Kentucky’s future suddenly looks bright
By NASCAR Scene Staff
Thursday, June 05, 2008
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PRESS BOX: SCENE'S VIEW
The announcement that Speedway Motorsports Inc. plans to buy Kentucky Speedway should be heartening for those eager to see NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series race there. It’s highly unlikely that the corporation led by Bruton Smith would buy the 1.5-mile track without the expectation that it will host a Cup race in the near future.
Just how soon that might happen remains a question, however. NASCAR Chairman Brian France all but ruled out a Cup event in 2009, saying that next year’s schedule is nearly complete.
An even bigger question, of course, may be where the race will come from. No one expects NASCAR to expand the Cup schedule beyond the current 36 points races and two non-points events, and no one expects SMI or its rival, International Speedway Corp., to give up any of their races.
Speculation, naturally, focuses on the only two tracks outside the control of SMI and ISC that currently host two Cup races annually – Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania and Dover International Speedway in Delaware. The family that owns Pocono says it has no intention of selling. And it wasn’t immediately clear whether SMI’s bank account might be big enough to buy out the publicly held owners of Dover.
What is clear is that NASCAR may have to figure out how to put a Cup race in Kentucky in the future. The sanctioning body has so far fought off a lawsuit from Kentucky’s original owners challenging its power to award race dates, but SMI could prove a more formidable foe, even if it has to do so outside the current legal fight.
No one can doubt that SMI will upgrade the Kentucky facility. Speculation suggests it might even be remade from a 1.5-mile oval into some other configuration to avoid adding another so-called cookie-cutter track. Fans can also expect the same kinds of innovations that SMI has unveiled at Las Vegas and Texas.
Arguments that the Kentucky area is already well served won’t wash at a time when NASCAR’s efforts – however admirable – to expand into areas such as the West Coast continue to be met with indifference.
It’s always possible the Kentucky sale will fall through, but the odds are that Smith intends to go through with the deal and land a Cup date soon. Having acquired five of the seven tracks SMI owns, he typically doesn’t make such a move without a master plan.
However Smith plans to accomplish his mission, NASCAR may soon have to approve a deal to grant Kentucky Speedway a Cup date.
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