Brickyard 400 still profitable with smaller crowds

Despite sharp attendance declines in recent years at the Brickyard 400, the event remains hugely profitable for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, motorsports industry experts say. NASCAR officials estimated attendance at this year's race in Indianapolis at 125,000, down from 138,000 last year. In 2007, race attendance was more than 200,000.

The Speedway makes enough television revenue-close to $6 million-to pay its NASCAR sanctioning fee, according to industry experts, leaving the track with most of the revenue from ticket sales, concessions and parking. Motorsports business experts estimated that the Speedway made at least $9 million in ticket revenue from Sunday's Brickyard 400 and another $1 million to $2 million from Saturday's Nationwide Series race, which until this year has been held at Lucas Oil Raceway a few miles to the west.

The IMS also for the first time hosted the Grand Am Series, but that wasn't likely a big moneymaker since attendance was only about 10,000. A new Brickyard 400 title sponsorship deal with Crown Royal added another $2 million to the Speedway's take. Indianapolis Business Journal