Las Vegas Sun

April 23, 2024

NASCAR Weekend 2010

  • Jimmie Johnson celebrates his victor in the NASCAR Shelby American GT 350 Sunday, February 28, 2010 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was Johnson's fourth career victory in Las Vegas.

    Jimmie Johnson displays his dominance again in Las Vegas

    February 28, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    Jimmie Johnson has gotten used to this whole Sunday race routine. Step A: Take the lead from one of the other NASCAR Sprint Cup series drivers and never relinquish it. Step B: Celebrate the win in victory lane. Step C: Talk afterwards about never being satisfied and wanting more wins.

  • Crew members work on Kurt Busch's damaged car during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby American GT 350 auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, February 28, 2010.

    Lady Luck doesn’t smile on Busch brothers

    February 28, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    On paper, all signs pointed to a successful, Sunday afternoon homecoming for the Busch brothers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Shelby American.

  • Kevin Harvick (33) runs with Denny Hamlin (20) Kyle Busch (18) and Justin Allgaier during the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. Harvick won the race.

    Kevin Harvick overcomes pit mistakes to win Sam’s Town 300

    February 27, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    Kevin Harvick was angry. It was early in Saturday afternoon’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Harvick’s Rheem Chevrolet crew had just blown a pit stop.

  • Danica Patrick talks with reporters following her crash at the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010.

    Crash ends Danica Patrick’s run at Sam’s Town 300

    February 27, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    Danica Patrick experienced about as wide a range of emotions as she possibly could Saturday in the Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Through 67 laps, Patrick was in third place and racing significantly better than she did in her first two NASCAR events.

  • Danica Patrick, center, signs autographs as she walks from the garage to her car hauler at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, Feb. 26, 2010.

    Danica Patrick a star attraction as NASCAR hits Las Vegas

    February 26, 2010

    By Brett Okamoto

    Following a Friday practice run for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Series Shelby American at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart told media members he was done talking about rookie Nationwide Series driver Danica Patrick.

  • NASCAR Notebook: Is Johnson’s dominance bad for racing?

    February 26, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    Controversy still swirled around Jimmie Johnson’s victory last week in Fontana, Calif., during drivers’ first media appearances at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday. Aided by a well-timed caution with 26 laps to go while he made a pit stop, Johnson won the Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race for his 48th career victory.

  • Kurt Busch adjusts his cap as he poses for photographers after taking the pole at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, Feb. 26, 2010.

    Kurt Busch begins race weekend with blistering qualifying lap

    February 26, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    The tears came early for Kurt Busch. Busch, the Las Vegas native who graduated from Durango High, finished first in qualifying for Sunday’s Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup race Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a track-record 28.614-second lap. “I’m stoked,” Busch said. “To do it here in my hometown of Las Vegas, it’s fun for me and all of the fans who were here today.”

  • Sam Schlientz and his tailgating crew watch Friday's qualifying runs from a wooden deck they built three years ago.

    NASCAR fans know how to tailgate in style

    February 27, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    It’s a cool and windy Friday afternoon at the epicenter of the tailgating at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Six flags fly high in the air, blowing right to left with the smell of charcoal and burgers in the air and the beer flowing freely.

  • Don Sweet, second from right, and friend Jason Hartley have been coming to NASCAR races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the past five years. They stay on a budget by going to Costco for their supplies for the long weekend, but spend an hour gambling on the Strip.

    NASCAR nirvana for Las Vegas economy

    February 26, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    Salt Lake City mason Clair Smith was laid off from his job a month ago, but that didn’t keep him from making his eighth visit to Las Vegas for NASCAR weekend. “I’m spending a lot less because I am making a lot less, but I saved for it all year. This is my one trip,” Smith says outside his RV in the infield of Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Thursday afternoon.

  • Alec Venegas, 4, (right) of Midland, Texas, with his father Eric, looks on in disbelief at Kyle Busch at an autograph-signing event at M&M's World in Las Vegas on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.

    Busch brothers mingle with hometown NASCAR fans

    February 26, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    The Busch brothers are everywhere. As NASCAR unofficially kicked off race weekend in Las Vegas on Thursday, hometown heroes Kurt and Kyle Busch were in on the act as well.

  • Joey Logano's car hauler passes by fans during a parade of NASCAR haulers on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.

    Lights of Las Vegas Strip provide unique setting for hauler parade

    February 26, 2010

    By Ray Brewer

    The bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip served as a backdrop Thursday evening for NASCAR’s Hauler Parade to help kick off a weekend of races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

  • NASCAR betting heats up for Las Vegas race week

    February 26, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    The Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway serves as the sport’s main event in one area - betting.

  • Speedway president discusses NASCAR, race weekend

    Speedway president discusses NASCAR, race weekend

    February 24, 2010

    By Case Keefer

    There’s a moment on Sunday of NASCAR weekend that Chris Powell looks forward to every year. Although it’s the busiest day of Powell’s year, he always takes a few moments to pause and gaze out in awe of the 140,000 fans filling Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the event.

  • Neon Garage epicenter of NASCAR entertainment

    February 25, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    For the fourth consecutive year, the Neon Garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will serve as the hub of the weekend’s activities.

  • NASCAR Hauler Parade to kick off race weekend

    February 25, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    This year’s NASCAR Hauler Parade down Las Vegas Boulevard on Thursday evening will be bigger than ever. In addition to the Sprint Cup Series teams that have participated for the past three years, tonight’s parade will include Nationwide Series teams. The haulers are the large trucks that carry the race cars and gear to the track.

  • Justin Johnson is one of the top drivers at the Bullring, a track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway where local racers compete in a weekly series each spring. It's the same track brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch competed on before becoming stars on the NASCAR circuit.

    Speedway’s Bullring puts Las Vegan’s racing aspirations on fast track

    February 25, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    He began as a pony in the Bullring, a preteen kid who happened to get a race car for his 12th birthday. Justin Johnson hadn’t raced before. Not bikes, not go-carts and certainly not anything with four rubber tires and a motor.

  • Hayley Lager stands next to her No. 3 Buick Grand National.

    Hayley Lager gets a jumpstart on racing

    February 24, 2010

    By Anthony Fenech

    Hayley Lager is 14 years old. She's a freshman in high school, a self-proclaimed "girly girl" who likes to go to the mall with her friends. She giggles before she laughs, has highlights in her hair and likes texting. By all accounts, she's a typical teenage girl. She also drives race cars. And fast.

  • Widening of I-15 will improve drive to the speedway

    February 22, 2010

    By Kyle B. Hansen

    Traveling to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week for events associated with the NASCAR weekend will be easier than years past. The drive will be improved - and possibly less time-consuming - because of the recent completion of a project to widen Interstate 15. The speedway, in northern edge of the Las Vegas Valley about 12 miles north of downtown Las Vegas, is best accessible by Interstate 15, taking exit No. 54 onto Speedway Boulevard.

  • Kyle Busch celebrates winning the Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in this 2009 file photo.

    Kyle Busch’s emotional win highlights NASCAR’s history in Las Vegas

    February 22, 2010

    By Ray Brewer

    Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR's four-time defending Cup champion and one of racing's biggest stars, is a three-time winner at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Savvy veteran Jeff Burton has a record five victories in Las Vegas, taking the checkered flag in three Nationwide Series races and two Cup events