Other views

“This place just ain’t working.

A lot of good people have worked very hard to make Auto Club Speedway -- the track formerly known as California Speedway -- something more than a giant waster of stock car racing’s time. Bless their hearts, as we’d say in the South.

But it’s time to give it up.

Momentum lost amid the debacle

For each thing that went well for NASCAR during Speedweeks, about three went wrong this weekend. Any momentum this season might have had coming out of Daytona is, as of the debacle that was Sunday’s Auto Club 500, now officially stuck in the mud.”

David Poole

Charlotte Observer

They wouldn’t be up for a planning award

“You have to feel for track President Gillian Zucker and her staff. They can’t catch a break. Nothing has gone right here from the time NASCAR awarded the facility a second Cup date in 2004.

Even in a market of 15 million folks, filling all 92,000 seats doesn’t happen. They sell the place as being in Tinseltown, home of the stars.

Hey, Cole Trickle was here Sunday. Not being up for any Oscars, Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance, watching the rain and rare racing moments from Jimmie Johnson’s pit box. Scheduling a Cup race in Southern California on the same day as the biggest event of the year in L.A. doesn’t seem like a brilliant marketing strategy.”

Terry Blount

ESPN.com

Track maintenance caught in slow lane

“Last September when the Sprint Cup Series rolled into Fontana, the heat was triple digits throughout the weekend. Still, while weather cannot be controlled, maintaining the track in a reasonable manner is not too much to ask.

Both NASCAR and the speedway had 72 hours since the weeping first surfaced on Friday to correct the problem. By 11 p.m. PST on Sunday night, the track wasn’t in condition to continue to race. NASCAR offered ‘dewpoint’ as the reason the cars weren’t able to race.

While I’m no meteorologist -- and didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night -- continual communication between the men driving the jet dryers and NASCAR officials saying, ‘We’ll take all the help we can get in Turn 3,’ where weeping refused to subside, it paints a very different picture.

The competitors and the fans -- who waited more than 10 hours to watch stock car’s premiere series race -- deserve better than that.”

Lee Spencer

FOXSports.com

Another dubious mark against the Speedway

“NASCAR and the speedway can ill afford such bad public relations in this market. The track is struggling to find its fan base and it certainly doesn’t help when its most ardent supporters are treated so shabbily . . .

This market has eluded NASCAR and the speedway thus far. . . . Instead of taking a forward step with the new car, new drivers, new slogan, the sport actually backed up a bit.”

Louis Brewster

San Bernardino Sun