Dover intends to reduce capacity
With crowds no longer as large as they used to be, Dover is following trend of other tracks in removing some seating.
DOVER INTERNATIONAL Speedway will have a different look next year. Call it "Dover S.S. Speedway," as in "Slightly Smaller."
The new look at the Delaware racetrack won't be drastic. Denis McGlynn, CEO and president of Dover Motorsports, says the plan is to take down a few sections of the grandstands in Turns 2 and 3, amounting to "several thousand" seats.
Two years ago, Dover started reducing its seating capacity from 135,000 to 113,000 by widening the seats. Since crowds no longer are even near the new capacity, vacant seats are noticeable when Dover's attendance is in the range of 70,000 to 85,000.
"We still have some loose ends. We don't want to rush into something we'll regret," McGlynn said Tuesday. "It rubs against the grain to take down sections, but if people are taking shots at us [for smaller crowds] it has to be done."
McGlynn noted that Daytona International Speedway is removing 46,000 seats and Talladega Superspeedway is reducing its capacity by about 40,000.
Attendance for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race was about 85,000, Dover's best crowd in several years.
"We were really happy with [the crowd]," McGlynn said. "A lot had to do with anticipation built up with the new Chase format."
Regarding possible night racing at Dover, Dale Earnhardt Jr. caused a Twitter stir last weekend when he noticed a trackside cement column he thought could be a foundation for lights. Turns out it's a foundation for a new catch fence. McGlynn said Dover has no plans to install lights.
"I'll never say never," he said, "but there's no compelling reason to do it now. The problem [with ticket sales] still is the economy."
McGlynn agreed with my assessment that drivers in Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover raced hard, but were extra careful to avoid knocking out Chase contenders. There were only five caution periods (none after Lap 260) and no wrecks. A traditional race on the "Monster Mile" produces at least a couple of crashes, because the cars are moving very fast and are bunched like bananas on wheels.
"The race probably didn't live up to its prerace billing," McGlynn said, "but it was a popular victory for Jeff Gordon. [The race] probably lived up to Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Unless you were on the bubble [to advance to the next Chase round] you probably were just looking to survive to the next round. I remember looking at my watch: I couldn't believe how fast the race was going [just over 3 hours]."
McGlynn said he is tempted to petition NASCAR to return Dover to 500 miles. As I started begging "No, no . . . " McGlynn laughed and said, "Stop your whining." I obeyed, while also laughing.
Those of us who remember lengthy 500-mile races at Dover before 1997 referred to them as the "24 Hours of Dover."
Round 2 in Chase
The Contender Round of the Chase, featuring the 12 surviving drivers from the first round, moves on to the next three races. All 12 start the Contender Round at Kansas on Sunday with 3,000 points.
Following the third race in this round, at Talladega Oct. 19, the Chase title contention field will be trimmed to the Elite Eight for the next three races. There's no doubt the new format has created interest; at Dover, there was almost as much focus on the 12 who would advance and the four who were eliminated as there was on the race winner.
Kevin Harvick is as enthusiastic as any Chaser about racing at Kansas. At last year's Chase race in the heartland, Harvick won the pole and the race. In his year's spring race, Harvick set the track qualifying record and finished second.
Lately, however, he has the curious habit of leading the most laps in four of the season's past five races without winning. His best finish in those five races was third at New Hampshire.
Jimmie Johnson is worth keeping an eye on. He finished the first three Chases races third in points, with two top-five finishes. Overall, in the season's last seven races Johnson has four top-fives. The reigning and six-time champion hasn't led any laps in the last seven races. If I were a Chase rival of Johnson's, I'd be worried he is ready to pounce.
"It's a different animal this year," Johnson said yesterday during a media session at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. "It feels different. The attendance and viewership numbers are supporting that. So as long as it's entertaining, we're all willing to be behind this and see where it goes."
Television ratings for the first three Chase races on ESPN aren't exactly knockouts. Chicago's 2.3 was up slightly over the track's rain-delayed race last year; New Hampshire's 2.4 was equal to last year; Dover's 2.3 was down from 2.4 a year ago. One rating point on ESPN equals 953,000 households.
The Chasers are hoping for wins or solid finishes at Kansas and the next race, at Charlotte, because Talladega, with its high speeds and treacherous racing, is always a scary mystery.
"These next three races are going to be tougher than the last three," Gordon said after winning at Dover, "and it's going to be tougher after those three. We've got Talladega in the next one, so that's definitely going to shake things up, and that's what's making Kansas and Charlotte so crucial and important. [It's] why you're going to see drivers and teams taking big risks at those two tracks, to try to make sure that you go into Talladega without having to come out of there with a car in one piece, because the chances of wrecking at Talladega these days are about 80 percent."
This week's race
Hollywood Casino 400
Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
When: Sunday, 2 p.m.
TV/Radio: ESPN/WNPV (1440-AM)
Course: 1.5-mile oval
Distance: 267 laps/400 miles
Forecast: sunny mid-70s
Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick
Last year's pole: Harvick, 187.526 mph
Track qualifying record: Harvick, 194.252 mph (May 2014)
Track facts: Jeff Gordon led only nine laps, including the last eight, in winning the spring race at Kansas. Kevin Harvick led the most laps (119) before finishing second. Gordon's victory was his third at Kansas, the most of any driver. Gordon's four wins this season are his highest total since 2007, when he won seven races ... In last year's Chase race at Kansas, winner Harvick also led the most laps (138) ... Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are two-time winners at Kansas ... In 14 starts at Kansas, Kyle Busch's best finish is seventh, in 2006. Missouri native Carl Edwards has five top-five finishes at Kansas, which he considers his home track.
Wins: Brad Keselowski, 5; Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano, 4 each; Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., 3 each; Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards, 2 each; Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, A.J. Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, 1 each.
CHASE STANDINGS (After first elimination)
1. Brad Keselowski 3,000
2. Jeff Gordon 3,000
3. Joey Logano 3,000
4. Jimmie Johnson 3,000
5. Kevin Harvick 3,000
6. Matt Kenseth 3,000
7. Denny Hamlin 3,000
8. Kyle Busch 3,000
9. Ryan Newman 3,000
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3,000
11. Carl Edwards 3,000
12. Kasey Kahne 3,000
Up next: Bank of America 500, Oct. 11, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C., 7:30 p.m.; TV: 6ABC; last year's winner: Brad Keselowski.