'New' Las Vegas track ready for its big debut

They're dropping in ceiling tiles, putting up signs, and applying the final touches of paint. The Neon Garage, the centerpiece of Las Vegas Motor Speedway's multi-million-dollar infield renovation project, is almost completed -- with the track's annual Nextel Cup weekend just days away.

All the work is slated to be finished by Wednesday evening, when the track hosts a VIP reception in its new facility. One day later, the team haulers roll into an infield crewmen will scarcely recognize from the year before, when the speedway's structures were razed and replaced with interactive fan areas that general manager Chris Powell believes will set new standards in the sport.

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"Anybody who doesn't have the opportunity to give the fans this kind of access is going to be a level below where Las Vegas is," Powell said. "I'm not trying to say that with any conceit, that's just fact. When the first NBA venue put in a big screen and the people in the stands could see the replays, that raised the bar a little bit for everybody. Now, everybody has a replay board. It's the same kind of thing."

From the outside, getting the project finished in time for Sunday's sold-out UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 seemed like the biggest gamble in a city full of them. Media members who attended the Nextel Cup test at the track in late January saw a dusty construction site, and plenty of work still to be done. No pavement had been laid within the diamond-shaped garage courtyard, the interior of the media center was far from completed, and concession stands and a sports bar were visible only in skeleton form.

Five weeks later, it's down to the details. Although the project was delayed for more than a month when a steel supplier went out of business in the fall, all of the contractors and subcontractors involved in the build promised Powell that it would be completed in time.

"I was assured when this thing began that everything would be ready in time for the NASCAR weekend. In a perfect world, we would have had access to the whole new garage complex back in January in time for the test. That just didn't work because of the issue with the steel vendor that went out of business," he said.

"But I worry. I'm always anxious. I worry about the weather, I worry about people doing what they tell me they're going to do. But that's just my nature. Because eventually, I'll be the person who gets blamed if anything is lacking. But did I lie awake at night wondering if this project would get finished? I'd say no. I was told all along we were in good shape, and we've been in good shape, and we're in great shape right now." (Continued)