HAMPTON, Ga. — The inaugural Labor Day race weekend and Atlanta Motor Speedway’s first scheduled night race combined to boost attendance.
The stronger demand for tickets also created some problems.
Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark apologized to fans who experienced difficulty when they were unable to purchase tickets online this week.
“It’s a buzz like we haven’t seen around here for a long time,” Clark said Sunday.
NASCAR does not release official attendance figures. Several reporters estimated attendance for the Pep Boys Auto 500 as about 100,000, a big increase from the estimated attendance of 60,000 for the Kobalt Tools 500 in March.
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp estimated attendance at 100,000 to 110,000 for Sunday night’s race.
Clark said on some days ticket sales for this weekend’s races have been twice as strong as in recent years. Atlanta’s fall race moved to Labor Day weekend this year, a more attractive date than its previous slot in October.
“It has exceeded probably what we expected,” Clark said. “I’ve talked to a lot of the people who are here and they’re very tickled that we’re doing this on Labor Day weekend.”
One advantage: Thanks to the holiday, many fans could enjoy Sunday night’s race without worrying about getting up early for work on Monday.
The turnout for Sunday night’s race was noticeably larger than for track’s race in March.
“We’ve continued to add ticket sellers and expand our ticket office hours, and still we aren’t fully meeting the demand,” Clark said.
“Customer service is really critical to us. I don’t like it if even one person is having difficulty. Look, if somebody is trying to spend money with us, I ought to make it as easy as I can. We know we’ve got some things we’ve got to do better.”
AMS officials reported “near-record” ticket sales on Friday and Saturday and a single-day record for sales on Monday. AMS did not release the number of tickets sold.
A strong turnout could be important to Atlanta’s hopes of keeping two races on the NASCAR schedule. The 1.54-mile track’s dates for the 2010 season are March 5-7 and Sept. 3-5.
ALL FOR 1 — AND 7:30: Clark said he has heard more talk that NASCAR could soon announce more consistent starting times for its 2010 schedule.
Clark said the standard start time for afternoon races may be 1 p.m. and the consistent start for night races will be 7:30 p.m.
Some races, including Atlanta’s March race, have had later starting times.
“What I’ve heard is TV wanted the later starting times but what they found is that when they had a 3 o’clock start time or whatever, people would come home from church and do other things,” Clark said. “They feel like if they know the race is going to start at 1 o’clock and it’s the same all the time, it’s better.
“The TV people are the ones who came back and said we want it to be the same. I think that will be very well received by the fans.”
NIGHTS OF THUNDER: Actor Tom Cruise, who became friends with team owner Rick Hendrick while filming the racing movie “Days of Thunder,” attended the race.
Cruise, wife Katie Holmes and daughter Suri also were Hendrick’s guests in June at Infineon Raceway in Sonomo, Calif.
NO REPEAT: Defending Pep Boys 500 champion Carl Edwards was forced into the garage on lap 83 to have his radiator and oil cooler repaired. He returned 23 laps down. Track debris ruptured the radiator.
Edwards finished seventh in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday night, his first race after breaking his right foot playing frisbee with friends Wednesday. Edwards has been on crutches and wears a walking boot when he’s not racing.
Even the stuffed Aflac duck, attached to Edwards’ hood before the race, was leaning on crutches.
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