Bob and Gary Bahre finalized the sale of New England’s only superspeedway, located in Loudon, N.H., on Friday to Speedway Motorsports, Inc.

O. Bruton Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of SMI, announced the closing of the deal to buy the former New Hampshire International Speedway from the Bahres for $340 million in cash.

The track will also be renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) to better align it with SMI’s other six tracks – Atlanta, Bristol, Infineon, Las Vegas, Lowe’s and Texas.

SMI executive Jerry Gappens was promoted to executive vice president and general manager of NHMS. Bob Bahre, who built the facility, will remain as a consultant.

“Thanks to the support of our loyal fans, dedicated sponsors and wonderful employees, the speedway has grown more than Gary and I ever could have imagined,” Bob Bahre said in a statement. “We are looking forward to working with Bruton, Jerry and their team and fully supporting them in their efforts to take this to a higher level for our fans.”

Bahre, 80, former owner of Oxford Plains Speedway, purchased the former Bryar Motorsports Park in 1989 and opened NHIS on June 5, 1990. The track has hosted NASCAR, Indy cars and motorcycle races on its 1.058-mile oval and 1.6-mile road course. The track has chair-back seating for 92,800 spectators.

The track will continue to host two NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2008, including the first of 10 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship races on Sept. 14.