Just arrived in Las Vegas for activities related to Friday night’s Sprint Cup banquet, which will be televised live on Speed Channel. No, no Elvis sightings yet, but I haven't left the airport just yet.

 

            Much happening even before the banquet. Thursday, the Chex NMPA Most Popular Driver award will be presented. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won it six consecutive times. Can he do it again? Among the other awards is the Myers Brothers Award, given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport. The finalists include Mark Martin, MRN announcer Barney Hall and the late David Poole, motorsports writer for The Charlotte Observer. I’m lucky enough in my role as President of the National Motorsports Press Association that I’ll get to present this award. Many other awards will be presented Thursday, starting around 4 p.m. Eastern. Follow me on Twitter and I’ll post many of the awards as they are announced.

 

            On to some other business before Jimmie Johnson’s celebration Friday night.

  

            # The Kansas Speedway Development Corp is part of a group that was selected by the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board to develop and operate a Hollywood-themed entertainment destination overlooking turn 2 at Kansas Speedway.

 

International Speedway Corp., which owns the track, plans to petition NASCAR to move a second date to Kansas Speedway. Originally the plan was to have the second race in 2011. With the construction not being completed until the first quarter of 2012  that might push the request back a year. Either way, expect the Cup series to be racing at Kansas twice a year soon.

 

            The question is where does the date come from? Well, International Speedway Corp. will more than likely have to take a date away from one of its tracks to give Kansas its second date. Among the ISC-owned tracks that have two races a year are: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Daytona, Martinsville, Michigan, Phoenix, Richmond, Talladega. ISC-owned tracks with one Cup race are: Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington, Homestead, Kansas, Watkins Glen.

 

            So where does the 2^nd Kansas Cup date come from? While there could be some wheeling and dealing going on, among the favorites to lose a date could be Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Martinsville and Phoenix.

 

            The Fontana track has faced a steady stream of criticism since getting a second date a few years back. The track regularly sold out when it held one race a year but attendance has waned since adding a second date. While NASCAR estimates have put recent crowds at 70,000, some media estimates have put the crowds there more in the 55,000 range. The LA market is just tough to crack (even the NFL can’t keep a team there). Martinsville often is brought up in such a discussion because of its small _ maybe quaint is a better word _ seating capacity. It holds about 63,000. Phoenix has the largest crowds of these three but has seen a drop off in recent years. Still, 90,000 isn’t bad.

 

            Remember, much of the decision will be based on business. ISC is a publicly owned company. So, it’s likely going to be what makes the most financial sense for ISC. In that sense one could argue taking away a race from Martinsville. On the other hand, the outrage that likely would ensue could hurt NASCAR even further with its fans who would see such a move as abandoning the sport’s past. They would note that North Wilkesboro and Rockingham are no longer on the schedule and that Darlington has been reduced to one race.

 

            We’ll see what happens.

 

 

# Danica Patrick talked the other day now that she’s announced her Indy Car deal to remain with Michael Andretti’s renamed team. Essentially, she didn’t discount any interest in NASCAR but also wasn’t ready to announce a deal being done with JR. Motorsports. It was interesting that the day of the Indy car announcement that on her web site as you waited for the page to load there was _ for a short while before it was fixed _ an image of Patrick in a driver’s uniform with a Nationwide logo and Chevrolet logo quite visible and what looked like a JR Motorsports logo on it as well. One would suspect you’ll be hearing more on this in the future.

 

 

# Penske Racing announced that Jay Guy will be Brad Keselowski’s crew chief in the Cup series. He’ll take over for Roy McCauley, who had been the crew chief on the No. 12 car that David Stremme drove most of the year. McCauley will remain in a management position. Guy was the crew chief for Regan Smith on the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team that ran a partial schedule this year. Give Guy credit. For a team running just part of the season, Smith failed to qualify only twice. He ran 18 races. Not a bad rate since Smith had to qualify for each race because he was not in the top 35 in car owner points.