Michael Waltrip started 13 th for the NASCAR Busch Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Saturday and battled an ill-handling Dream Machine for most of the first half of the race. Waltrip worked his way up as far as 8 th after two pit stops but found himself at the tail end of the lead lap after a caution came out while pitting. There was some confusion in the NASCAR scoring tower as to where everyone was positioned at the time the caution flag came out.
After another series of pit stops, Waltrip got a couple of the laps back, and after the fourth caution came on lap 180, Michael was back on the lead lap in 11 th . The Dream Machine made a charge to the front and passed seven cars to take the checkered flag in 4 th . It was a dramatic run that got the crowd on its feet and left his crew wide-eyed and grinning. "This is the best the car has been all day!" Michael told his team.
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The Dream Machine went one-lap down after the leader, Matt Kenseth passed Michael on lap 144. Waltrip pitted for fresh tires on lap 150, but the crew missed a lug nut on the left-rear tire and had to come back into the pits. This put the Dream Machine in 27 th place, 3-laps down.
Kevin Harvick won the race followed by Kasey Kahne, David Stremme and Michael.
The fourth place finish put Michael in third position in the Busch Series Championship standings. It was his second top-five in three races.
The next race for the Aaron's Dream Machine will be at the Darlington Raceway, March 20, 2004.