Smith: New Hampshire's two Cup dates are safe

LOUDON, N.H. -- New Hampshire Motor Speedway's two Sprint Cup dates aren't going anywhere, according to new track owner Bruton Smith.

"No. How was that?" the chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. said when asked if one of New Hampshire's races might be used to bolster his other holdings in Las Vegas and Kentucky. "We'll try to accomplish that another way. We're working on things."

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Those words surely come as a relief to NASCAR fans in New England, who feared that one of their event weekends might be shipped elsewhere after Smith bought the 1-mile facility from former owner Bob Bahre for $340 million. Smith wants a second race for his Las Vegas track and a first one for his recently purchased venue in Sparta, Ky. But those dates evidently won't come from 101,000-capacity New Hampshire, which has sold out its 27th consecutive Sprint Cup race.

In fact, Smith might not make any changes to the racetrack surface, either. Although reconfiguration along the lines of Las Vegas or Atlanta has been discussed, Smith liked the action he saw in this weekend's Whelen Modified, Camping World East, and Nationwide circuit events.

"I was pleasantly pleased with the shows we had [Saturday] and how racy it was," he said. "I think prior to that I was very determined on making some changes. Right now, we're going to look at some things."

One of those things is a rebuild of the spectator areas of the facility. Because of the short construction season in this part of the Northeast, SMI engineers have discussed the idea of building a completely new racetrack elsewhere on the property, with events continuing on the current 1-mile track until the new one is completed.

"That has come up with the engineers," Smith said. "One of my engineers came up with that idea, and it's not a bad one. We have not ruled it out, but I don't think we'll do that. It's something we're certainly considering at this time."

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