CONCORD, N.C. -- Bruton Smith, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., says that his company's business philosophy is to "grow or die."

At 81 years of age, the robust and enthusiastic Smith obviously figures he'd better keep buying stuff to keep his SMI operation growing. With that in mind, Smith announced the purchase of Kentucky Speedway on Thursday -- doing so with great fanfare from the media center at Lowe's Motor Speedway (watch video).

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We expect to do great things there. The fact is we've already been working on some ideas. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. And now it's our duty to make it better.

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BRUTON SMITH

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"I think what we're doing here for Speedway Motorsports is the biggest announcement we've ever, ever made -- mainly because of what we're doing and where we're doing it," Smith said. "We've been working on this for a little while. We tried our best to keep it a secret, and were doing pretty good until the last couple of days."

Smith said he made the purchase because he loves the facility and he believes he can secure a Sprint Cup date for it by the 2009 season. Kentucky Speedway, opened in 2000 after being constructed for approximately $152 million, has hosted one Craftsman Truck Series race every year since and one Nationwide Series race annually since 2001. Smith also said that he plans to add "a few seats, like about 50,000" as quickly as possible. The current seating capacity at Kentucky Speedway is 66,089, but it has drawn Nationwide race crowds of more than 72,000 with fans in the infield area included in the attendance count.

The biggest question left unanswered by Smith at Thursday's news conference was where a Sprint Cup date for his new acquisition will come. He admitted that a possible purchase of yet another facility he was unwilling to identify could work in tandem with the purchase of Kentucky Speedway to secure a Cup date for Kentucky.

"That could easily happen," Smith said.

In other words, Smith isn't done wheeling and dealing, and growing.

At the same time, what happens in Kentucky isn't going to be completely up to him or SMI. Any change in the Sprint Cup schedule must be approved by NASCAR, and spokesman Ramsey Poston said that he is reluctant to speculate on what might happen because he does not believe NASCAR has been privy yet to SMI's entire "proposal."

Poston said that the schedule for the 2009 season likely will need to be set by "late summer or early fall."

Asked if it was realistic for Smith to assume that he can land a Sprint Cup date for Kentucky Speedway in 2009, Poston admitted that "it is late in the game." But he also said NASCAR would be willing to look at anything SMI formally proposes in the future.

At this point, Smith said he has had only an informal conversation about his most recent purchase with Brian France, NASCAR's chairman and CEO.

Kentucky Speedway represents the second major acquisition of a track by SMI in the past seven months, with Smith's $340 million purchase of New Hampshire International Speedway -- since renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- being completed in November of 2007 (read more).

Speedway Motorsports also owns LMS on the outskirts of Charlotte; Atlanta Motor Speedway; Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas/Fort Worth; Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn.; and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Smith has long lobbied for a second race date in Las Vegas. But unlike earlier this year, when Smith said he definitely would not take another date from one of SMI's other tracks to give Vegas an additional event, he left open that possibility for proposing to NASCAR a race-date switch to Kentucky.

"We'll be looking at all kinds of things," he said.

Located in Sparta, Ky. -- roughly 30 minutes each from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., and 75 miles from another major city in Lexington, Ky. -- Kentucky Speedway is a 1.5-mile tri-oval situated on 820 acres. It has 50 luxury suites and more than 1,500 camping sites on the property.

"We expect to do great things there," Smith said. "The fact is we've already been working on some ideas. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. And now it's our duty to make it better."

Smith purchased the track from the original ownership group headed by Kentucky businessman Jerry Carroll, who will remain in employment at the track. In July of 2005, the ownership group led by Carroll sued NASCAR and SMI's track ownership rival, International Speedway Corp., claiming they had violated federal antitrust law by not allowing tracks to bid for NASCAR races, provided they meet necessary requirements. In January of 2008, that lawsuit was thrown out of court (read more).

Although that decision can continue to be appealed by Carroll and his group at least until the transaction announced Thursday closes in the third quarter of 2008, SMI cannot and will not be part of any such lawsuit, Smith said. The company cannot participate in such legal action because of part of a settlement reached between SMI shareholders and NASCAR/ISC in a previous lawsuit involving pursuit of a second Cup race date for Texas Motor Speedway.

Smith was vague when pressed for future SMI acquisition plans, and how they might tie into his plans for Kentucky Speedway. He also said lawyers were working on helping him officially -- and legally -- change the name of his newest piece of property to "Kentucky Motor Speedway," but that it hasn't happened yet.

Asked directly if he planned to attempt purchasing Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., in an effort to move one or both of its race dates to tracks SMI now owns, Smith replied: "I don't believe I can answer that properly. I'm always interested in speedways. If I say something about Pocono, it would lead you to believe that it's for sale. I don't know if it is or not. But if you're telling me it is, I'll make the phone call tomorrow."

Carroll, however, said that at one point when he earlier was attempting to secure a Cup date for Kentucky Speedway, he inquired about purchasing Pocono and was roundly rebuffed.

"I don't think they'll ever sell," he said.