This is the year that for some crazy reason, NASCAR Weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, USA Sevens rugby at Sam Boyd Stadium, UFC 196 at the MGM Grand Garden and the West Coast Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments at the Orleans Arena will be held in Las Vegas, concurrently, or at least within the same 72 hours or thereabouts.
You can almost smell the high octane, the burning rubber, the barbecue on the grill, the suntan lotion. You can almost see the questionable yellow flag that bunches up the field toward the end of the race.
Jimmie Johnson won the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday for his second straight win at the track and his 76th career victory, tying him with Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list.
The major theme for today’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was whether Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske would have as big of an edge as they did last season on the two tracks where NASCAR’s new low-downforce package was introduced. After Saturday’s final practice, it appears Chevrolet has closed the gap considerably.
Taking a look at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia.
Jamie Little, the congenial NASCAR pit road reporter who graduated from Green Valley High School and still lives in Las Vegas, couldn’t see John Cena on the starting grid at the Daytona 500.
The Daytona 500 earned a 6.1 overnight rating on FOX, down 16 percent from last year’s overnight rating of 7.3. The 6.1 was the second-lowest overnight rating for the race since 2008, when overnight ratings first became available.
Kyle Busch was all set to make a run on teammate Matt Kenseth on the last lap of the Daytona 500 and bring home the bacon for the Joe Gibbs Racing team. But his other teammate, Denny Hamlin, beat him to it, leaving Busch with scrambled eggs and toast.
Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 beating Martin Truex Jr. in a photo-finish on Sunday.
Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowl titles in the NFL and has won four NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, but his team hasn’t won a Daytona 500 in 23 years, and his manufacturer, Toyota, never has won the race. But based on recent history in plate races and action during Daytona speedweeks, Gibbs might have his best chance to end the drought today.
