Elliott Sadler's Take on filling the stands -- free tickets!

  

  
Uh, Elliott, are you sure you've cleared this with Daytona? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   FONTANA, Calif.
   If NASCAR wants to fill the grandstands here at California's Auto Club Speedway, Elliott Sadler has a simple marketing promotion: free tickets.
   "If I had anything to do with this track, I'd go to every middle-school within 50 miles of this place and give away tickets," Sadler says.
   "What's the difference between an empty seat and a free ticket?
   "And you might sell a Coke to them if they're in the stands.  
   "I would go to every Boys Club and Girls Club, every Girl Scout troop….every middle-school…everybody.
   "Just give away the tickets.
    "Give them a chance to come to this race.
  "They might not have come before…and you might just make a fan.
   "You might not, but even if you don't make a fan, what have you lost? You really haven't lost anything.
    "You didn't have anybody in that seat anyway.
    "And if you gain a fan, you might gain a couple tickets next year.
    "Now that's just my Emporia, Va., opinion -- which might not be worth two cents out here in Los Angeles."
    So simple it's brilliant.