DOVER, Del. -- The place called the Monster Mile has crafted quite an image for itself throughout the years. The track's mascot is a stone Hulk-like creature, designed to represent both Dover International Speedway's concrete surface and its level of difficulty. But to fans of the 1-mile, high-banked oval, there's something much more frightening than the visage of the Monster staring down from Victory Lane.

It's the idea of track magnate Bruton Smith buying Dover and shipping one of its annual Sprint Cup events off to his new holding in Kentucky. Dover is by any account a cornerstone of NASCAR's national expansion, a massively popular Mid-Atlantic venue with 135,000 seats and the metropolis of Philadelphia an hour away. But recent events have quite suddenly and surprisingly cast the long shadow of instability over this place that's hosted NASCAR for 40 years.

Miles the Monster

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I think a lot more time and attention is spent on Bruton's every breath than is necessary. It's dominating our weekend here. He had his weekend in Charlotte. We're here to promote three big races, not Bruton. That's my only comment on it. It doesn't make me angry, but we have our own game plan here we're trying to execute, and this just gets in the way sometimes.

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DENIS McGLYNN, Dover CEO

"The facility needs some improvements on pit road to make it safer and to make it more fair to all the race teams. But outside of that, the track is unique and it's different and I would hate to see us lose any dates here," said three-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson. "I don't know what's going on with upper-level management and where things really lie and all of that, but as a competitor I would hate to see this race go away."

There are no indications that's going to happen immediately. But Smith, the chairman of Charlotte-based Speedway Motorsports Inc., has expanded his portfolio in recent months with the purchases of New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway. He wants more Sprint Cup dates -- one for Kentucky, and one more for his track in Las Vegas. Dover, part of publicly held Dover Motorsports Inc., is one of just three independent tracks left on the circuit. With Indianapolis and Pocono in private hands, Dover looms as the one venue Smith could pry away.

And the track's majority shareholder would love to see just that. Mario Cibelli, managing partner of a New York-based investment group and owner of 2.4 million shares of Dover Motorsports stock, sent a letter to the company's board of directors on Thursday urging them to sell. He claimed the company's stock has dropped 20 percent since it was split from Dover Downs' casino business six years ago, that the company's Nationwide tracks in Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis lose a combined $6 million a year, and that Dover struggles in an arena dominated by SMI and its Daytona Beach-based rival, International Speedway Corp. It was similar in tone to another letter he wrote a year ago (read more).

"We were very patient, and we were frustrated by the company's lack of movement on some issues, the issues we bring up in the letter," Cibelli said Friday by telephone. "So we wrote a letter last year. We've been quiet for 13 months, and I got frustrated with the lack of movement from the board and the management team, and felt the time was appropriate to remind them that they needed to do something here. We've been extremely patient with this management team and board. But it's sort of been six years where they haven't done anything for the shareholders. That's a long time. I think someone needs to speak up, and in this case it's going to be us."

To Denis McGlynn, the Dover track's president and CEO, this is all covered ground. "It is new hearing this kind of stuff, but it's not new coming from him," he said. "He sent the exact same letter a year ago on our race weekend. I didn't comment on it then, and I'm not going to give it any more legs now."

Cibelli said he met with Smith last summer, and while he wouldn't divulge the details of that conversation, it's obvious he came away with a clear respect for the SMI chairman. "Excitement seems to follow him around," he said. "I think he's a great owner. I'd love to see him do it." But in his view, the most important thing is to auction off the company and sell to the highest bidder, whether that's ISC or SMI.

An ISC spokesman said Friday that he was aware of the Dover situation, but had no comment other than to say the company is always interested in expanding its portfolio, including through acquisitions that enhance value for ISC shareholders. Requests for comment poised to SMI officials were declined. But asked after the Kentucky announcement whether he had targeted another facility for purchase, Smith had a quick answer: "That could easily happen (read more)."

McGlynn declined to comment on whether Dover's board has spoken to Smith, citing regulations that preclude public companies from engaging in speculation. But he did say that as a public company, Dover's motorsports wing has an obligation to review all offers placed before it.

