Florida Times-Union sports columnnist Gene Frenette provides weekly content for jacksonville.com This is his entry from Saturday July 5 at the Coke Zero 400.
From the tower press box at Daytona International Speedway, you can get a bird's-eye view of how the sagging economy is impacting NASCAR.
At the start of Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, the back-stretch grandstand that holds approximately 60,000 people is easily two-thirds to three-quarters empty. And there's significant stretches of green grass on the infield which, under normal circumstances, would be filled with motor homes.
The main grandstand with a maximum capacity of around 100,000 looks pretty full, but the significant dropoff in turnout was pretty much expected from pre-race estimates that were privately offered by NASCAR officials.
NASCAR fans are among the most loyal in all of sports. But when the economic climate is as bleak as it is now, it proves that an organization as solvent as NASCAR cannot escape the effects of people's pocketbooks not being as flush as usual.
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