By Bruce Martin PA SportsTicker Contributing Editor

Brian Vickers is perfect in qualifying this season and 11th in the standings, yet he still has trouble relaxing on qualifying day. "It's definitely still agonizing," Vickers said Friday before successfully qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Until you're locked in, it really doesn't matter where you are in the points. Fridays are still really tough for us." Although he qualified 23rd for Sunday's race, it's not going to get any easier for Vickers for at least another two weeks.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith played coy Friday on the possibility of adding a second race date to his showcase in the desert. Smith badly wants a second race, but reiterated his refusal to make it happen by taking a date from one of his other Speedway Motorsports Inc. properties. "I think we've earned a second race," Smith repeated several times. "I feel like we have earned that right. Maybe they will feel sorry for us one day and give us another date.

What will NASCAR's schedule look like in the future? Track owner Bruton Smith has some ideas, Lee Spencer says in The Hot Pass.

World champion Sebastian Loeb built a 1 minute, 1.4 second lead over Australia's Chris Atkinson on Saturday in the Rally Mexico. Loeb, a Frenchman driving for Citroen Total, won five of Saturday's eight stages with a total time of 3:08:39.8. Atkinson, driving for Subaru, was second, and Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who led after the first day, dropped 2:05 behind Loeb.

Kyle Busch proved there's no place like home after leading practice and claiming pole for Sunday's Vegas race (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX).