Stuck with a weather-challenged, late-February race date for his only NASCAR weekend of the season, Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark and his boss at Speedway Motorsports, Marcus Smith, have come up with a unique way of dealing with the cold-weather blues that often lead to empty seats at his track.
They are offering a “Perfect Race Weather Guarantee” next year for the races scheduled for Feb. 26-28.
If the daytime high temperature in Hampton, the hometown of the speedway, on Saturday or Sunday of the NASCAR weekend does not reach at least 50 degrees or if weather issues lead to a postponement of races, those fans who do not show up for the race will get a full-account credit for the unused tickets.
The credits can be applied to any AMS event later in 2016 or to the NASCAR weekend in 2017.
There also is a new pricing plan for tickets, with Good, Better and Best packages that reflect a 15-20 percent decrease in ticket prices.
The Good package included a ticket to Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Cup race and Saturday’s Xfinity and Camping World Truck series doubleheader for a total of $79.
“I think we can safely say that we’ve done everything we can to make fans feel comfortable with their investment,” Clark said. “Since we started offering the weather guarantee, the response has been largely positive. I think it will make a difference in people making a commitment.”
Next year’s AMS race will be the first of the season to be run under a low-downforce aerodynamic package that was run this year at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway. One of the key differences in that package and the one now being used is a reduction in the rear spoiler height from six inches to 3.5. The leading edge of the front splitter will be .25 inches, down from two inches this year, and the radiator pan will decrease from 38 inches wide to 33.
Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR’s top three divisions, has vowed to develop tire compounds to complement the package, with different compounds used to meet the conditions of each track. A tire test is scheduled at AMS this month, and an open test will follow Oct. 29 to allow teams to test the new package. Fans can watch for free from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For races at Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway, the current aero package will continue to be used, but roller lifters will be used in the engines, which will require a smaller restrictor plate to compensate for the additional horsepower produced.
Driving with an eye on Talladega: Martin Truex Jr., like his 11 fellow Chase for the Sprint Cup competitors, is running this weekend's race Kansas Speedway, but will have next week's race at Talladega in the back of his mind.
Talladega is known for its “Big One” multi-car crashes that have the potential of scrambling the points standings in a big way.
That factor is even more critical as Talladega is the final race of the Contender Round of the Chase, which means the bottom four drivers in the standings will be eliminated from the championship hunt after Talladega.
“We want to win at Kansas and not have to worry about Talladega,” said Truex, who led a race-high 95 laps at Kansas in May but finished ninth after his fuel-mileage strategy didn’t work out. “But on the other hand we don’t want to do anything stupid that will put us in a deep hole going into Talladega.”
Etc.: NASCAR's baby boom continues as Kasey Kahne and his girlfriend Samantha Sheets announced the birth of their son Tuesday morning on Kahne's Twitter account: "I officially became a dad at 1:11 AM to Tanner Lee Kahne. Mom and tanner are doing great. On no sleep but we can't put this little guy down." … Long-time NASCAR official Tommy House of Hopkinsville, Ky., died Oct. 10 after a long illness. House, who lived in the Atlanta area during his time with NASCAR, was a technical inspector and also worked on research into racing safety after the 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt.
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