CONCORD, N.C. -- You have to give Bruton Smith credit. A conversation with the chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. is never boring.

Smith was at his bombastic best again Monday during a news conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The intent of the news conference was to show off the new cover designs for commemorative race programs that will be sold at the upcoming All-Star race and Coca-Cola 600, plus the new and improved (it weighs 225 pounds) trophy that will be awarded to the winner of the 600.

“

I just think we'll get lucky in Kentucky.

”

-- BRUTON SMITH

All of that was well and good, but what was more interesting were Smith's comments about his chances of landing a Cup Series race at Kentucky Motor Speedway; his plan, already under way, to improve the safety fences around New Hampshire Motor Speedway; and his steadfast denial that the Sonic Automotive company that is the cornerstone of his vast business empire is in serious financial trouble.

When SMI purchased the Kentucky track one year ago, Smith insisted -- incorrectly as it turned out -- that it was done with the belief that it would host a Cup date by 2009. On Monday, when he was asked yet again if he thought Kentucky would have a Cup date by 2010, he replied: "Absolutely."

When asked why he thought that, Smith added: "Well, I just think we'll get lucky in Kentucky."

Smith said he knows what he has to do in terms of moving a date from another one of his SMI tracks to secure such a date in Kentucky, but he declined to share that information.

He added that he has "more or less" submitted a request to NASCAR to have a date moved for next season, although he admitted that the holdup still appears to be an appeal of a court decision that went against the former owners of the Kentucky track. In that lawsuit filed against NASCAR, the track's former owners charged the sport's governing body with violating federal antitrust laws by not allowing them to bid to bring Cup racing to the facility earlier.

"We're trying to persuade these people to drop that appeal," Smith said, repeating earlier assertions to the same effect that obviously have not as yet worked. "Then they're out of the way of NASCAR and it makes it much simpler. We're hoping that will occur. There are only two people who are holding it up.

On spending between $400,000 and $500,000 to upgrade the safety fences at New Hampshire, Smith said the decision to do so was made before the recent Talladega race when the No. 99 Ford of Carl Edwards nearly flew into the frontstretch grandstands.

"I had already made a decision to do it. We were a little ahead of the curve on that one," Smith said.

And about those reports that Sonic Automotive might file for bankruptcy protection as early as this Thursday? Smith said that is a whole lot of bunk.

"There is no bankruptcy question. You've been reading the wrong newspaper. You need to read a better newspaper. Somebody wrote that we lost $660 million. That's not true," Smith said. "It was not a loss. It was a write-off of goodwill."

So how exactly would Smith describe the condition of Sonic Automotive these days?

"Fantastic. Making money. Onward and upward," he replied.