New dates mean new opportunities
The way I see it, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway now have opportunities.
The realignment of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule has afforded both tracks opportunities to sell out their events – or least attract more fans.
Let’s be honest, it’s been difficult for nearly any speedway to experience a sellout for a Sprint Cup race.
Atlanta’s second race in 2009 will be on Sunday, Sept. 6, taking the Labor Day weekend date now held by Auto Club (formerly California) Speedway.
Auto Club’s second event in 2009 will be Sunday, Oct. 11, the fourth week of the Chase and the date currently held by Talladega Superspeedway.
Talladega’s second race in 2009 will move to Sunday, Nov. 1, which will make it the seventh event in the Chase.
The benefit for Atlanta is that its second race in 2009 will be staged under the lights during Labor Day weekend.
Many veteran fans were disgruntled when NASCAR took the traditional holiday date reserved for Darlington and its Southern 500 and gave it to Auto Club.
Yes, I know the race seldom sold out at a track with 60,000 seats. Doesn’t matter. For NASCAR fans, tradition dies hard.
Now that the Labor Day date has been given to Atlanta, it means there will be a race on a holiday weekend in the Southeast. Since one had existed for 54 years before NASCAR made the change, at least one part of a tradition will be restored.
Atlanta has a chance to make the most of it. That the race will be held at night is also a positive – it gets hot in September in Atlanta – and fans like races held under the lights.
It gets very hot in Fontana, too, which is one problem Auto Club encountered with its Labor Day date.
But I think a bigger problem was its competition for people’s leisure dollars, especially on a long holiday weekend.
California offers a wealth of leisure activities, and a NASCAR race probably isn’t as high on the list as it is in other parts of the country – although the state does indeed have rabid stock car fans.
Without the holiday competition, the likelihood of cooler temperatures and being part of the Chase, Auto Club has a solid opportunity to increase attendance.
I’m sure Atlanta and Auto Club officials realize they have new marketing and promotional opportunities. Otherwise, the date switches would most likely have never been made.
We’ll see what they make of those opportunities.
