Richmond Int'l Raceway To Reduce Capacity By 10,000 Before April NASCAR Weekend

The capacity of Richmond Int'l Raceway “will drop about 10,000 seats” before the track hosts next year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 in April, according to Billy Fellin of the RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH. RIR President Dennis Bickmeier on Friday said that the speedway will "remove the Henrico Tower and there will be additional seating along the backstretch.” He added that the plan to remove some seating “has been formulating for over a year.” Fellin noted the sections being removed “have been on the low satisfactory end of post-race fan survey data.” Bickmeier said that reducing seating "isn’t a bad thing,” and that “this was not a ‘sky is falling’ moment” for the speedway. Bickmeier: “This is not a new phenomenon by any means. It’s happened at other motorsports facilities and other facilities in general.” He added that the speedway has “short-term ideas and long-term strategies for how to repurpose those areas” (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 10/5).