Cross' Words: Las Vegas

Bruton Smith has done all the right things, said all the right things -- and spent more money than Danny Ocean could steal in seven Eleven sequels. It still isn't going to land Las Vegas Motor Speedway a second date any sooner.

Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. doled out an estimated $75 million on its latest refurbishing project ...

• Send Duane your thoughts

• increasing the 1.5-mile track's banking from 12 to 20 degrees
• moving pit road 150 feet closer to the frontstretch grandstand
• adding a multi-tiered garage viewing area

... and it was met -- from some of the racers' perspective -- with a resounding thud.

"I thought they screwed up a really nice racetrack," Tony Stewart said.

"I'm not a fan of changing a racetrack. ... There's no evidence that suggests that adding more banking into a corner makes for better racing," Jeff Burton added.

"It's too bad they re-paved it and screwed it up for the next four or five years," Kevin Harvick said.

Toss in a hockey puck-like left-side tire and it was a recipe for slippin' 'n' slidin' in Sin City. All that was missing was an acoustic version of of Slip Sliding Away from Simon and Garfunkel.

Even NASCAR president Brian France chimed in on Vegas' desire for a second race date. "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."

Pocono comes to mind; 1,000 miles at Pocono in less than two months could be considered cruel and unusual punishment in many states.

"We have some expansion that we'd like to see happen in other parts of the country," France continued. "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."

Read: International Speedway Corp. has the inside track on expansion into New York, Washington state and/or Denver; SMI will wait its turn.

And then there's Sparta, Ky., which is waging its battle for a Cup date through the courts.

"The last time I checked," Stewart said Saturday, "Bristol's the most sought-after ticket on the circuit with a three-year waiting list. Where's the light switch? Is it not coming on anywhere? If I had a billion dollars, I'd build me another daggone Bristol and put me 160,000 seats in it like Bruton did -- and laugh all the way to the bank."

C'mon, Smoke; it's about entertainment and the experience. Racing is down the to-do list when scoping a new track. Do you believe New York, Washington state and/or Denver will build half-mile tracks or 1.5-milers? ... Me, too. (Continued)