NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell talks 'passionate' Pocono fans, Amazon, racing in Philly
NASCAR president Steve O'Donnell talked about several changes and developments within the sport. One of them was the new in-season tournament, and how Pocono Raceway came to be involved as the last preliminary track on the schedule.
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"Our partners wanted the Tricky Triangle," O'Donnell said. "When we talked with our partners and determined what were some of the markets they wanted to be in, Pocono was a big part of that. It fit into that window, and after that came the in-season tournament. But they wanted Pocono as an anchor of their portfolio."
Race weekend at the Triangle: What to know ahead of NASCAR's Great American Getaway 400
When asked about what makes Pocono such an attractive place for racing fans, O'Donnell attributed it to the passionate short track racing in the northeast region of the U.S.
"If you look at Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, there's a huge, hardcore short track market with a lot of fans who love racing in general, and have become NASCAR fans," O'Donnell said. "It's grassroots racing that kind of goes underappreciated, but the fans show up in droves."
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Pocono Raceway has been a beneficiary of the regional racing fandom, selling out its infield campgrounds for five consecutive years and approaching a Cup Series sellout for the third straight year.
More: Special traffic patterns planned on Route 115 near Pocono Raceway
O'Donnell added that Pennsylvania has a huge racing fanbase, which makes sense why new media partner Prime Video, which is broadcasting the preliminaries of the in-season tournament, would want the Triangle on their schedule.
Pocono Raceway president Ben May spoke about the track's involvement in the tournament and working with Prime Video, explaining that they were "flattered" the new media partner asked by name. This did force the race to be moved up a few weeks earlier, which is why the Great American Getaway 400 is in June this year as opposed to July in 2024.
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There were also questions about how well a race would do on a streaming service, which NASCAR never partnered with before, instead of traditional cable. But in addition to the returning partners Fox Sports and NBC Sports, O'Donnell and his staff saw the opportunity to widen the footprint with Amazon and Turner. The latter is partnering with NASCAR for the first time since 2014, and both deals are until 2031.
"It's a bit of a myth that our fans wouldn't have Amazon. Actually, they're already there; they've already migrated to that space. So we're really bullish on it."
Weather watch at Pocono Raceway: What conditions should fans expect race weekend?
NASCAR considering a race in Philadelphia?
In a surprising development, NASCAR is considering a race in Philadelphia, about two hours away from Pocono.
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"Pocono has delivered for us in terms of fans, but when you look at opportunities, one of the places we looked was Franklin Field," O'Donnell said. "It was one of the only places we could've put a race track inside. Those are the type of things that, within a city, we're gonna look at.
"The days of just building a rural track are over, but if we can build a track with some real estate development around it and partner with some people, we're gonna look at major cities and bring the product to the fan base within the city as well."
Franklin Field, home of the Penn Quakers, is the oldest college football stadium still in operation, opening in 1895 and renovated in 1922. Its Olympic-style structure is why NASCAR could consider hosting a race there, but O'Donnell said the exploration was "pretty early."
O'Donnell talked similarly about another bold venture that eventually became the Chicago Street Race, a new wrinkle in recent years to NASCAR that had positive results with fans.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: NASCAR president talks 'passionate' Pocono fans, racing in Philly
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