EDITORIAL: Las Vegas lures another NASCAR race

Former NFL coach Jim Mora once went on an infamous rant, part of which went like this: “Playoffs? … You kiddin’ me? Playoffs?” But as Las Vegas grows more and more into a big-league town — maybe even an NFL town — another major sports organization is bringing its playoffs here.

No kiddin’.

As reported by the Review-Journal’s Richard N. Velotta, representatives of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the city’s tourism industry and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority converged last week to officially announce that Las Vegas would become the home of a second yearly NASCAR race beginning in fall 2018. That date is significant, as it means the speedway will host one of the 10 races that constitute the Monster Energy Cup playoffs, also known as “The Chase for the Cup.”

The timing of the announcement couldn’t have been more perfect, leading into the city’s annual March NASCAR weekend, which was highlighted by Sunday’s Kobalt 400. That event brought out fans by the tens of thousands, and there were a boatload of spectators on hand Saturday for the race in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series, the Boyd Gaming 300. The fall 2018 weekend, expected to be in late September, will be even larger, as it will include the Camping World Truck Series. And since Las Vegas is already host to a fall truck race, that event will move to the March weekend, putting NASCAR’s top three series in town together twice a year.

Mr. Velotta noted that the new deal will mean millions of dollars to the Las Vegas economy. Nationwide, NASCAR attendance has dwindled over the past six years, but the Las Vegas stop has been steady. In 2016, the Kobalt 400 drew 114,000 people to the track, more than 96,000 of whom were from out of town and who spent $82 million directly, resulting in an economic impact of $139 million, according to convention authority statistics. The race also was seen by 7.2 million television viewers, resulting in $5 million in media value to the city.

And it doesn’t hurt that Vegas is the hometown of two of NASCAR’s biggest stars, brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch. Both own Cup season championships; Kurt won the season-opening Daytona 500 last month, and Kyle is always in contention and entertaining — refer to Sunday’s post-race dust-up with Joey Logano.

Give credit to all involved in bringing another giant event to town: NASCAR, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the LVCVA and the city’s tourism industry. The Monster Energy Cup playoffs arrive in 2018. No kiddin.’