Auto Racing Capsules: Bristol feeling economic pinch in selling tickets

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Rob Stiens won two tickets to Bristol Motor Speedway as his company’s employee of the month. Unable to find affordable lodging close to the track, and unwilling to stay in a hotel three hours away, his seats will go empty Saturday night.

Once the toughest ticket in NASCAR, Bristol is now just like every other track that’s struggling to attract fans in a tough economy. The track’s streak of 55 consecutive sellouts was snapped during its March race, and Saturday night’s event — one of the most beloved on the schedule — will also fall short of capacity.

"My last race at Bristol was the spring race (in 2009) and we decided that it’s just too much money to continue going," said Stiens, a Fayetteville, Ohio, milkman who gave up his season tickets to Bristol Motor Speedway last year after 14 years.

"I got these tickets from my company two weeks ago, tried to find somewhere reasonable to stay, and the nearest place was $189 a night," Stiens said. "Anything cheaper was in Knoxville, and that’s about three hours away. It’s easier to just watch it on TV at home."

There won’t be a full house at Thunder Valley on Saturday night when the speedway celebrates its 100th Sprint Cup race. Kevin Triplett, vice president of Bristol’s public affairs, did not release ticket sale information but said if everyone who bought a ticket shows up, "it’s going to look pretty close to full."

Still, anything less than capacity was unheard of during a massive growth spurt in the 1990s, when track officials had a lengthy waitlist and ran ticket sales much like the NCAA does for its annual basketball tournament. Fans signed up for a package of four, and if something came available, names were picked through a lottery.

Now, with 160,000 seats and only about 6,000 hotel rooms in the immediate Tri-Cities area, Bristol officials are having to launch creative marketing strategies for the first time in over two decades. The sellout streak began in 1982 when the track had just 30,000 seats.

"I don’t think anyone is immune," said five-time Bristol winner Jeff Gordon. "It’s just like a top team is not immune to sponsorship negotiations, and a race track is not immune to the economy and whatever decision-making is going on out there among fans as to what races they choose to go to and what obstacles lie in their way to get to those tracks.

"I still think people, everywhere I go, love Bristol and love Talladega and love NASCAR. But I think when there are tough times, they have to make tough decisions."

Bristol officials this year gave tickets to four drivers active on Twitter, as well as Red Bull Racing, to give away through social media efforts. Red Bull gave its 10 sets out through weekly trivia sessions, but even some of those will go unused Saturday night.

Josh Jones has been out of work since April, and even after winning tickets from Red Bull, he couldn’t swing the trip from Guilford, Ct. He’s already been to races this season at New Hampshire, Pocono and the All-Star race in Charlotte, all paid for before he lost his job.

Having never been to the bullring at Bristol, a track that produces the short-track Saturday night bumping and banging NASCAR fans crave, Jones had hoped to pull off the trip.

"I figured it would cost around $500 for travel and accommodations," he said. "That does not include food, drink and spending money. It definitely (stinks) because its Bristol."

Staying home on Saturday night means fans won’t get to sit in the Coliseum-like setting and see live the myriad of raging driver feuds potentially play out on one of the tightest tracks in NASCAR. The beloved bump-and-run tactic was made for tracks like Bristol.

With the top 11 drivers in the standings pretty much locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, they also won’t have to play it safe as many contenders have done since the format began in 2004. Needing to ensure strong finishes, drivers would tone down the aggression that so often reared itself at Bristol.

Now, those 11 can race hard for wins and coveted bonus points to be used in Chase seeding.

With only four drivers in contention for the 12th and final Chase berth — and really only Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin legitimately in contention — fans not in attendance will have to watch the battle unfold from their living room.

Triplett has heard from many heartbroken fans who, after years of attending the Saturday night race, simply can’t come this year.

"As challenging and disappointing as it was to finally see the sellout string come to an end, we looked at why and how do we fix it?" Triplett said. "We found that 62 percent of the people surveyed said the economy, and that’s the harsh reality of it."

Speedway officials recently acquired 20 acres of land outside the track for camping, at $99 for a spot. The campground doesn’t have electricity or running water, but does provide fans an option besides expensive hotel rooms. And despite trying to work with local leaders and hotel owners on pricing, Triplett said the demand outweighs the supply and rates simply can’t be negotiated the way they are in many other NASCAR markets.

