NHIS announcement possible on Friday
Lee Spencer
FOXSports.com, Updated 17 hours ago

Could Speedway Motorsports, Inc. be expanding its track portfolio?

Sources say that SMI Chairman Bruton Smith has added New Hampshire
International Speedway to its holdings. A press conference is
scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, at which
time the purchase is expected to be announced.
When FOXSports.com asked Smith on Wednesday whether a "little
announcement" was on tap for Friday, Smith replied, "There's more
truth to that because it's going to be large — enormous!"

Smith would not speculate whether a NASCAR Nextel Cup date from NHIS
would be moved to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In recent years, SMI has
lobbied NASCAR for an additional Cup race at the 1.5-mile speedway
but have been told no.

New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre was not
available for comment on Wednesday, but said last month that
he'd "talked to about eight different groups of people" regarding
the possible purchase of the one-mile track. Bahre partnered with
Smith before on the purchase of North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1996
and moved the race dates to NHIS and Texas Motor Speedway,
respectively.

Bahre began building the Magic Mile in 1990. He hosted the first Cup
race at the Loudon, N.H.-based track in 1993 and has sold out every
Cup event since.

In the last few years, Bahre, 80, has admitted that his son and
track president Gary, 43, would not "want to run the track alone."

"I'm going on 81," Bahre said. "So someday I want to do something
with the track."

Smith added that he met again on Tuesday with "about 25 people" from
Concord, N.C. regarding the future of one of his other venues,
Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"It was a very friendly meeting," Smith said. "I guess I could say
it feels good to be wanted."

Smith's phone continues to ring with proposals for potential track
sites throughout the Carolinas. He had additional planning sessions
scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

"I have some full-time engineers working on a lot of different
things and have spectacular offers from a lot of people."

SMI currently operates six tracks which host Nextel Cup Series
racing: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Infineon
Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway and Texas
Motor Speedway.