Kyle at rear of Cup field after wreck in practice

Kyle Busch's chances of winning his hometown NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race became more difficult Saturday when he wrecked his primary No. 18 Toyota during practice.

Busch will turn to his backup car in the Kobalt Tools 400 at noon today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, forcing him from his No. 2 qualifying spot to the back of the field.

"We can repair it, we just don't know if we can get it back to where it needs to be," said Jimmy Makar, vice president of racing operations for Joe Gibbs Racing. "The frame is bent a little bit in the back. That makes us a little bit nervous, so we opted for the backup car to make sure we have a car that we know is proper."

Busch has had up-and-down experiences in Las Vegas. He won the 2009 race and finished in the top three two other times. Busch also wound up 41st in his debut race in 2004 because of an accident and was 38th last year after engine trouble.

The day didn't get any better for Busch, who crashed his Nationwide Series No. 54 Toyota early in the Sam's Town 300 and finished 33rd.

Busch apologized to his crew via radio after getting tangled with Sam Hornish, saying, "We would have been all right -- probably an eighth-, ninth- or 10th-place car. We'll go get them in Fontana. I know Bristol is next, but, you know, we need to work on our next intermediate track."

Busch has plenty of company in his misery this weekend. Jimmie Johnson (wreck), Juan Pablo Montoya (engine) and Regan Smith (transmission) also have to switch to backup cars today and move to the back of the grid.

■ CROWDED CALENDAR -- NASCAR weekend was in town at the same time as the Mountain West and Western Athletic conference basketball tournaments, and next year probably will be even busier. The Pac-12 Conference is expected to move its tournament from Los Angeles and play at the same.

The race and tournaments -- except for the West Coast Conference -- previously were on separate weeks. NASCAR pushed this year's schedule back a week and plans to keep the new format.

Las Vegas could switch dates with Phoenix, which hosts a race the week before, and grab more attention for itself.

LVMS president Chris Powell, however, said he doesn't want to trade.

"We love this week," Powell said. "We love for the basketball tournaments to be in town. We have worked with some of the schools to make their followers aware that they've got another entertainment option at the speedway during the course of the weekend."

■ PARTY TIME -- The season-ending NASCAR awards banquet is expected to return to Las Vegas.

"We're working to get it done," NASCAR chief marketing officer Steve Phelps said. "We don't have a deal done at this time. Both of us want to get it done."

This banquet moved to Las Vegas in 2009 after a long run in New York.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.