Will California Speedway lose one Cup race?

Will all the initiatives and improvements that track president Gillian Zucker has implemented in the last year, will Sunday's Auto Club 500 finally be the success NASCAR has hoped for since it began to stage races at the two-mile facility 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles?

Or will Sunday be the final nail in the coffin, the event that leads to the suburban L.A. track no longer hosting two Nextel Cup races per year – especially with so many other tracks wanting their first Cup date (including Kentucky Speedway and Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis) and existing Cup tracks seeking a second annual race date (including Las Vegas, Chicagoland and Kansas)?

Last February's Auto Club 500 was a sad sight to see on TV and even worse in person. The grandstands, which hold 92,500 seats, were lucky if they were two-thirds full. Gaping holes along the front stretch and completely empty sections at both ends of the stands prompted lowly estimates of 60,000 attendees, tops. More at Yahoo! Sports

[Editor's Note: Small crowds were seen for both the Truck and Busch races the past two days despite a good number of Cup drivers racing in both. NASCAR's ploy to generate attention to its two lower tier series is to run as many big name stars as possible (i.e. ride on the back of the popularity of their 'stars'). Unfortunately they come in with the best equipment and the little guy has no chance to win…..unless you have a Toyota truck.]