The NASCAR world is descending this week on the Talladega Superspeedway, with the top extravaganza being Sunday afternoon's GEICO 500 in the Sprint Cup Series.
Grant Lynch is chairman of the Talladega Superspeedway and was named general manager of the 2.66-mile track in 1993. Lynch was a recent guest of "Press Row" on Chattanooga's ESPN 105.1 FM.
Q: Are you a little biased when it comes to your favorite track in the sport?
A: "Certainly we're up there at the top, especially when you look at the records we hold for competition. The closest finishes in the three top series in NASCAR were done here - we're tied for one of the three - and we've got more acreage here than anybody else. That gives us the ability to do things on our property that most race tracks can't do, with one of them being free camping.
"We have hundreds of acres of free camping here, and when you combine that with the great ticket prices and packages we have, it makes a weekend here at Talladega one of the most economical ways you can go to a whole weekend of NASCAR activity."
Q: With all the tracks that have sprung up around the country in the last quarter century, was there ever a desire to top the size of Talladega?
A: "No, because the cost factors have gotten so big. When we built Talladega, we spent $3 million, and to get the scope and magnitude of Talladega, you could put Jerry Jones' football stadium on Talladega's infield 12 times with room left over. You could do the same thing with the Georgia Dome, and that's just the land inside the track."
Q: The recent crowd at Bristol was really rough. How has Talladega compared to other sites since the economic downturn in 2008?
A: "Our company took a different view, because we saw that the sport was changing, and we knew we had overbuilt for the demand at that time. We made the decision to right-size our facility pretty aggressively and took out seats both here and at Daytona. Now when you come here, you feel like you're at a big event because it's full again.
"Bristol has that big football game (Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech) coming up this fall, and they may need all those seats for that, but the days of needing 140,000 seats or more at these places are gone. We're doing a better job now of getting people in and out because there is less traffic, so it's actually a more pleasant environment compared to when we had as many as 175,000 here. We wish we still had all those people still buying tickets, but life isn't about what you wish for."
Q: Do you find yourself rooting for a great finish or for a famous name in Victory Lane?
A: "I tell folks that if you run Talladega Superspeedway and have an Earnhardt in your race, if you're not picking him, then you're not a very smart promoter. I would say 65 percent and up of our fans are Earnhardt fans. He's our defending champion of this race. He's one of our all-time winners behind his dad, who is our all-time winner.
"I really don't have a favorite driver, but I do love to see Dale run up front in Talladega."
Q: Turning to our rapid fire, who was your favorite driver growing up?
A: "Junior Johnson or Cale Yarborough."
Q: What is your go-to order at the Montana Saloon and Grill?
A: "Probably their burger."
Q: You grew up in North Carolina, but are you now an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan?
A: "That's an easy answer for me, because both of my girls graduated from Auburn."
Q: Who is the funniest driver right now on the circuit?
A: "Clint Bowyer."
Q: What is your second-favorite track in NASCAR?
A: "I helped build Kansas City, so I am a little partial to that one."
Q: Who is the best movie driver?
A: "Ricky Bobby, no doubt. If you ain't first, you're last."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.