NASCAR president Mike Helton said Thursday that Kentucky Speedway probably will not get a Winston Cup race in 2003, which was the track's target date to land a race.

        Helton was asked about Kentucky in a telephone interview with the Enquirer, on the eve of this weekend's NASCAR Busch race at Sparta. Busch qualifying is at 7 p.m. today, with Helton scheduled to attend the Kroger 300 race at 8 p.m. Saturday.

        “We're working on the 2003 (Winston Cup) schedule,” Helton said. “We don't see any major changes coming down, which means Kentucky more than likely is not going to be on it. But I want to be very careful and not take away anything from the facility . . . The issues are timing and location.”

        Timing, in that Helton said the Winston Cup schedule is virtually maximized with 36 races annually.

        Location, in that Kentucky is relatively close to other Winston Cup venues, including Indianapolis, Michigan, Talladega and Bristol, Helton said.

        Jerry Carroll, Kentucky Speedway chairman, had set 2003 as his target to land Winston Cup — the major league of American motorsports whose stars include Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

        Carroll, when told of Helton's remarks Thursday, said he will not stop his quest for a Cup race.

        “Until the (2003) schedule comes out, we'll continue to try to do everything we can,” Carroll said. “At one time we weren't even on NASCAR's radar screen, but we are now.”

        Carroll also hopes Kentucky will be considered for The Winston, the circuit's annual all-star exhibition race. The Winston reportedly might leave its longtime Charlotte home in 2003.

        “Kentucky is certainly capable of hosting an all-star race like The Winston, but I don't want to cast any great hopes in that direction,” Helton said. “We're just thankful right now that we can run the Busch and the Trucks and some of our other series at Kentucky.”

        NASCAR's founding Bill France family still wields power in the boardroom, but Helton holds commissioner authority in the vein of baseball's Bud Selig, the NFL's Paul Tagliabue, the NBA's David Stern and the NHL's Gary Bettman. Helton has run NASCAR's daily operations since 1999.

        Carroll noted that Helton's remarks Thursday were not much different from either 2000 or 2001, when the Enquirer also interviewed Helton regarding Kentucky.

        “I think he's actually a lot more optimistic,” Carroll said. “He realizes we've got an excellent facility when he says we're capable of putting on The Winston.”

        Helton visited Kentucky for its inaugural Busch race in June 2001. This time, he will fly in Saturday afternoon from Michigan — site of Sunday's Cup race — for the Busch race at Kentucky.

        “It's a nice facility in a good-sized market,” Helton said. “From the get-go, we've been very clear with Jerry about our situation and he's been very clear what he wants. His efforts deserve all the accolades he's gotten.”

        Any hope for Kentucky after 2003?

        “We only do our schedule one year at a time,” Helton said.

        Helton said he hopes to have the 2003 schedule finalized by early September.

        Several tracks have two Winston Cup races annually, and Carroll always hopes someone might relinquish — or be asked to relinquish — one of their races to a track such as Kentucky. Helton said that is not imminent.

        “I don't expect anyone to come to us and say, "We don't want this Winston Cup race,' ” Helton said. “But I never address anything past the following year, because none of us knows what will happen.”

        That is good enough for Carroll, who never loses hope.

        “I pick up on the good things,” Carroll said. “It's like DW (Darrell Waltrip) told me, they can't give you any light of hope at any time, because they create quite a value when they move a race. We're still there. And we'll have a great race this weekend.”

        Kentucky expects a sellout crowd for the Busch race, with capacity 66,089. As of Thursday, nearly 63,000 seats had been sold.

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