RACING NOTEBOOK:

Kyle Busch is looking for a homecoming this weekend similar to the one that he enjoyed a year ago.

Busch capped that weekend in Las Vegas by winning the Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the victory that he says means the most among his 16 major-league triumphs because it came in the city in which he was reared.

“It was the biggest so far,” Busch said. “It was awesome, just the feeling of a lifetime. I told everyone that it would be just like another race, but it really meant a lot more than that when I got to victory lane. To have my mom there, and my brother come to victory lane, just made it that much more special. We didn’t have the best car last year, but I feel like I drove a smart race, and did what we needed to do. We worked on it all day and kept making it better.”

If he wins this time, he’d rather take a different route. Busch suffered engine failure in practice and even though he rebounded to win the pole, he had to start in the rear of the field because of the engine switch.

Usually petulant in dealing with setbacks and mistakes, Busch said he tried to take the engine woes as best he could.

“I hate bad days,” Busch said. “I’m still not going to take them as easily as I should. ... But, you know, when the engine blew in practice on that Friday, I could have thrown my helmet down and stomped away. I told the guys, ‘Great job,’ and look at what we did (after the engine problem in practice). I just went in the hauler and let those guys go to work and do what they do best.”

Busch said he wound up watching practice on television and it paid off.

“I went out there and ran a Mark Martin type line and ended up getting the pole there,” Busch said. “That was pretty awesome, to be able to do that and then come from the back, be patient, and win the race, too. I’m trying to learn to keep cool in those situations.”

The first victory at Las Vegas for Joe Gibbs Racing was just the second in 12 events there for a car not owned by Jack Roush or Rick Hendrick.

“It was cool,” Busch said. “To go out there and to run a smooth race, and to have a shot at winning the race at the end is what it’s all about.”

Busch has gotten off to a roaring start in his first full season with Dave Rogers as his crew chief.

He finished 18th at Daytona and 14th in California.

“We ran well in our first two races and had good cars, but things just didn’t fall our way,” Busch said. “I’m hoping we can find a little more luck this week than we have so far in the Cup Series this year.”

ADVERSE SITUATION

Prism Motorsports, which fields the No. 66 car driven by Dave Blaney, was thrown a curve by NASCAR this weekend.

NASCAR confiscated Blaney’s car as the one picked at random for inspection after last weekend’s race at California. Blaney qualified fifth, led by staying out during an early caution and then parked after 43 laps – continuing the team’s routine of staring and parking just to get prize money without having to pay for an engine that would go 500 miles and for tires.

The curve ball is the cash-starved team won’t get the car back until Friday at Las Vegas, forcing it to spend the money to get its spare car ready.

Some speculated NASCAR was trying to send a message to Phil Parsons because he added another “start-and-park” team this year. Parsons indicated before the season that he was adding the second team as a start-and-park to generate enough cash that would allow Blaney to actually race. Prism did not have a full pit crew for Blaney’s car at Las Vegas.

Parsons said he did not think NASCAR was sending a message by taking his car for inspection.

“If I am them and they are me and they qualified fifth, I may want a little extra look at that car,” Parsons told ESPN.com. “We haven’t been around that much. There aren’t many relatively new teams that are able to do stuff like that. We may be a victim of our own success.”

ELDER PASSES

J.C. (Jake) Elder, one of the top crew chiefs from the 1960s into the 1980s who gained the name Suitcase Jake because he changed teams frequently, died Wednesday at age 73. He had been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 2006.

Elder was the top mechanic on the cars that David Pearson drove to championships in 1968 and 1969. He also prepared the cars in which Dale Earnhardt won “rookie of the year” in 1979 and also worked with drivers Darrell Waltrip, Fred Lorenzen and Benny Parsons.

SPARK PLUGS

Carl Edwards won’t have to worry any more about missing a race to be present at the birth of his daughter. Edwards’ wife Katie delivered Anne on Thursday afternoon. ... Bristol Motor Speedway is extending the SAFER barriers by 80 feet along the exits of Turns 2 and 4. Track officials said the addition of the cushion along the outside retaining wall should narrow the usable racing room. But, Kevin Harvick said in a Wednesday teleconference that the track was widened so much when it was reconfigured two years ago that the small reduction caused by the width of the SAFER barriers won’t make much difference. ...Bristol officials said David Pearson will be one of the drivers in its legends race scheduled along with a Nationwide race on March 20.

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