"It’s challenging for some of our fans to pay as much for lodging for a race weekend as they would for a couple nights in New York City," Triplett said. "But even with these challenges, we recognize that we have an enormously large facility that is almost double the capacity of the Dallas Cowboys, who led the NFL in attendance last season.

"Even short of a sellout," Triplett said, "we will still have more people here — many more people — than any NFL game in the country."

Jimmie Johnson wins pole for Bristol night race

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Jimmie Johnson crossed winning at Bristol Motor Speedway off his to-do list in March. Now he’ll try to make it two in a row by starting from the pole in Saturday night’s race.

The four-time defending NASCAR champion turned a lap at 123.475 mph in Friday’s qualifying to put his Chevrolet on the front row.

“Everybody wants to win here,” Johnson said. “We all know how hard I fought this track myself, my own demons, whatever it is that we finally got over in the spring to win here. I would love to go out and win again. If not, just have a really solid race.”

Johnson bettered Carl Edwards, who earned the second starting spot with a lap at 122.937 in a Ford. His hold on the pole was for just a few minutes — Johnson ran his lap two cars after Edwards’ attempt.

“I was on it for 15.54 seconds or however long it took Jimmie to run that thing,” Edwards said.

Joey Logano qualified third in a Toyota, and also had a brief time atop the speed chart before Edwards and then Johnson knocked him into the second row.

“When Carl ran his lap, he beat me by just a little bit and I was thinking, ‘Oh man, it would stink to get beat by that much,’ “ Logano said. “But Jimmie ran a really fast lap. I don’t think I had that much in me.”

Tony Stewart qualified fourth and David Reutimann bounced back from a bout with food poisoning to qualify fifth.

NASCAR had 49 cars vying for 43 starting positions. Drivers not making the race were Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, Kevin Lepage, J.J. Yeley, Brian Keselowski and Mike Bliss.

For Johnson, who finally broke through for his first Bristol win in 17 career starts in March, a good run Saturday night could stop his annual summer slump. With five victories — enough to ensure him a great seeding spot at the start of the Chase — he’s had the luxury of experimenting a bit over the past month.

It’s the same strategy crew chief Chad Knaus has used over the last few seasons, and the team has always turned it up a notch when the championship race begins.

Now, with only one top-10 finish in his last six races, he’s looking to get some momentum as the “regular season” winds down.

“Once Chad and I can figure out where we need to work, we seem to do pretty well with it,” Johnson said.

-- Jenna Fryer

Reutimann returns from food poisoning at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. — David Reutimann missed Friday’s first practice at Bristol Motor Speedway because of illness, but recovered in time to qualify his Toyota.

Reutimann will start fifth in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race.

Aric Almirola said Michael Waltrip Racing contacted him Friday morning to say Reutimann had food poisoning, and asked him to practice the No. 00 Toyota. Almirola wasn’t sure at the time if Reutimann would get any seat time on Friday.

Reutimann was feeling well enough to drive in the second practice session, and then qualify the car.

"The guys did a really, really good job all day having to work with two different drivers," Reutimann said. "Almirola helped us out a lot, and I have to thank him."

Almirola has been the standby driver of choice this season. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon both tabbed him to wait in the wings in case their wives went into labor during a race weekend.

-- Jenna Fryer

Nationwide

Busch makes it 2 for 2 at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch moved one step closer to sweeping the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, winning the Nationwide Series race on Friday night after intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski.

The boos rained down on Busch as he celebrated his 10th Nationwide victory of the season, and second since arriving at Bristol on Wednesday. He won the Truck Series race, and will try to make it a clean sweep Saturday night in the Sprint Cup Series race.

Busch is the defending champion of the Cup race.

He had to work hard to get the Nationwide win, battling for at least a dozen laps with Keselowski for the lead. He finally made the pass with 31 to go, but as he slid in front of Keselowski, Busch didn’t have him cleared and contact between the cars sent Busch down the track and back to second.

He promptly drove back up to Keselowski’s bumper and intentionally spun him. Keselowski, the Nationwide Series points leader, wound up 14th while Busch survived several late cautions to go to Victory Lane.

“I raced him, raced him, raced him, I don’t know, 12-15 laps? I thought I had him cleared up the back and I moved up in front of him and instead of him doing an (Dale) Earnhardt crossover, he decided to just run into the back of me and put me in the fence,” Busch said.

