Speedway Motorsports Inc. has received an offer from its majority shareholder to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock it doesn’t already own for $18 per share.

Sonic Financial is owned by O. Bruton Smith. Smith, including the shares owned by Sonic Financial, currently owns 29 million shares of Speedway Motors and controls over 70 percent of the voting power of Speedway Motorsports.

The $18 per share is a 31 percent premium to Tuesday’s closing price and 26 percent to the 30-day volume-weighted average per share of $14.37 as of April 22.

Speedway Motorsports stock closed at $13.94 Tuesday, up 1.8 percent from Monday. It rose Wednesday to $18.22, up 30.7 percent, or $4.28.

The Speedway Motorsports board of directors has formed a special committee comprised of independent directors Mark M. Gambill, James P. Holden and Tom E. Smith to consider the proposal.

Speedway Motorsports went public in 1995 in a $68 million initial public offering.

The Charlotte-based company operates eight tracks that host races in NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup races. Those are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The proposal letter from Sonic Financial states that “NASCAR racing has faced several challenges in recent years.”

“NASCAR has indicated the sport would benefit from structural change,” it stated.