Vegas receiving a facelift

NASCAR Nextel Cup teams took to the track at Las Vegas last week in the first test of the race teams' "downforce" cars.

Early testing at Daytona was to dial in the super-slick superspeedway aero packages that will be used at the restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega. Last week's tests were probably more meaningful, as the downforce aero package will be used at the bulk of Cup venues, mostly mile and a half tracks like Vegas.

However, the Vegas track itself appears to be in for a major overhaul after just 10 years of operation. One of seven active NASCAR tracks owned by Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the relatively flat oval is due for a resurfacing with more banking, new garages, a "fan interaction" area, and a multitude of other improvements.

"We are going to make Las Vegas Motor Speedway the greatest speedway in the world," crowed Smith at a press conference on Monday. "Las Vegas is all about glitz and glamour. This speedway will be as spectacular as anything on the Las Vegas strip when we are finished."

Smith is putting his money where his mouth is, with the investment in facility improvements estimate at $20 million.

For those who prefer the racing action to the glitz and glamour, the corner banking angle will increase from the present 12 degrees to 20 degrees, putting Las Vegas in the company of tracks like Charlotte and Atlanta. Speeds can be expected to increase significantly from the 170 mph lap speeds currently seen. Fan access will also be enhanced with a second-story viewing deck over the garages and windows in the individual garages.

The pit road will be moved 150 feet closer to the main grandstands to give fans in the stands better visibility of the pit action during the race. I've hiked from the announce booth to the victory stand to conduct post-race interviews, and that move will be a welcome change! Construction is scheduled to begin after this year's March race and to be complete before next year's race date.

Those who know the Machiavellian Smith also suspect that all these changes may well be nothing more than a bargaining chip to get a second Cup race date at Las Vegas, as he did with his Texas Motor Speedway facility. NASCAR has locked in its maximum number of events at 36, so if Las Vegas is to gain a race date, somebody else is going to have to lose one. So far there has been no public request for a second date for the track, but given the size of the Las Vegas market and the draw from nearby Southern California, NASCAR would be ill-advised to reject it out of hand.

Back to last week's testing, early fast times seemed to mirror the Daytona tests, with Chevy and Ford dominating. However, the Dodges got better on day two, and by Wednesday four of the Mopar flyers were in the top 10, including Kasey Kahne second-fastest. Quick time of the week was set Wednesday by Roush Ford Fusion driver Carl Edwards, who cranked off a lap at 170.778, followed by the Dodges of Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Ryan Newman. The only Chevys in the top 10 on the final day of testing were Clint Bowyer in sixth and Joe Nemechek in ninth.

The 44th annual Daytona Rolex 24 is in the history books, with superstars from Indy Car, NASCAR, and Sports Car endurance racing. Dan Wheldon and his new teammate Scott Dixon (both IRL champions) teamed with young Casey Mears of NASCAR to take a Ganassi Daytona prototype to victory lane in a relatively trouble-free run. They finished just one lap ahead of a team that included rival Champ Car series drivers A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson.

Co-winner Wheldon set a record with the victory, becoming the first driver to win the Rolex 24, the IndyCar championship and the Indianapolis 500 in the span of less than one year. He is in rare company, as only five other drivers have accomplished that particular trifecta in their careers: A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Rahal and Al Unser Jr.