Big Race Weekend for Las Vegas Motor Speedway
By Kent Whitaker:
Leave it to Las Vegas to make racing news with a splash! The town is known for bright lights, shows, gambling, and more! It looks like the city and speedway took a gamble and rolled the dice to land a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race stating in 2018! It paid off!
Second Date!
Rumors were in the air last week that Las Vegas might be getting a second date. The city’s tourism leaders were working with Speedway Motorsports Incorporated and the Speedway office per several reporting outlets. But would it actually happen? Yep. Funding for sponsorship and advertising was announced as being approved, but one thing – where would the second race be taken from? After all, there was no official announcement yet.
It became clear instantly to many the chances of another race added to the schedule were slim to none. So a second race would mean a track with two races a year would lose one. The racing rumor mill, which happened to be correct in this case, pointed fingers towards the second race at New Hampshire as the one that Las Vegas would gain.
Richard Velotta, of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, reported how things happened. “The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority unanimously approved a seven-year sponsorship and marketing agreement, plus $500,000 a year to market both the spring and fall events, beginning Jan. 1.”
The Flip Side
What I think is neat about this is that not only will Las Vegas be gaining a second cup race but they will also be gaining the Xfinity series race and the Camping World Truck Series race as well!
The flip side of the story is that New Hampshire racing fans will be losing a race weekend for the Cup Series and the Truck series. In addition, to make everything fit together, the Xfinity race date will be taken away from Kentucky. All-in-all it’s a Jackpot for Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the tourism industry in the area!
Las Vegas Schedule
Here’s your complete on-track schedule for the Las Vegas NASCAR cup weekend courtesy of NASCAR.com.
FRIDAY, MARCH 10:
2-3:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
4-4:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1
6-6:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS2
7:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS2
SATURDAY, MARCH 11:
Noon-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
1:05 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
2:30-3:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1
4 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300 (200 laps, 300 miles), FS1
SUNDAY, MARCH 12:
3:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Kobalt 400 (267 laps, 400.5 miles), FOX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kent Whitaker, often called ‘the Deck Chef,’ is a sportswriter, culinary writer, and cookbook author with fourteen titles. He covers NASCAR, racing in general, Football, barbecue, grilling, and tailgating. You can visit him on The Deck Chef .”