SMI Purchases Kentucky Speedway, But Doesn’t Pickup Cup Date
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It was announced Thursday that Bruton Smith, company chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) has purchased Kentucky Speedway, located about midway between Louisville, KY and Cincinatti, OH, for the sum of $78.3 million - the track had originally cost $152 million just to build. Smith was very open from the get-go of the announcement that it was his intent to bring a Sprint Cup Series date to the track - a feat that previous owner, Jerry Carroll of Kentucky Seedway LLC, had been unable to accomplish.
Carroll is currently tied up in an ongoing lawsuit against NASCAR due to his inability to secure a date for the track on the Sprint Cup Schedule. The case was originally dismissed by the US District Court in 2005, but Carroll has since filed for an appeal with the US Court of Appeals. Carroll claims that the lawsuit is still on despite the recent sale of his facility, but NASCAR spokesman, Ramsey Poston, has assured that NASCAR will continue to defend their case vigorously.
The sale of Kentucky Speedway itself is still in the beginning stages and is not expected to be finalized until sometime late in the summer. Because of this, SMI has not yet made any formal requests for a 2009 date, but Poston has already stated that even if they had, not to expect a Kentucky race next year because NASCAR is already deep into their sanctioning process for the 2009 schedule.
There are several scenarios that could play out over the next year or two that could lead to landing a Cup date in Kentucky. SMI currently has seven other NASCAR tracks under their control: Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Infineon Raceway. Of these tracks, all except for Las Vegas and Infineon currently host two Sprint Cup dates. It could be very feasible for Smith to attempt to move one of the dates from NHIS over to Kentucky if needs be. It was originally discussed last year when SMI purchased the Vegas facility that they may try to get another date for that track, but that has yet to play out in anyway.
Another possibility is that Smith and company could attempt to purchase yet another track that already has to Cup races, and then attempt to move a date from that track. The leading candidate for this scenario appears to be Pocono Raceway, a track that Smith has been rumored to have been interested in for some time now, but sources have not yet confirmed whether or not the track is for sale.
Smith can make the request in any way he sees fit, but at the end of the day, the decision will fall upon NASCAR. Poston insists that track ownership does not play into whatever they decide to do, but with SMI currently controlling 1/3 of the Cup Series schedule, it stands to reason that the sanctioning body might go ahead and cater to their requests for a date swap if they should happen to make one.
Recommended Reads:
- Smith Coy About His New Kentucky Home (the Finish Line)
- My Old Kentucky Speedway (From the Marbles)
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