Cup race proves surprising success

Another Sunday, Sunday, Sunday and another boring race. But at least tons of people were there to watch it.

At least at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR changed rules this year to open up racing to allow more rubbin' of sheet metal. The problem was only one driver could run down Jeff Gordon. It's hard to bang fenders when the cars spend nearly all of the afternoon in parade formation.

Another boring race not withstanding, Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas was a surprising success.

I was being optimistic a few weeks ago when I told friends I expected attendance Sunday to drop by at least 15 percent mainly because of our economic doldrums. Then came a week of ominous weather forecasts.

But sometimes staying close -- something the speedway accomplished with ticket sales -- is a victory. Forty-one Cup drivers would love to be able to say they stayed close to winner Jimmie Johnson and Gordon, who led 219 of 267 laps.

The speedway pulled off a great Sunday afternoon, attracting an estimated crowd of 140,000 to the Shelby American, on what proved to be a picturesque day. Attendance came close to matching last year's.

The turnout was more impressive the day before when at least 40,000 endured blustery conditions for the Sam's Town 300 Nationwide Series race. The crowd was less than half of last year's, but that was some nasty weather to sit through.

Danica Patrick's Las Vegas debut in Saturday's race sold up to 15,000 extra tickets, according to the speedway. There were hordes around her souvenir trailer all weekend, but I didn't see a stampede for the exits when she crashed out after 84 of 200 laps.

The Las Vegas gate performances are just what Southern Nevada needed.

Just what NASCAR needed, too.

Saturday's attendance for a support race at LVMS came close to matching the figure from the previous week's Cup race at Fontana, Calif.

There were a couple of thousand empty seats Sunday, but most likely those were owned by travel agencies, corporate sponsors or resorts that usually buy more than they use.

This is another year when Fontana will have two Cup races with maybe 60,000 in its 92,000-seat grandstand for each.

Here sits Las Vegas, a venue everyone -- racers, fans, sponsors -- seems to love.

While Fontana track officials will search for excuses why they can't pack in fans, Las Vegas must search for reasons why it doesn't have two Cup races.

Adding a second Las Vegas race in the fall just seems to make sense.

It would be good for NASCAR and, of course, great for Southern Nevada.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit Wolf's motor sports blog at lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/ throughout the week.