Kansas Speedway petitions for 2nd race in 2011

International Speedway Corp. (ISC) formally petitioned NASCAR on Thursday to give their Kansas City track a second Sprint Cup race as early as 2011, and since the France family controls both NASCAR and ISC (we call that a monopoly) you can bet their request will be granted.

ISC spokesman Lenny Santiago said he expects an answer later this summer, before NASCAR unveils next year's schedule. Santiago declined to talk about details of the petition, which includes a potential date and likely eliminates a race at another ISC track.

"We're hopeful," Santiago said at Daytona International Speedway. "We've been working with NASCAR and recently made our formal request to them. We're not discussing the details of where the date may come from or anything like that, but we have made the request and we'll wait for their decision."

Santiago believes Kansas is a strong candidate to get a second race because of the track's history of well-attended events and the construction of a $521 million hotel and casino overlooking turn two. It also could help that NASCAR's primary sponsor, Sprint, is headquartered in Overland Park, Kan.

"It's a great facility and a great market," he said. "It's an important market for our sponsors and our drivers, and the fact that Sprint is headquartered there is one of the key reasons."