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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Vegas Is A Long Way From Manhattan
The first NASCAR Championship week in Las Vegas is over...
Mike Harris  | http://www.RacinToday.com  |  Posted December 06, 2009   Las Vegas, NV
Entertainer Wayne Newton holds the green flag to start the Victory Lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champions Week. (Photo: Getty Images)

The first NASCAR Championship Week and awards banquet in the gambling capital of the world were nothing like the inaugural events in New York City in 1981.

For one thing, stock car’s stars are no longer a bunch of good ol’ boys, hicks from the Southeast, who walked and drove around Manhattan gaping at the tall buildings and were cowed by the traffic and the prices.

The drivers honored Friday night at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel are sophisticated sportsmen, used to luxury and the spotlight that comes with being part of a national phenomenon.

Greg Biffle caught the tone of the evening just right when he spoke to Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson sitting at the head table across the massive stage.

“At the craps table last night, I rolled seven four times in a row,’’ Biffle told Johnson and the 1,500 or so people who jammed the huge ballroom at the Wynn. “I didn’t win much money and I didn’t get a trophy. Other than that, (it) was just like your (win streak).’’

Johnson, who won an unprecedented fourth-straight Cup title this season, laughed along with everyone else.

Why not? The accolades just kept rolling in and Johnson knew that later in the evening he’d be collecting a check for more than $6.6 million.

That was one of the few familiar things about the new venue for the postseason awards following 27 years of celebration at New York City’s fabled Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

All during Champion’s Week here, the question kept arising: Should the banquet have left NYC?

The overwhelming answer is: It was probably the right time, and Vegas is the right place.

New York is vibrant and exciting, especially as the Christmas season gears up in Midtown during the first week of December.

The Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf is as elegant as the old hotel itself. But it’s also small by Las Vegas standards, with the guests at the black tie dinner crammed into the main floor and two balconies so tight it became an adventure to try to get to the bathroom.

No such problems at the Wynn, where the elite of NASCAR and the stock car industry, including 240 employees of the championship Hendrick Motorsports team, were joined by about 300 fans – a first for a NASCAR banquet – in the massive ballroom.

There was a main stage and a separate stage in the center of the room, huge TV screens on each wall – alongside banners of all the former Cup champions – and a line of theater-type velvet ropes separating the VIP’s from the tables for the fans grouped at the back of the room.

The place is so big that a pair of binoculars would have come in handy for those sitting in the far corners of the room.

Besides the continuing dominance of Johnson and the Hendrick team, which finished an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the championship with Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, an ongoing theme throughout the week was the presence of the fans and the promise that even more would be included in the gala in 2010.

“The most important thing about being here is that the fans get to be a part of this,’’ said four-time champion Gordon. “This is the next step for NASCAR, a step that we needed to take.’’

Denny Hamlin, another of the top-10 drivers honors Friday, said, “The change of scenery was welcomed by all of us drivers.’’

Las Vegas certainly lived up to its reputation, welcoming NASCAR and its fans with open arms, a ton of big-name shows and, of course, 24-hour casinos.


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Mike Harris

RacinToday.com

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