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Events and Attractions

Brickyard 400 Ticket Sales Spike Following Announcement Of Gordon's NASCAR Return

Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles on Thursday said that ticket requests for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Brickyard 400 began to "spike within 90 minutes of Hendrick Motorsports' announcement on Wednesday" that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be replaced by Jeff Gordon, according to Brant James of USA TODAY. Boles said that ticket sales generally "ramp up in the days preceding the event," but a Gordon bump "was tangible," with ticket sales up 35% on Wednesday this year compared to '15. Boles conceded that this event will be "down in attendance overall from last year, when Gordon's retirement was the focus of the track's marketing campaign." Boles said that attendance figures this season "should be similar" to '14 levels. This year marks the final season and final IMS run for Tony Stewart, and Boles said that has "not generated the same business as Gordon did." But there "is an explanation." Boles: "Tony specifically asked us not to make a big deal out of it and there hasn't been that big deal every race as you lead in as there had been for Jeff. ... Some of that momentum that the Jeff tour had, we don't have around the Tony tour because there isn't one going the same way" (USA TODAY, 7/22).

KEEP THE MOMENTUM: IMS officials said that the Brickyard 400 is still "profitable and is still a solid use of a fixed asset." But in Indianapolis, Anthony Schoettle noted it is not as "profitable as it used to be." IMS is hoping to use "momentum from its IndyCar crown jewel -- the Indianapolis 500 -- to somehow bolster the flagging Brickyard 400." The 100th running of the Indy 500 this May "drew a huge crowd, and Speedway officials have been trying to convince spectators who saw that race at the Speedway that they should return to the track this weekend." According to research by WalletHub, ticket sales for this year's race are estimated at $8.5M. Schoettle: "That might be optimistic. Either way, it's about one-third what it was [at] the Brickyard's high point" (IBJ.com, 7/20)

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