This weekend's NASCAR events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be the first sanctioned events held at the track since Bruton Smith purchased the 1.058-mile speedway in Loudon.

Bruton Smith, who owns various tracks across the NASCAR circuit, has been the driving force behind some of the biggest changes at the sport's top tracks. The trackside condos at Lowe's Motor Speedway and the Neon Garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway have garnered attention and have brought in big money for Smith and other investors.

NASCAR's Bobby Labonte believes that Bruton Smith has big plans for New Hampshire Motor Speedway and insists that Smith will attach a drag-strip or a dirt track to the Speedway saying "The folks in New Hampshire love all kinds of racing, and Bruton won't fail to capitalize on that.  It won't be long before one of the campgrounds has some kind of race track running through it." Let's hope that the city council of Loudon and local leaders are a little more open-minded about possible improvements than the city of Concord, NC was earlier this year. If you can recall, Bruton Smith almost moved Lowes Motor Speedway out of Concord, NC due to a spat over a proposed drag strip. The city council finally agreed to the idea but only after a long, drawn out battle.

John Andretti considers the new management at New Hampshire as a new opportunity to mesh the existing talent at the track with new ideas saying "I think that Bruton, as good and as aggressive as he and SMI are at improving race tracks, is going to have to work at this one because they have some good people already involved. Andretti, who is an open wheel racing veteran says that New Hampshire Motor Speedway is probably the most competitive that is has been and looks forward to seeing Bruton Smith and the racing teams work together for changes on, and off the track that will benefit both the teams and the fans.

Marc Mitchell, driver of the No. 15 Toyota Tundra in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series sums it all up, saying "Usually anything he [Bruton Smith] does is an improvement, and I'm sure New Hampshire will be the same."

New Hampshire Motor Speedway has recorded 27 consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sell-outs and they are close to clinching a 28th sell-out for this Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301. Bruton Smith has a tough act to follow at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but the future for the track at Loudon has never looked brighter.