NASCAR announces schedule for 2009 Champion’s Week
On Dec. 2, NASCAR will host the Chasers for Charity Fanfest at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This event includes a free-admission fan event, plus a charity roast of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. Gates open at 9 a.m. Access to the speedway’s Neon Garage begins at 11 a.m. This portion of the event includes a red-carpet walk by the champion and the other drivers in the 2009 Chase For The Sprint Cup, car displays, live music, reduced-price concessions and a raffle drawing.
The Charity Roast will take place in the speedway’s Blackjack Club, located in the infield media center. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. The roast includes a private reception with the Cup champion and Chase participants, plus reserved seats and parking. It will be shown on closed-circuit television in the Neon Garage. Because of space considerations, it’s limited to the first 300 people who respond. Cost is a $250 tax-deductible donation to Speedway Children’s Charities. Additional information is available at www.lvms.com.
On Dec. 3, the drivers will participate in the top-12 Victory Lap Parade. All 12 Chase participants will drive a lap in their show cars on Las Vegas Boulevard known as “The Strip." This will begin at 3:30 p.m. at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino and proceed north to Spring Mountain Road before returning to MGM. It will include a pit stop and a “burnout" at the Spring Mountain Road intersection.
Speed will televise the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony live, from 9 p.m.-1 a.m., EST. It will reair from 1-5 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Dec. 5, and from 1-5 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 6. The awards ceremony is the series champion’s formal celebration.
“With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony moving from New York to Las Vegas this year, there continues to be a great deal of buzz about how things are going to be different," said Speed President Hunter Nickell. “So, when the opportunity came for Speed to be the television home for the event, it was an easy ‘yes’ from us.
“Speed now opens the year with the Gatorade Duel at Daytona, carries it through the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race and NASCAR Hall of Fame ceremonies in the spring and wraps it up with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas without missing a single week of coverage."
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony can also be heard on Sirius NASCAR Radio (Sirius channel 128 and XM channel 128 with the "Best of Sirius") and on MRN Radio.