A rumor since this past weekend became official Wednesday. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted to accept a proposal that will bring a second NASCAR weekend to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fall of 2018.
The speedway made the announcement at a joint news conference with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority at Cashman Center Wednesday, just two days before its 2017 NASCAR weekend. LVMS will host the new Monster Energy Cup race beginning in the fall of 2018 in addition to its customary March NASCAR weekend.
LVMS will also have a second NASCAR Xfinity Series race beginning in the fall of 2018 and an additional NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race beginning in the spring of 2018, meaning both of the speedway’s NASCAR weekends will include races from each of NASCAR’s top three series – the Camping World Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Monster Energy Cup Series.
The extra date will come from New Hampshire Motor Speedway, another track, like Vegas, owned by Speedway Motorsports Incorporated and which currently has two Cup dates. The September NASCAR Xfinity Series race will come from Kentucky Speedway.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Speedway Motorsports and Las Vegas Motor Speedway to create a NASCAR spectacle worthy of the greatest racing in the world and the Entertainment Capital of the World,” said Speedway Motorsports, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Marcus Smith.
“It’s taken a tremendous amount of work to make this happen, and we are very thankful to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and NASCAR for their support in our endeavor to create a triple-header NASCAR weekend in such a world-class destination.”
Las Vegas Motor Speedway will become the first facility on the NASCAR schedule to host two annual event weekends with all three national touring series. Official race dates will be announced later by NASCAR as part of the full 2018 schedules.
“Fans and tourism officials in New Hampshire and Kentucky should know that we are still very committed to creating motorsports entertainment in those regions,” Smith said.
“We will work hard to make sure the July NASCAR race weekends that we will continue to host in New Hampshire and Kentucky are bigger and better than ever before for our fans, sponsors and stakeholders.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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