Speedway Motorsports Inc. Offers Weather Guarantee for NASCAR Races

Speedway Motorsports Inc. has issued a weather guarantee across its eight tracks that host Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, and Texas Motor Speedway. The guarantee, one of the company’s Fans First initiatives, will allow fans to trade in unused tickets to races that are weather-postponed to another day for tickets to another race at the same track or a race at another SMI track.

"Of all major professional sports, none is as heavily impacted by adverse weather as NASCAR," Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith said in a press release. "With drivers already racing on the very edge at nearly 200 mph, even a little rain can have a dramatic impact on race weekend schedules. What we want to do is take weather out of the ticket-buying equation so fans can focus on having a great time and making memories on our premier NASCAR event weekends.”

If a race is postponed to another day, and fans can’t attend on the rescheduled date, they have 60 days from the originally scheduled race date to redeem their unused tickets. If a fan chooses to exchange a ticket for a race at another SMI track, that race must be in the same calendar year. But the exchange also applies it the fan wants to attend the next season’s edition of the same race, even if next year’s date is beyond one year.

According to the Charlotte Motor Speedway website, only race tickets are covered under the guarantee. Parking, camping and pit-pass fees are not covered. Also, refunds aren’t available, only ticket exchanges. And the exchange only applies to races that are postponed to another day, not races that are delayed until later on its originally-scheduled date.

Independently-owned Pocono Raceway, which hosts the NASCAR Cup Series twice yearly, instituted a similar weather guarantee of its own last year. But, according to Pocono’s policy, tickets purchases are refunded at face value instead of tickets being exchanged. Also, pit-pass costs are refunded when races are postponed to another date and fans are unable to attend on the rescheduled date. The Pocono program also includes its IndyCar Series race. But like the SMI policy, Pocono’s guarantee also doesn’t include camping costs.