Race caps Busch’s busy week

Kyle Busch returns to his comfort zone this weekend after spending much of this week in the air or in an office.

The 24-year-old gets back to grass-roots racing Saturday at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, Ga., to prepare for Sunday, when he will try to retain the 250-lap Super Late Models title he won a year ago. He also will compete in a 150-lap Late Model race.

The amateur events will be a respite after flying to Miami on Monday to spend a day with Toyota before heading that night to Las Vegas, where he spent part of Tuesday helping to promote the Feb. 26-28 NASCAR Weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. By noon Tuesday, he was jetting to Texas to visit a sponsor.

Racing also will provide a break from unexpected business that developed this week for his new teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The resort and casino owned by Florida's Miccosukee Indian tribe was to be a major sponsor for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team after several years of sponsoring other cars he raced. But a recent change in tribal leadership has put that deal in jeopardy. A tribal board was to vote Thursday on whether to continue motor sports sponsorships. One industry source estimated the sponsorship is worth from $1 million to $2 million to Busch's teams.

"We're hoping they vote to stay with us," Busch said Tuesday. "(Having Miccosukee) on board was a selling point of why I did this. We're hoping for the best but planning for the worst. It put us in a worrisome situation, but we'll still race."

There was a bit of good news Thursday when Business Week (BusinessWeek.com) published its list of "America's 100 Most Powerful Athletes" and Busch was among seven NASCAR drivers. He was ranked 70th.

The other drivers are Jimmie Johnson (21st), Jeff Gordon (28th), Mark Martin (41st), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (45th), Tony Stewart (48th) and Carl Edwards (67th).

IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, who will begin racing in NASCAR next week, is 88th. Tiger Woods remains No. 1.

• DRAG RACING -- Las Vegas Motor Speedway's special events drag racing season opens this weekend with the Pacific Street Car Association's 240 mph doorslammers and testing for NHRA nostalgia Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars on Saturday and Sunday. ...

The Super Chevy Show returns to Las Vegas on March 20 and 21 to open its 30th season with an all-Chevrolet car show, swap meet and drag race. ...

John Force Racing announced that it will drop from four Nitro Funny Cars to three this season in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. John Force, Ashley Force Hood and 2009 champion Robert Hight will continue to race, while Mike Neff shifts from driving to serving as co-crew chief with Austin Coil on Force's car.

• NASCAR -- Four-time reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson crashed but was not injured Thursday on the road course at Daytona International Speedway during practice for Saturday's 24 Hours of Daytona in Daytona Beach, Fla.

A spokeswoman for Johnson said the driver is feeling fine and hopes to get back behind the wheel of his Riley Daytona Prototype for practice today. He was trying to pass a slower car on the 3.56-mile course when he hit the brakes, turned sideways, slid backward and slammed into a guardwall. ...

Danica Patrick will compete in at least 12 NASCAR races this season and could make her debut in the Feb. 14 season opener for the Nationwide series at Daytona.

She has committed to compete Feb. 20 in Fontana, Calif., and the following week in the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before spending four months focusing on the IndyCar series.

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