LAS VEGAS -- Chairman of NASCAR Brian France still believes his sport will expand to additional markets in the near future, and he said prior to Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 that he can make no promises to Las Vegas Motor Speedway that a second race date is in the works for that facility.

Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns LVMS, expended considerable energy lobbying hard throughout the weekend to have a second date promised to his venue.

Even Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman got into the act, telling Sunday's sellout crowd prior to the race: "I shook about 100,000 hands on my way in here, and every one of the race fans whose hand I shook said, 'Mayor, get us a second race!'"

France is listening, but preaching patience.

"I would like a second date in a lot of places, myself," France said. "Everyone knows that with the [current] schedule, it's either add it near the end or take one from somewhere else. We have some expansion that we'd like to see happen in other parts of the country. So there's no magic wand that we can wave where we can put a second date where we feel like it at the moment. It has to all be worked out."

France said that International Speedway Corp., which is owned by the France family and owns and operates a total of 12 racetracks throughout the country, is continuing to look at possibly building racetracks in either New York, Washington state or Denver -- but not necessarily all three.

"New York is in play, Seattle is in play, and Denver is in play. They are all markets ISC has said they have an interest in," France said. "I don't expect all three to get a facility built, but I do expect something positive to happen when we gain more community support. (Continued)