The Mayfield saga: He said, they said ... enough said (cont'd)

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No question the 10-lap shootout at the finish saved the All-Star Race. The last 10 laps were so spectacular that no one is talking much about how boring the first 90 laps were -- and that's fine.

That means the new format did its job. On the broader scope of what makes the All-Star Race so special, we defer again to that great spokesman for the sport, Dale Jr. Asked to compare the All-Star Race to All-Star events in other sports, Earnhardt gave a quite eloquent answer that seemed to get right to the meat of it.

"With ours, there is a million dollars on the line -- and with other All-Star games, I don't think they get that kind of money," he said. "This is a serious race, perhaps as serious as any race in the season, and I'm not sure you can make that argument for other sports. Their All-Star [events] are more of a celebration of the talents of individual players throughout the season. It's more recreational with the Home Run Derby [in Major League Baseball] and all that.

"Our All-Star Race can be a high-pressured situation and we put a lot of emphasis into it. A lot of work goes into it and a lot of cars get tore up -- and there are a lot of people really upset afterward, so it's quite different."

Overbuilt?

Bruton Smith, the charismatic and egomaniacal chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns and operates Lowe's Motor Speedway, was asked the other day if he believed many of his tracks, including LMS, had been overbuilt.

"No sir, I do not. In what way, do you mean?" he responded.

Well, they took out several thousand bleacher seats in between Turns 1 and 2 at LMS recently -- ostensibly to allow for the latest trend in motorsports fandom. That would be parking for large recreational vehicles willing to pay top dollar to watch from the comfort -- or least near the comfort -- of their rolling homes away from home.

The fact is, many of today's NASCAR tracks are overbuilt, whether they're owned by SMI or International Speedway Corp. Several thousand seats also were removed from Texas Motor Speedway recently, and can anyone in their right mind say with a straight face that Auto Club Speedway in California needs to have 92,000 seats?

Saturday's crowd for the All-Star Race was announced at "an estimated 145,000." In actuality, it looked closer to 100,000 in a facility that supposedly seats 160,000. Even the most optimistic eye could not realistically have given them more than 120,000 in total attendance, counting those fans in the infield.

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That's still a great crowd and it's a fine facility. There is nothing like watching a race under the lights at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and the crowd for the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 is expected to be even larger. But whether Bruton wants to admit it or not, the days of packing close to 200,000 in at LMS or anywhere else for a NASCAR race are likely past us.

And it's OK to admit that. Baseball's popularity seemed to soar when it started building smaller stadiums. Football generally limits its facilities to capacities of 70,000 or less. And at most NBA games, any crowd of 15,000 or more is considered outstanding.

Padding attendance estimates at races is not necessary. Denying you believe your facilities are overbuilt even as you take out seats in some of them is not necessary, either. In fact, it insults our intelligence.

Parting shots

• Um, one final thought about Mayfield. He hasn't won a race since 2005 (he hasn't had a top-10 since then, either) and isn't even included in this year's NASCAR media guides. In baseball, wouldn't this be the equivalent of making a big fuss over an aging utility infielder or middle reliever who got caught doing steroids? Would the baseball community care that much, or simply report the gist of it and move on?

• Bruton Smith also seemed very optimistic recently when asked about getting a 2010 Sprint Cup date for the Kentucky track he purchased roughly one year ago, but Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO, said this past Friday that "there are no formal requests under consideration" for a 2010 schedule change. Hasn't this dance already been played out once before?

• You want to know who will be good in this Sunday's Coca-Cola 600? Just look at who was good in the All-Star Race and you'll have your answer. In other words, don't bet against All-Star winner Tony Stewart -- but don't count out guys like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, either. All of them ran well Saturday and learned lots for next Sunday. Same with the Penske Racing trio of Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr. and even David Stremme.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.