When the Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR fans will notice a big difference in the stands.
Speedway president Clay Campbell announced that the track is taking out rows of seats from the top of Bill France Tower between Turn 3 and Turn 4. He also said that all the seats above the press box at Turn 1 and Turn 2 will be taken out, according to the Martinsville Bulletin.
Campbell said part of the reason why those seats were being removed is because they were too high for fans to reach. But the main reason undoubtedly stems from NASCAR's recent attendance woes.
Related: New TV ratings are out, and it's even worse news for NASCAR
Attendance dropped substantially in NASCAR last year, and the stands looked half empty at many races throughout the year. The removal of seats will at least help in that regard as it seems like Campbell isn't expecting attendance to improve next year.
"We're calling it 'facility optimization,'" Campbell said. "What it boils down to, obviously now we have the opportunity to take some seats out. Attendance is not what it used to be so we can take some seats out and those seats are the highest that we have. So to make it easier on our fans so they don't have to climb 10 stories to get to seats, they're the ones we're taking out.