Guest Column By Cathy Elliott
You can learn at lot of useful stuff at the blackjack table.

Champion’s Week in Las Vegas reached its end Friday, and what a week it was.

The first few minutes of the awards ceremony left most of the folks sitting at my table a little bit shell-shocked. The Ken Squier-narrated “Spirit of the Fans” video was immediately followed by Brooks and Dunn’s performance of “Only in America.” During the song, representatives from the different branches of the armed forces came on stage and raised their right hands in salutes so precise and razor-sharp that Gillette might want to consider signing them up for the “Young Guns” promotion in 2010.

This proved two things: first, that patriotism can bring NASCAR’s elite to its feet. And second, that NASCAR can bring Brooks and Dunn back together. I’m not sure if the performance can actually be considered leg one of the “Reunion Tour,” but that’s some serious clout we’re talking about.

The electric string quartet Escala made classical music something worth snapping your fingers to (and probably elicited more than a few internal wolf whistles from the guys), the comedians were funny, and the drivers looked handsome and said all the right things. I don’t have a copy of the NASCAR textbook, but if I did, the transcript of the entire show would probably comprise the chapter “How to Get it Right.”

Granted, that would be a cool textbook to read, but I got my real education just down the hall in the casino at the Wynn Hotel, host venue for the week.

I learned when to double down and when to say when.

I learned what it feels like to be wanted. Invariably, when you’re sitting at a table with a group of people for some length of time, talk turns to where you’re from and what you do.

In Las Vegas, every time the word “NASCAR” was mentioned, folks got animated. Dealer Dean –- who has only been married three times as opposed to Dealer Danny, who has tied the knot on seven occasions and claims to be Robert DeNiro’s BFF –- actually took the day off on Thursday so he could watch the stock cars fire up their engines and take a Victory Lap down the Strip.

Dean even loved the fact that Gentleman Jimmie Johnson not only fired up his engine, but in perhaps the only time in history when it didn’t throw Crew Chief of the Year Chad Knaus into a frenzy of strategic activity, spectacularly broke an axle.

I learned that you should split aces and eights but never split a winner. Because that’s just dumb.

I learned a lot about NASCAR fans. Sitting next to me one day was a nice lady who came all the way to Vegas from Texas –- by herself –- just because NASCAR was going to be there.

She didn’t have access to anything special. She didn’t attend the Chasers for Charity Fanfest at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. She didn’t have tickets to the awards ceremony. She did check out the Victory Lap and took pictures of the show cars scattered up and down the Strip. She doesn’t have a favorite driver although she likes Tony Stewart’s attitude and thinks Kasey Kahne is cute.

So why did she come all that way?

“I just wanted to be close to it,” she said. “NASCAR makes me happy.” That’s a long way and a lot of money for a smile, but to her, it was worth every penny.

NASCAR, the rodeo and the Las Vegas Marathon were all in town on the same weekend. That may seem an incongruous trio, but closer inspection reveals it to be more of a tighter trinity than you might think.

NASCAR drivers are often described as cowboys, solitary souls who nevertheless must work in tandem in order the get the job done. And if you think Sprint Cup Series competition isn’t made up of marathon events, you obviously have never attended the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. Or the night race at Darlington. Or … you get the idea.

I learned from Dealer Dean, a veritable fountain of information if not of face cards, that NASCAR and Las Vegas have a three-year agreement regarding the annual awards ceremony and its related activities.

I’m not sure if that’s true, but I’m pretty certain that if it is, most people wouldn’t have an issue with it. Because –- and here we go with that ubiquitous marketing slogan again –- what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

And the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week was really, really happening.