Rain aside, new NH track owner liked what he saw

Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports Inc., bought the track last fall for $340 million, is still working on plans for its future.

But, while SMI also recently bought Kentucky Speedway and Smith has repeatedly said he wants to get at least one Sprint Cup date for that track, the SMI chairman said Sunday he has no plans to move either of the New Hampshire Cup dates.

"Somewhere, as I gaze into my crystal ball, I can see a (Kentucky) date coming from somewhere," Smith said at a news conference.

Asked if that might be one of the current races here, he quickly replied: "New Hampshire? No. We'll try to accomplish that in another way. We're working on some things."

Smith also said there has been no decision on possible changes to the nearly flat 1.058-mile New Hampshire oval.

He said his engineers will study a topography map to determine the possibility of adding banking to the track, but noted, "I was pleasantly pleased with the races (Modified and Nationwide) we had yesterday and how racy it was. But we'll study it and see if something needs to be done."

Jerry Gappens, executive general manager of the track, said, whatever changes are made, the track will remain a mile oval.

Smith said the idea of building an all-new facility somewhere else on the vast speedway grounds has been broached by one of his engineers, but the SMI boss said, "I doubt that's going to happen."

Smith said he does plan to add lights for night racing, expand the current motorhome parking by 100 acres, add more restrooms "and make this place more fan friendly."