FORT WORTH, Texas -- Bruton Smith danced around the question with all the dexterity of a Las Vegas showgirl.

"Do you realize they have 140,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas?" the flamboyant chairman of track conglomerate Speedway Motorsports Inc. boomed to his audience. "In about another 18 months, they'll be up to 175,000. That's more hotel rooms than any other city in the world, even today."

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Bruton Smith says he doesn't plan on moving a race to Vegas from New Hampshire but Joe Menzer says the sale doesn't make sense unless he does.

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That's all well and good, but the query poised to Smith on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway didn't concern hotel construction. It was about whether the car salesman turned racetrack magnate would move a second Nextel Cup date out to the desert, now that he's struck an agreement to buy the 1-mile facility in Loudon, N.H. Smith, who added race dates to his Fort Worth track by purchasing venues in North Wilkesboro and Rockingham, N.C., paid $340 million to buy the renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway, giving SMI a seventh NASCAR track and two more coveted spots on the series schedule.

And what to do with those dates? Keep them in New Hampshire, where the track has sold out every Cup race since it debuted on the schedule in 1993, and drew 101,000 fans to watch Clint Bowyer's victory on Sept. 16? Or move one to Las Vegas, Smith's pet project, a place where he's spent millions overhauling the garage area and the racetrack, a 142,000-seat edifice sitting to the east of the glittering lights of the Strip?

"I have no plans to move anything or do anything," Smith said. "We're just into this thing one week. All of our plans certainly are not in place. But it will take some time. Right now we have no plans of moving anything."

But later? It's still early in the process; the sale won't even close until the first quarter of next season, and Smith -- who struck the deal with former owner Bob Bahre only last week, and had to disclose financial terms because SMI is a public company -- said any assumptions as to what he'll do with the property are premature. But Chris Powell, general manager of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, clearly wants another date to complement the one his track currently hosts in March.

"I think there's more of an opening now than we've ever had," said Powell, who attended Friday's announcement at Texas. "That is not to say anything negative about New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the great job that's been done up there for years. I use to work at R.J. Reynolds, went up to New Hampshire every year, and enjoyed every trip I made. Lake Winnipesaukee is one of the most beautiful places on earth. But at the same time, Bruton has made a big investment in our speedway, and the best way to get a return on that investment is to do more business."

Known until Friday as New Hampshire International Speedway -- "motor" was added to conform to the names of SMI's other oval holdings -- the flat track in Loudon was one of the last remaining independent venues on the Nextel Cup schedule, nestled in a New England region with deep short-track roots. It's close to Boston, one of the large Northeastern cities that NASCAR has worked to make inroads in, and holds a prominent place as the first stop in the Chase.

Smith beat out four other bidders for the property -- team owners George Gillett and John Henry, the Penske group and Kentucky Speedway owner Jerry Carroll -- despite not submitting the highest bid. The difference was Smith's record for lavish renovations such as those that took place at Atlanta, Bristol and Las Vegas, and his personal friendship with Bahre. The 80-year-old track founder will remain on the payroll as an advisor, assisting a general manager who is yet to be named.

"We look forward to working closely with Bruton Smith and his team during the upcoming transition and for years to come," Bahre said in a statement. Smith will welcome Bahre's help, although he's made no promises to keep one or both Nextel Cup dates in Loudon.

"We had no discussions along those lines," Smith said. "Although I do want to keep Bob on as a consultant, and we will do that. Bob is very valuable, because he has a lot of connections in that area that I don't know about. Only Democrats know, because they go up there running for election."

Friday brought mixed messages. Rightfully so, Smith touted his record for improving facilities, and promised to add seats at New Hampshire. But he's also bought two facilities, North Wilkesboro and North Carolina speedways, specifically to move their Cup dates somewhere else. He's become the biggest motorsports booster for the city of Las Vegas, lobbying to have the Nextel Cup banquet moved there as well. He's adamant in the belief that some races at older facilities need to be moved somewhere else.

"I look at McDonald's. Sometimes they'll have a place, but they'll tear it down and build one somewhere else," Smith said. "Automobile dealerships, they change. I'm in that business, too. Sometimes they have to tear down dealerships and rebuild them somewhere else. Anything along that line, sometimes it changes, and you have to then move with the change."

Smith said he called Brian France a few days ago, and the NASCAR chairman congratulated the SMI owner on the purchase. But France reminded everyone Friday that even if Smith wanted to move a race, he couldn't do it for next season. Those sanctioning agreements are already signed.

"While we don't have any details about SMI's plans for [New Hampshire], all sanctions for 2008 have been signed and finalized. As a result, there will be no location changes to the 2008 schedule that was released last month. This is important to the fans, competitors, broadcast partners and sponsors who have already made plans for the 2008 races," France said in a statement.

"Looking beyond 2008, NASCAR will continue to consider requests by any track operator, including SMI, to relocate race dates. Under NASCAR's realignment plan, we have worked with track owners to relocate race dates to meet the needs of our growing national fan base. Ultimately, any change must meet NASCAR's objectives and serve our fans."

NASCAR has left it up to racetrack corporations, like SMI and rival International Speedway Corp., to move race dates within their own framework. ISC took that path in moving events to California and Phoenix, while SMI did the same in moving races to Texas. But in each case, those dates came from tracks that were underperforming at the ticket office, in geographic locations unattractive to sponsors, or both.

New Hampshire, a sold-out facility in a key Northeastern market, is different. NASCAR likes having two races in the greater Boston area, and might not be quite so willing to allow SMI to simply move one of them somewhere else. The track corporations may have the freedom to move dates, but NASCAR still makes the schedule.

"I think they overstate it if they say, you get to move them around within your own [company]. I don't think it's anywhere close to that simple," said Texas track president Eddie Gossage. "They still approve the schedule. I don't think it's as easy as us picking up the phone and saying, 'We're moving A to Z and Z to A.' They're not going to go, 'OK, thanks for calling. Appreciate you letting us know.' They may go, 'Well, there's California to consider.' It's never that simple."

So what's the message for fans in New Hampshire? "Tell them not to be nervous," Smith said, "and to get their tickets early. We will be sold out next year."