Winston regulars enjoy Busch series races

      Terry Labonte could have passed and no one would have blinked.
      Same for his brother Bobby. Ditto for Michael Waltrip, Mike Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Dick Trickle.
      These drivers compete full time on the NASCAR Winston Cup tour, the major leagues of stock-car racing. And these drivers make quite a fine living doing so.
      So when each was asked to make the trek to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday's NASCAR Busch Grand National Series race, nobody would have been surprised if they said, "No thanks."
      Yet they are here, choosing to compete in the Las Vegas 300 instead of taking a week off from the grueling 32-race Winston Cup schedule.
      Why?
      "I enjoy running the series," said Terry Labonte, the reigning Winston Cup points champion. "I do it basically for the fun of it. I enjoy running my own Busch team.
      "Dale owns his own team, I own mine, my brother owns his. It's kind of a little different deal for us. Really, there's no pressure involved. ... It's pretty much a relaxed atmosphere for us. But we're pretty serious about it, too, and we work hard at it."
      Without a doubt, the Winston Cup circuit remains the premier series in stock-car racing.
      But the appearance of the bigger names here and at other Busch races in recent years have boosted the image of the Grand National Series.
      No longer is this just a brief red light on a driver's journey to Winston Cup. It is a legitimate series where drivers can build a career and sponsors can happily attach their names to any car.
      "It's a good series, a good stepping stone for these guys to go to Winston Cup," Labonte said. "But I don't think you can really describe it anymore as Triple-A ball or something like that. It is like the third largest spectator deal in motor sports, so it's a pretty big series. It's growing every year."
      And that growth is apparent by looking at this week's race.
      The Las Vegas 300, which is scheduled to start Sunday at 1 p.m., will mark the first time in the series' 16-year history that a Busch event will be staged west of the Mississippi River. The series will cross the river twice more this season, with races scheduled at new superspeedways in Fort Worth, Texas, (April 5) and in Fontana, Calif. (Oct. 19).
      Another twist about the race: The Busch series will be the main attraction at LVMS. Usually, Busch races are scheduled for the same weekend and at the same venues as Winston Cup races.
      "You look back 10 years ago, we couldn't go to a brand new racetrack by ourselves and put on a good show," said Elton Sawyer, who has competed in 246 Busch races during the past 15 years. "I would venture to say on Sunday that this place will be packed, and we are the show."
      Along with expanding to new locales, the Busch series also is expanding its payouts. Competitors in Sunday's race will split $885,275, the second largest purse in Busch history. The largest -- $945,319 -- was paid this year at Daytona, Fla.
      In all, more than $10 million in prize and point-fund money is up for grabs in 1997.
      Growth aside, the Busch series remains the primary breeding ground for Winston Cup. And while Labonte's won't refer to it as a Triple-A caliber division, other regular Busch drivers are more realistic.
      "We don't want to think that, but it is," said Randy LaJoie, last year's Busch Grand National points champion. "The Busch series, I think it's kind of like college basketball. You're going to have a lot of good talent coming through that all want to get to Winston Cup."
      Todd Bodine, a veteran of 133 Busch races, agrees.
      "This is the Triple-A of baseball, compared to the major leagues. And you have to be realistic in saying that, because this is the proving ground for drivers who get called up to the Winston Cup ranks," said Bodine, this season's points leader. "You have to prove yourself here, just like you do in Triple-A ball. ...
      "But it's not a small-time money deal anymore. You can win a lot of money here. So even though it's just a proving ground, it's a very successful, lucrative series. You can make real good living here."