Move to Sunday night causes drop in Coke Zero attendance

In Orlando, Mike Bianchi noted NBC asked NASCAR to move the Coke Zero 400 from its traditional Saturday-night role this year "because many more Americans are at home watching TV on Sunday night" and Saturday night this year fell on the Fourth of July. Chitwood "is one of the most likable and charismatic executives in professional sports, but even he can't convincingly sell this."

As much as he "tries to put a happy face on it, he knows many racing fans are disappointed with the move evidenced by the plethora of tickets that were still available for the race as of Saturday afternoon." Chitwood said the move to Sunday night is "just for this year." Bianchi: "I hope he's right. The corporatizing of NASCAR already has done enough to rob the Fourth of July race of its identity." Orlando Sentinel