No deal for Charlotte race move to Las Vegas
NASCAR confirmed Friday the deadline has passed without receiving a formal request from Speedway Motorsports Inc. owner Bruton Smith to move one of his Sprint Cup Series race dates from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 2014 season.
In May, Smith told WBTV in Charlotte there was “a 70 percent chance" he’d move Charlotte’s fall Cup race to the track his company owns in Las Vegas.
The next day, WBTV followed up with a report citing sources who called it a “done deal." Smith immediately disputed that assessment.
At least as far as 2014 is concerned, Charlotte is expected to continue hosting two Cup series points races as well as the annual NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
A spokesman for CMS declined to comment on Smith’s decision not to make a request for a race change.
During his interview with WBTV, Smith said money would play a large factor in moving one of his Cup dates from Charlotte.
“You’ve got 150,000 (hotel) rooms out there, more than any city in the world," Smith said of Las Vegas during May. “And they want to fill up those hotels and we do fill them up. That’s good." www.thatsracin.com