History of Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, is a 1,200 acre (4.9 kmē) complex of four different tracks for automobile racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The complex is home to several race teams, most notably South Point Racing, owned by Brendan Gaughan. Since March 2005 the track is open two nights a week for locals to drag race. This is an effort to get this activity off of local streets and into a safer environment.

The track is used by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as their driver training facility.

The Indy Racing League ran at the track from 1996 and 2000.

The speedway has often been referred to as "The Blue Oval" since the races have been dominated by Ford drivers in the NEXTEL Cup Series. Jimmie Johnson (3), Jeff Gordon (1), and Sterling Marlin (1) are the only drivers who have won at the track in the Cup Series not driving a Ford.

The speedway has also been known as "The House of Roush" because nearly all of his drivers have had success at the track including Matt Kenseth (2), Mark Martin (1), and Jeff Burton (2).

The Winston No Bull 5 Million Dollar Bonus was held at the track from 1999 to 2002. Jeff Burton won a million dollars in 2000 and Jeff Gordon won the bonus in 2001. Burton in 1999 and Sterling Marlin in 2002 were not eligible.

Champ Car held two races at the speedway in 2004 and 2005, both won by Sebastien Bourdais.

In 2006, plans were announced to reconfigure the track after the March 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series Race. This reconfiguration will entail "progressive banking" which increases in angling the further up the track you are located. This is expected to increase side-by-side racing, and the construction of a new fan zone nicknamed "The Neon Garage" after the use of neon in the signs at the city's hotels and casinos, along with a new pit road that brings the action on said row closer to the fans and which also incorporates a standard SMI trademark, a half-mile oval named "The Bull Ring" which will be used for Legends races.

As of August 8, 2006 the newly reconfigured track reopened to stock cars. 2004 NEXTEL Cup Champion and Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, who drives the #2 Miller Lite Penske Dodge Charger, became the first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver to test a stock car on the newly reconfigured track. Jeff Burton became the first driver to win on the newly paved LVMS in a Busch Series Monte Carlo SS. Jimmie Johnson won the first NEXTEL Cup Series race after its reconfiguration. He also drove a Chevrolet to Victory Lane.