“That’s Brad Keselowski. So I went down into the next corner and I dumped him. He does it to everybody else, why can’t I do it to him?”

The crowd showed its disapproval with strong booing toward Busch, who changed his trademark victory bow for a mock wiping of his eyes like a crying baby.

And Keselowski earned a roar of approval when he vowed payback.

“He did a good job, almost cleared me and took it for granted that I would lift to let him in line and I didn’t,” Keselowski said. “That’s his right. We’re going to go to work on beating him next week, and the week after and every other week.”

Keselowski is on probation with NASCAR for a series of on-track incidents with Carl Edwards, and said he thought Busch took advantage of that because Keselowski has “my hand tied behind my back,” when it comes to retaliation.

Concerned that his friend might do something post-race to anger NASCAR, fourth-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke to him on pit road.

“I just told him he’s going to be around here for awhile and to not make a tool of himself,” Earnhardt said.

Jason Leffler finished second and was followed by pole-sitter Elliott Sadler. Edwards was fifth, Trevor Bayne was sixth and Clint Bowyer seventh.

Reed Sorenson, Parker Kligerman and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10.

-- Jenna Fryer

Danica Patrick expected to run NASCAR again in ‘11

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — JR Motorsports expects to field a Nationwide Series car next season for Danica Patrick.

JRM co-owner Kelley Earnhardt said Friday she’s waiting for the IndyCar schedule to be released to determine how many races Patrick will drive in NASCAR. She’s running a 13-race schedule this year for JRM that is built around her IndyCar commitments.

Patrick has a career-best finish of 24th at Chicago last month through her six races so far. Her average finish is 30.5.

"I think she’s definitely had a difficult year getting used to these cars from where she’s came from," Earnhardt said. "I think still everyone has to keep in check that she’s ran six Nationwide races and pretty much six stock car races in her career. She’s still very fresh and new at this and still has a lot to learn about the way these cars work."

Earnhardt also said her brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will run between four and six Nationwide Series races next season in the No. 7 Chevrolet that Patrick drives. Josh Wise is another candidate to fill that seat when Patrick is not racing.

"Josh has done very well for us and kept the car in the top 20 of the owner’s points and hasn’t put a scratch on our car that I can recall," Kelley Earnhardt said. "He’s done what we’ve asked him to do and we’re just going to continue to allow him, I think he’s got three or four more races for the rest of the year, and evaluate what’s going on there.

"Depending on how the sponsorship falls out for the remainder of that car will depend on who will drive that car, but we really enjoy working with Josh."

JRM announced this week that Aric Almirola will drive the team’s flagship No. 88 in the Nationwide Series next season.

The car does not have full sponsorship yet, but GT Vodka has signed up for 15 of next year’s 34 Nationwide races. Kelley Earnhardt said Unilever could fill in a bulk of the remaining races.

-- Jenna Fryer

Edwards to run full Nationwide schedule in 2011

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Carl Edwards said Friday he has committed to racing the full Nationwide Series schedule next season.

Edwards said he will drive the full season in NASCAR’s second-tier series even if he’s not eligible to race for the Nationwide championship.

"That’s a great team I’ve got over there," he said. "We’ve got a great shop and a bunch of people that work very hard. I kind of halfway committed to doing it a year ago, these two years, so (if) NASCAR says that we can’t race for driver’s points, I still feel like I owe it to my guys and my sponsors and myself to follow through and do what I said I’d do."

NASCAR is currently discussing rule changes to the Nationwide Series to develop its brand. One of the proposals is making full-time Sprint Cup drivers ineligible for the title.

Edwards is in his sixth season running a full Nationwide schedule. He won the championship in 2007 and is currently second in the standings behind Brad Keselowski. Like Edwards, he’s also a full-time Sprint Cup Series driver.

Edwards doesn’t like NASCAR’s proposal of eliminating Cup drivers from Nationwide title contention because it only really affects a small handful of drivers. Edwards and Keselowski are the only two running the full schedule this year, although Cup drivers Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard are all ranked inside the top 10 in standings despite running only partial schedules.

And, the last driver who was not racing in the Cup Series to win the Nationwide title was Martin Truex Jr. in 2005.

