Smith still confident Kentucky will get its Cup date

Bruton Smith

Speedway Motorsports Chairman Bruton Smith says he is confident that Kentucky Speedway will get a Sprint Cup date in 2011.

For that to happen, Smith needs track co-founder Richard Duchossois to agree not to appeal a federal antitrust case against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. to the Supreme Court. Duchossois and track co-founder Jerry Carroll, the managing partner of the original ownership group, are embroiled in a lawsuit over whether the case should continue.

The Supreme Court likely wouldn’t decide whether to hear the Kentucky Speedway founders’ appeal until October, and NASCAR – which typically has its schedule set by August – wants the suit over before it moves a race to Kentucky.

“I think eventually Duchossois will get tired of trying to do something that he can’t get done," Smith said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “I think that [his dropping the suit] will happen. … I’m very confident." Scenedaily.com