Track history
The Las Vegas Motor Speedway, situated on 1600 acres northeast of Las Vegas, Nev., opened for business in 1996. The facility covers over a dozen forms of racing, including a go-kart track, a 4,000-foot drag strip, a 3/8 mile "bullring" oval, a couple of road courses, paved and dirt short tracks, motocross circuits and a Cup Superspeedway. It is also home to several racing schools like the Richard Petty Driving Experience and the Mario Andretti Racing School.

With Las Vegas food and entertainment nearby, and more than 100,000 affordable hotel rooms available, LVMS is a favorite of race teams and fans alike. The speedway was opened Sept. 15, 1996 with the Indy Racing League Las Vegas 500k, won by Richie Hearn. NASCAR Cup racing came to LVMS in 1998 with the inaugural Las Vegas 400. The superspeedway is a 1.5 mile tri-oval. The backstretch runs 1,572 feet and the front is 2,275 feet.

In 2007, the Cup drivers competed on a brand-new track configuration. The 1.5 mile track was changed to its current 20 degree banking compared to the previous 12 degrees in the turns. For the fans, pit road was relocated 150 feet closer to the grandstands and the new fan-friendly garages debuted that weekend as well.

First Cup race
Dale Jarrett ran a 168.224 mph qualifying lap in Robert Yates Racing's No. 88 Quality Care Ford to start on the pole for the March 1, 1998 Las Vegas 400. He led 40 laps but dropped out on lap 219 after losing the engine. Mark Martin put Roush Racing's No. 6 Valvoline Ford seventh in the lineup, led 82 laps and took the inaugural victory with a race speed of 146.554 mph.

Mid-pack picks
The top 15 in points is starting to take shape after the first two races of the season. Mid-Pack Attack will not choose any driver in the top 10 this week and, starting next weekend, we'll go back to our practice of avoiding drivers in the top 15. That being said, for our first pick, we're going with Denny Hamlin who jumped up 12 spots to fifteenth after the Auto Club 500. Hamlin's worst Cup finish in three starts at LVMS was a 10th. His average finish of 7.3 is the best of all active drivers. During this race in 2008, Hamlin went down a lap, made it back onto the lead lap and finished ninth. Over on the Nationwide Series side, Hamlin has an average start of twelfth and an average finish of 10th in three starts. He will again be pulling the Las Vegas double-header this weekend. Coming off a 6th in last week's Auto Club 500, we expect another top-10 from Hamlin on Sunday.

Jeff Burton's combined Cup and Nationwide Series numbers show 5 wins, 13 top-10s and an average finish of around tenth in 19 Las Vegas starts. It's an understatement to say he does well at LVMS. He's the only driver to finish all 11 Cup races and 10 on the lead lap. Burton is third in the "Quality Passes" (passing while running in the top 15) category per NASCAR Statistics. Favorites Kenseth and Johnson are ahead in that category. Over the last 10 Vegas Cup races, no one has scored more championship points than Jeff Burton. After two tough finishes so far this season (28th and 32nd), look for the No. 31 "Cat" car up front on Sunday.

Mark Martin leads all drivers with 9 top-10s in Cup Series races at Las Vegas. The inaugural race winner is a fantasy option every time he enters a race at this track. Like Burton, he brings the car home in one piece (running at the finish in 10 out of 11 races).

We're going deep with Casey Mears at the Nevada track. According to NASCAR Statistics loop data for the last four Cup races at LVMS, Mears is first among "Closers" (improving positions in the last 10 percent of the race). In six Cup starts here, Mears has five top-15s (3 top-10s), giving him a respectable 15.2 average finish. He finished fifteenth at Daytona and had a mid-pack twenty-fourth at Fontana. Put Mears in at the end of your fantasy roster at one of his best tracks.

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