Fontana Loses Second NASCAR Cup Date

I've seen this coming for awhile:

Then there's Los Angeles, that shining empire on the West Coast, the capital of the U.S. car culture and the center of automotive industry design. Seven consecutive sellouts in as many races led NASCAR to go all-in at California Speedway, sacrificing a race at one revered institution (North Carolina Speedway) and a weekend at another (Labor Day at Darlington Raceway) to add a second annual event to the Fontana track. But because of a combination of marketing missteps and over-expansion, attendance at the 2-mile oval dropped like a speedometer needle in rush hour on I-10. On Tuesday, Kansas Speedway will announce that it's adding a second annual date at the expense of Auto Club Speedway, which will go back to the single spring race it had so much success with originally.

The second race has been plagued with problems from the moment they put it on Labor Day Weekend. I think they had 100+ temperatures out there two years in a row, and when you add in the smog that's common that time of year, it's not a very pleasant place to be for the fans.

I'm kind of surprised they decided to give a second race to Kansas rather than give Kentucky a Cup date. Kentucky has state-of-the-art facilities, sells out every event, and was built in hopes of one day attracting a Cup date. However, there has been litigation between NASCAR and the Kentucky owners that has probably soured the relationship to the point that NASCAR won't give in.

With all the other things are to do in Southern California the locals here probably won't even notice the race has been taken away. And I'm sure the team hauler drivers will be glad to drive only half the distance to Kansas that they used to drive to California.