I was just going to start a thread on that, but you beat me to it! It was the first thing I noticed when I tuned in. The stands between the short chute between turns 3 and 4 were completely EMPTY! The Fontana Indy Car race last year was almost as bad. But this is unbelievable. Even down the front straight, most all of the lower seats, (some of the best in the house), were almost empty. And this is NASCAR's premier race next to the Daytona 500.
I think NASCAR is dying on the vine. And they just spent millions on that whole "Daytona Rising" project. I can remember when you had to purchase your tickets well in advance, to have any hope of getting a ticket. Now they can't sell them discounted. This economy, along with a loss in interest, has more than taken it's toll. People's spendable income is all spent... And then some.