Penske off the money in Vegas.

For the second race in a row Penske Racing failed to benefit from running the 2004 model Dodge Intrepid as neither Kurt Busch nor Ryan Newman featured in the top 15 with Newman's weekend ending early with a tyre failure.

The 2006 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 in Las Vegas will join the previous Auto Club 500 on the list of races that Roger Penske's team will want to forget as Busch finished an invisible 16th and Newman's miserable weekend concluded with a tyre failure and a terminal brush with the wall.

After finishing 16th last time out in Fontana, Busch started the #2 Miller Lite Dodge from the third row of the grid but was soon trying just to cling on to a place in the top ten. Never able to get the car to handle to his liking, Busch spent the day trying to hold on to his place on the lead lap and, in the second half of the 270-lap race, trying to avoid the same problem that befell his teammate.

The net result was another 16th place finish for the 2004 Cup Champion, a result that leaves him 22nd in the points table and still searching for his first top ten finish for Penske.

"We just missed the handle on it again," said Busch, who rose as high as fourth thanks to a two tyre pitstop on lap 110 but faded again soon after. "It was just way too loose off the corners."

Despite not having the confidence in set-up beneath him, Busch looked on course for a top 15 finish until the final round of scheduled pitstops on lap 234 saw him exceed the pit road speed limit and drop to 31st as a result of the subsequent penalty. However that only served to fire the Las Vegas native up for the final laps, as he regained nearly every position he lost before the chequered flag fell.

"We must have passed 30 cars out there in the last 25 laps," he continued. "We learned from California and we'll learn from today. We're testing at Kentucky before we head to Atlanta, so we'll just keep getting after it."

Newman, understandably, did not share Busch's sunny outlook for after blowing an engine in practice and dropping to the rear of the starting grid, the driver of the #12 Alltel Dodge lost a lap to the leaders during the first long green flag run and then blew a right front tyre on lap 88 trying to stay in position for the 'Lucky Dog' pass.

"We had cords the first run," stated a dejected Newman, who was in tyre trouble from the moment the green flag waved. "We freed the car way up, and we were looser the second run. The car got tighter and tighter each lap. Goodyear's got some work to do. I'm stuck. I'm running as hard as I can to try to get my lap back. It's just unfortunate."

After giving the outside wall in turn two a hefty slap on lap 88 Newman took no further part in the day's proceedings and was classified 43rd.

"I thought we had a better race car than that. I think we did. We didn't have a practice session yesterday (because of engine problems early in the practice) to tune on it very much. That hurt, but it didn't hurt us that bad that we showed that bad."

"It was just the tyres. It was just unfortunate. We got behind the eight-ball yesterday, and that hurt some. Getting into the wall hurt a whole lot more. The right tyre, it was the same deal. It doesn't seem like things have changed too much since last year."