Upstart Las Vegas Rivals Charlotte as NASCAR Driver Hotbed

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.

The track was built by Las Vegas hotel/casino executive Richie Clyne. The combination was too good to ignore—Las Vegas and auto racing? A marriage of things loud, neon-colored and frantic?

It was a no-brainer.

Now, after more than 20 years under the Speedway Motorsports banner, the track is one of the showplaces of the NASCAR circuit. Its Neon Garage is unique in the sport, and few other tracks have something called the Blackjack Club.

From those track roots came a string of NASCAR racers. Most notable, of course, are the Busch brothers—Kurt and Kyle, both Cup champions and drivers who developed their skills racing in the desert within sight of Vegas’ bright lights.

Gaughan was born in Los Angeles but landed in Vegas four days later—as fast as an airplane could move his mother and him. Son and grandson of hotel/casino movers and shakers, Brendan detoured to racing, competing first in off-road events and later moving to NASCAR, where he won Xfinity and Truck races and also competed in Cup.

Gaughan’s first NASCAR race was a Truck event at LVMS in 1997, and he scored one of the highlights of his career with a Truck win there in 2003.

“The speedway was the catalyst for me and for a lot of others,” Gaughan said.

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

Las Vegas now has professional football (Raiders) and hockey (Golden Knights), and superstar LeBron James is pushing to locate a National Basketball Association there. But racing apparently will remain a staple of Sin City entertainment. Formula One plans to race on a downtown course there next season. That announcement has sent hotel rates for the Nov. 16-18, 2023 race period soaring.

“It’s a massive deal,” said Gaughan, now retired from racing and working in his family’s Vegas hotel operations. “Being a Las Vegas local, it scares me when I see hotels talking about $10,000-a-night room rates. But it will be big. You’re going to have an F1 race and run them down the (Las Vegas) Strip—right down the center? That’s amazing. That’s other-world stuff.”

It’s Las Vegas, where they grow racers.