Upstart Las Vegas Rivals Charlotte as NASCAR Driver Hotbed

• Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will host the first race in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 Sunday, opened in 1996 and first hosted the Cup Series in 1998.

• Most notable, of course, are the Busch brothers—Kurt and Kyle, both Cup champions.

• Among other recent Las Vegas drivers in NASCAR national series are up-and-comer and cuirrent Xfinity Series points leader Noah Gragson, Spencer Gallagher, Riley Herbst, Stan Mullis and Dylan Kwasniewski.

Name 25 towns that might be logical producers of stock car racers, and it isn’t likely that Las Vegas would be on the list.

Charlotte, maybe. A town in Virginia. Daytona Beach would be a seemingly smart pick.

But Las Vegas?

“More NASCAR drivers have come from Las Vegas over the last 20 years than any other single town—more than Charlotte,” said Brendan Gaughan, who happens to be one of them.

Is Sin City Spin City? And how is this possible? Shouldn’t Vegas yield professional gamblers, tall showgirls, blackjack dealers and lighting technicians?

Explain please, Mr. Gaughan.

“It all got started when Las Vegas Motor Speedway was built,” he said. “Racing was the first professional sport—after boxing, I guess—to come to town. When they built the speedway, the next thing you know the Bullring (a 3/8-mile asphalt oval track that predated LVMS) became a bigger deal. A lot more kids were paying attention. A lot of stuff happened because of it.”

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will host the first race in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 Sunday, opened in 1996 and first hosted the Cup Series in 1998.