Traffic Overshadows First Kentucky Sprint Cup Race

At most NASCAR Sprint Cup races, attention is focused on the cars racing around the track.

However, at the Kentucky Sprint Cup race last weekend, fans and media left the track not talking about the race, but talking the traffic outside the gates that made getting to the race a miserable experience. While the majority of fans made it to the track in time for the race, some fans were stuck in traffic and even turned away without seeing any part of the race.

At one point, the main route to the track, I-71, backed up almost 20 miles as fans tried to make their way to the Saturday night NASCAR race. The main issue, according to Mark Simendinger, the track's general manager, was that they had underestimated the space needed for all the vehicles.

“I think the basic issue was that cars just kept coming," Simendinger told NASCAR.com. "We parked a ton of cars. We parked a ton of cars. And they kept coming. We parked cars in every square inch of this place. The neighbors parked cars in all the remote lots that we had estimated that would have been more than sufficient for this crowd size, and yet they still kept coming.”

But fans (and a Kentucky government official) weren’t the only ones affected by the traffic. Denny Hamlin sent a series of tweets while sitting in the traffic outside the track, including a tweet saying that he may miss the mandatory drivers meeting due to the issue. Jimmie Johnson, who had flown home Friday for his daughter’s birthday planned to return to the track by car but helicoptered in after hearing about the traffic.

While the track is already working on a plan to fix traffic, NASCAR chairman Brian France's opinion on NASCAR.com was that they should speed up their efforts.

"While NASCAR was thrilled by the incredible response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Kentucky, we also are extremely disappointed by the traffic problems and inconveniences endured by fans who wanted to be part of our races at Kentucky Speedway," France said. "NASCAR will be in close communications with Kentucky Speedway and Speedway Motorsports Inc. to see that they work to resolve the issues. This situation cannot happen again."

Speedway Motorsports Inc. will be swapping unused tickets from the Kentucky race for any 2011 race at an SMI venue as well as allowing the tickets to be used at the 2012 Kentucky race.