Deadline in Kentucky Speedway antitrust appeal extended

NASCAR, International Speedway Corp. and the former owners of Kentucky Speedway have a little more than two weeks to submit their final briefs to the U.S. Appeals Court in Cincinnati.

The final briefs in the antitrust lawsuit were due Friday, but the court has extended the deadline to Feb. 13.

The longer the process takes, the more difficult it could be for current Kentucky Speedway owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. to realign a Sprint Cup race for the track. NASCAR has stated repeatedly that it would not consider a realignment request until the lawsuit is resolved, and the sanctioning body typically begins the upcoming year’s sanctioning process in the spring. A hearing on the appeal has not yet been scheduled, and typically it takes two months or longer for the court to make a decision following the hearing.

The former Kentucky Speedway owners are suing NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. alleging a conspiracy to keep independent tracks such as Kentucky Speedway from getting Sprint Cup races. NASCAR, a sanctioning body owned by the France family, and ISC, a publicly traded track-operating company the majority of whose voting stock is owned by the France family, deny those claims. SMI is also considered a co-conspirator in the case. Scene Daily