Texas Motor Speedway ‘all-access’ day planned for April 9
NASCAR prides itself as one of the most accessible sports for fans, and Texas Motor Speedway plans to take it a step further during their spring race week.
TMS president Eddie Gossage, citing the track’s “No Limits” mantra, detailed the plans Tuesday at the track’s media day at the House of Blues.
On April 9, the Thursday of race week, TMS will have an all-access day for fans with access into the garages, autograph sessions, driver Q&A sessions and then cap the night with a showing of a Dale Earnhardt Sr. documentary on Big Hoss TV.
“You just want to do more and more for fans, and this is a collaboration with NASCAR about this all-access day,” Gossage said. “Other sports hide, but our drivers get out amongst the fans so that’s a good thing.
“If you come out to camp, we want to give you a bunch of things to do. If you’ve got season tickets, we want to give you reasons to come every single day the gates are open. So this is just one of those appealing things we do.”
Fans can access the Xfinity Series garage from 1-3 p.m., and the Sprint Cup garage from 4:30-5:30 p.m. as cars go through inspection.
Also during the 4:30-5:30 hour, Danica Patrick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Allgaier will conduct an autograph session at the Gate 4 concourse. The first 255 fans will receive wristbands to assure them autographs.
Q&A sessions will be held between 7:30-8:30 p.m., with drivers such as Carl Edwards, Kyle Larson, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray, followed by the showing of the Dale Earnhardt Sr. documentary on Big Hoss TV starting at 9.
Admission for all activity is $10 for adults and free for children 12 and younger.
Planes return
TMS didn’t leave any of its events untouched during media day, including the Red Bull Air Race World Championship set to return Sept. 26-27.
TMS has a three-year partnership with the event, and the hope is that it grows exponentially now that people have seen it.
Pete McLeod, who is competing in his third season on the series, talked about his sport drawing more than one million fans at an event in Barcelona, Spain.
“It’s growing,” McLeod said. “It’s pretty wild and it’s always interesting.”
Added Gossage: “It’s one of those things where you’ve got to see it. It’s really one of those bucket list things.”
Quote of the day
Matt Crafton became the first back-to-back champion in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last year, and he is looking for a third straight title this season.
That’s where his focus is at this point, not jumping the ladder to the next series.
Of course, Crafton would like to work his way to a full-time Cup ride, but he isn’t willing to sacrifice being competitive to do it.
As he said: “That’s not my style. I’d rather flip burgers.”
No show for Larson
Kyle Larson couldn’t make his scheduled appearance at media day Tuesday, as he was still in the hospital Monday evening.
Larson fainted during an autograph session Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, and he missed Sunday’s STP 500 for precautionary reasons.
He is expected to be cleared and return to action in the Duck Commander 500 on April 11.
This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 8:04 PM with the headline "Texas Motor Speedway ‘all-access’ day planned for April 9."