Apparently there’s still a chance the NASCAR Cup Series could race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, according to Nashville Scene.
For several years, Speedway Motorsports had been trying to organize for NASCAR to return to the track that formerly hosted Cup from 1958-84, the NASCAR O’Reilly Series from 1984-2000 and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series from 1996-2000. In recent years, the ARCA Menards Series East has raced there, and the track has continued to host local weekly series and a few regional series.
SM purchased nearby Nashville Superspeedway in 2021, the same year when NASCAR started holding NASCAR national series races there, in what seemed like a means to break back into the Nashville market. Those races have been a success for the most part, and some key industry figures like Dale Earnhardt Jr. have been pushing for Cup racing to return to the Fairgrounds.
So it seems like it would’ve been an even easier revival to make happen than North Wilkesboro Speedway, right? Unfortunately, the “rich white folks,” as Nashville Scene classified them, who moved into the neighborhoods surrounding the track, as well as local politicians, have been a major hurdle in Cup’s return to the Fairgrounds. The efforts by SM seemed dead in the water.
That was until recent comments from Freddie O’Connell, mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, implied the deal for Cup to race at the track could still happen.
I’m still not getting my hopes up on the matter, as one of the items on the ballot in November is whether or not the metro charter will strike “racing” as a required activity off of the property. But that vote may or may not happen, as former racer Neil Chaffin has a lawsuit filed against those opposed to the racing there.
Who knows how all of this will play out, but let’s live in a hypothetical world where the Fairgrounds is approved to host the NASCAR national series. How would that impact the NASCAR schedule as we know it?
With the media rights deals still having a lot of years left on them, the number of races isn’t changing. The number of races SM controls isn’t changing either. So one of the company’s current tracks would have to lose a date.
One possibility Nashville Scene mentioned is that Nashville Superspeedway gets sold. The real estate company Panattoni owns 147 acres next to the track, and SM could likely sell it and make a pretty penny off the land. Then, either the Fairgrounds would replace its date on the schedule or it would become the All-Star Race, with Dover Motor Speedway moving to Nashville Superspeedway’s current slot. The Fairgrounds seems like a much better fit for the All-Star Race than Dover.
However, Matthew Kuhn of Speedway Motorsports said that Nashville is a “big enough market” to where it could hold two Cup dates a year. So there is a scenario where Cup races at both the Superspeedway and the Fairgrounds during a season.
If that happens, that may be all she wrote for Dover. SM bought it back at the same time it acquired Nashville Superspeedway, and it would not be the first time the company has bought a track just for its race date while shutting down the facility. The company has also moved a track from a points race to the All-Star Race before taking a date away from it (Texas Motor Speedway).
If SM wants to keep Dover, though, then Bristol Motor Speedway losing its spring date makes a lot of sense. Two dates at Bristol and two in Nashville would lead to some market oversaturation. However, the Bristol staff has been extremely helpful in the push to race at the Fairgrounds, so maybe the track keeps both dates for the time being as a reward for that. Also, Bristol is consistently one of the best tracks in NASCAR, so it would pain myself and many fans to see it lose a date.
The track that deserves to lose a date is Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Its crowds are never spectacular, and it now puts on the least entertaining racing among the intermediate tracks. There would not be the same fan outcry over Vegas losing a date as there would be for Bristol losing one or Dover shutting down completely.
But you know why that won’t happen? The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has a contract where it is now paying $1.75 million per year for NASCAR to have two races in Vegas. The contract is good through 2031.
Charlotte Motor Speedway and EchoPark Speedway are the two other SM tracks with two dates, but both have been big hits in recent years, so neither is losing a date. Texas, Sonoma Raceway, North Wilkesboro and New Hampshire Motor Speedway aren’t losing their lone dates on the schedule.
The only track in SM’s power that leaves is Circuit of the Americas, which is leased, not owned by the company. COTA has been an awesome addition to the schedule, with big crowds and some of the best road racing in NASCAR. If anything, Sonoma deserves to lose a date before COTA. But the problem with leasing a track is there could always be a contract dispute — COTA could ask for more money on the lease or SM could want to pay less. Should the two sides ever fail to see eye to eye, then there’s suddenly an open race date on the calendar.
So Nashville Superspeedway, Dover, Bristol and COTA look to be the tracks that would lose out if the Fairgrounds is added. I mentioned earlier that SM would probably make the Fairgrounds host of the All-Star Race, but should both Nashville tracks play hosts to the Cup Series, there is an even better option.
It’d be time to bring back the doubleheader/midweek race.
Imagine how awesome a Nashville Speedweek would be, similar to Daytona Speedweeks. Have Cup, Trucks and ARCA East all race at the Fairgrounds on Thursday and Friday, then O’Reilly goes to the Superspeedway on Saturday and Cup there on Sunday. It’d be an amazing experience for Nashville fans and would help cut a week off of the overly long Cup schedule.
It could even be like a Tennessee All-Star Week. Have the Bristol spring race on Sunday, then an All-Star Race at the Fairgrounds in the middle of the week and the Superspeedway the following Sunday. That could give an opportunity to double up on O’Reilly races to by having that series race at the Fairgrounds. I’m not sure how the logistics of getting three Cup or O’Reilly cars per entry out there would work, but the teams overcame bigger logistical challenges during the COVID-19 midweek races. Again, the points are just to make the season shorter and to provide an awesome fan experience.
NASCAR has shied away from doing midweek races and doubleheaders ever since it tried them during the pandemic, because the ratings were bad. But NASCAR’s marketing is much better now than it was back then. And with the whole week building to something like with Daytona Speedweeks, fans would be more encouraged to tune in every night as opposed to in 2020 when NASCAR would randomly pop up at a track in the middle of the week.
Also, sports fans are more used to watching sports on a Thursday night now. Thursday Night Football has been a big hit for Prime Video, so maybe it could try this during its NASCAR package.
There is a lot of good that can come from the Fairgrounds getting back on the schedule. If it happens, and that’s still a big if, hopefully NASCAR and SM get creative with it and put on some truly unique racing experiences.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.