I have been to almost every NASCAR racing event at Loudon starting well before the Cup races. I have seen the track start with nothing, get open-wheeled and NASCAR events and have very long waiting lists for seats. I have also seen the downturn in interest and it attendance.
We are now a one Cup race track. In my opinion, if attendance does not increase significantly for the July race, that will also be moved in the next five years. The July race is very hot, weatherwise, so it is not the most comfortable race to attend. It will be very hard to build attendance for this race.
SMI, the NHMS owner, wants lights to support night racing and Route 106 widened and it appears they are not going to get either. SMI also owns other tracks that only have one big race. Access to these tracks is better than access to NHMS and these tracks have lights, so a night-time, summer race will work well at these tracks.
To me, it was great while it lasted. However, the writing is on the wall if July attendance does not improve. We could be seeing the beginning of the end without better access and night racing.
R2B
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