Texas Motor Speedway latest NASCAR track forced to remove seats

To avoid embarrassing empty seats during races, most NASCAR tracks have already removed a significant percentage of their seats to avoid looking like a loser on live TV.

At Texas Motor Speedway, additional plans now include further reducing the number of suites, and seats. The demand is simply no longer there for a 100,000-seat facility virtually anywhere in the world except Indianapolis, Daytona and LeMans.

“I don’t want to say 50,000 because I think that’s too low but I’d think the sweet spot for us is about 75,000,” TMS assistant general manager Kenton Nelson told the Star-Telegram Monday. “Think of this as a re-modernization of Texas Motor Speedway.”

“I think what you’ll see is taking out a row of seats and replacing it with a drink and food rail in front of it,” Nelson said. “We could expand the size of the seat from 18 inches wide to 22 inches wide, so it’s more comfortable.

“Fans want to be comfortable, and we will offer something that is a hell of a lot more comfortable than (current grandstand seat).”