LAS VEGAS — The NASCAR Cup drivers know when they return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September, the track temperature likely will be at least 30 degrees warmer.
But just the fact that they come back in September — for the opening race of their playoffs — has them thinking the Pennzoil 400 will mean more Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox) than in past years when the March stop was the only one of the year on the 1.5-mile oval.
“Absolutely it’s more important just because of that [playoff] reason,” said defending NASCAR Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. “Weatherwise, it’s going to be completely different. You’re talking 23 races between now and then for cars to evolve and setups to evolve and things like that.
“But to come here and have a good run would definitely be a good confidence booster as something you could look forward to to start the playoffs.”
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority agreed to pay LVMS owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. $2 million a year and has dedicated $500,000 annually toward marketing the two race weekends for the next seven years.
That package was enough to convince SMI to move its playoff races from New Hampshire Motor Speedway to Las Vegas. NASCAR opted to make it the playoff opener as part of a realignment that also had Richmond entering the playoffs, Indianapolis moving to the final regular-season race and former playoff opener Chicagoland Speedway getting a midsummer date.
Drivers can expect a different track in September, which is when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams have raced at the track. Both Vegas weekends are tripleheader weekends.
“Grip is obviously more at a premium — handling is a bigger deal [in September],” said truck veteran Johnny Sauter after the truck race Friday. “I think the Cup guys will find that for sure when they come back here, it is a little bit less grip.
“But they will enjoy that more, being able to spread out and run all over the racetrack.”
For a driver such as Kevin Harvick who already has won this season, it is hard not to race Sunday and have an eye toward September.
“It is an important weekend to make sure you have a firm understanding of the direction of this particular racetrack knowing you are coming back for the playoffs,” Harvick said. “It will be different.”
But Harvick cautioned that the improvements teams make with their equipment throughout the year will render obsolete some things learned Sunday.
“The progression of the year is always so drastic,” Harvick said. “By the time we come back in September and you look at the downforce and things the car makes at that time compared to the beginning of the year — if you look at what we raced here last year compared to what we will race today — is all progression [throughout] the year.”
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