In a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, NASCAR spotter Brett Griffin recently touched upon the two aspects of the $544m reported sale of 83% of the land at the Auto Club Speedway. The two aspects in his point were the financial side of things and the racing side of things.

Griffin looked at this as a win but also as a big loss for the fans and the industry.

“If I’m in the selling business, I’m spot on because that’s a sh*t ton of money. I mean, I don’t know how you look at that, half a billion dollars doesn’t get you excited,” Griffin said on the podcast.

Griffin thinks NASCAR is following the Daytona model on other racetracks

The spotter pointed out how NASCAR have now come to realize that if they follow the Daytona model, they could utilize the racetracks better. “I think they realize, when you look at what they did in Daytona, they developed a retail footprint across from the racetrack,” he described.

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Griffin thinks NASCAR have come to realize that the land they sit on is “worth a lot of money”, especially in today’s world with companies like Amazon buying such lots for their mega-warehouses. He then recalled how, when he went to Fontana in 1999, he felt it was “a sh*thole.”

“Now, everything around there is commercial,” he continued. “So obviously that area is booming, and to hear that it’s worth half a bill, I mean, that’s a lot of money.”

“I don’t blame NASCAR at all for doing what they’re doing from the financial side.”

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Losing Auto Club Speedway is “a true shame”

Having justified the sale of the racetrack from a financial point of view, Brett Griffin then pointed out what a big loss it would be from a racing perspective for the entire industry.

“That’s one of the best racetracks in America and it’s a true shame for us to lose it as fans and as industry people,” he said. “It’s a Darlington-style racetrack…it seems like only good racecar drivers win there.”

“You don’t really back into wins in a place like Fontana.”

The spotter added that he’s “heartbroken” racing at Fontana may no longer be a thing in the future NASCAR schedules. “It’s unfortunate,” Griffin emphasized.

“I don’t know how you can look at yourself in the mirror if you’re making these decisions, and say, ‘It’s a good idea to sell this.'”

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