Holding a Pretty Wheel: It’s Time for NASCAR to Be Leaving Las Vegas

Sunday’s (Oct. 4) NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was uninspiring. Outside of a little Chase drama when early issues arose for Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin (spoiler: they’re still 1-2 in the standings, just like they entered the weekend), there wasn’t much worth writing home about.  

To be fair here, it’s not just LVMS. When the Next Gen car debuted five years ago, the intermediate tracks were its forte. The mile-and-a-halves were exciting again, and fans put up with decreased performance at short tracks and road courses because the intermediates had been so bad for so long and finally, there was some relief from the same old same old.

But the honeymoon is long since over, and while NASCAR has worked to improve the car’s performance on short tracks and road courses, as teams have figured out its quirks, the racing has stagnated on the intermediates. A car that’s obviously faster than the leader can run the leader down, but when it gets to the back of the leading car, it hits the aerodynamic equivalent of a brick wall. 

And achieving that obviously faster car is no easy feat because teams have little opportunity to make meaningful changes to the cars. While the single-source parts are more cost-effective to teams and keep larger organizations from stockpiling parts that smaller ones can only afford a few of, it hamstrings teams from any kind of innovation. 

Plus, the cars are so durable that short of an errant missile, there’s little to no mechanical attrition. Believe it or not, when teams had the choice of parts and some of those parts failed, it added some excitement to both the races (because, oh no, will my driver’s left front rear widget screw bar fail like his teammate’s just did?) and the title hunt (because the point leader’s left front rear widget screw bar just failed and now he finished 40th). When there are zero DNFs on the hottest, most equipment-unfriendly day of the season, there goes a major championship strategy that teams could employ—simply outlasting the competition mechanically.

Add that up and throw in what looked like one of the sparsest crowds of the year and it becomes harder by the year to justify keeping two races at LVMS.

The track has thrown everything it can at attracting fans. It reconfigured the racing surface with variable banking. It added a fan zone that allows fans great views of the teams in the garage. But empty seats don’t keep the lights on and, more importantly, they’re a terrible optic for the viewers at home. To the casual viewer, if a race isn’t worth attending, why watch? If the stands are full, on the other hand, there must be a reason to pay attention. True or not, that’s how it looks to someone who might be tuning in for the first time.

The spring race at Vegas fits into the schedule well as one of only a few tracks with weather compatible with a late February or early March date. It makes sense to keep that date. 

As for the Chase date, there’s one obvious answer. NASCAR tends to work with track owner Marcus Smith to keep his Speedway Motorsports Inc. tracks consistent on the schedule, and SMI, conveniently enough, also owns North Wilkesboro Speedway.

North Wilkesboro is a link to NASCAR’s past and after a 30-year hiatus from the championship schedule, it returned with a points race in 2026. That race was well earned after a few years of hosting the All-Star Race, an event that’s almost always a dud thanks to its ever-changing format, which is never really constructed for a great race.

This year’s points race was a good show, and the stands were packed as they were for the All-Star events the track hosted. 

But for some reason, after an All-Star race that wasn’t really any more exciting than its past points races, Dover Motor Speedway returns to the schedule next year as a points race while North Wilkesboro gets relegated back to the All-Star event. 

It’s the perfect solution to the Las Vegas issues. Even with its struggles on short tracks, the Next Gen put on a better show this summer at North Wilkesboro than Sunday’s race at LVMS. 

Other than its distance from Charlotte Motor Speedway (and the All-Star Race should stay within a tight radius of the team’s home base so that their families can enjoy the festivities), LVMS wouldn’t be a terrible All-Star venue. With its neon lights and bedazzled showgirls, it’s a perfect backdrop for a race that’s more of a spectacle (or at least wants to be one) than a real race with all its gimmicks and tricks to try and make the drivers pretend that a million dollars is the same incentive it was three decades ago.

If there wasn’t a fantastic option sitting nestled in the North Carolina hills, close to the teams’ homes and still offering up some good racing after all these years, after being a part of NASCAR almost from day one, maybe LVMS wouldn’t be a worse option for that fall date than any other 1.5-mile track on the schedule. But when there’s a track that offers up decent racing and is a part of the sport’s very bones, waiting for a permanent spot on the schedule and deserving of one, it should be a no-brainer.

Leave Sin City to the gamblers during the Chase and bring the race home. Give the teams a different test of mettle than the cookie cutters, and challenge the championship hopefuls to use their bumpers and work traffic instead of trying to overcome the leader’s aerodynamic advantage. Like it should be.