After a sometimes testy relationship with Richard Childress Racing, Kevin Harvick switched to Stewart-Haas and won the NASCAR championship. “I’m as happy as I’ve ever been,” he said.
Motor Sports
If Brad Keselowski didn’t exist, NASCAR would have to invent him. Any sport needs a highlight-film villain so that fans can better identify the heroes.
Ticket sales for 2014 were down from 2013. But overall year-to-year revenue was slightly up, and restructuring debt to reduce it by $230 million during the past four years has helped, too.
It’s unusual for sports to pop up out of nowhere and become a regular staple on the Las Vegas odds boards, but NASCAR has created its own niche with the betting public, and that all occurred when a young kid from Vallejo, Calif., named Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994.
MICAH ROBERTS’ SPRINT CUP DRIVER RATINGS
The first man to drive the famed No. 3 car in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series since the late Dale Earnhardt — aka “The Intimidator” — Austin Dillon was “The Dominator” on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Jeff Gordon crashed toward the end of practice on Saturday, putting him in a backup car and at the back of the pack in today’s Kobalt 400. He had won the pole in the qualifying.
Danica Patrick crashed in final Sprint Cup practice Friday at Watkins Glen International but walked away, was treated at the infield care center, and released.
Brad Keselowski seized the lead from Kyle Busch on lap 163 following a restart of Boyd Gaming 300 and led the rest of the way, holding off Busch down the stretch to claim his first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Derrike Cope’s life might have changed forever when he inherited that victory at Daytona in 1990. But now he’s driving in the Nationwide Series, and he has only a three-race deal, and his sponsor is Charlie’s Soap of Mayodan, N.C.
There are four Las Vegans currently running in NASCAR’s top two touring series, which not only is remarkable but only one fewer than from North Carolina.
Talk this week has been how the new Generation-6 cars would fly at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and whether the track record set last year would fall. Driver Denny Hamlin’s talk netted him a NASCAR fine of $25,000 for giving what appeared to be mild criticism of the Gen-6 car. Hamlin didn’t take the penalty well.
1
2
3
4
5
What’s that massive building going up near Ikea in southwest Las Vegas?
Woman suing Las Vegas Strip resort after vehicle stolen from valet
Downtown Las Vegas pizzeria is opening a shop in the suburbs
Man indicted in death of mother
More affluent visitors finding their way to Vegas — and staying