NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Kurt Busch returns home as hero, along with Harley J. Earl trophy

Published Mar. 10, 2017 3:11 p.m. ET

Joe Menzer

LAS VEGAS -- Kurt Busch always enjoys coming back to his hometown of Las Vegas.

But earlier this week, Busch returned for the first time in his NASCAR Premier Series career as winner of the Daytona 500. And just how did he start his celebratory week that will culminate in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?

“Don’t hold this against me, but my wife wanted to go to the Backstreet Boys,” he said Friday in the media center at LVMS. “So we went to see them and she danced around like a 14-year-old.”

It’s been a very big week for Busch, considering it was announced earlier that LVMS is getting a second race weekend added in NASCAR’s fall playoffs beginning in 2018.

“Vegas always has the entertainment value, with the restaurants, the shows, the gambling, the Pac-12 basketball tournament is here, the Mountain West tournament (was here), our big NASCAR weekend here at the track,” Busch said. “And now the announcement of a second date, there is tons of excitement and energy around Vegas, and it’s fun to come back along with the Harley Jr. Earl trophy.

“I took it to my high school yesterday, and it was great. We did a spirit pep rally day for all of the Durango High School Trail Blazers.”

That was part of Busch’s continuing quest to treat the winning trophy from the Daytona 500 a traveling piece of sports history like hockey’s Stanley Cup. And trust us, he’s planning on taking it pretty much everywhere.

“Earl is gonna have his own identity,” Busch said of the trophy. “I think he’s probably gonna hit a blackjack table Sunday night after the race. Watch out, he’s gonna bet all 500s – because he is 500.”

Meanwhile, Earl spends his nights for the time being in Busch’s Vegas hotel room.

“Yes, it’s in my hotel room,” the driver said. “It’s about as easy to deal with as a stroller. It’s got a carrying case. It’s got wheels and you just throw it in the trunk and go.

“I’ve got insurance on it, though.”