Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and SMI Chair & CEO Bruton Smith on Friday discussed potential state assistance for Bristol Motor Speedway, two days after "plans were announced to renovate the struggling track," according to Chas Sisk of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. The two "met in Nashville to hold 'preliminary discussions' about potential aid." SMI "plans to resurface Bristol before its next race in August in response to declining attendance and fan complaints about the quality of racing at the state’s only Sprint Cup track," which has "long been one of the most popular tracks on NASCAR's Sprint Cup circuit." The track is a "major tourism draw for the area, but March’s Food City 500 drew an official attendance" of only 102,000. Race officials have "blamed bad weather, the recession and gas prices, but attendance has trailed off since Speedway Motorsports reconfigured Bristol" in '07 to "encourage more side-by-side racing." Bristol would "not be the first NASCAR track to receive state aid, or to struggle with poor attendance." Tennessee extended $750,000 incentives to the Nashville Superspeedway in Wilson County in '02 and '03 "through its FastTrack program for businesses" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 3/31).
