1on1: Brian France

CONCORD, N.C. -- A number of recent events on the NASCAR landscape will have varying degrees of impact on the sanctioning body both short- and long-term.

Just last week, on the eve of the Coca-Cola 600 at Speedway Motorsports Inc.'s flagship facility, Lowe's Motor Speedway, track president and general manager and SMI chief operating officer and president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler announced his retirement. A day later, SMI chairman Bruton Smith announced his intent to purchase Kentucky Speedway.

Humpy retires

• Wheeler announces retirement
• Track Smack: Fill his shoes?
• Drivers, owners will miss him
• Wheeler best at promotions
• Marcus Smith next in line?
• Garage Pass: Humpy departs

Not only did Smith announce his plan to close on the deal for the 1.5-mile speed plant located in Sparta, Ky., in the third quarter of 2008 -- he promised it would have a Sprint Cup Series date in 2009 (read more).

Complicating that situation is the fact that a United States District Court earlier this year threw out a lawsuit by the Kentucky ownership group, led by Jerry Carroll, challenging NASCAR and its sister company, International Speedway Corp., of collusion in controlling the assignment of Sprint Cup race dates.

Carroll's group has appealed that ruling and Carroll, upon hearing of NASCAR's refusal to consider Kentucky for a 2009 date with the change in ownership, threatened even further legal action.

NASCAR chairman Brian France was at LMS for the Coca-Cola 600 and addressed a number of issues with a small group of media.

Q: Is there any update on the possibility of a Sprint Cup date for Kentucky Speedway in 2009?

Brian France: We've been pretty clear about Kentucky in terms of 2009, in that the schedule is getting completed and we have no intentions, right now, of being able to get a Cup race there for '09 -- and that's all we can say, right now. We don't have any intentions to do that.

Q: Can you talk about Auto Club Speedway and the other possible date changes for the 2009 Sprint Cup schedule?

Brian France: We're working on a number of things, and that's one of the reasons why [we can't just add to the schedule]. It's too late in the game for us to be looking at any other realignment options -- not the least of which is that SMI doesn't own Kentucky right now.

We have to deal with the people that own that speedway, and so we're very late in the process. We're trying to get our schedule out earlier than we have in a while, and there could be some dates that move around a little bit -- not from speedway to speedway, but just in scheduling.

We might be able to work on a different weekend for one track or another that's been trying to do that for a long time. But we're late in the process on that. (Continued)