Good turnout for California Speedway test

When the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams were testing at California Speedway last week, they were greeted by thousands of fans over the two days. Tony Stewart said it was a surprising number of fans.
"There were more people at the test than there were at the fall race there," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
It wasn't quite that big of a crowd, but still an impressive turnout to watch what amounts to batting practice or spring football practice.
"I was pretty impressed with how many people showed up at the test," Stewart said. "I was a little disappointed when I found out they had to pay to get in the infield to watch the testing. I guess it didn't bother the fans too much to have to do that."
For the record, the track did not charge fans for access to the infield to watch testing. The track did request, if fans did not buy a ticket for the grandstands, to donate $5 to the NASCAR Foundation to get infield access. The track raised more than $11,000 to donate to charity over the two days.
"It was a nice scenery change actually to see the fans there during a test where it's normally you don't see anybody at all," Stewart said. "Pretty cool seeing the fans there having a good time."