by By Luke Thompson ¿ lthompson@post-dispatch.com , St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Las Vegas native is a NASCAR veteran, having competed for six full seasons in the Camping World Truck Series. He drives for St. Louis' Rusty Wallace and was the second-best rookie in the Sprint Cup in 2004.

On the other hand, 30-year-old Kevin Conway has almost no NASCAR experience, but he doesn't get the label because he's not running a full season.

But "rookie" isn't just a meaningless word. All 11 drivers competing for the Rookie of the Year award get an extra set of tires each race, which amounts to more practice time. This simply evens the playing field for the standard young rookies who haven't gotten a chance to race much at Gateway International Speedway. But it's a big advantage for Gaughan, who won a race here with the trucks in 2003.

In the meantime, Conway doesn't get any extra help to prepare for his first race ever on the 1.25-mile oval. He has run in only three of 18 races, with a top finish of 15th at the Meijer 300 in Kentucky.

"The first hour of practice is going to be kind of a wash," Conway said. "You just want to spend that first hour driving and getting used to the racetrack."

After taking a long route through motocross, go-karts, midget cars, sprint cars, late models and the Grand National West Division, Conway finally got his chance in NASCAR in 2007, when he ran a limited schedule and shared a car with three other drivers, including Tony Stewart.

His first race in 2009, the Heluva! Good 200, was hampered by mechanical problems and resulted in a 23rd-place finish.

"To hop back in at the second-highest level of motor sports in the country is tough, especially with all new guys," Conway said. "So I think our results aren't indicative of how strong we've been."

Gaughan took a different route. Although he started in car racing, he played basketball at Georgetown for four years on a team led by Allen Iverson that reached two Sweet 16s and won two Big East championships. Gaughan knew his team's expectations were high for Saturday on their home track.

"It just puts the pressure on you," he said. "But I played college basketball for John Thompson. I love pressure."

Now that he's finally reached his goal of driving in NASCAR , Conway intends to stick around and convince his sponsors he's good enough to race a full season. Gaughan also wants to keep going as long as he can, with the hope of eventually getting back to the Sprint Cup.

Conway knows he's made it to this level a little late in the game. But unlike many other sports, NASCAR offers a chance for all kinds of rookies, and Conway believes opportunities are increasing for older drivers.

"Obviously, sponsors are going to want a guy you're going to be able to stick with 10 or 15 years," he said. "But we're seeing it revert back to the way that it was 10, 12 years ago when your top guys coming in were in their late 20s."

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