NASCAR attendance to dip

Attendance for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be its lowest since 2004.

Speedway general manager Chris Powell expects a seventh straight sellout -- about 145,000 -- but about 10,000 fewer seats have been made available for this year's UAW-Dodge 400.

"We'll be sold out by the time the green flag falls," Powell said.

A year ago, the speedway announced a virtual sellout 10 days before race day, which meant only single seats were available.

As of Wednesday night, only a smattering of single-seat, three-day packages priced from $135 to $192 remained for the Cup race. And 25 adjoining seats in the Richard Petty Terrace -- three-day packages for $257 apiece -- were available on the speedway's Web site (lvms.com).

"Those (Petty seats are) in the far reaches, but they'll be filled up on Sunday," said Powell, who added ticket prices were not increased for this year's event.

Powell said he decided not to erect a 10,000-seat temporary grandstand above the third turn of the 1.5-mile tri-oval based on advance ticket sales. A temporary grandstand has been erected for several Cup races at the track.

"I'd attribute that to the economy," he said. "The good news is that ticket sales haven't fallen off to the degree the economy has. I'm heartened that we're on the verge of a sellout."

Powell said it's a "testament to the strength" of NASCAR that a sellout is probable.

Attendance for the Cup race again easily will be Nevada's largest single-day sports-event crowd of the year and the biggest west of Fort Worth, Texas, where two Cup race are held. And the Sam's Town 300 race Saturday at the speedway is expected to top 100,000 for the third consecutive year.

About 280 listings for Sunday tickets in quantities of up to 25 were available at StubHub.com -- an online ticket resale service -- Wednesday afternoon. Some were listed for $56 in lower rows that originally sold for $120, according to a speedway ticket agent.

The speedway also offers a "ticket exchange" program on its Web site that links buyers with ticket holders who are not planning to use them.

The economy might not be the only factor for less demand.

This year's date for Las Vegas is a week earlier than the past three years. The first seven visits by the Cup series to Las Vegas were on the first weekend of March.

"Some people -- not many -- but a few mentioned to our ticket agents that racing one week earlier might cause us to be less likely to have good weather," Powell said.

That isn't proving to be the case, with the forecast calling for ideal conditions this weekend with temperatures in the mid-70s and sunny skies.

The earlier Las Vegas date was set by NASCAR to remove an open weekend between the Cup race in Fontana, Calif., and the race here.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0247.