CUP: Kansas Speedway May Add Road Course

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kansas Speedway May Add Road Course

Kansas Speedway continues to pull out all the stops in its attempts to get approval for an on-site casino...

Tom Jensen | Posted August 25, 2008 Kansas City, Kan.

Deteriorating U.S. economic conditions have put an indefinite hold on plans to build a $705 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino at Kansas Speedway. (Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images Photo)

Kansas Speedway continues to pull out all the stops in its attempts to get approval for an on-site casino and the management contract to operate it.

Track officials announced Monday that the facility will add an infield road course if the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino proposal the track and its partner in Kansas Entertainment LLC, The Cordish Co., submitted to the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission is awarded the casino management contract for Wyandotte County (Kan.).

Last week, International Speedway Corp. President Lesa France Kennedy announced if Kansas Entertainment LLC is awarded the casino management contract for Wyandotte County, ISC would petition NASCAR to move an additional NASCAR Sprint Cup Series date to Kansas Speedway from one of its other facilities.

Given that Lesa France Kennedy is the sister of NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, it’s a virtual certainty that the track would get a second Cup date if it wants one. NASCAR officials already have publicly go on record as saying they would be open to working with ISC to move another race to Kansas, although such a move would not occur before 2010 at the earliest.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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Tom Jensen

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