LAS VEGAS – It always began in Daytona, before the start of a new season, eventually unfolding in the Plaza Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida.
 
But in 1981, NASCAR officials packed up and moved the premier series’ annual awards ceremony to the bright lights and the big city, New York City in fact, and specifically the historic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Starlight Roof.
 
Friday night, for the seventh consecutive year, the season-ending affair will take place here, at the Wynn Las Vegas, its home since 2009. Home of the Strip, miles and miles of neon and what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
 
“It was unbelievable, the difference between the two (venues),” three-time series champ Darrell Waltrip told NASCAR.com earlier this week when asked about the move from Daytona to New York City.
 
Waltrip, now a race analyst for FOX Sports, was the first champion to be honored in the Big Apple when he captured the 1981 title. Two years earlier, he had finished second.
 
“You’d go to Daytona and they had the ceremony down in the basement of the Plaza,” Waltrip said. “No media, no people, anything like that. Just all the guys that finished in the top 10 in points.”
 
But Bill France Jr., son of NASCAR founder William H.G. France, had bigger plans for the program. France wanted to make a statement for a sport once seen as a regional oddity but on the fast track to becoming a national phenomenon.
 
And New York City was just the destination France Jr. had in mind.
 
“Bill Junior wanted to take NASCAR out of the backwoods and put it not just on Main Street but on Wall Street,” said Waltrip. “Having the dinner in New York was a huge step up. It was making a statement. This wasn’t just a backwoods sport, a bunch of good ol’ boys; these guys are professional race car drivers and this would change the image of the sport. And it did.”
 
For the next 28 years, from 1981 through 2008, the season-ending ceremony was held at the Waldorf. The program quickly outgrew the Starlight Roof and moved into the Grand Ballroom after just three years. (“Like going from coach to first class,” Waltrip said.)
 
Concluding his first speech as series champion, Waltrip succinctly noted the wisdom behind the move, saying “We’re not intruding here; we belong here.”
 
He was the perfect ambassador during that time for the growing sport. He was well-spoken, attractive and perhaps most importantly not the least bit shy in front of a microphone.
 
“I wasn’t afraid to go on TV shows, all those morning shows I did in New York that first year,” he said. “All those things were fun for me. I loved it, I enjoyed it; I thrived on it.”
 
As much of a boost as the move gave to the series, there were issues that eventually arose. The hustle and bustle of a city of millions proved to be a significant hurdle for fan-friendly events held outside. The weather could be a factor. And the New York media was often less than receptive.
 
“They’d give out $10 (million)-$15 million and there wouldn’t be anything about it in the paper the next morning,” Waltrip noted.
 
Trimmed out in holiday lights for the season, New York City proved to be a memorable venue. But eventually the hassle and the hustle became too much to try and overcome.
 
Since ’09, the season-ending celebration has grown into a nearly week-long affair in this oasis in the desert, with numerous fan-driven events and opportunities leading up to the final night’s awards program.
 
New York vs. Las Vegas, Waltrip said, showed the “incredible contrast” between France Jr.’s vision for the sport and that of his son, current Chairman and CEO Brian France.
 
“I think I will always be partial to New York,” Waltrip said. “There’s nothing wrong with Las Vegas. It’s a fun place to go and fun place to have an event. Just a difference in times, I guess.”
 
Several of today’s competitors say the move to Las Vegas has been good for the series. Fan Fest, Victory Lap and After the Lap programs are tailored for fans, and the more laid back pace of the vacation destination suits the drivers as well.
 
“While I do miss certain aspects of New York, at the same time I do think that Las Vegas is a great fit for us,” four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon said Thursday. “To be able to do what we do on Las Vegas Boulevard with the cars and the burnouts, to have the entertainment value of what the banquet is now for TV, I think it suits us very well.
 
“I personally like New York a lot and I like to be there. But I can also remember … trying to move from the hotel six blocks and it would take you 45 minutes; the snow and just a lot of things … were real challenges.
 
