Soon after the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion is crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup will head to Las Vegas as NASCAR hosts its annual Champion’s Week festivities. Fans will gather in Las Vegas for events honoring the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Playoff Drivers, Sunoco Rookie of the Year and other season-ending award recipients.

Beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 28 and culminating Thursday, Nov. 30, NASCAR Champion’s Week will feature the annual NASCAR National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers Awards at the Wynn Las Vegas as well as the return of the NASCAR Fan Lounge at Beerhaus located at The Park, situated between New York-New York Hotel & Casino and Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.
This year, a special celebration of the storied driving career of Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Appreci88ion An Evening with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Presented by Nationwide" will take place at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The exclusive fan event will feature surprise guests from Earnhardt’s career with proceeds benefitting Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers will take to the famed Las Vegas Strip when they get behind the wheel of their race cars for NASCAR Victory Lap Fueled by Sunoco on Wednesday, Nov 29.

Lifelong NASCAR “fanatic” Patty Chemberlin of Imlay City, Mich., service director at the Lasco Ford dealership in Trenton, is the big winner of the T1D, Motorcraft & Me “Customize for a Cause” t-shirt design contest to benefit JDRF. Chemberlin’s winning design features the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion NASCAR racer appearing to drive off the wearer’s chest over the words: “Helping Break Through to Cure Type 1 Diabetes.”

She and three family members will be the guests of Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing during Ford Championship Weekend for the final race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 17-19. Her design also will be featured as a decal the side panels of the iconic Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 during that weekend’s Ford EcoBoost 400, which will decide the 2017 series champion.

The giddy smiles said it all after spinal cord injured participants took a 135 mile per hour spin at Dover International Speedway with Martin Truex Jr. in an adaptive race car donated by Furniture Row Racing.

Kelly Brush, a paraplegic and skier from Charlotte, Vt. was one of the 10 participants Thursday, who got to experience the thrill of a few laps around the Monster Mile.
“What an incredible experience to say the least,” beamed Brush after exiting the race car. “What struck me was how loud it was. It was so fast I was pressed up against the side of the door the whole time. It was awesome, a really cool experience. I kept thinking Martin won’t hit the wall because that would be really bad but it felt like he was going to. I now know he was just taking a casual ride. He goes a lot faster in his race car.”

Brush and other spinal cord injured got to drive the car which had special hand controls linked to the accelerator and braking.
“It’s neat to see how Dr. Falci and his team are using technology involving racing and race cars,” said Truex, who is the points leader in the NASCAR Cup driver point standings. “For me honestly it was just fun to take these guys for a ride to show them a little of what we do and giving them a feel for the Monster Mile. I had a great time.”

ACT I: Hurricane Trump

So I set out this past weekend to enjoy some sports -- a little football, a bunch of NASCAR, etc. -- and then Hurricane Trump hit on Friday and turned everything into a political circus.

Now here we are: It’s Tuesday, and all anyone can talk about online and at the water cooler is the stunning comments Trump made about the NFL protesters, how nearly every athlete and team in the country strongly responded against him (including Lebron James calling him a “bum”), and who’s right in this debate.

It’s a lot to unpack, and the reason I’m even talking about it here is that 45 brought NASCAR into the discussion, praising their lack of protests -- and a couple of NASCAR team owners made huge headlines in mainstream media with some pretty outrageous comments that don’t paint the sport in a very good light.

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Rivalries are important ... they're a big part of the reason people watch sports so religiously.

They're also something that seems to be lacking in today's NASCAR. There really hasn't been anything on the level of Petty vs Pearson or Gordon vs. Earnhardt for a long time. On the contrary it seems like most of the top Cup guys go fishing with each other each weekend, which is cool on one hand but also kind of makes Sunday a bit less engaging.

That may be changing though.