That roar you hear is the sound of NASCAR in town

Champion’s Week a treat for fans, boon for sponsors

Tom Donoghue/DonoghuePhotography.com

The 2010 NASCAR Victory Lap on The Strip on Dec. 2, 2010.

NASCAR Strip Parade

NASCAR haulers make their way up the Strip to kick off NASCAR weekend Thursday, March 3, 2011. NASCAR's Kobalt Tools 400 Sprint Cup race takes place Sunday while the Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 takes place Saturday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Launch slideshow »

2010 NASCAR Awards

The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards at the Wynn on Dec. 3, 2010.

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NASCAR will crown its 2011 Sprint Cup champion and do one of the things that the popular motor sports series does best — get up close and personal with its fans — in its five-day Champion’s Week celebration beginning Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Capping one of the most exciting racing seasons in history with a down-to-the-wire finish Nov. 20 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, 2011 champion Tony Stewart will collect the Sprint Cup Series hardware in a ceremony hosted by Reba McEntire at Wynn Las Vegas that also will include live performances by Kid Rock.

But while the awards ceremony marks the climactic end of NASCAR’s 2011 season, other activities will give fans the opportunity to see the sport’s top 12 drivers and their cars.

Thursday will include four fan-friendly events:

• Festivities open at 11 a.m. at Bellagio with the NASCAR National Motor Sports Press Association-Myers Brothers awards luncheon, which fans can attend for the second straight year. Awards will be given to the Champion Crew Chief, the Champion Sponsor, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year and the Most Popular Driver.

• One of the most popular events of the week begins at 3 p.m. with the NASCAR Victory Lap, a parade of the top 12 drivers on the Las Vegas Strip going from Wynn Las Vegas to Harmon Avenue, where the drivers will turn east and continue to the Hard Rock Hotel.

• The Victory Lap parade will include two “burnout” sections where drivers will burn rubber as they spin their tires and peel out on the street. The parade also will include a two-tire pit stop in front of the Bellagio fountains.

• Near the end of the Victory Lap route will be the Coca-Cola Fan Zone, a free event at the Hard Rock Hotel. The Fan Zone, which opens at noon, will feature interactive displays from The Sprint Experience, Game Show Network, Coca-Cola and the Ford Motor Co. It’s also a front-row seat for the arrival of the Victory Lap parade as the cars make their way to the Hard Rock for the concluding event of the day, NASCAR After the Lap, at 4:30 p.m.

After the Lap offers a question-and-answer session at the Joint with the top 12 drivers. Drivers will enter through the crowd and Stewart and his car will drive into the Joint amid a flurry of pyrotechnics. Tickets to the third annual event are $20 and can be purchased at NASCARafterthelap.com. Proceeds benefit the NASCAR Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to support children’s charities and other causes.

“This really is a week for the fans as we celebrate the end of the season,” said Manny Poveda, the Los Angeles-based marketing manager for the West Coast for NASCAR. “And the drivers love being in Vegas for a whole week.”

The fact that Stewart and rival driver Carl Edwards were so close — just three points separated them going into the final Chase race in Miami — made for one of the most exciting season finishes the sport has ever seen, Poveda said.

“This is the third year we’ve had our Champion's Week events in Las Vegas after having it in New York,” Poveda said. “There’s a great vibe in Las Vegas. We see it at this event and we see it every March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.”

Poveda was referring to the Kobalt Tools 400 Sprint Cup Race, won this year by Edwards, and run every spring at the track north of Las Vegas.

While the Thursday and Friday events are the highlights, there are other Champion's Week activities:

• Tuesday through Saturday, the NASCAR Pit Stop Tour will feature show cars and sponsor ambassadors to meet fans from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Vehicles will be showcased at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, the World of Coca-Cola, New York-New York, the Fashion Show mall, Fremont Street, Bally’s and Harrah’s.

• Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal will host to the 12th annual NASCAR Motorsports Marketing Forum at Caesars Palace Tuesday and Wednesday.

•At 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Champion's Week Kickoff Event at Fremont Street will feature six teams of randomly paired drivers and one fan competing against each other in the style of “The Newlywed Game.” Winners will get suite passes for the 2012 Sprint Cup Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

• Friday’s awards ceremony at Wynn begins at 6 p.m. with a live broadcast on the cable and satellite network Speed. Other than McEntire and Kid Rock, the show will include appearances by comedians Bill Engvall and Carrot Top and a welcome from Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Las Vegas Events view NASCAR Champion's Week as the type of special event ideally suited for Las Vegas because it gives the city’s various resort companies the opportunity to have their own racing promotions for their customers.

NASCAR also gives its partners and sponsors a direct connection to the sport’s fans. For example, last year NASCAR and Ford partnered on a 10-week “Send Me 2 Vegas” sweepstakes that drew 120,000 entries of which 20,000 opted in for additional information on vehicles. In a 120-day tracking window, Ford estimated the sale of 89 vehicles directly related to the promotion, a 330 percent return on investment.

Game Show Network also had a promotion for a two-day stay at the Hard Rock and a walk-on role in a NASCAR-themed TV advertisement.

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