Kentucky Speedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports, a subsidiary of Sonic Financial Corporation, a privately held company controlled by the Smith family of Charlotte, North Carolina. Marcus G. Smith serves as president and CEO. The roughly 990-acre facility in Sparta, Kentucky has been under this ownership since 2008.
Speedway Motorsports Bought the Track in 2008
Speedway Motorsports, often referred to as SMI, acquired Kentucky Speedway in 2008 from the original local investment group that built it. The purchase price was approximately $78.3 million, well below the roughly $152 million the facility had cost to construct less than a decade earlier.
SMI operates 11 motorsports facilities across the country, including Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Dover Motor Speedway.1Speedway Motorsports. Legendary Businessman, Philanthropist and NASCAR Hall Famer Bruton Smith Passes Away Kentucky Speedway sits on that list as well, described as a 1.5-mile asphalt tri-oval superspeedway on roughly 990 acres about 30 minutes south of Cincinnati and between Lexington and Louisville.2Speedway Motorsports. Properties – Section: Kentucky Speedway
The Smith Family and Sonic Financial Corporation
Above Speedway Motorsports in the corporate chain is Sonic Financial Corporation, a private holding company owned by the Smith family. The late Bruton Smith founded the racing business in 1959 when he partnered with NASCAR driver Curtis Turner to build Charlotte Motor Speedway. He consolidated his racing holdings into Speedway Motorsports in 1994 and took the company public on the New York Stock Exchange in early 1995, making it the first motorsports company to trade there.1Speedway Motorsports. Legendary Businessman, Philanthropist and NASCAR Hall Famer Bruton Smith Passes Away
That public era ended in 2019. In July of that year, Sonic Financial Corporation announced a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding Speedway Motorsports shares not already owned by the family, at $19.75 per share.3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Speedway Motorsports Going-Private Transaction Filing The transaction closed in September 2019, ending 25 years of public trading under the ticker symbol TRK. Taking the company private gave the Smith family full control over the portfolio without outside shareholders.
Bruton Smith died on June 22, 2022. His son Marcus G. Smith now leads the organization as president and CEO and sets strategy for every SMI property, Kentucky Speedway included.1Speedway Motorsports. Legendary Businessman, Philanthropist and NASCAR Hall Famer Bruton Smith Passes Away
Who Owned the Track Before SMI
Kentucky Speedway was originally the project of Jerry Carroll, a Kentucky businessman who announced in January 1998 that he and four other investors would build a racing facility in Sparta. Construction began on July 18, 1998, and the group spent roughly $152 million turning a Gallatin County cattle farm into a track with 87,000 grandstand seats.4NASCAR. Kentucky Speedway The facility opened on June 17, 2000, hosting Truck Series races and what is now the Xfinity Series.
The original owners sold to Speedway Motorsports in 2008, collecting $78.3 million on their $152 million investment. The NASCAR Cup Series race they had long wanted finally arrived in 2011, under SMI ownership.
What the Owners Are Doing With the Property Now
Kentucky Speedway hosted Cup races every year from 2011 through 2020, but NASCAR dropped the track when it overhauled its 2021 schedule. The last Cup race on the property was the 2020 Quaker State 400, run without fans during the pandemic.
Since then, the current owners have shifted the site from motorsports venue to industrial storage. Ford Motor Company uses the vast parking lots to store vehicles, primarily trucks that at various points could not be sold because of missing semiconductor chips and other parts during the global supply chain crisis. Satellite images have shown thousands of vehicles spread across the lots. The racing surface and grandstands remain in place, but revenue now comes mainly from these storage arrangements rather than ticket sales.
As of early 2026, the long-term plan for the property is unresolved. Local officials in Gallatin County have discussed rezoning for uses including small businesses, manufacturing, housing, or some mix. SMI has given no public signal that Cup racing will return to Sparta, and the track remains listed among Speedway Motorsports’ properties, meaning the Smith family retains both the land and whatever optionality comes with it.2Speedway Motorsports. Properties – Section: Kentucky Speedway Any eventual sale, redevelopment, or continued use as a storage lot sits with Marcus Smith and the family that owns the holding company above him.