"I look at it as NASCAR, by saying that we can’t race for drivers points, is really only hurting a couple teams — myself and Brad’s team," Edwards said. "I think we might be the only two guys who are planning on doing it again next year, anyway, so if it’s good for the series, if it pacifies some complaints out there or whatever is going on and it only hurts two guys, then that’s a pretty good deal for NASCAR.

"I don’t know the real solution. I don’t even know the real problem."

-- Jenna Fryer

IRL

Franchitti set to defend title at Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. — Being called a sport’s elder statesman is a sign of respect for your accomplishments, yet with the undertone that you’re no longer relevant on the playing field.

IndyCar’s Dario Franchitti is a contradiction to the connotation.

The 37-year-old Scotsman certainly has the chops to carry the title, a second Indianapolis 500 still close in his rearview mirror, a second straight IndyCar Series within reach.

No longer relevant? That’s the part that doesn’t fit.

If anything, Franchitti’s career is still racing toward its apex, fueled by an inner drive as strong today as it was when he first strapped in as a CART rookie in 1997.

“When you think about an elder statesman, you think of someone where the spirit is gone maybe a little bit — it happens to everybody,” Franchitti said before posting the fastest practice time Friday at Infineon Raceway. “I just don’t see myself in that vein yet. I’m as hungry as I ever been, as competitive as I ever have been, so I don’t really see that yet.”

He can’t get around being a statesman for the series, though. It comes naturally.

Opinionated yet willing to stay out of minor issues, Franchitti — along with Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan — has become a cue-setter for the rest of the field, the driver everyone turns to for on-track and series-wide issues.

If a fellow driver is being reckless, he’ll point it out. Same thing if there’s a problem with the tires or a decision by the series he doesn’t agree with.

Franchitti has been one of the more vocal critics of Milka Duno, who was placed on probation by IndyCar officials last month for failing to meet performance standards, and a longtime lamenter of blocking, calling out drivers who lack respect for the series and fellow drivers by failing to get out of the way.

Franchitti knows where to pick his fights and, because of what he’s done on the track and carried himself off it, his words carry weight.

“He doesn’t go off on tangents. He just doesn’t ramble off just to ramble off,” said Robbie Buhl, co-owner of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and an analyst for the Versus network. “If there’s something to say and we can improve or make better as a group or drivers, he’s a good representative. Talking about the intensity of the game, the competition of it and what he has to do as a driver to be better, he’s pretty succinct in that.”

It’s turned him into one of IndyCar’s best and most technically sound drivers.

Two seasons removed from an unsuccessful NASCAR turn, Franchitti has matured into a superb all-around driver, equally adept at the run-it-flat racing of ovals and the feather-the-throttle style needed on road courses.

Franchitti captured his second series championship last season after winning five races, then took the checkers at the Brickyard this May for his second Indy 500 win. He won two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio to narrow series leader Will Power’s lead to 41 points and enters Sunday’s race at Infineon Raceway as the defending champion after a dominating, green-to-checkers run through California’s wine country last year.

Franchitti appears to be winding up, not down.

“He’s won big races, he’s won championships, so he has that experience, but yet he’s got the spirit and the energy of when he first started in racing as a young guy,” said Mike Hull, managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing. “That’s a very rare combination. People, as they go through their professions, they often lose that energy and live on the experience. He’s unique because he possesses both.”

Oddly enough, the aborted NASCAR run is part of what kept Franchitti going.

Coming off a dominating 2007 season that included a win at Indy and his first series championship, Franchitti made the switch to challenge himself, but a small part of it may have been a sense of boredom. After all those years of close calls and bad breaks, he had reached the pinnacle of open-wheel racing.

Franchitti’s fendered-car run didn’t last long, the plug pulled after 10 Sprint Cup races due to lack of sponsorship.

That one year turned out to be all Franchitti needed to realize IndyCar was where his heart was, pushing an already-uncommon inner drive to another gear.

“I’m enjoying it more because I realize that if I run another five years, I’m still closer to the end of my career than I am to the beginning,” he said. “Probably the best thing that happened to me was the ill-fated time in NASCAR because it showed me what I was missing, what I loved to do, that I enjoyed driving IndyCars and being a part of it. That really energized me again.”

An elder statesman with drive.

-- John Marshall