Tracks report big profits, even with attendance down

Ticket sales are down but profits are up for the racetracks that have NASCAR events. The tracks cleared more than $100 million in 2014. It sounds as if, even though they are spending money tearing down seats at many places and putting up seats at a couple of others, they have money they can spend on other projects.

There are two main track operators with NASCAR national races: International Speedway Corp., which has a majority of its stock owned by the NASCAR-owning France family, has 21 Cup events (including the Sprint Unlimited and Daytona 500 qualifying races); and Speedway Motorsports Inc., which has a majority of its stock owned by Bruton Smith, has 13 Cup events (including the All-Star Race). Dover Motorsports Inc., also a publicly traded company, has two. Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway are owned privately and aren't required to release their earnings.
ISC and Dover released their 2014 results in late January, and SMI released its results Wednesday. The three companies combined for $101.64 million in profits in 2014. Although the companies do have other events besides NASCAR (some NHRA races, some IndyCar races), NASCAR makes up 86% of ISC's revenues and, as of 2013, about 82% of SMI revenues.

Ever wonder why television gets to dictate so much? The tracks report that ticket sales were down 2.5% over the past year as they took in over $239 million in ticket sales. Meanwhile, they took in approximately $388 million in television revenues in 2014. That's right. They make much more money from the television contracts than they do from tickets sold. It wasn't that way 10 years ago, when the tracks took in approximately $450 million in ticket sales. Overall revenues were up 0.8% thanks to television revenue being up about 3.6-4.2% depending on the company.(ESPN)

Kurt Busch Will Not Be Charged By Delaware AG

The Delaware Attorney General's office said Thursday that it will not bring criminal charges against NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, citing insufficient evidence.

The statement from the attorney general read, in part, that the evidence gathered from the investigation into the alleged incident of domestic violence against former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll last September at Dover International Speedway "would likely be insufficient to meet the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that Busch committed a crime."

The Dover Police Department completed its investigation of the alleged altercation on Jan. 6, handing the case over to the county's attorney general's office. The case was separate from Driscoll's request for a no-contact order, which was granted Feb. 16 by a Delaware family court.

NASCAR suspended Busch on Feb. 20 after a Delaware family court commissioner released its findings, saying that a "preponderance of the evidence" indicated that Busch "committed an act of domestic violence." The commissioner's ruling also stated that Busch's "version of the events is implausible, does not make sense and is unlikely to be true given the totality of the other evidence admitted at trial."

Busch has missed the first two events in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, with interim driver Regan Smith filling in for the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet team. Busch applied for reinstatement of his competition license last Friday, agreeing to the terms and conditions set forth by NASCAR.(NASCAR)

Kobalt Tools 400 Race Weekend Schedule

Friday, March 6
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM, NSCS Kobalt Tools 400 Practice 1, FS1
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM, NXS Boyd Gaming 300 Practice 1, FS1
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub - Weekend Edition, FS1
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM, NXS Boyd Gaming 300 Final Practice, FS1
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM, NSCS Kobalt Tools 400 Qualifying, FS1

Saturday, March 7
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM, NSCS Kobalt Tools 400 Practice 2, FS2
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM, NXS Boyd Gaming 300 Qualifying, FS2
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM, NSCS Kobalt Tools 400 Final Practice, FS1
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, NXS Boyd Gaming 300, FS1
4:00 PM -6:30 PM, NXS Boyd Gaming 300 Race, FS1

Sunday, March 8
1:00 PM - 1:30 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
2:00 PM - 6:00 PM, NSCS Kobalt Tools 400 Race, FOX
11:30 PM - 12:00 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

