Vegas becoming NASCAR’s busiest market

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The signature event remains in Florida and most race teams call North Carolina home, but the nation’s gambling mecca is about to become NASCAR’s busiest market.

This week’s announcement that Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host six races yearly in NASCAR’s top three circuits starting in 2018 suits Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch just fine. He’s watching his hometown go through a sports boom.

“As a kid I went to a lot of UNLV basketball games, early ’90s, we were the real deal. We were on a national stage,” the 38-year-old Busch said Thursday during a visit to his old school, Durango High. “Then it seemed to fizzle out for awhile.”

While the Runnin’ Rebels have fallen on hard times in hoops, the Las Vegas sports scene has never been more crowded as the city’s population grows and the city recovers from the 2008 recession.

As Busch was finishing last in a Big Wheel race against students and making a $5,000 donation to his former school, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority was meeting down the street to discuss lease details of the proposed NFL stadium that would lure the Raiders from Oakland.

There were also three college basketball conference tournaments going on, with Busch having tickets to the evening Pac-12 session. That’s being played for the first time at the new T-Mobile Arena, where the NHL expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights begin play in the fall.

And Busch, in town for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup race, was excited about Wednesday’s announcement that the 1.5-mile oval north of the Strip will host a second Cup race beginning in 2018, during the 10-race playoff.

The addition of the two lower tier races will make Las Vegas the only NASCAR track to host two tripleheader weekends each year.

“Las Vegas is a destination,” said Busch, who won NASCAR’s premier race at Daytona last month.

“When you talk about Las Vegas, I believe it’s 90 per cent of the ticket sales are from out of town. And so the tourism bureau is really the one in charge and they do a fantastic job to advertise Las Vegas in general.”

Indeed, money is driving the sports growth in town.

The Raiders are in play because the state of Nevada has pledged $750 million toward a $1.9 billion domed stadium.

Money draws numerous UFC and boxing events to town.

And Speedway Motorsports Inc. decided to move its fall Cup and Truck Series dates from New Hampshire and an Xfinity race from Kentucky to the desert because the Las Vegas track will receive $2.5 million a year for seven years from the city’s convention and visitors authority.

While Las Vegas hasn’t been immune to NASCAR’s dwindling attendance, the visitors bureau said 115,000 attended last March’s NASCAR Cup race, with an estimated 96,000 coming from out of town.

“The experience is unique to any other in our sport.” NASCAR executive Steve O’Donnell said.

Money changing the face of sports in the desert