SMI Chair Bruton Smith's "hard sell" for a second
NASCAR Winston Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway "isn't
sitting very well" with NASCAR Exec VP Mike Helton,
according to Mike Mulhern of the WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL.
Helton, who said that NASCAR President Bill France "never
promised" Smith a second TX date: "It's important for NASCAR
to grow the schedule as smart as we can grow it. And that
doesn't mean going back to somewhere where we are today."
Helton said that "new" tracks in Chicago, K.C. and
"probably" Denver will have to be added before "looking at
giving anyone" a second Winston Cup event. Helton: "No. 1,
we have never promised Bruton a date." Mulhern wrote that
the "buzz" in Bristol, TN, was that Smith "has raised such a
fuss over the second-date issue that NASCAR is planning to
give him that second date in 2001." Mulhern noted that a
second Winston Cup date "might bump" (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL,
8/29). Smith: "NASCAR has said repeatedly that we need to
be in Texas twice. We've been promised for three years now
this date. Promised and promised, so when do they fulfill
this promise?" More Smith, on NASCAR "dividing" the Winston
Cup series into two divisions: "I think somewhere along the
way NASCAR will be forced to make changes. They just can't
go with the status quo forever" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/29).
