Winner winner, get Jimmie another chicken dinner!  Jimmie Johnson won the Sprit Cup at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend.  It wasn’t a super exciting race, the boys ran pretty clean all day long.  There were a couple of cautions, but some of them were mistakes.  There was one good crash on turn four when McMurray got a little bit loose and tried to take out Montoya.

I look forward to NASCAR weekend every year.  Its really my happy place.  The people are nice, friendly, and over all just happy to be there.  I love that.  I love hearing the national anthem sung by 150,000 americans.  And let me tell you, Terry Fator has a voice that is incredible.  Match that with the Thunder Birds fly over and you have the makings of an all american weekend.

I like to camp out on turn four during the race.  This seems to be the corner were things are likely to go sideways.  While I was there I found this little guy and his mom.  NASCAR fans start young.

This year the best place to be was pit road.  I love pit road before the race.  The cars are lined up, the fans are milling around, and there is a general air of excitement.

Then there is all the action during the race.  This year was the year for Pit Road.  Before my Mother asks, I wasn’t in the pit box, and I didn’t get in anyones way.  Promise!

All in all we had a great time.  If you haven’t heard it yet listen to The Vegas Tourist podcast with Ace and the Chippendale Magnet.  www.TheVegasTourist.com The folks go into great detail on all the fun and adventures we incountered.  Also is an excluse interview with Tony Stewart!

Next weekend we are back out at the track for the Lucas Oil trophy truck race.  This should be a fun one!  Trophy trucks on a tight dirt track built just for them.  We will all be on the track and I will be shooting from the dirt!  Don’t know what a trophy truck is?   Take a look…

We are up before dawn and hit the track.  We find clouds, wind, cold and the threat of rain.  No matter, this is NASCAR and our on track official assures us in our morning briefing that NASCAR will do everything possible to make the race happen today.  Good thing NASCAR fans are not afraid of a little rain!  They were out in full force today regardless of the weather.   Ace found this father daughter team having the time of their lives out on pit road.

Kind of reminded me of all the tracks dad and I went to when I was a kid. 

Fans lined up in the Neon Garage for looks at their favorite cars, drivers, and teams. 

We hit the track running this morning just in case the rain came early.  Got lots of photos of the cars, Nationwide drivers, practice, qualifying, and everything we could possibly find. 

Then we packed it all up and headed over to Lagasse’s Stadium at the Palazzo.  (after a two hour nap and a couple of showers)  We had a big interview lined up and we didn’t want to be late.  Here you can see Ace getting set up and ready to interview Tony Stewart.

The exclusive interview will be posted on The Vegas Tourist.  Check out www.TheVegasTourist.com for the latest updates from Ace and Tony.  After the interview we were on hand while Tony was presented with the Legends in Sports award by Lagasse’s.

Tomorrow is the big Shelby American race and your TVT Sports reporters will be on hand to bring you all the action.  The boys have been working hard, and I have photo’s for miles!  Everyone will be on the track tomorrow to catch everything we can! 

This year is all Amp’d Up baby!  We walked into the Neon Garage early this morning and we knew it would be different.  The energy filling this place was incredible.  We did our usual and got the base camp set up and then split up to see what we could find.  What we found were NASCAR fans everywhere!  This place was two and three deep on the viewing decks.  Getting special attention where the Go Daddy Team (Mark’s personal favorite) and Jimmie Johnson.

But then Jeff Gordon and Jaun Pablo Montoya walked thru the garages on the way to there cars and I thought the fans on the gate would lose it!

Look’s like NASCAR is cool once again.  Everyone is wearing their gear, myself included!  And it seems everyone is getting in on the action.  Kim Kardashian now has her face and name on a new car.

But my favorite of the day and the biggest crowd pleaser in the media room because of the free stuff was the Target shopping cart.  This cart was in the Neon Garage early this morning and Jaun Pablo was spoted going for a spin.  Its all about the marketing and the sponsors!

We did eventually get down to business.  The Ace reporter spent most of his day attending the media Q &A and we will have some great stuff on The Vegas Tourist podcast soon from that.  But before we go into our predictions for the big race on Sunday we have to talk about Danica.  The media frenzy surrounding her is out of this world and she is one of the reason’s this weekend will be so successful.  She was asked about all the media attention and was very down to earth when she said she was thankfull for it, and would miss it if it wasn’t there.

Most of you know that I am always rooting for the home town boys.  Kyle and Kurt Busch.  Kurt is all reved up and really wants to win at this track.  He is using information from his brothers success here last year to really dial it in.  So much so that he qualified first with a new track record of 188.79 miles an hour.  Last year Kyle was first on the pole and ended up starting last because of an engine change, this year Kurt will be on the pole and the home town is screaming for him to win it.

The TVT team is planning on hitting the ground running at 6:30 Saturday morning.  We have a meeting at 8 and a possible announcement by Garth Brooks and Jimmie Johnson at 9:40.  The weather man is calling for an 80% chance of rain for the Nationwide race tommarrow but we have poncho’s, no problem!  As soon as the race is over we are going to be racing to Lagasse’s Stadium of Tony Stewarts induction into the Legends of Sports.

So this last photo is for all our friends, family, husbands, wives, and co-workers we left behind this weekend.

We will be home on Monday, tired, hungry, limping, but happy.

Everyone on staff at The Vegas Tourist has new camera gear, earplugs, sugary snacks, and energy drinks.  We are packed and ready to go! 

See you at the track!

