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Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada, is a 1,200 acres (490 ha) complex of multiple tracks for automobile racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[edit] History
The Indy Racing League opened the 1.5-mile superspeedway on September 15, 1996.
The Winston No Bull 5 Million Dollar Bonus was held at the track from 1999 to 2002. Jeff Burton won a million dollars in 2000 and Jeff Gordon won the bonus in 2001. Burton in 1999 and Sterling Marlin in 2002 were not eligible.
Champ Car held two races at the speedway in 2004 and 2005, both were won by Sébastien Bourdais.
In 2006, plans were announced to reconfigure the track after the March 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) race. This reconfiguration entailed "progressive banking" which increases the degree of banking the further up the track you are located. This increased side-by-side racing. The speedway also constructed a fan zone called The Neon Garage. This area has live entertainment, unprecedented access to the drivers and teams and is home to the Winner's Circle. The speedway moved pit road 275 feet (84 m) closer to the grandstands, built a new media center and added a quarter-mile Legends Cars oval in the tri-oval area.
As of August 8, 2006 the newly reconfigured track reopened to stock cars. 2004 NASCAR Cup Champion and Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, who drives the #2 Miller Lite Penske Dodge, became the first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup (Now Sprint Cup Series) driver to test a stock car on the newly reconfigured track. Jeff Burton became the first driver to win on the newly paved LVMS in a Busch Series (Now Nationwide Series) Monte Carlo SS. Jimmie Johnson won the first NEXTEL Cup Series race after its reconfiguration. He also drove a Chevrolet to Victory Lane.
[edit] Records
Track reconfiguration in 2006 increased the bank angles in the turns. Subsequent testing before the 2007 season showed significantly higher speeds, with Sprint Cup Series drivers recording unofficial laps at better than 185 mph (298 km/h).
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying: Kyle Busch, 29.033 sec. (184.856 mph), 2009
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race: Kyle Busch, 3 hrs. 34 min. 40 sec. (119.513 mph), 2009 Shelby 427 (427.5-mile (688.0 km) distance used for first time in 2009)
- NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying: Scott Speed, 29.427 sec. (181.708 mph), 2009
- NASCAR Nationwide Series Race: Jeff Burton, 2 hrs. 13 min. 13 sec. (135.118 mph), 2000
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Qualifying: Mike Skinner, 30.326 sec. (178.065 mph), 2006
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race: David Starr, 1 hr. 37 min. 3 sec. (135.394 mph), 2002
[edit] Tracks
- The Bullring (a 0.375 mile (600 m) paved oval
- Dirt Track 0.5 mile (800 m) clay oval
- The Strip 0.25 mile(1320 ft drag strip)
- Superspeedway 1.5 mile (2.414 km) oval
[edit] Racing Schools
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 36°16′17″N 115°00′40″W / 36.27134°N 115.01112°W / 36.27134; -115.01112
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