Michigan International Speedway's largest market is also the area hardest hit by the ongoing economic recession. Eighteen percent of fans attending a NASCAR event on the big 2-mile oval come from metropolitan Detroit -- a region that holds the highest home foreclosure rate in the nation, and whose workforce has been battered by the closing or idling of automobile production plants. Those factors will surely be reflected this weekend in the size of the crowd descending on the Irish Hills.

In that regard, track president Roger Curtis is a realist. He knows he won't set any attendance records Sunday at his 132,000-seat speedway located 72 miles west of the Motor City. But he's also hopeful.

"We aren't going to be sold out. We haven't been for the last couple of years," Curtis said. "You are going to see some empty seats. But we're still going to have around 100,000 people. In the 50th worst economy in the nation, that is amazing."

Hard economic times are nothing new in Michigan; Curtis said his track has been feeling the effects of the looming downturn since 2004 or '05, well before it was officially classified as a recession and its impact began to be noticed in other areas. That experience has given Michigan officials something of an opportunity to diversify its fan base, so it's not quite as reliant on people from metro Detroit who may be more concerned with meeting house payments or finding work.

Detroit is still by far the track's largest single market. But Curtis said 60 percent of Michigan's fans now come from out of state, with the track having seen growth in places like Chicago, Columbus and Cleveland. But the facility's most impressive gains may be across the border in Canada, which two years ago accounted for just 3 percent of the track's fan base. Now, Curtis said, Canadians comprise 17 percent of all spectators at a Michigan NASCAR race. It's a huge jump, made more impressive by the fact that Michigan International Speedway didn't spend any money advertising and promoting in Canada until this year.

So, if there's a surprisingly good crowd on display Sunday at Michigan, thank the Canadians. "Please, don't chastise us when we have a flyover for the Canadian anthem or for flying their flag," Curtis said. (Continued)