Las Vegas NASCAR Speed Week
Las Vegas welcomes the arrival of the NASCAR express to the Sin City raceway for the UAW-Dodge 400. The desert jewel of stock car racing venues, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) offers race fans the ultimate NASCAR race week with innovative, modern accommodations. The entire facility sparkles in the sunlight with a glimmer and glitz that is pure Vegas. The Neon Garage is a unique LVMS experience for race fans, an unmatched closeness with drivers and crews plus live headliner entertainment. Within sight of the beckoning gambling leviathans on the Las Vegas strip, the race track takes its place on the official Las Vegas must-go-there list, often referred to as the "NASCAR Disneyland."
After the dismal rains on both Saturday and Sunday's race day at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Las Vegas has to be a mighty welcome sight to the thousands of fans that follow the race circuit. The city is filling up with the good natured bunch of dedicated fans that come for the racing and stay a few extra days for the Vegas food, casinos, and partying.
Watching the rain delayed Sunday race on Monday morning was an eye opening experience when I noticed the empty stands and the effect it caused. The empty seats sucked up any lingering race day excitement, made me feel lonely. Like I was watching some mid-week practice session. So where were the missing fans? They were already in Las Vegas, having left Fontana on a damp and dreary Sunday night.
Las Vegas is scheduled for some great weather this week, blue sky and mid-seventy temps. Saturday's Sam's Town 300 has more than a dozen sprint car drivers in the field including Las Vegan Kyle Busch and and teammate Tony Stewart in their fast moving Toyotas. They could be the dominate force in Saturday's Nationwide Series, don't miss this one scheduled for broadcast on ESPN2 at 4 PM Saturday afternoon. Tentative Sam's Town 300 driver list available here.
