Kansas Speedway officials announced Wednedsay that International Speedway Corp, which owns the track, intends to petition NASCAR for a second date at that track. That's provided that the track and The Cordish Company are awarded a casino management contract with the county. You see, plans are for the Cordish Company to build a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino outside turn 2 at the track.

An ISC spokesperson told Scenedaily.com that the speedway would have to ask to have a date from another ISC track moved to Kansas. This likely won't happen soon. The track and company will have to get approval from the local government for the casino first and a release says that a temporary casino could be opened within eight months. This is probably something one won't see happening for a couple of years.

So, who might lose a date?

Again, the same names are likley to pop up. While folks at Martinsville hate having their name dragged into these messes every time there's talk of a race date moving, Martinsville will be in the group. Martinsville should keep two dates is because its one of only three short tracks on the schedule. You need a variety of tracks to determine a true champion. Martinsville provides that. What Martinsville has to be concerned about is selling tickets. There were about 5,000 empty seats for the spring race -- yes, it was a rotten day, which didn't help walk-up sales. If fans who enjoy short track racing like at Martinsville don't or aren't able to support the track in this economic times, then it could make the track ripe to lose a date.

Martinsville isn't the only that might feel the heat in such a scenario.

There's California Speedway. Don't expect the track to lose a date yet. It looks as if the track's Labor Day race (held in like 100+ degree temperatue the last two years) will be moved to a spot in the fall and the Chase with Atlanta taking over that date. California likely will get a couple of years, one would think, to try to make that new date work. The crowds aren't great there. They had about 70,000 (NASCAR's estimate) for the February race. There's like 16 million living in a four-county area near the track -- Thus, 70,000 is not even 1 percent of all the folks in that area. If NASCAR needs this race so much does that mean its keeping a second date their to satifsy some bigshots in Hollywood or LA? If so, the strategy might need to be reworked. For as much as LA is coveted, the NFL sure is doing well without a team there. Yes, the NFL wants a team there but it's not like the sport has lost any popularity by it. Maybe moving a California date to Kansas would be the perfect solution in the near future.

Michigan's attendance is dropping as the economy is bad there. There were at least 30,000 fewer fans for the June race then there were a year ago. Still, attendance was more than 100,000. Benefitting Michigan is it's close to Detroit and the big three automakers. Getting rid of a race so close to the manufacturers would not look good when NASCAR is hoping to keep all three makes in the sport at the same level of support (i.e. money and resources) that they are in now. Getting ride of one date certainly would create demand for the one Cup race there -- provided folks didn't feel like they were cheated  -- and you could easily draw 140,000 or so even in tough economic times.

Phoenix also has two dates but there doesn't seem to be as much a push to move a date out of the West at this point. Daytona is not losing a date. Same with Richmond and Talladega. ISC tracks with one date are Chicagoland, Darlington, Kansas, Homestead and Watkins Glen. Darlington won't lose a date as it sells its tickets for its Mother's Day weekend race. Without Watkins Glen, the series has only one road race and it's hard to imagine NASCAR accepting less than two road courses a year otherwise it would make no sense for the sport and provide additional costs for teams they could do without.

Of course, all of this is moot if Kansas and the folks there don't get that casino permit.

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