LAS VEGAS -- Like most everything else in this town, it's a risky bet.

But drivers who expect to run up front in Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 Sprint Cup Series race apparently will need to gamble on running the high line at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Catch-22: it may be the fastest way to the front, but it's also the most dangerous.

That was illustrated again during Saturday's final Cup practice at LVMS, when Clint Bowyer was running high and slapped the outside wall heading out of Turn 2 in his No. 07 Chevrolet coming into the backstretch. Kyle Petty had decided to follow Bowyer into the corner on the high line right before Bowyer lost it -- and Petty did all he could to keep from getting into him, but still clipped Bowyer with the left front fender of his No. 45 Dodge. Earlier during the first of two Saturday Cup practices, pole-sitter Kyle Busch was running the high line when his car bobbled and he grazed the outside wall.

Bowyer was forced to his backup car for Sunday's race, meaning he will start at the rear of the 43-car field. Petty was able to repair his car and did not have to go to a backup, and neither did Busch.

Nonetheless, that brought the total number of Cup cars that had spun, grazed an outside wall or outright wrecked during two days of practices to nine. Thus, a heavy price obviously can be paid for running the high line.

Several drivers said that the new car being run full-time on the Cup circuit this year, combined with the tires being supplied by Goodyear, make it difficult to run any other line if you want to have any chance of running up front.

"I don't think there is any doubt about it -- you are going to see people in the high line," said Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "I won the Nationwide race in the high line [last year] and I truly believed I was going to win the Cup race last year in the high line as well. I think this year there will be a lot of people joining me up there."

Robbie Loomis, vice president of Petty Enterprises, agreed.

"I think with this car the tendencies are that it gets a little bit tighter," Loomis said. "By moving up, it keeps it just a little bit freer and arcs a little bit bigger so the car doesn't get as tight. You don't build up as much air in the right front tire. When you're up there, it's a fine line where that gray area is. You saw it [Friday] in qualifying, and then again in the practices. But I think they'll all get it figured out and we'll have a great race."

Loomis said he was pleased that at least Kyle Petty wouldn't have to go to a backup car. Bobby Labonte, Petty's teammate, wrecked his No. 43 Dodge during practice a day earlier and had been forced to a backup. Also wrecking badly enough Friday to be forced to the rear of the field in a backup car for Sunday's event was Juan Montoya in his No. 42 Dodge.

"We're not going to a backup. We're going to repair the left front fender and the nose on the [No. 45 Dodge]," Loomis said. "Kyle really likes the car."

Petty was able to run 19 laps in the first Saturday practice session, and his fastest lap of 174.436 mph was good enough to rate only 34th on the speed chart. The collision with Bowyer occurred on his first practice lap in the afternoon.

The top five cars in the final practice were the No. 9 Dodge of Kasey Kahne (176.586 mph); the No. 99 Ford of Carl Edwards (176.298 mph); the No. 15 Chevrolet of Paul Menard (176.240 mph); the No. 24 Chevrolet of Jeff Gordon (176.211 mph); and the No. 48 Chevrolet of three-time LVMS winner Jimmie Johnson (176.108 mph). Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth-fastest in his No. 88 Chevy, with a fast lap of 175.999 mph.

Kahne was fastest despite suffering from a sinus infection that was severe enough for Gillett Evernham Motorsports to replace him with teammate Patrick Carpentier for Saturday's Nationwide Series race.

"Kasey was feeling absolutely terrible [Friday] with a real bad sinus infection," said Mark McCardle, vice president of competition for GEM. "After the first practice, we knew we might have to do something to allow Kasey the time to get better for Sunday's race. It became more evident as the day went on, so we went with Patrick to drive the Nationwide race.

"As of [Saturday] morning, we were glad to hear Kasey is feeling and getting better. He has been taking fluids and getting plenty of rest. We have Jason Keller on stand-by if we need to go that route [because Carpentier will be driving his own No. 10 Dodge for GEM in Sunday's Cup race], but we're pretty sure Kasey will be good to go."

Greg Biffle, who was eighth-fastest in Saturday's final practice, explained why the combination of new car and tire make running the high line more probable at the 1.5-mile LVMS track.

"The hard tire, the wider you make the arc, the less you have to turn the wheel in a sense. So the less you slow your car down in the corner, the better off you are, and then you end up going in and coming out higher," Biffle said. 'I don't like that groove, unfortunately, as a driver. You say, 'Why not?' We've won three in a row at Darlington up on the top and you've got to run two inches off the fence there all the way around, but I'm a bottom feeder.

"I love running on the bottom like Mark Martin does. I love to get my car to handle on the bottom. It's frustrating when the hard tire or the car's aerodynamics -- whatever it is, it's just changed; a lot of things in our sport have changed -- have forced that groove to the top."

Of course that could change if the Las Vegas race would start later and finish under the lights, but that's not likely to happen with good weather predicted and a 1:30 p.m. local time start scheduled.

"At night, the groove is fast on the bottom," Biffle said. "When it's hot and sunny, the best groove is up at the top."

One of the few drivers to disagree was Matt Kenseth, Biffle's Roush Fenway Racing teammate. He was fastest in the morning practice Saturday and has two wins, plus five top-10 finishes, in eight Cup starts at LVMS.

"It seemed like people were in different lines [during the final practices]," Kenseth said. "I saw Jeff Burton out there running his whole run on the high line and obviously everybody thinks the bottom [normally] is preferred, so I think it'll be a two-groove track."