For the last four years, it's been as much a part of the New York holiday scene as the Rockettes and the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree -- 10 Sprint Cup show cars, their rumbling engines shaking morning frost from light poles, making a slow, loud parade around Midtown. The "Victory Lap" was an imposing spectacle before a captive audience, thousands of business people in suits who stopped to snap cellphone photos, and concluding in the vast canyon of Times Square, blocked off to all but the NASCAR drivers and their vehicles.

• N.Y. setting remains strong
• Breakdown of events
• Champions Week site

It was grand, it was riveting, and it commanded the kind of attention that NASCAR comes to New York to get. But it was also expensive, and an object of criticism among locals who didn't like being delayed on their way to work. So as NASCAR returns to the big city for its annual Champions Week, culminating in Friday night's banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Victory Lap will be a thing of the past. But NASCAR's relationship with New York, the occasionally maligned host city of the year-end celebration since 1981, will not be.

"I think that city, and the exposure, and trying to make an impact in a city like New York is really, really important, especially in these economic times," said four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who keeps a residence in the city. "We need to be in front of these major companies as much as we possibly can. And it solidifies our sport and helps take it to the next level as one of the top sports, not only in the country, but in the world. And I think to keep it first-class and high-profile in a major city, it's worth it. I hope they keep it there every year."

Former series chairman Bill France Jr. moved NASCAR's year-end banquet from Daytona Beach to New York 27 years ago in an effort to raise more awareness for the sport in the media capital of the world. There are no shortage of critics, who would rather see it in a more NASCAR-centric environment like Charlotte. Bruton Smith, owner of the racetrack empire that includes Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has lobbied for years to have it moved to a glitzy casino hotel in the desert. But Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for corporate communications, said there are no plans to move the event from New York.

"It seems to be serving the industry pretty well. In this industry, you get an opinion every time you flip a coin. But I don't think there are any plans to move it," Hunter said.

"I think going back to why Bill France Jr. wanted to move the banquet to New York, it's still the media capital of the world. By that I mean ad agencies, everybody in business has a presence in New York, an office in New York. All of our sponsors have offices in New York. It's a great time to be there. The lighting of the tree is always that week. From the time we started going up there, the first year it was, 'Why do we have to go to New York?' Now most of the people in our industry, with the exception of some of the drivers who don't want to do anything, enjoy going to New York for the banquet."

The setting may remain the same, but the event has been tweaked numerous times over the course of its existence. The first banquet, Hunter remembers, was little more than a dinner at Tavern on the Green restaurant and a few show cars parked outside the Plaza Hotel. It moved to the Waldorf's Starlight Room until space considerations forced it into the larger Grand Ballroom in 1985, where it's been -- with the exception of a brief foray to the Hammerstein Ballroom in 2002 -- ever since.

The Victory Lap, despite its high-octane presence, was costing NASCAR and title sponsor Sprint nearly $1 million, because of all the streets that needed to be blocked off and all the police required to be on hand. It was expensive for the race teams involved, who had to truck show cars and trailers up to New York. Given the current state of the economy, Hunter said, the time was right to do away with it. But the event's ultimate demise wasn't a factor of cost, but the criticism NASCAR took for it. After all, the series doesn't come to New York to get bad press.

"The parade just got to be where the trouble wasn't worth the trouble," Hunter said. Even though we were drawing a huge crowd compared to the first year, the city of New York is just not a good place to have a parade -- unless you're the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, or the New York Yankees, or New York Mets. It was costing an unreasonable amount of money. We're talking about close to a million bucks.

"But it wasn't just the expense that we decided to do away with it. It was that coupled with the fact that we were being criticized there in the city of New York. But that's sort of par for the course. That comes with the territory."

Gordon, who finished seventh in the final standings this year, will be sad to see it go.

"That's a shame. I was always concerned about the weather bringing that to a halt anyway, but it was very cool," he said. "I know how much it meant to the people of New York that got a chance to see those cars, and how unique it was, but did it really make a huge impact for the sport as a whole, I'm not really sure. To me, New York is about gaining the media exposure and getting the attention of the right people that can impact the sport into the future. I don't think necessarily driving around Times Square does that. That was a nice little perk, but I don't think it was crucial. I am going to miss it."

What replaces the Victory Lap? Hunter said Sprint plans to cover the city with signage, and many other events -- including a Times Square fan festival and roving pit stop tour -- will also take place. The traditional lunch at 21 Club has been replaced by one at Foley's, an Irish bar in Manhattan that hosts "NASCAR nights" during race weekends. The goal is always the same, to catch the eye of potential fans and potential sponsors who might not notice the sport if the year-end celebration were held somewhere else.

"There are a lot more fans in New York than people realize, and every year we gain a few more. We're not just going around in circles," Hunter said.

"Raising the awareness of NASCAR in New York, with millions of people there, has got to be a good thing. I think it's important to continue having it there. Bruton wants to move it to [Las] Vegas, of course, but I don't see that happening in the near future. I think New York is still a great place to have the banquet."