Associated Press

Only about half of the seats were sold for Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Attendance at the track has dropped steadily since 2007.

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Would the Super Bowl be as prestigious if it was held in a nearly half-empty stadium? What about the World Series? Or Kentucky Derby?

When pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya took the green flag to start Sunday's Brickyard 400, about 120,000 seats at Indianapolis Motor Speedway were empty.

NASCAR estimated the attendance at 140,000, slightly more than half full. Yet, it was about 15,000 less than the audience at this year's Kentucky Derby. While Sunday's crowd is tied for the third-largest at a Sprint Cup race this season, the sight of so many unoccupied seats presents a daunting picture for a sport where image is important.

No doubt the economy has kept some fans away, just as it has at other tracks this season. Indianapolis also suffers from the fiasco two years ago when NASCAR called cautions about every 10 laps to keep tires from blowing. Some fans are turned away because they can't see all the way around the track.

Others don't watch because the narrow track is not conducive for as much side-by-side racing fans crave and expect.

Whatever the reason, the result is a sight that portrays weakness because the number in attendance has decreased by nearly half since 2007.

While competitors relish the chance to compete on the historic track, the buzz with Indy is flat -- just as the 3.6 overnight rating was for ESPN's broadcast of the race, equaling last year's overnight rating.

Indy is just another race to many -- one some apparently believe they can miss.

It was much different than when the series first raced there in 1994. Before that event, Goodyear had a tire test in 1992 that brought a few teams and thousands of fans to the track.

Aware of the historic moment, Rusty Wallace asked NASCAR if he could be the first car on the track when the test began.

"I pulled out on to the track and I'm looking around and I'm going, 'Wow this is great,' " Wallace said. "They come down the backstretch and I hear this big noise and I'm like what in the world and here comes [Dale] Earnhardt. Whoooom! Right past me at 200 miles an hour.

"I'm like that sucker is going to try to lead the first lap. So we come off of turn 4 and we're side by side, we're banging doors and he beats me to the line by about two car lengths. He said, 'You were the first one on the track, I was the first one to lead a lap.' "

Fans were thrilled. They sat through limited passing and sightlines because it was Indy. It was a happening. It was a place to be.

Maybe giddy, but some questioned if Indy was or would become bigger than the Daytona 500.

Indy has become just another race.

NASCAR, with its schedule overstuffed like an infrequent flyer's suitcase, made the event a three-day show. Even though this race pays more than any Cup event other than the Daytona 500, it is given the same treatment as any other series stop.

With Cup races within about a four-hour drive in Michigan, Chicago and maybe Kentucky next year, some of the fans who once traveled to Indy, can see their favorite drivers at a closer track.

So, a series of factors creates a glut of tickets for Sunday's race. With supply outweighing demand, there isn't that sense that a fan is missing something by not being there -- leaving empty seats as Jamie McMurray took the checkered flag for his first Brickyard 400 win.