And why did they have followings? because they weren't the statuesque corporate sponsor shill and said whats on their mind, did some controversial things etc. Used to be, Im a racer, You wanna put Purolator on the side of my car and give me some money to do so, Have at it. Now it's Give us a ton of money to put your name on the car and I'll do everything not to screw it up.

Smoke "I wouldn't put Goodyears on my tractor"
EPIC!

I actually liked the format better last year as you didn't have the hanging around at the back. Not for the restricted races though. they've been a joke since it started.

Now you have a sterile sport. Last weekend meant nothing Qualifying really has no bearing on the restricted races and there wasn't anyone to bump anyone out of eligibility. The dash race was for last years pole sitters and former winners and was for $$$ only

Thursday will have a good crowd and the 500 will be quite full, But you gotta consider they also removed over a third the capacity they had

Oh and Fox was quick to report they had a significant gain over last year for the dash. Probably because more stayed home .

Yeah, this is the first year in many that I see lots of hotels with vacancies. Just aren't many Nascar fans in town. This isn't the huge event it used to be.

I think we all know speedweeks is expensive no matter what class of car you go to see compared to the same type of event somewhere else on the calendar.

But Daytona has way beyond priced themselves out of business. $70+ tickets for qualifying runs and 75 lap exhibition, probably the same or more starting price for duels and trucks, talked with my boss who is headed to the big track tomorrow and Xfinity is like $170, and the 500 is in the $200's.

Then you pay jacked up hotel prices and parking. It's out of hand ever since they re-did the facility. It's no wonder folks are skipping the big track for the beach and the short tracks where you have more value.

We went to Daytona for Speedweeks 20+year in a row beginning in 1984 and luckily we have always had family in Daytona to stay with. Around 1997 we stopped going to the 500. Tickets were overpriced at that time so I can't imagine what they cost now. We cut back to attending just the twin qualifiers and the Saturday race at the big speedway and of course the dirt tracks. Around '01 or '02 we even stopped going to the qualifiers and just did the dirt races. Quality of entertainment, or lack thereof, and steeply escalating ticket prices curtailed our interest. In those days the hotels were more than doubling their regular room rates requiring 5 & 7 night minimum stays during Speedweeks. The best seats are now bundled in such a way as to eliminate the average fan and most definitely a family. It costs over $1000.00 up to just over $2900.00 just to camp at the track for 500 weekend. You combine all that with the fact that the people in the grandstands who do attend stand during the whole race, which has to be the stupidest thing we've ever witnessed (although it's gettin' almost as bad at The Little 500 these days).

At one time we looked forward going to Daytona in February like a 3rd grader looks forward to Christmas Eve. Haven't set foot on DIS property for close to 15 years and don't miss it at all. Whatever happens to NASCAR and the hotels and restaurants that gouged people for all those years is okay with me. They done did it to themselves.

Daytona isn't the only race where tickets are over $200.00. When I renewed our 2 tickets for the 102nd running of the Indy 500 it cost me $459.00. And believe me, the spectator amenities at Indy can't be mentioned in the same breath as the new Daytona spectator experience. Our Indy tickets went up $80.00 apiece in just 2 years. It was called the "centennial price readjustment", or some such cockamamie thing and the State of Indiana hung a sizable tax on the tickets, as well. It was mainly an excuse to jack the hell out of the ticket prices in anticipation of a huge crowd for the 100th running. Daytona doesn't have the patent on gouging, by no means.

Ask Brian France how much money The State of Florida and Volusia county gave him for the Daytona Project. Betting it's a far cry more than Indy ever got from taxpayers.

I thought I read it was Toyota who put up 400 million for Daytona Rising

I agree with almost everyone (to some extent); but:

http://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2018/...ght-tv-ratings

I think most indycar (other than the 500) - & every other series televised in America really - could only HOPE for a 1.35. So I guess some ticket buyers stayed home (which goes along with what many on here are saying, I know).

I really don't know for sure if your evaluation is accurate or not. I suspect that there is a degree of truth but that has nothing to do with the fact that gouging is gouging regardless who is doing the gouging. I don't know all that much about the Indiana ticket tax that was levied on our Indy seats or who's getting their bread buttered, but on the surface it sure seems as if the state, to a some extent, is the one benefiting monetarily from the ticket tax, not the other way around. I'll gladly stand corrected if I'm off base.

I will say this, at one time we had tickets to 3 different NASCAR Cup venue's (Daytona, Michigan & later Chicagoland) and we never experienced ticket price increases like we did for Indy in the years leading up to the 100th running. Not at all carrying water for the NASCAR tracks, just stating facts. It's obvious we aren't forced to purchase tickets to any event but after 30 years of patiently waiting our turn to get into the seats we've always desired for the Indy 500 and then have them increase in price the year after we get them to the tune of nearly 45% in just 2 years is just a bit unsettling!!

More than likely, NASCAR doesn’t even care about attendance or concessions, in spite of them owning almost all tracks at which they race. Seems to me that tv revenue is king. Hence, the owners forming what amounts to a union in order to force NASCAR to share the tv wealth. Also, more races at night now to garner higher ratings.