Brian Vickers returns to the seat of the 55

Excuse Brian Vickers if taking the green flag to start Sunday's Las Vegas race seems as rewarding as a trip to victory lane. Vickers missed the 2015 season's first two races as he recovered from Dec. 13 heart surgery. Three months later, he'll strap himself into the #55 Aaron's Dream Machine and prepare for battle at 200 mph. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver has no doubts about his health. "The doctors say I will be as strong if not better than before," said the 31-year-old Thomasville, N.C. native. "The surgery was a lot higher risk, but they feel really good about how everything has progressed. My sternum is stronger than before. It's wired together making loops like a coat hanger." Vickers latest health battle began on Dec. 11 after he arrived in Charlotte and prepared to drive to Mooresville, N.C. to an Aaron's photo shoot. He knew something was wrong. "At the hospital they discovered my body was rejecting an artificial patch that was inserted in 2010 to fix a hole in my heart. The procedure was painful but it went great and they feel better about my heart than before." He wouldn't be human if he didn't have his doubts in December. "Your first question is 'Am I going to live,'" he recalled. "Once I knew that then I had to decide about racing. Maybe, if I had already won a championship and done everything I wanted to do in racing I would have given serious thought to walking away, but I really want to win races and a championship. There's more to do and I didn't want to someday look back and regret not coming back. And, I'm not going to lie, I enjoy going 200 mph. Overcoming problems like this is just what you have to do in life. There's a lot of people battling things tougher than what I have battled." Inserting the original heart patch in 2010 and blood clots in 2013 forced Vickers to miss races. Add in the December surgery and few people have a better appreciation of life than Vickers. "You just have this notion that tomorrow is going to be there and when you go through something that jeopardizes all that, you understand how important living for today is."(MWR)

Jimmie Johnson starts from the back and dominates late in Atlanta win

HAMPTON, Ga.—Coors Light Polesitter Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick dominated the early and middle stages of Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway—before Jimmie Johnson decided to crash the party.

Johnson didn't take the lead in the second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season until Lap 198 of 325, but from then on, his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field, leading six times for 92 laps in winning for the fourth time at Atlanta and for the 71st time in his career.

For the second straight event in NASCAR’s premier series, Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second and third, respectively. Logano ran fourth, followed by Matt Kenseth, who capitalized on a late track-position play by staying out on old tires.

Johnson surged into the lead after a restart on Lap 305, starting fourth and charging past three drivers—Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Brett Moffitt—who had stayed out under caution for Cole Whitt’s blown engine.

After Johnson took the top spot, a massive nine-car wreck in Turn 3 on the restart lap slowed the field for the 10th time. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 9 minutes, 1 second, after which Johnson led the field to a restart on Lap 312, with Kenseth beside him in the outside lane.

Johnson parried a bid for the lead from Earnhardt and quickly pulled away, ultimately crossing the finish line 1.802 seconds ahead of Harvick, who passed Earnhardt for the runner-up spot on Lap 319.

Martin Truex Jr., AJ Allmendinger, Moffitt, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman completed the top 10. Moffitt was driving the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota in lieu of Brian Vickers, who is recovering from offseason heart surgery. Vickers is scheduled to return to action next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Before he could get to the front of the field, Johnson had obstacles to overcome. Along with 12 other cars, the No. 48 Chevrolet didn’t get through pre-qualifying inspection on Friday in time to post a speed in time trials. Consequently, the six-time premier series champion started 37th on Sunday.

The starting position toward the back of the grid also meant an awkward pit stall selection in front of Carl Edwards and behind Joe Nemechek. Johnson lost positions on pit road until Nemechek fell off the lead lap and the No. 48 Chevrolet got past Edwards’ No. 19 Toyota on the race track.

"We had a great race car, and unfortunately the way qualifying went (Friday), we didn't have a good pit stall pick, and it took us a long time to get in front of the No. 19 (Edwards)," Johnson said. "Once we did that, we were able to utilize our awesome pit crew; get the stops done and race for the win and get the job done today.

"Just very, very thankful. They (the team) surprised me today. We weren't that good (Saturday in practice), and they really dug deep and figured out what I needed in this race car and gave me an awesome Lowe's Chevrolet."

With the victory, Johnson is all but assured of remaining the only driver to have qualified for every Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup since the inception of the playoff format in 2004.(NASCAR Media)