The Nationwide Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for Saturday's Sam's Town 300. The race is a homecoming for Vegas natives Kyle Busch and Brendan Gaughan, but if recent statistics are any indication, this race is a race for the rookies.

Of course, Gaughan was one of those rookies whose star shone at LVMS a year ago, as he was one of four rookies to post top-10 finishes in the 2009 event by finishing seventh.

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FONTANA, CA - FEBRUARY 20: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Z-Line Designs Toyota, celebrates on the track with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway on February 20, 2010 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Considering Joe Gibbs Racing entries had won the last four Nationwide Series races at Auto Club Speedway, it was no surprise that, yet again, JGR would be celebrating in victory lane following Saturday's Stater Brothers 300. The identity of the driver, however, was maybe a little bit of a surprise.

It may sound odd to consider Kyle Busch in victory lane following a Nationwide Series race a surprise. After all, he's the reigning Nationwide Series champion. On the other hand, he wasn't the JGR driver that was dominant throughout the race. Instead, it was JGR driver Joey Logano who was at the point for 130 laps of the 150-lap event.

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Possible 2010 Championship Contender Jason Leffer via nascarmedia.com Credit Getty Images for NASCAR

Saturday's Nationwide Series showdown at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., could come down to a showdown between two California natives -- series regular Jason Leffler and Kevin Harvick. The two drivers are coming off drastically different finishes, though, in last weekend's season-opener at Daytona.

Leffler, a Long Beach native, is hoping to bounce back after a dismal Daytona race. After being collected in a multi-car incident last weekend that resulted in a 33rd-place finish for he and his Braun Racing team, Leffler is looking to right the ship in his home state on the road to a 2010 season that he hopes will produce a series title for the first non-Sprint Cup full-timer in several years.

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Tony Stewart celebrates winning his fifth NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 in six seasons Saturday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com.   Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR.

It seemed like all eyes were on Danica Patrick as she made her NASCAR debut in Saturday's DRIVE4COPD 300 Nationwide Series event at Daytona International Speedway. She spent most of the early laps of the race running from mid-pack on back where she felt most comfortable. She even managed to miss a lap seven crash that involved Trevor Bayne, Brian Keselowski, and Mike Bliss, among several others -- driving right through the wreckage to remain unscathed.

"I don't know how I didn't, but I didn't," she told crew chief Tony Eury Jr. over the radio after missing the accident.

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Chrissy Wallace: the other female racer in Saturday's Nationwide race via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com credit  John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR (3/28/2008)

With all the media attention placed on Danica Patrick's entry into NASCAR with Saturday's Nationwide Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway, the other 42 drivers who'll be competing this weekend seem to have pretty much been forgotten.

Not only will Patrick be only one driver among the 43 who will start Saturday's race, she won't even be the only female making her Nationwide Series debut -- that is if Chrissy Wallace can put up a lap during Friday's qualifying session to get herself into the show. If Wallace can get into Saturday's DRIVE4COPD 300, she and her father Mike Wallace will make series history by becoming the first father/daughter tandem to compete against each other in Nationwide Series competition. The father/daughter duo has already laid claim to that very same milestone in Camping World Truck Series competition.

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NASCAR 'Double Dipper' Brad Keselowski via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Kyle Busch’s name may not be on the list, at least not yet, but the list of drivers hoping to race full-time in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series just keeps growing. It’s pretty much expected that Carl Edwards would do the double, after all it seems like he has been pulling full-time double-duty for years. Then, Brad Keselowski added his name to the list when he announced his move to Penske Racing, announcing that he would pilot cars for Penske full-time in both series.

Last month, Paul Menard signed up for full double-duty when Roush Fenway Racing announced that the driver would be behind the wheel full-time in a Roush Fenway Nationwide entry. Meanwhile, Menard will compete on the Sprint Cup side for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Plans for Edwards, Keselowski, and Menard to compete at both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup levels full-time in 2010 look to be a done deal. Meanwhile, a couple of other drivers are hoping for the same schedule.

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Jason Leffler Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

The last four Nationwide Series champions have come from the Sprint Cup Series ranks, but will 2010 be the year of the Nationwide-only driver? Not since Martin Truex Jr.'s second-consecutive series championship in 2005 has the title trophy gone to a driver running only the Nationwide Series.

Series regulars got closer in 2009 than they had since that 2005 season to claiming that trophy for the Nationwide-only camp. At the end of last season, eight series regulars (granted Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch were regulars in the Nationwide Series, but they didn't count in this equation since they were also full-time Sprint Cup drivers) finished in the top-10. That was the most since 2005, a season that also saw eight Nationwide-only drivers in the top-10 at season's end.

It will help that, as of now, Kyle Busch, who pretty much stunk up the field throughout 2009, plans to scale back his Nationwide Series edeavors to focus on his still full plate of Sprint Cup racing, Camping World Truck Series multi-truck team ownership and part-time driver, and still-part-time driver in the Nationwide Series.

Still planning to run full-time in both Nationwide and Sprint Cup, though, is Carl Edwards. Running two series full-time has got to be becoming old hat to him by now. The 2007 Nationwide champ has become far and away the seasoned veteran of full-time double duty.

Brad Keselowski and Paul Menard will also be attempting both series full-time. It will be Menard's first full-time Nationwide Season since 2006. Meanwhile, Keselowski will have so much on his plate -- concentrating on his first full-time Sprint Cup season in a somewhat new ride (he only has three starts in the Penske No. 12 Cup car under his belt heading into 2010), he's starting up a whole new Nationwide Series team at Penske, and he's a Truck Series team owner.

Edwards will most definitely have the biggest target on his back as the Sprint Cup driver to beat for the Nationwide title, and Keselowski, a four-time race winner in 2009 and third-place points finisher the last two years, may still very well be a threat -- even with a start-up team. Keselowski was, after all, breathing down Edwards' neck until the checkered flag fell at Homestead for second-to-Busch honors in 2009.

Even so, 2010 looks to be the best shot non-Cup drivers have had in the Nationwide Series in awhile. Drivers out of last season's eight who are returning and not running regularly in the Sprint Cup Series include long-time Nationwide veteran Jason Leffler, who finised fourth in 2009; last season's rookie of the year Justin Allgaier, who finished fifth in 2009 and will have a teammate this year in Keselowski; Rusty Wallace Inc. teammates Steve Wallace and Brendan Gaughan, who finished out 2009 seventh and ninth, respectively; and Michael Annett, who will have a year of Nationwide experience under his belt after finishing out his rookie campaign 10th in points last season.

Of those series regulars, Leffler may be a favorite to play spoiler to the double-dippers. He returns with his Braun Racing team intact after a 2009 season that saw him as the highest points finisher after Busch, Edwards, and Keselowski. He'll also have the benefit of Sprint Cup teammates who'll make at least occasional appearances in the Nationwide Series, including Brian Vickers and Reed Sorenson.

Another favorite would probably also be Allgaier. After all, he finished fifth in points his rookie season of 2009. This season, he has a year of experience under his belt, and he'll also have a teammate in Keselowski -- two things he didn't have working in his favor in 2009.

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