NASCAR, ISC and Kentucky Speedway hearing Monday

NASCAR, International Speedway Corp. and Kentucky Speedway head to court Monday afternoon for a hearing on whether the race track's antitrust lawsuit should go to trial. Each side will get 45 minutes to present their case in front of U.S. District Court Judge William O. Bertelsman in Covington, Ky., during the summary judgment hearing. The summary judgment motion, which asks the judge to rule in favor of NASCAR and ISC before the case goes to trial, already has been filed under seal. It is typical for defendants in such litigation to file summary judgment requests. The judge is not expected to rule Monday. Kentucky Speedway claims that NASCAR and ISC illegally conspire to keep non-ISC tracks from getting Nextel Cup races. NASCAR is a privately owned sanctioning body owned by the France family while ISC is a publicly traded track operator whose majority of voting stock is owned by the France family. ISC and NASCAR deny the claims. Kentucky Speedway is asking for the France family to sell its interest in either NASCAR or ISC, for ISC to sell eight of its tracks and for NASCAR to create objective factors for the awarding of Cup dates. The trial is scheduled to begin March 4. SceneDaily.com