Las Vegas Preview
Wolfe, Benson have "High Hopes for Successful Weekend"
Jon Wolfe is kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to the Sam's Town 300 Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.   Wolfe, the crew chief for the Yellow Transportation Dodge that Johnny Benson drives,  is optimistic about how the team is going to run since "we ran well there last year.  And Johnny seems to run well there, too.  So I have high hopes for a successful weekend."
      
On the other hand, Wolfe admits he is a "little worried" because the Yellow team did not test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month.  "It is kind of like a shot in the dark with the new tire and all," adds Wolfe.  "The new spoiler rules definitely changed things at Rockingham.  We lost some down force there, and it will be even worse at Vegas since you are running so much faster.  At Rockingham, we were never loose there before, but we had that problem this time."     Complete PR

Wolfe says he has talked with several teams that did test at Vegas, and they have indicated that "they did use a new shock package because of the tires and all.  So we will have to be prepared to make some changes to the setup we used last year.  "But I still feel real good about how the Yellow team is going to run.  Last year, Jamie (McMurray) crashed in practice, and we had to go to a back-up.  Despite that, we ran well in the race.  We ended up having ignition problems (finishing 33rd), but we were good before that.  So I feel the Yellow team can have a pretty good day (on Saturday)."  Benson also wishes the team had tested.  Yet like Wolfe, Benson is "excited about going out there.  We usually seem to run pretty well there.  "There are two grooves, so that makes for some good racing," adds Benson.  "At first, the track had tremendous grip, and it was strictly a one-groove track.  But over the years, it has lost some grip and that has made for better racing.  "Yes, there are different issues this year with the new spoiler rule, the new tire and with the track being a year older.  Last year, on the 30th lap (of a run), we were running as fast we had on the fifth or tenth lap.  Now it looks like there will be a lot of fall off (in the times).  So the key will be following a strategy like we did at Rockingham.  The team that does the best job of running fast on old tires will be the winner."

It will be a busy weekend for Benson as he will be running both the NASCAR Busch Series event on Saturday as well as the NASCAR Nextel Cup UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 on Sunday.

"It makes things easier since I am running both races for the same team (Phoenix Racing)," says Benson.   "If you are running for two different teams, sometimes you have each team wanting more of your time as each one looks on their deal as the top one of the two.  But everyone at Phoenix knows the Yellow team and the quest for the (Busch Series) championship is No. 1 on our hit parade.  We want to run good in both races, but Saturday is our main deal.  Of course, there is nothing wrong with winning both races."
      
When it comes to time away from the race track, Benson agrees "there are a lot of neat things to do in Vegas.  But I am not a big gambler.  Since I never played cards growing up, I am smart enough to realize I need to stay away from those games.  So that pretty well limits me to the slots.
      
"I think the card games would be a lot more fun and interesting, but having never grown up playing cards I know I need to stay away from them.  But I do usually try and take in a show or two, especially the magic shows."
      
Benson hopes to do his magic on the race track