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Wednesday, February 28 Drivers to Watch ESPN.com news services Check out a short list of drivers to keep an eye on this weekend at Las Vegas. Jeff Burton Two-time defending champion of the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; passed Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin for the lead on lap 135; not a good start this year, with finishes of 19th and 37th in the first two races; won four races in 2000 and had 22 top-10s; finished third in the Winston Cup standings; best performance of the year was the start-to-finish victory at New Hampshire in September where he led all 300 laps of competition. Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was ironic that his first lap crash at Rockingham was virtually a carbon copy of the tragic one that killed his father at Daytona; fortunately the speed was not as fast and although he was slow to get out of the car and had a visible limp, he was OK; ready to get back in the cockpit in Las Vegas and go back racing again; led 41 laps at Las Vegas last season, but finished 10th when rain stopped the race prematurely. Jeff Gordon Rebounded nicely from a 30th place finish at Daytona with a third at Rockingham last Sunday; finished third in Las Vegas two years ago; one of several contenders for the 2001 Winston Cup title; three wins and 11 top-five finishes last year was not up to his standards; has 52 career wins. Dale Jarrett The 1999 Winston Cup champion posted a 10th place finish at Rockingham in the season's second race; won the first pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1998; finished seventh in last year's race and 11th the previous season. Bobby Labonte The Winston Cup title holder finished fifth in the last two years at Las Vegas; in 1999 he started from the pole; was positive and upbeat after the second place finish at North Carolina Speedway last Sunday, particularly after the events earlier in the week with the loss of friend and fellow competitor Dale Earnhardt; completed all races in 2000 with four wins, three poles, 20 top-fives and 25 top-10s. Mark Martin When he races at Las Vegas it is a safe bet that he will be a frontrunner to win; captured the inaugural Winston Cup race in 1998 and has not finished lower than 10th in three races (3rd in 2000; 10th in 1999); was a contender to win last year, leading at the halfway point, but rain ruined the strategy of hodling off Roush Racing teammmate Jeff Burton who took the lead on lap 136 and went on to take the checkered flag; had just one victory in 2000, but posted 20 top-10 finishes. Tony Stewart The shoulder injury suffered at Daytona did not seem to affect his performance at Rockingham where he finished a solid fourth place (for the second straight year); has experience career highs and lows at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; the 1 1/2 mile oval served as the site of his 1997 IRL championship; that day marked his one-year comeback from the hardest crash he suffered in 21 years of racing -- broke his pelvis, hip and collarbone, along with numerous contusions when his car slammed into the outside retaining wall; in just two full years on the circuit, he recorded nine wins, four poles and nearly $7 million in earnings; teammate of Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte at Joe Gibbs Racing. Rusty Wallace The early points leader after finishes of third and seventh at Daytona and Rockingham, repsectively; was third in Las Vegas in 1998 and eighth in 1999; won at least one race in 15 consecutive seasons; had four wins in 2000 for a career total of 53; led the series with nine poles and finished in the top-10 in 21 races.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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