A NICE JACKPOT SITS IN VEGAS.

Byline: BILL SCHLOTTER / Motor Sports

It's a new week and a new story on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit.

The tour follows the drama and emotion of Dale Earnhardt's win in the Daytona 500 and Jeff Gordon's dominant finish at Rockingham with the Winston Cup's first performance in Las Vegas in over 40 years.

Sunday's Las Vegas 400 will be the inaugural Winston Cup event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And the driver who wins it becomes a part of Nevada motor-sports history.

``Winning the first race at a track is something special,'' said points leader Rusty Wallace, who has won first races at the New Hampshire International Speedway and in Suzuka, Japan. ``It makes you a big part of the history of that track.''

So would two-time first-race winner Jeff Gordon, who could make history of another kind with a win. No driver has won three inaugural events in the history of the Winston Cup.

``We're really excited about going to Las Vegas,'' said Gordon, who trails Wallace by 35 points and is third in the standings. ``I've never been to the track out there. . . but it looks like my kind of speedway.''

Wallace likes it, too.

``The facility is first-class,'' he said. ``The surface is as good as you will find.''

Mum's the word. . . for now: Team owners running Chevy Monte Carlos on the Winston Cup circuit this season had their complaint speeches rehearsed going into last week's Goodwrench 400 at Rockingham, N.C.

The thinking was that a NASCAR ruling lowering the cars' spoilers to 5 inches would take the Chevys out of the race, giving an advantage to Ford's fleet of Tauruses.

The Fords did dominate, claiming six of the top seven places. The Chevy owners found it hard to complain, however, since one of their own, Jeff Gordon, won the race.

Driver Bobby Hamilton, who finished ninth last week in a Chevy, said it will take time to get an accurate picture of which - if any - car has an advantage.

``It's going to be a five- or six-race thing to see who's best,'' Hamilton said. ``Ford didn't win the race. And as long as that 24 car (Gordon) is winning, that means one of us can, too. As long as he's winning, there's a chance the Monte Carlo is a good race car and everybody else has got to get their act together.''

Cory's cooking: NHRA top fuel racer Cory McClenathan bumped his own NHRA speed record up to 322.92 mph last weekend at the ATSCO Nationals in Phoenix.

And he figures he'll have his McDonald's dragster going way faster by the end of the season.

``If we have good weather, good track conditions, we might see 326 or 327 before the season ends,'' McClenathan said. ``It will be an awesome feeling.''

Progress: Camarillo funny-car driver Cruz Pedregon didn't do as well as hoped in Sunday's races in Phoenix. Still, in making the quarterfinals, he did better than last month in Pomona, in which he did not qualify.

There is another Pedregon brother racing in the funny-car ranks this year. Oldest brother Frank joins Cruz and Tony.

Homeboys: Saugus racer Sean Woodside finished ninth in Wednesday's NASCAR Winston West 150-mile race in Las Vegas and moved into second place in season points. Woodside is 16 points behind Bakersfield's Kevin Harvick, who won the Las Vegas race. Simi Valley's Craig Rayburn finished last, going out in a collision on the first lap.

M.K. Kanke of Granada Hills is leading the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour in points after two races. Bob Lyon of Agua Dulce is 14th, Frank Moronski of Palmdale is 30th and Keith Spangler of Chatsworth is 31st.

Tickets: Tickets for individual events at California Speedway will go on sale March 9. Only season tickets are available now.