"I can say this, generically: As a public company, our board has the responsibility to review and consider the proposals that are brought to us, if and when they're made," he said. "And we'll do so. We have a fiduciary responsibility to review anybody who approaches us with a proposition for this kind of transaction. The board has an obligation to review it. And we will, when it happens. If it happens."

If that happens, and Smith pays the right price, will one of Dover's two annual race dates be shipped off to Sparta, Ky., or Sin City? No one but Smith knows for sure. Just the thought of it has drivers, who love the challenge Dover presents, shaking their heads.

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... I think that this is the type of track we need to be on. We need to be on high-banked, 1-mile, fast, action-filled racetracks, running 400 miles. To me, this is it.

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JEFF GORDON

"I love this track. I would hate to see this track go anywhere," said four-time Dover winner Jeff Gordon. "... I think that this is the type of track we need to be on. We need to be on high-banked, 1-mile, fast, action-filled racetracks, running 400 miles. To me, this is it. Could we pick this track up and locate it in about three other locations? That would be fantastic. Right now as far I know it's here in Dover, Del., and I hope it stays."

Gordon would much rather see Pocono in the crosshairs, but the Mattioli family has said their ancient Pennsylvania raceway isn't for sale. "I love the Mattiolis and I'm a huge supporter of them. But their racetrack is outdated," Gordon said. "It needs a ton of upgrades. I think that the fact that it's in the Northeast is a positive thing, but I'm shocked they've had two races as long as they have, and I'd be surprised if that says that way for the future, just because of the way this sport's grown and the type of markets we need to be in."

To people in Dover, moving a race makes no sense. Track officials point to the fact that it serves four major cities -- Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York -- drawing more fans from the Big Apple than Delaware. From 1986-2001 it underwent 16 consecutive years of grandstand expansion, ballooning from 22,000 seats to its current 135,000, making it the seventh-largest Sprint Cup track in terms of seating capacity. Although sellouts are usually contingent on a strong walk-up crowd, it's never had serious attendance issues. The facility is in the midst of a five-year, $25 million capital improvement project, recently spending $6.5 million to improve fan amenities and infrastructure outside the track.

"Why, with 135,000 seats, with the markets that we serve, with 60 million people within 300 miles, why would you take a race out of this strategic, vital area for NASCAR?" McGlynn asked rhetorically. "I can see one coming out of a small market, but this is not a small market. It's a big market."

But who knows what Smith has cooking within his glabrous pate. What if ownership sells the Dover track, only to see one of its lucrative Sprint Cup dates moved elsewhere? That's a risk Cibelli is willing to take.

"No track managers like to think about going from two races to one. But the reality is, that's probably coming for one or more tracks sometime next year, or the season after or the season after that. The nature in this business is, none of the tracks are assured of having a race next year anyway. They're all one-year contracts, even though they've happened to race at Dover for something like 40 years straight. No one is assured of having a date form NASCAR any year," he said.

"If Dover Motorsports were to change hands and be under new ownership, of course it would be the new owner's business trying to secure those races again, have them again, and they most likely will. And then, what to do with them once you have them. There's a handful of tracks out there that have two races that arguably should give one to a large, more robust market like Las Vegas. I'm not going to name what those tracks should be. Everybody knows there's some moves and bumps that probably make some sense for the sport and the total dollars of the industry."

Cibelli said his plan has widespread support with Dover's ownership base, claiming that he's yet to hear from another shareholder who doesn't agree with him. He obviously hasn't consulted with McGlynn, who owns 147,000 shares in the company, and wishes the speculation over his facility's future wouldn't drown out the noise of the racecars on the track.

"I think a lot more time and attention is spent on Bruton's every breath than is necessary," he said. "It's dominating our weekend here. He had his weekend in Charlotte. We're here to promote three big races, not Bruton. That's my only comment on it. It doesn't make me angry, but we have our own game plan here we're trying to execute, and this just gets in the way sometimes."