Kyle Busch turns in fastest lap

Kyle Busch posted the fastest lap Thursday during practice for Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300.

Busch had the best of the 34 cars at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with an average speed of 178.094 mph in the afternoon practice session in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

"Yeah, I think we're pretty good," said the Las Vegas native, who won last weekend's Nationwide race at Phoenix. "(The car) was fast when we unloaded here, and we've gotten a little bit better. I feel pretty good about it. We may have some good chances for Saturday.

"The way your car drives and the way your car handles is more important than what the stopwatch says."

He'll log some more laps in the car today, but his priority will be the 3:30 p.m. qualifying session for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 Sprint Cup race.

Four of the five fastest Thursday were Cup drivers. Nationwide regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (177.177 mph) was second best, followed by Mark Martin (176.927), Carl Edwards (176.846) and Denny Hamlin (176.742).

"We've been clicking off our fast laps with a lot of laps on our tires, so maybe that's good," Busch said. "When you start out on a run, when you put tires and fuel on it, you're really, really loose, so we've had to be a little bit cognizant of that today and try to make sure that we don't get outside of our comfort zone and screw something up."

■ SIGNATURE SUCCESS -- A free autograph session between practice sessions attracted a big crowd to the Neon Garage infield area.

The hourlong event allowed 300 fans to meet NASCAR stars. About 200 were unable to get autographs during the one-hour session. But many drivers left autographed "hero" cards.

The last ones to get the opportunity were Martin Markle and his 14-year-old son, Collin, who got in line at 10:05 a.m., nearly 3½ hours before drivers began signing.

"It's great that they show so much passion for our sport," driver Denny Hamlin said.

Rookie Timmy Hill, 18, stayed for 30 minutes signing for fans. He made his Nationwide debut Saturday with a 29th-place finish for Rick Ware Racing.

■ FLYING EDWARDS -- A week after plummeting 850 feet from the Stratosphere's Sky Jump, Carl Edwards flew with the Air Force Thunderbirds a couple of hours before Nationwide practice began.

He pulled 9.1 Gs in the air, then was the fastest in morning practice in his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Mustang.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.