The NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards ceremonies will be held at Wynn Las Vegas for the fourth straight year.
The actual ceremony will be held this Friday, but over the course of the week throughout town, the fans will be treated to all kinds of interactive activities with the top-12 drivers and teams from the 2012 season.
On Tuesday, several teams will be throughout the Las Vegas Strip making visits at the Las Vegas sign, the Coca-Cola store, Bally’s, Wynn, New York-New York and the Fashion Show Mall. This is probably the best time to catch a glimpse of your favorite driver having a beer or playing some blackjack.
They don’t mind saying hello or signing autographs, either – maybe not at the tables, because that is why they’re here.
On Wednesday the Las Vegas Motor Speedway holds a fanfest event on Fremont Street where they do fun things like have a game show. Again, you have the ability to mingle with the teams and drivers.
Thursday is my favorite day of the event because Las Vegas closes down the Strip at 3 p.m. and the drivers hop in their cars and do burnouts. It’s a pretty cool sight seeing Jimmie Johnson doing doughnuts on the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana.
To accommodate all the NASCAR fans in town for the week, Johnny Avello at the Wynn sports books opened his odds to win the next year’s championship a little earlier than normal with Jimmie Johnson listed as the 7-to-2 favorite.
On Monday, the LVH Super Book opened its odds with Johnson at 5-1. The five-time Cup Champion had been denied a title his past two seasons despite being as strong as ever. It’s just that a few other teams have reached his level of excellence on the bar he raised so high.
Brad Keselowski won the 2012 Title and will be changing over to Ford next season, which prompted the Wynn to open his 2013 odds at 11-1. LVH kept him tied for the second choice at 8-1.
Micah Roberts is a former Las Vegas race and sports book director, and longtime motorsports columnist and sports analyst at GamingToday. Contact Micah at [email protected].