Daytona Speedway to cut seating capacity in $400-million overhaul

Daytona International Speedway plans to slash its grandstand seating by 31%, to 101,000 seats from 146,000, as part of a renovation of the track that’s expected to cost up to $400 million.

The overhaul would include removing the grandstands on the 2.5-mile speedway’s back straightaway while enhancing the frontstretch grandstands at the 54-year-old home of NASCAR’s Daytona 500.

Every seat on the frontstretch “will be replaced with wider and more comfortable seating, with more restrooms and concession stands throughout the facility,” International Speedway Corp., which owns the track, said Tuesday.

The redevelopment also calls for redesigned fan entrances, new concourses that spectators would access with a series of escalators and elevators, 53 suites with views of the track and dozens of added video screens.

Construction is scheduled to start after the track’s summer NASCAR race next month and be completed in January 2016, but the reduction in seating would not begin until after next year’s Daytona 500 in February, International Speedway said.

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