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When buying tickets for a NASCAR Cup Series Race, the biggest thing fans need to decide is where to sit at the race. Today, we give the fans some ideas for the best places to sit at a NASCAR race and some of the best tracks for spectators.
Regarding where to sit at a race, one general note is that the higher fans sit up, the better. Whereas most sporting events sell their most expensive tickets down low, close to the action, the size of NASCAR venues means the higher up, the more fans can see. This video from Daytona showcases that fans who sit higher up can see the full race and everything happening on the track.
Some fans may prefer to sit lower for multiple reasons. Maybe they want cheaper tickets or to be closer to the action on the track and feel the raw power and speed up close. However, the downside is that, as with most bigger tracks, fans won’t be able to see all the way around.
At road courses, fans at the track cannot see the entire race track at one time. Therefore, they need to choose what they want to see in order to see where they want to sit. Generally speaking, hard braking zones are where fans will see the most passing and action, but if they want to see pit road and the finish line, the main grandstand or somewhere on the front stretch is usually the best place to go. However, it all depends on what track you go to.
Another oddball track is Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has no seat that allows fans to see the entire track. Like road courses, if fans want to see the finish line and pit road, they need to sit in the main grandstands, but they may not see as much of the track. If fans sit in the corners, they have a better angle to see more of the race track.
Fans can choose where to sit on a typical oval track based on what they want to see. They could choose pit exit if they want to see the race off pit road. Sitting near the restart zone might be preferable if they want to see the chaos on a restart. The start-finish line is the easiest place to see the entire track, similar to sitting at the 50-yard line of a football field, but those tickets can run a little expensive. Again, it largely depends on what the fans are looking for.
Overall, fans can tailor their experience through what tickets they buy. Depending on their budget and what types of things they want to see, fans can get the exact experience they are looking for.
So, which tracks are the best places to watch a race from a spectator’s perspective? Well, again, it depends on the fan experience.
Short tracks like Bristol, Martinsville, Iowa, and Richmond typically have very good sightlines for fans. Since they are small bullrings, the cars are closer to the grandstands, making the race much easier to follow. Bristol Motor Speedway is perhaps the shining example of this.
As far as intermediates, the tracks get bigger, which means the cars get farther away, but fans can generally see all around if they sit high enough. When going to tracks like Darlington and Homestead with straight front stretches, it might get tough to look through the crowd to see down the straightaway, but fans can still see most of the track.
As we highlighted at the beginning of this article, seeing the cars on the backstretch gets even tougher at the biggest tracks, like Pocono, Daytona, and Talladega. However, they are some of the most entertaining and exciting races of the year, so that must be considered.
As we discussed earlier, road courses can be very tough to follow due to how they’re designed. Knowing what fans want to see is important for them when attending these races.
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