Under brilliant sunshine and perfect racing conditions, the superstar drivers attracted sell out record crowds of 175,000 to produce one of the richest weekends in sports history and with a billion-dollar boost to our economy far, far larger than the recent Superbowl in Detroit! Yesterday's big Nextel Cup race, the UAW-Damiler-Chrysler 400, itself was a hair-raising high-speed thriller with speeds up at the 200mph mark! At Saturday's Busch series race, there were 12 crashes and one spin out and on Sunday TV, commentators said they'd never seen so many problems with tires and track conditions within the first 17 laps!

Hometown Vegas hero Kyle Busch was narrowly pipped at the post by Jeff Burton once again seeing his dream to win in his hometown shattered by a split second. Then at the Nextel it went up in smoke again when he spun out and for the third consecutive year Jimmie Johnson won.

The new track with increased banking and increased pit stops had the star-drivers complaining but owner Bruton Smith commented: " If we've got unhappy drivers it means we've got happy fans. This is a Speedway not a slow-way!

It was a star-studded lineup with longtime dear friend, Melissa Rivers (pictured here) swapping her red-carpet duties with mom Joan for TV-hosting duties on the grease track of NASCAR. Melissa and I filmed "Get Me Out of Here" in Australia for ABC and she told me that next January, she has a new book coming out which has Dale Earnhardt, Jr. talking at length about his father's death.

Our merry Mayor of Mirth, Oscar Goodman was on hand with four showgirls and he told me that although he'd met with the Pittsburgh Pirates owners, he wasn't going to let Vegas simply be used as a bargaining chip if they tried to get the offers increased in Kansas City or Houston. But, more importantly, he confirmed the city's bidding presentation will go to NBA Commissioner David Stern in the next 10 days to give plenty of time to the owners to review before the next big meeting at the end of April.

The Blue Man Group presented a special 20-minute show totally different from their normal Venetian production and it was the first time they'd performed at a NASCAR event, let alone being in front of almost 200,000 crazed fans yelling their appreciation and support for the bald blue beauties!

Actor Mark Wahlberg who stars in the brand new movie 'Shooter' was one of the special guests, fresh off his Oscar nomination in 'The Departed.' Here posing with Vegas Pussycat Doll Laura Diane, he told me that he loved high-speed racing and even had a couple of speeding tickets to prove it! " In this new movie, we have quite a car chase through Philadelphia that's a real thrill ride,"he told me" The director kept telling me to slow it down because I was racing so fast." Click here for more photos of Mark and raceday.

Magic Johnson, here with Steven Leach, was another guest as Honorary Crew Chief for the Best Buy race car at the track. Samsung made a pledge and check presentation of $400,000 for his charity foundation prior to the race and throughout March, Best Buy stores nationwide will be supporting Samsung's fund raising promotion.

Former wrestling superstar and Atlanta Falcons football star, Bill Goldberg, also attended and as a devoted car enthusiast -- he has 23 in his collection, folks. He talked to me about his new Spike TV series, 'Bullrun' that premieres tomorrow night. "We have some of the hottest, coolest and fastest tricked out cars ever assembled for TV," he said. "And this is an all-out rally across North America. It's a test of strength and endurance and drivers who got ticketed by police for speeding not only had to pay fines, risk delays with arrest, but were also penalized in our rally points system. It's fantastic television. Call it 'Survivor' meets 'Fear Factor' on wheels!"

The national anthem was performed by the star of 'Phantom of the Opera' at The Venetian, Sierra Boggess and the very split second she finished the Unites States Air Force Thunderbirds flew over in perfect formation just before I introduced Grand Marshall Mike Jessamy for the four most famous words in racing -- "Gentleman, start your engines" -- for the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 race of 267 laps.

I had the privilege of being MC for the event and introducing all 43 drivers. When I talked with them prior to the checkered flag, all agreed that the new changes and faster track, up to 200 mph+, at the Vegas speedway were fantastic challenging improvements for the sport.

Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey were also at the race even riding in the pre-race parade lap with driver Jimmie Johnson, who won Sunday's Nextel Cup race for the third year in a row at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

MORE NASCAR NOTES

Jack Daniel's Chevy driver, Clint Bowyer, was spotted at the Blue Man Group performance at the Venetian with his long-time girlfriend, Athena Barber. ... Brooks & Dunn, who are headlining at the Hilton met Nascar Nextel Cup driver Kyle Petty before their show (pictured below). ... Star driver Jeff Gordon and his wife Ingrid hit the Beatles LOVE show by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage. ... Both Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were immortalized with wax figures from Madamme Tussauds museum at The Venetian while they were in town for the races. Each driver had to sit for 160 body measurements, 75 head measurements alone with 150 backup photos and it took the sculpting and molding some 525 total hours.

STRIP SCRIBBLES
People are still asking if party animal Tommy Lee resorted to his wild ways when he hit TAO at the Venetian with seven pals including Palms owner George Maloof. Did Tommy climb up the 20-foot Buddha statue after drumming with chopsticks on overturned cocktail glasses with lemon-drop shots and a bottle of Dom Perignon for his table? Managers allegedly ordered him down before the gold statue cracked! ... Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban flew in just for the evening to check out the Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil musical at the Mirage and booked tickets for a return visit when Keith plays Vegas later this summer on his concert tour. ... Amber Lancaster (Miss Hawaiian Tropic USA) got up on the Coyote Ugly bar and danced the night away -- until 3AM -- with the Coyotes tossing out branded merchandise along with signed pictures of Amber.

TOMORROW'S TEASE
The most extreme attraction that could ever come to Vegas is on its way and inaugural flights will begin in late April. Martha Stewart and astronaut Buzz Aldrin have already ridden and floated on board Zero Gravity! Plus Vegas businessmen set sight on Vietnam as the next world gaming center!

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