LVMS denied second NASCAR race

Tuesday, May 9, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

NASCAR on Monday formally announced the addition of Winston Cup Series races at new tracks near Chicago and Kansas City, expanding the series from 34 to 36 events in 2001.

What NASCAR did not announce, but was readily apparent, is that Las Vegas Motor Speedway will not receive a coveted second Winston Cup race in the near future.

LVMS, along with tracks in Texas, California, Arizona and Florida, has been seeking a second Winston Cup race since Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the track in 1998.

Mike Helton, NASCAR's senior vice president and chief operating officer, said Monday that NASCAR's philosophy is to expand into new markets rather than adding races at tracks that already have dates.

"We've said all along that our strategy is to capitalize on opportunities in new market areas as they might become available ... and that hasn't changed," Helton said.

"We've always maintained, at least for the last couple of years as we felt we could grow the series, that those opportunities had to be worthwhile and what's worthwhile is going into new market areas."

That didn't seem to dampen LVMS general manager Chris Powell's optimism that the 1.5-mile superspeedway one day would land a second Winston Cup race.

"We will continue to lobby for another Winston Cup event in Las Vegas," Powell said. "I have reason for optimism, if not for 2001, then for down the road."

Powell would not disclose his reason for optimism, other than to say, "I have had some very good conversations with people that I put a lot of faith in."

There has been recent speculation that NASCAR might look at taking a Winston Cup race away from tracks that have two dates to accommodate further series expansion. But Helton said that was not in the plans for the 2001 schedule.

"We haven't had anybody call up and say they want to give up a race," Helton said. "I don't see any major changes (to the schedule) besides the announcements that we made (Monday).

"We feel like we can grow the sport by adding new opportunities for fans instead of taking anything away from fans."

The 2001 Winston Cup schedule, which Helton said he hoped to have finalized in late June or July, will include races at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on July 15 and the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., on Sept. 30.

Although a date for the 2001 Winston Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has not yet been announced, it is believed that the speedway will continue to host the series the first weekend of March.

Also on Monday, the Indy Racing League announced that its Indy Racing Northern Light Series also would add races at Kansas Speedway (July 8) and Chicagoland Speedway (Sept. 2) in 2001.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at 259-4089 or by e-mail at bh@lasvegassun.com