<I>Crash.Net Preview</I> UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

The long road west to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was made even longer for some of the Winston Cup teams this week with several outfits delayed by snowy conditions across America's midwest. And even when they finally arrive they could find themselves at the mercy of someone who grew up just around the corner.

Las Vegas native Kurt Busch is on a rampage with two runner-up finishes in the first two races of the new season to add to his three wins and two other top six finishes that rounded out his 2002 campaign with Jack Roush's #97 Rubbermaid Ford.

Even though the 24 year-old starlet doesn't have a top ten finish to his credit in his two prior Winston Cup appearances at his 'home' circuit, Roush owned cars have won three of the five Winston Cup races held at the track to date and Busch's Jimmy Fennig led crew have turned themselves into one of the best on pit road.

Adding to Busch's pre-race arsenal is the fact that Fennig was Mark Martin's crew chief in 1998 when Martin rolled to victory in the inaugural Las Vegas 400 and it will be seen as a major shock f Busch doesn't keep his current top-ten streak alive this weekend. However this weekend will also be the most intense of Busch's short-career thus far as local media interest in the current Winston Cup points leader in what has become one of Nevada's largest annual sporting events, is expected to rival that which surrounds Tony Stewart during the Brickyard 400 weekend. How he copes will be very interesting to watch.

Despite being labelled as the epitome of the modern 'Cookie Cutter' track overtaking at Las Vegas is possible as evidenced by defending race winner Sterling Marlin and 2001 winner Jeff Gordon who both started from 24th place on the grid. Marlin needs a good defence of his crown to kick-start his season after an engine failure at Rockingham while Gordon too has had his fair share of early-season mishaps and has yet to register a top ten finish this year.

Subway 400 winner Dale Jarrett has two Las Vegas Bud Pole awards to his credit in Robert Yates' #88 Ford and both he and teammate Elliott Sadler have looked strong in the season's opening two races. While Jarrett claimed career victory number 31 at Rockingham, he was quick to point out it was achieved with a set-up discovered by Sadler and #38 M7M's Ford crew chief Raymond Fox. Sadler himself has been in mean form and was one of the strongest Ford's during the Chevy dominated Daytona 500 and passed more cars than any other last weekend as he recovered from two delays on pit road to finish ninth.

Providing extra help to the teams this weekend is the fact that outside of Daytona, Las Vegas hosts the biggest pre-season Winston Cup test of all and virtually every one of the 45 teams entered this weekend visited the track during the final days of January to work on their set-up.

During the test Hendrick Motorsports seemed to have things worked out with Jimmie Johnson leading the first two days in race trim in the #48 Lowe's Home Improvement Chevrolet with teammate Jeff Gordon close behind. Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte were also strong, leading the third day of what was a four day test while last year's surprise Bud Pole winner Todd Bodine was also in fine form and set the fastest time of the entire test with the #54 National Guard Ford, albeit in qualifying trim.

The only two-time Winston Cup winner at Las Vegas thus far is Roush Racing's Jeff Burton, winner in 1999 and in the rain-shortened race a year later. Still trying to re-establish the #99 CITGO team as a consistent contender for victory, Burton will be looking to improve upon his ninth place finish from a year ago as he continues to search for his first win in more than a full season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr will also be looking to improve, not just on his 16th place finish from last season's Las Vegas race, but also on the debacle known as the Subway 400. Although the 1.017-mile North Carolina Speedway wasn't down as a track where the #8 Budweiser team expected to have Daytona levels of dominance over the competition, nobody in the organisation expected Dale Jr to have such a bad day as what transpired.

A tyre-rub relating to a typical NASCAR-type chain reaction bumping session led to an early race puncture and vibration, which put the #8 Chevrolet off-kilter for the rest of the day. Two solo spins coming off turn two and occasional moments of madness around other cars further hindered progress as Dale Jr overcompensated for his poor car and a 33rd place finish was the net result.

Weeks prior to the start of the season Earnhardt Jr signed a five-year contract extension with DEI saying that the sole goal was the Winston Cup Championship. If that goal is going to be achieved in 2003 then Earnhardt Jr has to string together some good finishes and quickly even though Earnhardt Jr's Las Vegas record contains one top ten finish (10th in 2000) in three prior Winston Cup starts.

Another encouraging aspect of this young season has been the gritty performances of some of Winston Cup smaller teams. Single car outfits PPI Motorsports (Ricky Craven), Morgan McClure Motorsports (Mike Skinner), Jasper Motorsports (Dave Blaney), MBV Motorsports (Johnny Benson) and even BAM Racing (Ken Schrader) have enjoyed a sprightly start to the year in terms of their overall levels of performance even if some of the results haven't gone their way. However Las Vegas will be the most technical round of the season thus far in terms of car set-up and individual aerodynamics. Whether some of the less supported teams can equal the split resources and data of the multi-car outfits at a track such as Las Vegas could be very telling in terms of where they stand in the current pecking order.

Bud Pole qualifying gets underway on Friday just after 4pm local time (6pm EST, 11pm UK Time) with the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 set to take the green flag on Sunday at 12:30 local time (2:30 EST, 8:30 UK Time).