Following an early off weekend the Busch Series loaded up and headed out west to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV for the Sam's Town 300. After testing at the Las Vegas track four weeks ago, Crew Chief Steve Addington was so disappointed in the race car that he chose to bring a brand new car as opposed to the one they tested. This would prove to be a great decision.

Practice started early Friday morning and the #20 Team immediately made it known they were going to be a force. Finishing the first practice in the fourth spot, the team knew with a couple of adjustments the car was capable of a top-five starting position. In Mike Bliss's previous six starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he has started in the top-ten each race and he was looking forward to extending the streak to seven.

When qualifying began, several of the top competitors quickly sped to the top of the speed chart. Bobby Hamilton, Jr. broke the track record when he ran a lap of 31.570 seconds (171.048 mph). Going out 30th, Bliss bettered the track record set by Hamilton, Jr. as he blistered a lap of 31.535 seconds (171.238 mph). After the remaining 18 cars completed their laps, Bliss was awarded his first Busch Pole in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Race day provided much warmer temperatures than during the final practice Friday evening where the Rockwell Automation Chevrolet was extremely tight. After receiving his Busch Pole Award during driver introductions, Bliss strapped into his car for the 300-mile race. As soon as the green flag dropped, Bliss quickly learned that they had gone too far on the adjustments to make the car looser. Struggling with an extremely loose racecar, Crew Chief Steve Addington reminded Bliss to just hang on until the first pit stop. On lap 32, they would get that opportunity when a multi-car accident would bring out the race's first caution.

Crew Chief Steve Addington called for some major adjustments during the pit stop when he called for four tires with an air pressure adjustment, a round of wedge, installing two spring rubbers and even lowering the trackbar. The team had a decent stop considering all the changes required and returned Bliss to the track in the 8th position. Bliss continued to race for positions in the top ten until lap 92 when Bliss followed the leaders onto pit road for a regularly scheduled green flag pit stop for fuel and tires. The car's condition had not changed and Bliss was still struggling with it being loose all around the track. In almost déjà vu from the Rockingham race, as soon as the pit stop was completed, the caution flag flew for an incident in turn four. This would place most of the leaders, including the #20 car, a lap down.

As the team remained calm, Bliss restarted in the 18th position. Bliss worked his way back into the top 16 by lap 153 when more green flag pit stops began. This time Addington chose to leave Bliss on the track until he was five laps from running out of fuel. Fortune shined on the #20 team as the caution flag flew with Bliss running fourth and back on the lead lap. After making his pit stop under yellow, the 20 car returned to the track in the 6th position and several cars a lap down in front of him.

Spotter Frank Bolter reminded Bliss to be patient as he lined up with 18 cars in front of him. As the lapped cars raced hard to earn their lap back, Bliss was forced to check up when the #31 car received contact from another car and went spinning around across the track. Bliss dropped to the 8th position for the final restart of the race.

When the green flag dropped on lap 184, the #20 machine had trouble showing its normal strong horsepower, especially on the straightaways. Bliss would be able to turn under cars in the corners but would get beat as they drag-raced down the straightaway. During the final 16 laps, Bliss dropped 5 positions but passed the 82 car of Randy LaJoie on the last lap for a 12th place finish. With this finish the #20 team moves up to 14th in Busch Series points.

Quotes

On his first Busch Pole - "This is really a tribute to all the hard work of this team and (Crew Chief) Steve Addington. We have had a lot changes in our shop with the addition of a new crew chief and bringing J.J.'s team under the same roof as us. They have all worked really hard in the off season and now we are seeing it pay off."

On the race - "We missed the setup just a little bit at the beginning of the race, but continued to work on it and get the car better. We were forced a lap down due to the green flag stop, but Steve made a great call keeping us out there. We were running fourth with 40 to go and in a position for a top 3 finish, but the motor just did not want to run on the straights. It is unusual because we normally have some of the strongest engines in the garage. I am leaving a little disappointed because I know we were a top-five car." - Driver Mike Bliss

"I am really proud of this team, especially for Friday. This Pole Award was really a shot in the arm for all of us. Saturday, we were dealt some bad racing luck early, but turned out all right in the end. Our goal is to have a car in the position to win in the last quarter of the race and we were successful with that this weekend. This team has great potential and I can't wait to see our performance once we hit it." - Crew Chief Steve Addington