Despite the pleas of Kentucky Speedway’s prospective new owner, a NASCAR official says there will be no Sprint Cup race at the track next year.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Saturday that the 2009 Sprint Cup series schedule won’t include a stop at the 1.5-mile tri-oval located about halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati.

“There will not be a NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Kentucky on the 2009 schedule,” Poston said before the Nationwide Series Meijer 300.

Speedway Motorsports Inc. is in the process of purchasing the northern Kentucky track from the current ownership group led by businessman Jerry Carrol.

SMI chairman Bruton Smith toured the track with Carrol on Saturday and told reporters he remained optimistic about landing a coveted Cup date next year if the current ownership group drops an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway.

The speedway filed the lawsuit in 2005, alleging they worked together to create an unfair monopoly and prevent Kentucky from securing a Cup race. The lawsuit was dismissed in January, but the speedway has appealed.

“If the lawsuit, if the present owners see fit to change that, the chance of getting the event next year would go up greatly and I think we could get that done,” Smith said.

Carrol, however, said his group has no plans to drop the lawsuit.

“That’s his problem,” Carroll said. “We’re not going to not have the lawsuit. It’s the only opportunity that we have and we said why we went out to get the lawsuit [was] to create an even playing field.”

ESPN.com

Bookmark to: