Jan
30
Kasey Kahne Tears Up Las Vegas
January 30, 2007 | Posted by VroomDude
Much of the NASCAR vroomset recently descended on Las Vegas to test out the reconfigured Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with Kasey Kahne leading the pack with the fastest lap of 184.685 mph.
That’s considerably faster than Greg Biffle’s pole speed of 172.403 for the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at LVMS, thanks mostly to the reconstruction that turned a 12-degree banking into a 20-degree banking on the big oval and moved pit lane closer to the frontstretch grandstands, making for a smoother transition from corner to straightaway.
“You’re going fast,'’ Kahne said. “We go fast at Charlotte, Texas and Atlanta. There’s a lot of tracks we go fast at. To me, the speed is good. … When we come back here (in March), it’s 80-85 degrees, it’ll slow down the cars some. It’ll just make for a slippery track, and that’ll help the racing.'’
Most of the criticism in the past was that LVMS produced boring, single-file racing, so the early returns suggest that the changes should likely inject some speed and excitement, as far as more dynamic racing.