Loser: Attendance
One ongoing issue for NASCAR has been getting enough fans at the track every weekend.
Early on in the year it was obvious that they were in trouble, as classic tracks like Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway looked emptier than normal for their races.
This weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it was the same story. Bob Pockrass of ESPN replied to a fan and stated that the bleachers looked “half-full” for the race.
No. Seats 89,000. Appears about half-full. Wouldn't put too much impact on DaleJr, with that decision just Thursday https://t.co/vODOUQNC4x
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 17, 2016
It was obvious–especially early on in the race–when you could see that groups of five to six rows would contain no more than ten fans.
He went on to state that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s absence was not one of the causes of the empty seats simply because if wasn’t announced until Thursday. He was exactly right about that too. The attendance issues aren’t limited to just one week this season. They’ve been happening rather consistently week in and week out, with big-name tracks not named Daytona and Talladega taking a hit.
As NASCAR faces issues with it’s ratings and amount of fans, they will continued to face the bigger challenge of how to draw more people to the track on race days.
Next: Staying In The Hunt