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NASCAR moves champions banquet to Vegas starting this year
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A NASCAR tradition nearly three decades old is coming to an end.
The season-ending awards banquet celebrating the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will move from New York City to Las Vegas starting this year.
Jeremy Handel, Public Relations Manager with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, confirmed that they are close to finalizing an agreement that would bring the season-ending banquet to Vegas in the first week of December beginning this year.
NASCAR moved its season-ending ceremony from Daytona Beach, where the sanctioning body has its headquarters, to New York City in 1981.
A downturn in the economy combined with a seemingly increasing indifference by residents and less then favorable weather inspired NASCAR to begin looking for a new locale in 2008.
Last year the traditional ‘Victory Lap’ around Manhattan was cancelled after residents complained about the traffic congestion.
The warm weather and more affordable lodging seem to be the biggest draw for the sanctioning body in terms of Vegas. Burton Smith president of Speedway Motorsports who owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been lobbying NASCAR to bring the week-long event to Vegas for years.
“At the end of the day our banquet needs some life injected into it,” said driver Jeff Burton. “It needs fan involvement, it needs a fresh look with new ideas. The country music awards and those kinds of things where the fans are involved and are right there -- that’s what we need. We need something new and exciting.
“I think it needs something that’s built around fun, built around excitement that embraces the fans more,” Burton added. “Vegas may give us a better opportunity to do that.”
An official announcement is expected within the next few weeks.
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