Iowa Speedway’s first NASCAR Cup Series event a huge success

Well hello there. It’s been a long time since I have occupied space on this page. But I thought after the Iowa Speedway hosted its first-ever NASCAR Cup Series race last weekend, now is about as good of a time as any to return.

I enjoyed the experience from a media member’s standpoint. And for the most part, positive feedback followed the weekend’s festivities.

There were some negative comments here and there, but that’s bound to happen with anything. It seems like some folks just have to find the negative in everything.

The grandstands sold out months in advance. And people tuned into their television in bulk.

According to Adam Stern, 2.693 million tuned in to watch the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 on USA Network. Stern is a Motorsports reporter for the Sports Business Journal.

There’s no direct comparison for TV ratings because this was the first Cup Series race at the track, but it was the most-watched cable sporting event of that weekend.

“I’ve heard lots of positive feedback from the fans and residents about the event and our community,” Newton Mayor Evelyn George said. “The much anticipated inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at the Iowa Speedway was a great success from all I’ve heard.”

Seven-year-old Jamison Price enjoyed his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa. It would have gone better had Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson won the race.

But Price loved the Kids Zone, the driving simulators and the semi-trucks that sold T-shirts of his favorite drivers.

“I liked the place where you can play video games,” Price said. “The Kids Zone was fun. I was rooting for Kyle Larson, but my second favorites were the Grimmus (Bubba Wallace) car and the Hamburglar (Tyler Reddick) car. My favorite thing to do outside the race track was the simulators. I liked looking at Kyle Larson shirts, too.

“It was fun. It was really cool. I definitely want to do it again.”

Doing it again was one of the topics of discussion before, during and after the weekend. No one is really sure if the Cup Series will be back, but after selling out both races that weekend, and nearly every driver loving the fact that it’s on this year’s schedule, I’m not sure how they wouldn’t want to be back.

There also was no major traffic incidents and no arrests or ejections.

“Police and fire reported fans were very complimentary of the race event and Newton,” George said. “Traffic flow was well managed, too.

“Downtown, we saw vehicles with licenses plates from a variety of Iowa counties and other states. Coffee shops and restaurants reported good business.”

That was another hot topic. Some of the negative Nancys continually talked about how the race weekend doesn’t really benefit Newton.

I imagine that’s pretty far from the truth. George told me before the Cup Series race that all hotels in town were full.

And as a regular at Kwik Star, I can tell you that it was extremely packed on Saturday morning before the NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

The comments on our Facebook page after the weekend were a mixed bag.

One commenter said she had a wild time. Another was thrilled with the packed stands on Friday.

Someone else mentioned they tried to go out to eat on Sunday but ended up in Des Moines because everything was packed.

One of the negative commenters talked about how the community needs better restaurants and stores so the money can stay in town. While we are on this topic, I will vote for a Wendy’s or a Pancheros. I’m not too picky.

A representative from the Capitol II Theatre mentioned they had a bunch of out-of-towners that weekend.

One other commentator wants the track to host more events, especially concerts.

Back in the day, Metallica did play a concert at the track. But that was likely before NASCAR bought it. I’m not sure NASCAR will want extra things on its track but maybe one day that won’t be the case.

Another hot topic involved the re-surfacing of the track. Part of the track was re-surfaced before race weekend, but Cup Series driver Joey Logano wonders why the entire thing wasn’t done.

“I think it would be better if they re-paved the rest of it,” Logano said in pit road minutes after the race. “Because at no point does the track have more than two-and-a-half, three lanes. It will never be wider, the way it is, ever, ever. I would probably just do the rest.

“It’s kind of like, I don’t know, it looks like they ran out of money. I don’t know what happened.”

All in all, there’s plenty of data that suggests the first-ever Cup Series race weekend at Iowa was a huge success.

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@shawmedia.com