Daily Press

Elliott gains a deeper appreciati­on for fans

- By Jenna Fryer Associated Press

BRISTOL,Tenn.—Chase Elliott put his face mask on and went into the grandstand­s at Bristol Motor Speedway to watch the qualifying event before NASCAR’s All-Star race, briefly becoming a part of the largest group of spectators at a U.S. sporting event since March.

Tennessee officials permitted Bristol to sell up to 30,000 tickets — less than 20% of its capacity of 140,000-plus — as NASCAR slowly begins to reopen the gates.

Texas Motor Speedway has the green light to admit up to 67,500 spectators on Sunday, but soaring summer temperatur­es are an expected deterrent to the track reaching 50% capacity. Iowa Speedway, which is owned by NASCAR, will allow up to 6,000 into its facility for IndyCar racing this weekend.

Elliott on Wednesday night won the $1 million All-Star race and celebrated by fist-bumping one of the many fans that surged to the fence as he collected the checkered flag. He’d been energized earlier in the evening as he discreetly sat in the stands along the back straightaw­ay before the main event.

“I’m looking around, seeing all these kids and families, people wearing their respective drivers (merchandis­e),” Elliott said. “You don’t realize how much impact you have on people you never met, you never will meet, who genuinely want to see me do well and they don’t even know me. It’s pretty dang cool to experience that.

“I felt like I had a special night sitting up there with them watching that Open from the grandstand­s, really seeing and getting back to the roots of what this sport is built on. Then to engage with them after the race, to me it made it mean that much more.”

Speedway Motorsport­s, which owns Bristol, moved the All-Star race to Tennessee from Charlotte Motor Speedway because North Carolina would not permit spectators. The All-Star race debuted at Charlotte in 1985 and this year marked just the second time it was not held at that track.

Allowing the largest group of fans since the coronaviru­s pandemic shut down sports meant implementi­nghealthpr­otocolsfor admission. There were no paper tickets given, so fans used their phones for scanning at the gates. Tickets were still avaialble at the Tuesday evening deadline.

Masks were required to enter and suggested for high-traffic areas, but fans could remove them once in their seats. Sanitizer stations werelocate­dthroughou­tthe facility, as well as markers to indicate six feet of distance.

Because “The Last Great Colosseum” is shaped as a massive bowl, Bristol had the ability to socially distance spectators throughout the stands.

Matt Harrington, who drove 2.5 hours from Greenville, South Carolina, for his first event at Bristol, said the track sent directions with times fans could enter and he didn’t encounter a single person besides the person who scanned his ticket when he arrived. He said an instructio­nal video on exiting procedures was useless because it couldn’t be heard over the noise.

He also said his section of seats along the backstretc­h only separated groups of fans by one empty seat and concession stands were overcrowde­d.

“They did do a lot right, but it wasn’t perfect,” said Harrington, 23. “With the waythingsa­regoingonr­ight now with the virus, you can’t make mistakes, and they definitely missed it on leaving the track.”

All-Star results

 ?? PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES ?? Fans stand during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race in Bristol, Tennessee.
PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES Fans stand during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race in Bristol, Tennessee.

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