ISC mum on which track could lose Cup date
International Speedway Corp. isn't saying yet which of its tracks would lose a Sprint Cup date if the parent company is successful in obtaining the rights to a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on its Kansas Speedway property and moves a race there.
ISC and its partner, The Cordish Co., are among four groups pursuing the casino project. As part of its incentive package, ISC President Lesa France Kennedy, who is part of the NASCAR ownership family, said it would look to realign one of ISC’s current Sprint Cup dates to give Kansas a second Cup race each year. Kennedy announced the proposal at an appearance before the Kansas Racing & Gaming Commission.
The commission will make its decision on the location of the casino by the end of September, ISC spokesman Wes Harris said.
Kansas would get the second Cup date starting in 2010 or 2011, Harris said.
“We don’t have any formal proposals before NASCAR or anything like that right now, but that is what we presented today,” Harris said Wednesday. “We have done this [realignment] in the past. We haven’t speculated on [what track] at all.”
Harris would not speculate on whether the Cup race would come from ISC tracks that have two dates (Daytona, Richmond, California, Talladega, Martinsville, Michigan or Phoenix) or whether it would close a track that has only one Cup date (Darlington, Homestead-Miami, Watkins Glen, or Chicagoland)
“Clearly we’re in the business of running race events, and we like the markets that we’re in, but that’s all I can really say,” Harris said. “We believe in the project, and Kansas has been fantastically successful for us. It’s been a great speedway for us and a real important speedway in our portfolio.”
Kansas, which opened in 2001, is a 1.5-mile oval. Harris said adding a second race to Kansas would be a huge advance for the sport.
“Even though it would be another 1.5-mile oval track, but each of those tracks have their own character, and as they get older, they even take on more character,” Harris said. “It would put on a good show, and it would be great for the sport.”
Harris said it had not been decided if the second Cup race would be sold as part of a season-ticket package. Kansas Speedway currently sells all of its seats as part of a season-ticket package.
