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Las Vegas Motor Speedway in play for ‘09 IndyCar sked

SMI gives IRL five-track deal to mull over

For oval fans that are currently shaking in their boots about the IRL’s movement to more road and street racing, there may be some great news on the horizon.

As New Hampshire Motor Speedway prepares to put this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race — its first Cup event since being bought by Speedway Motorsports Inc. — ESPN.com’s Terry Blount is keeping an eye on the “Magic Mile” and its chances of keeping both its Cup races in future years.

He’s also saying that SMI has offered a five-track deal to the IRL for the 2009 season that would see IndyCar events continue at Texas, Kentucky and Sonoma, and also debut at New Hampshire and Las Vegas. In case you’ve forgotten, the IRL has recently moved this year’s championship celebration to Sin City.

While I don’t think Vegas should be the season finale (which, logic denotes, may be a reason behind the year-end event’s new location), it certainly would fit in nicely on the schedule. What’s more, the track bundle could also make a nice package for potential sponsors.

I think this would be a smart move; it’s common knowledge that the league wants to decrease its dependency on the International Speedway Corporation and its vested interest in promoting NASCAR events (both companies are owned by the France family). Why not add a stable partner to the ranks while you’re at it?

I would have to assume that SMI is trying to get the league to lower its sanctioning fees to go along with the package. That may be problematic should the IndyCar Series grow in size and presence over the next couple of years. But if you’ve got an entity as powerful as SMI showing great interest, then the IRL has to bite the bullet on “making bank.”

Just don’t forsake ISC entirely — the IRL has cultivated some great events in Kansas City, Chicago and Richmond. Keep Chicagoland as the season finale, too. Vegas is a decent track, but the Windy City track has earned its prized place on the schedule.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.