Las Vegas Weekly

February 26, 2010 · 7:47 AM

Photos: Danica Patrick takes to the wheel in NASCAR race

By Robin Leach

The NASCAR haulers parade on the Strip on Feb. 25, 2010.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

All eyes will be on racecar driver Danica Patrick in tomorrow’s Sam’s Town race out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s the last chance for several months that NASCAR fans will be seeing her because she’s returning to her goal of winning the Indianapolis 500.

Her debut with NASCAR at the Daytona International Speedway wound up in a wreck, but last weekend, she jumped up four slots just three laps behind Las Vegas winner Kyle Busch at Auto Club Speedway in California. After tomorrow’s event, she ends the first phase of her three NASCAR education attempts. She’s not set to race again for JR Motorsports until late June in New Hampshire.

Danica said in a pre-race release: “My ultimate goal is to still win the Indianapolis 500 and the Indy car championship -- that’s the primary focus. We put a lot of effort into these first three stock car races. It doesn’t mean I’ll lose touch with my team at JR Motorsports while I’m back in the IndyCar series. It’s no secret Las Vegas is going to be another challenge for me, so I’ll spend time learning the lines in practice again.

“Meantime, I’ll be cheering on my JR teammate Kelly Bires over the next few months and keep in touch with my crew chief and the guys until my return in June.”

To kick off NASCAR, normally the big rigs roar down the Strip during daylight hours, but for the first time, the parade of 70 NASCAR haulers was as night fell. Despite the dark, all 70 of the 18-wheelers complete with the flashing lights of police escorts sparkled under the neon lights of our resort casinos.

The Strip run began south at Mandalay Bay and went north to the Sahara as the traffic lights were all set Green for Go in the nonstop 15-minute parade. Motorists came to a complete halt on the cross streets but watched in open-jaw amazement as the power trucks roared by.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue battled the darkness and the bright light glare to capture an extraordinary set of photos marking the official start of NASCAR race weekend in Las Vegas.

Today out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, there are practice and qualifying rounds for the drivers and crews. Tomorrow is the Nationwide Series Sam’s Town 300 with all eyes on Danica Patrick, the event’s first female racer. Sunday is the 400.5-mile Sprint Cup Series Shelby American GT 350 Race with El Cajon, Calif.’s Jimmie Johnson heavily tipped to win.

Vegas DeLuxe will have complete photo coverage of all three days out at LVMS and additional live photos via Twitter on Sunday morning when I emcee the pre-show race and introduce the drivers. Imperial Palace headliners Human Nature will perform, and The Mirage headliner Terry Fator will sing the national anthem before Kim Kardashian tells drivers to start their engines.

We posted a complete schedule of NASCAR weekend yesterday -- let the races begin!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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