Race Report.(News)

Matt Kenseth won only one race last year on his way to winning the Winston Cup title, encouraging critics to charge he backed into his championship. This year, he has already topped his 2003 record by scoring two wins in the first three races. His latest win came at Las Vegas, scene of his only win last year, and with the same car. Oh, and now he leads the points chase again as well.

This race was the first test of NASCAR's latest aero and tire package on a 1.5-mile tri-oval. The shorter rear spoiler and softer tire compound produced faster speeds, as 15 cars broke the track record in qualifying. Rookie Kasey Kahne scored his first Nextel Cup pole with a time of 30.874 seconds at 174.904 mph, a half-second quicker than Bobby Labonte's 2003 mark. Some drivers, including eventual winner Kenseth, reported that "aero push'' was reduced over previous rules packages. Meanwhile, the softer tire wore more quickly than last year's version, causing lap times to fall during long runs and forcing drivers to conserve their rubber. Tire management has returned to NASCAR. Purists will probably approve of the new package, even if it did not produce two-wide racing on the shallow 12-degree banking at Las Vegas.

Kurt Busch jumped from the outside pole to lead the first lap, while brother Kyle Busch, 18, starting his first Nextel Cup race, found the Turn Four concrete wall only a few laps later, bringing out the first of six caution flags. As ...