Kentucky Speedway will host its inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, the "first time the Cup will race at a new place since Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway were added" in '01, according to Terry Blount of ESPN.com. Rather than "going to fancy, new facilities in the Big Apple or the majestic Pacific Northwest, NASCAR's first new Cup race in 10 years comes in northern Kentucky about 40 miles southwest of Cincinnati." After buying Kentucky Speedway in '08, SMI "has made major improvements to the facility to get ready for its Cup debut." The track added "about 40,000 seats, all of which have been sold for the Saturday night race that will have an expected crowd of more than 107,000." Driver Tony Stewart said, "Definitely long overdue, for sure. ... The tri-state area there has such deep racing roots with dirt-track racing and pavement racing. It's a perfect market, it's a perfect area and the race fans that go there are true die-hard race fans." However, Blount noted it "doesn't help NASCAR's hopes of adding races in underserved markets." If anything, it adds a Cup event "to an area that has more than its share -- Indianapolis, Michigan, Chicagoland and Bristol all have Cup races within 350 miles of Kentucky Speedway" (ESPN.com, 7/5). Driver Carl Edwards said, "Right now it feels like it's kind of a novelty event. There's a bit of buzz in the air." The AP's Will Graves noted the "finishing touches are still being worked on, though the majority of the overhaul has been completed ahead of schedule." Pit road "has been moved closer to the grandstands." The camping area "has been expanded to accommodate 4,000 vehicles and officials claim to have sold tickets to fans from all 50 states." Stewart complained Thursday that the track "could use more SAFER barriers," and NASCAR VP/Competition Robin Pemberton said that it "would be evaluated after the weekend" (AP, 7/7). In honor of the first Cup race at Kentucky Speedway, the U.S. Postal Service "will offer a commemorative postmark" (NKY.com, 7/7).
