the season's first two races: 17th at Daytona and 13th Monday at California.

The NASCAR national series veteran driver -- who won the Truck Series championship in 2002 and has 384 combined starts in NASCAR's three national series -- is back full-time in the Nationwide Series for the first time since 2004.

He finished fifth in the standings that season after a 10th-place ranking in 2003, his first full season in the series.

Last year, the 42-year-old native of Milwaukie, Ore., competed in 23 races for Fitz Motorsports and posted three top-fives and eight top-10s, including a runner-up finish at Memphis Motorsports Park.

His results propelled the team to an 11th-place finish in the owner points, its highest ranking ever.

Owner Armando Fitz moved quickly to secure Bliss for full-time duty this season. He also kept crew chief Paul Wolfe in the fold and the two are meshing well early. Bliss has also recently been joined on the team by another NASCAR veteran, Kenny Wallace.

Bliss has run well at Las Vegas regardless of the series. In two Nationwide Series starts he has a pole, a fifth-place and 12th-place finish. He has four top-fives in six career Truck Series starts and finished 16th in his lone Cup start at the track.

NASCAR Media contributed to this report