Kentucky Speedway to make announcement

Kentucky Speedway’s owner hinted Friday that a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race would be held next year at the Gallatin County track. A “big press conference" is planned Aug. 10 at Kentucky Speedway, said Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. He would not go so far as to say the event would include news of a 2011 Cup race, but that it “deals with all of that."

“Don’t try to get me to hold that press conference now, OK?" Smith said. “But we’ll have a lot of things to announce when we’re there (about) a lot of the changes that we’re making." Smith expects 500 people at the news conference, including Gov. Steve Beshear and three-time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip. A spokeswoman for Beshear said the governor’s schedule for that week was not yet available. Jerry Carroll, the track’s former chairman, and a consultant for SMI, will be there. “If Bruton Smith is coming all the way up here, and the governor is coming all the way up here, they’re not going to tell people bad news. So figure it from there," Carroll said.

Earlier this month, NASCAR CEO Brian France said SMI and ISC had submitted requests to NASCAR to move races in 2011. ISC wants a second Cup date for its Kansas Speedway. On Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, France said the 2011 Cup schedule would include changes and that it was within a week or two of being completed. Kentucky Speedway would be the first new venue on the Cup schedule since Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway were introduced in 2001. Cincinnati Enquirer