No spectators were allowed in the corners for this weekend’s races, leading to some shocking images.GETTY IMAGES
Kyle Busch won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway yesterday, but only “about 38,000 fans showed up” to the track for a race described as an “artistic success,” according to BRISTOL HERALD’s Allen Gregory . MAIL. No spectators “were allowed in the corners” yesterday or for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, and this “view of these empty sections compounded the rather shocking optics.” However, attendance is “not just a BMS problem”. Last week’s Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway “also had a crowd in the range of 40,000.” Empty seats and “poor television ratings have become the new normal in sports over the past two years.” NASCAR “remains on a gradual decline toward niche status” (BRISTOL HERALD COURIER, 4/8). At Bristol, Brian Woodson notes that the question of whether BMS “can get back to the level it once was” was a “hot topic among many fans and on social media” after yesterday’s race. While the Bristol night race in August “will undoubtedly attract more fans and interest, the spring race has already attracted at least six people” (BRISTOL HERALD COURIER, 4/8). Dave Caldwell of FORBES writes that when it “gets to the point where enough people don’t want to go to a race at Bristol and have to close half the seats, it’s a sign that the decline in interest is virtually irreversible” (FORBES.com, 4/8).
