France says he’d like fall race stay in Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) - NASCAR chairman Brian France says Charlotte track owner Bruton Smith has not asked NASCAR to move the Bank of America 500.

But he left the door open to such a move.

France said his preference would be to keep the race in Charlotte, but added “for one reason or another, (if) a certain market is not performing as well, it may be a better opportunity. We’ve seen that in the last five, six years or longer. We’ll take a look at it.”

Smith’s company, Speedway Motorsports Inc., also owns several other tracks, including Las Vegans Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Smith recently sent out a press release saying “no final decision has been made regarding any race date move, and I have not discussed this with NASCAR.”