Would California give Cup race to Vegas?
The 92,000-seat facility is relatively small compared to some NASCAR tracks, but not all of those seats have been filled in the second-largest market in the country.
No wonder L.A. doesn't have an NFL team.
The main reason NASCAR wants two Nextel Cup events in Southern California is because sponsors want more races in big markets, but it doesn't look good when fewer than 80,000 show up for the race.
Atlanta, Texas and Lowe's in Charlotte also don't sell out two Cup races, but you have to keep it in perspective. All three tracks still sell more than 125,000 tickets to each Cup event.
Gillian Zucker, president of California Speedway, would like to see NASCAR move the early-season date to April. What the track really needs is a date that isn't within three weeks of the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
If any track out West deserves two Cup races, it's Las Vegas, which sells out every Cup event. The facility also was remodeled and the track reconfigured in the off-season.
Taking a race away from California and giving it to Las Vegas makes sense, but politics gets in the way. More at ESPN.com