GEARING UP

By Jim Peltz

Feb. 29, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

What’s happening in motor sports heading into this weekend:

1. As NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series arrives in Las Vegas for its third race of the season Sunday, Joe Gibbs Racing so far isn’t missing a beat after shifting to Toyota.

More than a few eyebrows went up last year when Gibbs -- whose drivers are two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin -- announced it would leave Chevrolet to drive Toyota Camrys in 2008.

But the team is off to a fast start. Busch has an early lead in the points standings after fourth-place finishes in Daytona and California, and Stewart was third and seventh at those two races, respectively.

In addition, Stewart won the first two races in NASCAR’s second-tier league, the Nationwide Series, at those tracks in a Toyota and leads in the series’ points.

Busch also leads the points in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series after winning in a Toyota at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana last Saturday.

That means Toyota drivers are leading all three NASCAR series -- the first time that has happened.

2. Flight attendants at Southwest Airlines are known for their in-flight banter that goes beyond the normal monotone recitation of federal safety rules.

Case in point: The carrier’s early afternoon flight from Burbank to Las Vegas on Thursday.

As the plane approached landing, one attendant gave the customary instructions to put seat-backs and trays in their upright position and then added the following: “Go Earnhardt!”

That drew a cheer from several passengers. So did her next comment: “And boo Gordon!”

3. Scott Speed, the Californian who switched to stock car racing last year after an 18-month stint in Formula One, is diversifying again.

Speed said he would enter a limited number of races this season in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series, driving a Toyota for the Red Bull Racing team. His first race is scheduled for March 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The Manteca, Calif., native also will keep driving in the ARCA stock car developmental series, and Red Bull said both efforts were aimed at getting Speed, 25, “ready for top-level competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.”

“Every time I’m in the car I’m learning something,” Speed said. “What’s difficult, and what I’m learning a lot about, is how the other cars around you affect your car.”

4. The late Art Arfons, who broke the world land speed record three times in the mid-1960s, was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

Known for his Green Monster high-powered dragsters, Arfons at the time was locked in a speed duel with Craig Breedlove to set new records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

Arfons set his highest mark at 576.553 mph, which held until Breedlove topped 600 mph on Nov. 15, 1965. Arfons died Dec. 3 at age 81.

5. In local racing, late-model stock cars head the program Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway in Riverside County. The half-mile track also said fans with ticket stubs from last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide races at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, which were delayed by rain, would be admitted free.

DRIVER STANDINGS

Sprint Cup series:

No. Driver...Points

1. Kyle Busch...335

2. Ryan Newman...329

3. Tony Stewart...316

4. Kurt Busch...299

5. Carl Edwards...296

6. Kasey Kahne...294

7. Kevin Harvick...268

8. Jimmie Johnson...267

9. Greg Biffle...262