FanHouse Warmup: Shelby 427

Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 4:30 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio
Forecast: Partly Sunny, 75
Distance: 285 laps (427.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Kyle Busch
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards



Vegas pole winner Kyle Busch was one of five Toyota drivers to suffer engine problems during Friday's first practice, and Toyota Racing Development boss Lee White wasn't pleased.

After last week's pole sitter Brian Vickers changed an engine following qualifying at Auto Club Speedway, the Toyota camp thought they had diagnosed the problem and found ways to correct it for Sunday's 427-miler. The fix, as Friday showed, didn't make a difference.

"It's a wear issue between the camshaft and lifter – it's either a coating, lubrication, lack of lubrication, too much lubrication, not enough coating or a material situation or just the simple fact that we haven't been testing," White said.

"We thought it was the right direction. I'm disturbed to say that the right direction apparently was the wrong direction. We came here and thought we had a handle on it. We didn't. We made it worse."

So, for Sunday's race, a few lubricants in the Toyota engine package have been altered for more durability with a 4-5 horsepower reduction. The hope is that by decreasing the stress on the friction points, the engines will last for the entire event.

427 miles? Really? I bet a few folks are wondering why, exactly, Sunday's race has been increased by 27 miles over its previous standard distance of 400 miles.

The answer is quite simple: Shelby Automobiles -- the company started by car legend Carroll Shelby -- is the presenting sponsor and the 427 pays homage to the 427-cubic inch V8 engine that Shelby started building for Ford Mustangs in the 1960s.

Marketing prowess at its best, I suppose.

After a scary 2008 wreck, Jeff Gordon's happy with Vegas improvements to the backstretch wall that his No. 24 hit in the waning laps of last year's race. In the Top-5 at the time, Gordon spun sideways and slammed an opening in the wall head-on -- knocking the radiator completely clear of his Chevrolet (video below).

The track, after hard criticism from Gordon after the wreck, reconfigured the wall and added more energy-absorbing SAFER Barrier along the backstretch.

"I'm confident in Las Vegas Motor Speedway and in the comments that were made last year and the conversations I had with them last year and this year of what their plans were," said Gordon on Friday. "So I feel good about what they've done and seeing it at a slower pace without hitting it."


Holly Cain: Greg Biffle

Geoffrey Miller: Jeff Gordon