This game is like a giant game of hot potato, and the ball is the potato.  I had never witnessed a rugby game before covering the USA Sevens World Cup.  Now I can’t imagine missing a game!  The World Cup had 44 matches with teams from 16 countries all playing two 7 minute halves.  Its a very intense 7 minutes.  These guys take the field with no protective gear and beat the living daylights out of each other.

They make running tackles, gang up on who ever has the ball, regardless of team alliances.  Its crazy, barbaric, and very fun!  There doesn’t seem to be any rules when it comes to player contact.  Just about anything goes, and the more brutal the more the fans love it.  These guys are tough too.  They take the hits and just keep right on going.  Nothing seems to stop them.  Its like a field full of Supermen!

Before last weekend I had no idea how popular Rugby was.  The fans are rabid!  They love their team of choice and anyone who says different is in for a brawl.  The fans dress in costumes and wave flags and banners all day long.  Everyone is there for the action and to be a part of the teams success.  We saw more fans dressed for the occasion than not, talk about some premo people watching!

Just for the ladies… if you think this sport is too ruff for you let me be the one to remind you… all muscles, brawn, and yummy man-ness dressed in shorts and tight shirts!  Its never a bad combination!

Las Vegas will be hosting this event for the next three years.  I suspect we will see the crowds grow even larger as the years move on.  I for one will not miss it!  You can see more photos from this event at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thevegastourist/sets/72157623464048722/

This is the time of year that NASCAR holds news conferences, makes announcements, and teams re-align for the coming season.  All ready the 2010 season is looking to be like a winner.  Lets start with my home town favorite Kyle Busch.  Kyle won the nationwide series for 2009, and has big plans for the truck series in 2010.  He announced this week that his company, Kyle Busch Motorsports will field two Toyota trucks in the Camping World Truck Series for 2010.  With that announcement Kyle said he would be sharing driving duties in one of the trucks with protege Brian Ickler.

What Kyle doesn’t say in his announcement is that “sharing” the driving duties in the truck series could give him more time and energy to concentrate on the Sprint Cup Series driving.  He had a great year in the cup series but failed to make the cut.  Could 2010 be the year?  I personally would like to see Kyle concentrate on the Cup Series this year.  The man can drive like a bat out of hell.  Sure he can be a hot head sometimes, but to me that shows great passion.  He has grown up a lot in the last couple of years.  I believe 2010 could be the year he gets the balance right between his incredible talent and passion for the sport.

Now on to the worst kept secret in NASCAR.  Danica Patrick.  Danica announced this week that she would be driving a limited schedule in the Nationwide Series.  She will be driving limited dates around her Indy Car schedule for Jr. Motorsports.  Danica will be driving the number 7 Chevy sponsored by Go Daddy.com.  Her first race will be the IRCA race in February at Daytona.  There have been female drivers in the Nationwide Series before but none have made the transition to the Cup Series.  I think it will take a couple of years, but this girl can do it.  She is a hell of a driver, and talented enough to make the transition from open wheel to stock cars look easy.  Danica has proven she can not only keep up with the boys but also earn their respect.  She has paired up with the best possible team, Jr. Motorsports and Kelley Earnhardt.  Danica’s schedule has not yet been released, but you can expect her arrival at any Nationwide race to be a breath of fresh air that series badly needed.

I am hoping that she will be driving at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February.  You can expect the whole TVT gang will be there to catch the action!

The 2009 NASCAR Champions Week is coming to Las Vegas!!  December 2nd thru the 4th it will be all NASCAR all the time!!  Thank God I will be back from my vacation just in time to cover all the festivities.  We are still working on media credentials to get that insider view, but should that not come thru I have no problem just being another NASCAR rabid fan.  What I am looking forward to most is this…

The top 12 NASCAR driver will complete a victory lap along Las Vegas Boulevard.  The lap will take drivers north on Las Vegas Boulevard to Spring Mountain Rd.  At Spring Mountain Rd the Sprint Cup Series Champion will treat fans to a “victory burn out”.  During the lap all stock cars will participate in an authentic pit stop.

Me and my rowdy friends will be standing on the boulevard just waiting for those cars to come by.  You can expect that this guy will be doing the burn out at Spring Mountain Rd.

See you all on the corner!

Is poker a sport?  Many would say no, we say yes…Hell Yes!  Can you sit for hours on end mentally sharp, doing complex math problems, reading your opponents tells, and in general staying in the game even when the chips are down?   Today the nine best players in the world sit down to play the game/sport they love until there is only one left.  The first place finisher goes home with just over $8.5 million.  First player to walk away from this table of 9 goes home with just over $1.2 million.

Play starts today with $120,000-$240,000 blinds and $30,000 antes.  In the photo above Phil Ivey and Darvin Moon count and set up their chips.  Mark is rooting for Ivey and I think Moon is going to take it.  Darvin Moon has a fan club that rivals Dennis Phillips club from last year.

Davin Moon is in seat one with top chip stack at $58,930,000, holding 30% of the chips in play.  This is his first WSOP event and he is the true Cinderella story this year.  Darvin is a self employed logger from Oakland Maryland.  He has never played online poker, doesn’t own a computer, and doesn’t even have an email address.

Phil Ivey is the home town favorite.  He is often refered to as the “Tiger Woods of Poker” and holds 7 WSOP gold bracelets.  Phil Ivey is regarded by most as the world’s greatest poker player and is expected to take this event.

All hands are on deck for this big event.  “The Associate” above is pictured at the final table befor play started.  The Associate helped to set up all the video and the audio for the main table.  We have also set up a special interview for “The Ace Reporter” in St. Louis……wanna guess with who?

We will bring you more updates as we get them.