Las Vegas: Austin Dillon preview

This Week's Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ... Austin Dillon will pilot chassis No. 006 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Camping World Truck Series stable in this weekend's Smith's Food and Drug Stores 350. This chassis was built in-house by the Bass Pro Shops team this season and made its maiden voyage at Chicagoland Speedway in August, where Dillon finished ninth after starting second.

Raybestos Rookie Contender ... Dillon is currently the leading candidate for the 2010 Raybestos Rookie of the Year award and has earned Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors in 13 out of 19 races.

Experienced Spotter ... Although Dillon has not previously competed at Las Vegas, his spotter, veteran NASCAR driver Andy Houston, has five Las Vegas Motor Speedway NCWTS races to his credit from 1998-2004, with a best finish of sixth in the 2003 edition of the race.

AUSTIN DILLON:

What are your thoughts on Las Vegas Motor Speedway?

"I think having experience at other intermediate-sized tracks will help me at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I'm very fortunate to go to Vegas with a very experienced group. Houston [Andy, team spotter] has raced there a bunch in the truck series and my crew chief, Danny Stockman, used to live in Vegas, so he has been to the track a lot and knows what we need to be fast. We're bringing one of our fastest trucks, so I think we will fare well."

CREW CHIEF DANNY STOCKMAN:

What's the key to winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway? "The track has progressive banking, and a really rough bump getting into turn one. Whoever gets through that bump best will succeed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The track is just like any other mile-and-a-half, fast and fun. The key to those types of tracks is learning the bumps. The track will be hot and slippery during practice then cool down during the race."