Darlington Raceway added lights in anticipation of a night race in 2005. Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Darlington Raceway says it's not selling

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning got a call Tuesday that sent him scrambling: Was International Speedway Corp. contemplating a sale of the old country track to its rival?

So Browning, who was displaced when North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham was sold last year, called down to the company's Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters to find out.

"They told me, 'Hey, nothing to it, buddy,' " Browning told The Associated Press. "That was good enough for me."

Bruton Smith Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Browning said the report he read on the Internet speculated that Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports Inc. wanted to buy Darlington and move its remaining race weekend to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving that facility a second race date.

But Browning said that's not the case. "There's absolutely no truth to the rumors whatsoever," he said. "I don't know where they got started."

Darlington officials have long dealt with whispers about the track's pending demise.

When NASCAR vice president and chief spokesman Jim Hunter was Darlington's leader during the 1990s, he routinely battled Smith.

Jim Hunter Credit: Robert Laberg/Getty Images

Hunter reacted angrily in 1998 to reports Darlington would soon lose its spring race. "I'm tired of them using us as a target," Hunter said then. Hunter thought the rumors likely came from Lowe's Motor Speedway president "Humpy" Wheeler in Charlotte, N.C. -- something Wheeler denied.

After Andrew Gurtis became Darlington president in 2001, there was more talk about the track's possible sale to Speedway Motorsports. Gurtis said he was told "to expect some stuff out of Charlotte."

On Tuesday, Hunter said he has heard nothing about selling Darlington. He said the rumors could have come from Smith saying if Darlington were on the block, he'd want to buy it. If there's any truth this time, "then someone forgot to tell me about it," Hunter said.

Browning came to Darlington last year after Rockingham was sold to Smith for $100.4 million. The transaction gave Speedway Motorsports' Texas Motor Speedway a second race.

Smith adding seats to Las Vegas It's no secret that Bruton Smith wants a second Nextel Cup date at Las Vegas, and he's ready to spend the money to prepare for it. Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. has approved a massive budget increase for Las Vegas Motor Speedway as they are inflating its 2006 budget from $30 million to $50 million. Some of this money will go into increased seating. SMI is adding 14,000 seats for 2006, pushing capacity to nearly 140,000; the track also added seats last year. Full Story

Smith was unavailable Tuesday and the company doesn't comment "on speculative opinions expressed by other sources outside the company," spokesman Jerry Gappens said.

Smith has said previously he would "welcome the opportunity to explore additional NASCAR-sanctioned events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway," Gappens said.

Smith got Texas Motor Speedway's first race in 1997 by buying half of the now-defunct North Wilkesboro, N.C., track and moved its Nextel Cup date.

International Speedway Corp. spokesman David Talley said there's been no talk of selling Darlington, which has hosted NASCAR events since 1950. His company's focus, he said, is developing tracks in the New York City area and the Pacific northwest.

Also, recent improvements at Darlington like its multimillion-dollar lighting system mean "you can surmise that we are very behind the track," Talley said.

Browning expects to announce more capital improvements in the coming weeks that will add to the track's viability.

The raceway will hold its only Nextel Cup race of the season, the Dodge Charger 500, on May 7, a night race under the lights.

Tickets are running about 5,000 ahead of last fall's Southern 500 that came within 200 seats of selling out and Browning expected a pre-race sellout this time.

He said the timing of sale rumors was odd.

"People start stuff up like this and it might stifle your momentum a little bit," he said. "We've got really great momentum and there are people out there that may want that to end."

He won't know anything about a 2006 race for Darlington until June at the earliest, but feels confident the "Lady in Black" has a place on NASCAR's schedule for years to come.

"For whatever reason, we're an easy target," Browning said. But "We want to get out there and say there's nothing to it."