FONTANA, Calif. -- If a second Sprint Cup race date is to be given to Kansas Speedway for the 2011 season, and that's obviously forefront on the minds of the folks at International Speedway Corp., someone in Daytona Beach will find themselves facing a hard decision in the near future.

And one has to wonder when NASCAR chairman Brian France looked out over the half-empty grandstands at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, if that thought crossed his mind.

Not that long ago, the track formerly known as California Speedway added a second race at the expense of venerable Darlington Raceway. Now it faces a similar situation.

During the past few years, the downturn in attendance in Southern California has been blamed on everything from the weather to the racing to the economy to the fickleness of the local sports fans. So what's the excuse now?

A change in the track's date from September to October made for an almost perfect day of racing, sunny and pleasant, more than 30 degrees cooler than the blast furnace that Fontana can become in late summer. For all the complaints about the raciness of the track, Saturday's Nationwide Series race -- held in front of a vast sea of empty seats -- was as competitive and action-packed as any venue on the circuit. And the fans who showed up certainly had more than enough excitement.

And yes, California's economy is in the toilet, but on Thursday, there were 51,819 fans watching the Dodgers and Cardinals at Dodger Stadium and another 45,070 at Anaheim for the Angels-Red Sox game -- both close to capacity for postseason action. On the other hand, NASCAR's playoff game on Sunday -- with no other professional sporting event in town -- drew "an estimated 70,000," although calling that an extremely generous headcount would be like calling lettuce on a greasy fast food cheeseburger a healthy alternative to eating fruits and vegetables.

The portions of the grandstands that were the most full were the discounted tickets, which track president Gillian Zucker admitted were completely sold out earlier in the week. Not so much the blocks of tickets and luxury boxes where ISC most profits, even with the lure of the Chase. And there was plenty of room in most sections to spread out and get a tan.

"There are a lot of people out here," Zucker repeated several times, as if she was trying to convince herself. But it's truly not her fault that many of the 90,000 seats go unused every time NASCAR visits. As Yogi Berra famously said, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." But in this instance, nobody goes there anymore because it's not crowded.

The car culture may be nowhere more prevalent than here in California. Detroit may be the place where the manufacturing takes place, but the Southland is the automotive epicenter. The National Hot Rod Association was founded by Californian Wally Parks in 1951. The Los Angeles freeway system, was cutting-edge when it was proposed in 1956. The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean sang about "little deuce coupes" and "409s" in the '60s, and muscle cars can still be spotted at just about any intersection in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside or San Bernardino counties.

NASCAR's been coming here for more than five decades, to places like Ascot and Riverside and Ontario, and now Fontana. But there seems to be a disconnect between Southern California's car culture and its racing fans, and what it will take to repair that fickle bond remains a mystery.

Since there's little sentiment to increase the number of races, in order for NASCAR for add a second date to Kansas -- to "rob Peter to pay Paul" -- one of ISC's tracks will have to give up a date. Just like Atlanta Motor Speedway is rumored to be losing one of its dates to Kentucky Speedway if and when the lawsuit is settled and NASCAR approves the change, one has to wonder if one of Auto Club's two dates is next.

In the case of the Southern 500, ISC giveth to Auto Club Speedway. But will ISC soon taketh away?

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Note
• Auto Club Speedway is considering shortening one of the two annual races from 500 miles to 400 miles and Zucker would like to swap race dates with Phoenix International Raceway. The first California race is run in February, right after the Daytona 500 while Phoenix runs in April. -- The Associated Press

Related
• No more excuses for Auto Club Speedway