(workingonmyredneck file photo)
Hi, this is Bruce from NASCAR Bits & Pieces on Brusimm.com, sticking a guest post into Leon’s site. (Teach him, giving me a password!) Today I want to chat about how a the NASCAR Nationwide Series ticket is sometimes the better ticket for the weekend!
For anyone who has been to a NASCAR event for a full weekend or has at least experienced both shows on Saturday and Sunday, you probably will get what I’m talking about. For those who don’t know, Saturday is usually the NASCAR Nationwide Series race day and Sunday is the Sprint Cup Series race day. But so much more happens than just the races.
Each track wants to put on a show so that their customers come away feeling like they’ve had a great experience.
Yet having been to both, each has its pluses and minuses and obviously the big guns come out to race on Sunday but if you’re on a budget, I have to say that the Nationwide Series (Saturday) ticket has to be one of the best deals in town if you’re a race fan. And if you’ve never been to a NASCAR event because of limited funds, it is one of the best ways to experience the splendor, power and experience of NASCAR at a track.
My first NASCAR at-track experience was on a Saturday at Loudon, New Hampshire. I remember that first moment vividly as I walked up to the track, the parking lot overlooking the track and the roar of the Cup Series cars during practice blasting up at me as I crossed over the edge of the surrounding embankment. I was hooked from that moment on. It was magical. You have to at least check out one race and then you can say you did it.
If you’re considering hitting up a NASCAR race in person, pick a Saturday. If you oddly end up not liking it, you haven’t dropped a chunk of change on the experience.
Why Saturday’s Are The Better Deal?
- Saturday tickets are a lot less expensive.
- Tickets don’t usually sell out.
- If it’s a rain-out, it’s less money to lose!
- You get to watch the Sprint Cup drivers practice.
- Some tracks have Cup qualifying on Saturdays*.
- Street traffic to the track is less hectic.
- The crowd is less intense.
- Thinner crowds means you don’t have to always sit in the assigned seat.
In a nutshell, On Saturdays, you get to watch Sprint Cup practice, Nationwide qualifying, more Sprint Cup practice (unless its one of the tracks that moved Sprint Cup qualifying to Saturday, then it’s an even better deal!) then you get the Nationwide race. And more than likely the Nationwide race will have some name drivers from the Cup series so you do get to watch them race.
If you get to the track early enough, you pretty much can have run the place. One weekend at Auto Club Speedway, I hit up all the areas. I started at the souvenir haulers, hit the stands for some practice watching, cruised the garages, then back to the stands. It was a fun day. And I wasn’t feeling overcrowded. (I have to admit that different levels of crowd can be distracting for me.)
As far as having to stand to watch the race, you usually have enough room in the stands to move around if the folks around you stand up. It’s not that we’re all that excited about a race, but that a few people in the lower rows stand up, thinking it helps them see better. Then that blocks the folks behind them and they, in turn stand up. Next thing you know, everyone is standing for the whole race. But if you’re there on a Saturday, all you have to do is move.
I spent the day at Infineon last year and I had run of the stands and got some great pictures, including some great pics from above the garages at one end of the stands.
After hitting up the track on Saturday, then on Sunday, you can watch the Cup Series race from the comfort of your couch. One year that paid off when I was at Fontana on a Saturday and that Sunday, temps in the stands were hitting 105. I was super glad I was kicking it on my couch for that one, for sure!
So that’s why I think Saturday NASCAR Nationwide Series tickets are your better deal, because there is a lot to take in and is well worth the bang for the buck!
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Footnote: I kept mentioning Nationwide races are on Saturday. That’s true unless the Cup Series races Saturday night or has an off weekend, then the Nationwide race takes place Friday nights or on the Sunday that the Cup series vacates for their off weekend. If they run Sundays, then it ‘ain’t’ the better deal. Just sayin’!
