DOVER, Del. (AP) - Dover International Speedway is removing 17,500 seats as attendance at NASCAR tracks falls.

Gary Camp, senior director of communications at the track, tells The News Journal of Wilmington that crews are removing the grandstands along turns 2 and 3.

Camp says this is the first time the track has removed seats. At its peak, the track held 135,000 seats. That was reduced to 113,000 in 2011 when the track widened seats.

There will be 95,500 seats after the seats are removed. Camp expects the project to be completed by Christmas.

He says the process to "right-size" the track is part of an industrywide trend to reduce seating capacity at some of the bigger venues.

Dover International Speedway opened in 1969. It has two Sprint Cup Series races a year.