Johnson’s coronation highlights Champion’s Week

Jimmie Johnson arrives Tuesday for the start of a four-day coronation as five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion during the second Champion's Week in Las Vegas.

Three of the week's biggest events are free and open to the public.

The Chasers for Charity fundraiser for the Las Vegas chapter of Speedway Children's Charities will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Neon Garage of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The featured event at 2 p.m. is a "Family Feud"-like game with the top 12 Cup drivers split into two teams.

The most popular event of last year's inaugural Champion's Week, the Victory Lap on the Strip, will be reprised Thursday at 3:30 p.m. with a revised circuit. The top 12 drivers will convoy in Sprint Cup cars on Las Vegas Boulevard South, starting in front of Planet Hollywood and heading north to Spring Mountain.

Johnson will do victory "donuts" at that intersection before leading the rest of the drivers south on Las Vegas Boulevard to Harmon Avenue, where the parade will go east to the Hard Rock Hotel at Paradise Road.

Once at the Hard Rock, drivers will go to The Joint for NASCAR's After the Lap question-and-answer session with fans. The free event offers limited seating.

The week's festivities conclude at 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at Wynn Las Vegas with the awards ceremony, which is not open to the public.

Go to LVRJ.com/motorsports for more information. ...

Tony Stewart will host his fourth annual Sirius satellite radio "Stewie Awards" program at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Hard Rock. The two-hour show is open to the public and will feature live interviews with Cup drivers. Go to sirius.com/stewieawards for more information.

■ DIRT TRACK -- The inaugural Las Vegas Sprint Car Nationals is today and Saturday, with racing scheduled to start at 6p.m. at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's dirt track. The event features winged Sprint Cars from the American Sprint Car Series and IMCA Modifieds.

Go to LVMS.com for more information.

■ DRAGSTRIP -- The ninth annual Las Vegas Bracket Nationals at the LVMS dragstrip began with time trials Wednesday and continues through Sunday, with racing beginning at 7:15 a.m. daily. About 400 cars are expected to compete in Sportsman E.T. bracket racing.

The highlight Saturday will be the Ultimate Gambler, which racers pay $1,000 to enter. The winner earned a record $65,000 in 2005.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.