Crashes can’t douse Ash’s fire at Bullring

A record crowd turned out Tuesday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring to see NASCAR star Kyle Busch return to his hometown track and watch fireworks.

At least the standing-room crowd estimated at 6,000 saw fireworks, but fans of Busch likely were disappointed when his No. 51 Chevrolet lost its engine 35 laps into the 75-lap Super Late Models feature.

Dustin Ash, however, didn't need pyrotechnics to light up his night.

The North Las Vegas driver won the featured race for his fourth victory in the past six races in the NASCAR All-American Series.

The win also gives him the series points lead.

"This means a lot," Ash said. "I can't believe we have the points lead."

Ash was the fourth driver to lead the main event of the Night of Fire, and he was the only one of the quartet to be able to drive his car off the track.

Justin Johnson, who had held the points lead since the first race of the season, dominated the first 49 laps but was unable to restart his car after a red-flag stoppage caused when another car briefly caught fire.

"It was unfortunate for that to happen to Justin," Ash said.

Busch took the lead from Johnson when the race resumed and held it for five laps before the engine in his car broke.

The next leader, Taylor Barton, was holding a comfortable lead with 20 laps left, but a slower car in front of him broke down and leaked oil onto the track heading into the first turn.

Barton had no time to slow. He slid through the oil and into the guardwall to end his night.

Busch won the Super Late Models "trophy dash" and was the quickest qualifier, completing a best lap in 15.141 seconds to beat Barton by sixth-thousandths of a second.

Multi-car crashes and two stoppages slowed competition in the Super Late Models race.

The most dramatic wreck occurred with 19 laps remaining. Four cars were involved, with none of the drivers being injured. But one driver opted to leave his race car, apparently to voice his disapproval with another.

Richard Bridges got out of his No. 93 racer and reached into the cockpit of driver Mike Haslam's car before an official intervened.

Others winning feature races were: Bear Rzesnowiecky, Legends Cars; Charlie Wahl, IMCA Modifieds; and Mike Faccinto, Ford Focus Midgets.