“Would I still like to go there from time to time? Yeah. Because I like New York and I had great memories there and I like the city even more so now than when I was going there for the banquet. But I think it makes sense here.”
 
Teammate Jimmie Johnson celebrated championships in New York as well as Las Vegas. Like Gordon, the Hendrick Motorsports driver, a six-time champion, admitted he enjoys New York. But for the post-season awards, he said, “it wasn’t fun.
 
“It was great to be in New York during the holidays and I think New York was an awesome spot to have our event, but from a social side and enjoyment side it wasn’t a lot of fun. It was a lot of work,” Johnson said Thursday.
 
“You come here (to Las Vegas) and the earliest thing we have is today at 11 o’clock. That’s pretty awesome. Clearly people were up all night having fun.
 
“So from a social and entertainment side, this is a great fit for us.”

LAS VEGAS — Kyle Busch didn’t make the trip to Las Vegas the last time NASCAR was in town for a Sprint Cup Series race.
 
He returned this week as a champion.
 
Friday night, Busch will be honored as the series’ 31st winner of the title, a hometown hero feted and fawned over, and rightfully so.
 
Inside the Wynn Las Vegas, Busch, along with wife Samantha, car owner Joe Gibbs, crew chief Adam Stevens and a handful of other principals affiliated with the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team, will take their seats and look out over a room full of industry folks, fellow drivers and crew chiefs, sponsors and media.
 
But the spotlight will be on Busch, literally as well as figuratively, at the Sprint Cup Awards show on Friday from Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
 
Those who have been there know what lies in store for the 30-year-old.
 
“It’s a little awkward in one way because everybody is staring at you,” four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said Thursday. ” … At the same time everybody is looking at you because you’re the champion and wishing they were up there. ‘How do I get there? I want to be up there. That’s cool.’
 
“It’s an amazing experience. As a race car driver and team there is just no greater accomplishment than earning that right to sit up there on that stage.”
 
Kurt Busch, older brother of Kyle and winner of the 2004 series title, remembers the sensation. He called it “an incredible, nervous accomplishment of genuine hard work.”
 
“At the same time,” the elder Busch said, “the only thing I kept remembering was all the people that helped me get to that point. I just kept sitting there reminiscing on my own. I might have looked like I was in la-la land but I just had different snapshots in my mind of different Southwest Tour races or different car owners or different sponsors, crew members, volunteers. (Memories) of good races and bad races, what I learned from them and how I applied them.”
 
It’s been more than a decade since Matt Kenseth sat at the head table, “so you’d have to get somebody a little more current,” the JGR driver and teammate of this year’s champion said Thursday.
 
“You want to be up there for that night; for that season you’re the man and that’s the team, those are the guys. Everybody wants to be there looking out at everybody else instead of … looking at you sitting there.”
 
For someone as successful as Jimmie Johnson, one might think sitting in front of a room full of people, sharing a meal and accepting accolades for winning the championship would become almost second nature. No big deal. No surprises.
 
But that’s not the case, the six-time series champion said.
 
“No. 1 you’re very uncomfortable up there eating with the spotlight on you,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. “… It just becomes real. You’ve heard and seen the success and everything that’s happened to you, the interviews, but that’s really the moment that you take it all in.
 
“You’re recognized by many and little stories pop up, make your mind wander and think about other aspects and things.
 
“It all builds to what was the most stressful part for me — when you had to give your own speech.”
 
Busch missed the season’s first 11 races due to injuries suffered in the season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway. He returned and over the summer won four out of five races, including three straight in July. He advanced through the 16-team Chase to earn one of the four championship berths in the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
 
A victory at Homestead — he beat defending series champion Kevin Harvick, Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. — cemented one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of the series.
 
Friday night, Busch and his team will be honored for what they were able to overcome and accomplish this season.
 
“It’s a fun night,” Johnson said, “and really the moment that pulls it all in.”