Last year Kurt Busch walked into Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – not to hoist a trophy – but to hug his brother who has just won the race at their home town track.    Friday in Cup Qualifying Kurt made some of the family proud when he took the Pole for Sunday’s race.  I am not sure how happy brother Kyle was  – as Kurt broke Kyle’s Track Record Speed.   Kurt’s speed of 188.725 bested Kyle’s time of 185.995 set in 2009.   This is Kurt’s first pole this season and his first at Las Vegas in 10 races.

This weekend the #2 Miller Light Dodge is running Chassis #702 – a sentimental choice as this is the area code for Kurt’s home town of Las Vegas.   This is a special track for the Busch Brothers  – because of the people.  Kurt said, “You always remember the people that helped you get to where I’ve got in racing, like I have.”

Kurt was not the only one – 17 cars in total beat the old track record.  Jeff Gordon said that Goodyear had brought a new tire to the track this year – couple that with the colder temps and the stage was set for a record shattering day of speed.

Dale JR stepped up first and threw the fast lap on the board and other drivers in the garage were impressed – they didn’t think they would have a shot until they felt their cars sticking so well on the banks.

Here are the rest of the Top-10 starters for Sunday’s race:  Jeff Gordon,  Ryan Newman,  Dale Earnhardt JR., Kyle Busch,  Joey Logano,  Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya.

From a manufacture’s standpoint it was the Chevys that filled the top of the Speed charts.  In the top 10 there were:  6 Chevrolet,  2 Toyota, 1 Dodge (pole) and 1 Ford.

As for Sunday – all signs point to SPEED and good racing for the Shelby American 500.