Bristol Motor Speedway is NASCAR’s electric cathedral, a half-mile coliseum where the Night Race’s thunder has drawn sellout crowds for decades, 55 straight from 1982 to 2010. But lately, the buzz isn’t just about the racing; it’s about the price to get in. NASCAR tickets have been creeping up, with the average Cup Series seat now hitting around $215, a big jump from the $120 days when you could snag cheaper spots for $30 to $60 at smaller tracks.

Sure, premium seats could always run up to $1,800 for the best views, but the rising costs of even mid-range tickets are hitting fans hard. Add in parking, concessions, and travel, and a Bristol weekend feels more like a luxury splurge than the working-class party it used to be.

Compare that to the NFL, where fans are shelling out way more, an average “get-in” ticket of $156, with marquee games like the Detroit Lions averaging $385 and the league-wide mean pushing $297. A full NFL game-day experience for two, with tickets, parking, food, and drinks, can easily top $780 to $800. NASCAR is still a better deal, but for many, Bristol’s price hikes are souring the vibe.

The Night Race’s cheapest seats start at $65, with kids’ Cup tickets at $10 and free for Trucks and Xfinity, but fans say decent mid-bowl seats often run north of $100. Then there’s the real gut punch: lodging. Hotels around Bristol jack up rates 400 to 500 percent during race week, with $70 motels suddenly costing $400 a night, and some fans even report “lost” reservations resold at premium prices.

Camping, a NASCAR staple, isn’t much relief either. A family of four can drop over $1,500 for a weekend with campsite fees, tickets, and food. Back in 2010, a similar outing might have cost under $800. The 2007 Bristol repave, which fans argue dulled the on-track action, hasn’t helped justify the rising costs.

Bristol’s management insists their ticket prices are fair, but the soaring expenses for hotels and camping have fans crying foul, with many taking to X to vent. The 2025 Bass Pro Shops Night Race, a playoff elimination round, is set to test drivers like Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, but off the track, it’s the fans feeling the heat from what they’re calling Bristol’s “greedy” pricing.

Fans are done with the management

The outrage is boiling over on X, where fans aren’t holding back about Bristol’s wallet-busting costs. One user nailed the root of the issue, “I’m pretty sure the thing that’s killing Bristol is all the grandstands they put up. They got greedy, and now unlike other tracks, they can’t really take down what isn’t needed because it’s a ‘coliseum.’” Back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Bristol was a 160,000-seat behemoth, expanded to cash in on NASCAR’s boom.

When attendance dipped in the 2010s, tracks like Daytona and Talladega trimmed seats to match demand, but Bristol’s coliseum-style setup makes that tough. With crowds now well below the listed 153,000 capacity, empty grandstands scream of overzealous expansion from the glory days, leaving fans feeling like management’s greed set the stage for today’s pricing woes.

Another fan shared a maddening story, “They’ve lost that memo. Two years ago a local motel that I had reservations with had no record of my reservation, even with a confirmation number. But they had a room for $500 a night. I had booked early at their normal rate of less than $100 a night. I booked before they knew when race weekend was.” This isn’t new.

Hotels around Bristol have a long history of price gouging, with reports of rates spiking to $400 to $600 a night once race dates drop. Some even cancel confirmed bookings to relist rooms at a premium, a shady move that’s been called out for years. Fans are forced to hunt for alternatives like campgrounds or Airbnbs, but the sting of getting fleeced by local hotels leaves a bad taste.

One fan found a workaround, “A few years ago my father and I came down for the Bristol night race. Paid about $100 each for mid bowl seating. Avoided the hotel insanity by renting a fishing cabin for $70 a night. Been doing this for every race we’ve gone to since.” Smart move.

Cabins and vacation rentals near South Holston or Boone Lake have become go-to options, often running $60 to $100 a night compared to hotels’ race-week rip-offs. The trend has grown as fans ditch overpriced chains for local rentals, but it’s a hassle that highlights how Bristol’s hospitality market is squeezing loyal attendees.

The cost for families sparked this cry, “Thank you for saying this. To go camp for a family of four is over $1,500 a weekend to go to a NASCAR race.” Camping used to be NASCAR’s budget-friendly tradition, but Bristol’s trackside spots now range from $250 to over $1,000, with infield sites even pricier.

Add tickets and food, and a family weekend easily tops $1,500, a far cry from 2010’s $800 average. Fans are skipping races or scaling back, feeling pushed out by costs that make Bristol less a fan fest and more a luxury outing.

Bristol’s VP of Marketing, Drew Bedard, tried to push back, “Our ticket prices start at 90’s level pricing. $65 opening price point and $10 Cup tickets for kids. Kids free on Truck and XF (all tracks).”

On paper, $65 Cup tickets and free kids’ entry for Trucks and Xfinity sound fair, especially next to the NFL’s $297 average. But fans aren’t buying it. The real hit comes from camping, hotels, and parking, which jack up the total cost. Bedard’s defense feels tone-deaf when a weekend’s expenses dwarf those “90s-level” ticket prices, leaving fans on X calling Bristol’s management greedy as they brace for another pricey Night Race.