Dale Jr. Has a Compromise to Save Nashville Fairgrounds
What’s Happening? After Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled North Wilkesboro Speedway back from the brink, he turned to short track racing, making…
NASCAR President Steve Phelps says that the sport returning to the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a “weekly dialogue” among officials; however, many challenges lie ahead for the track’s potential return.
This past weekend, the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway hosted one of its most important race weekends in recent years, with the ZMAX Cars Tour bringing its teams to the .596-mile oval for the first time in several years.
This event was in direct competition with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, and had a spotlight on it as NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr was returning to a track he had supported getting a spot on the NASCAR schedule in recent years.
In fact, Earnhardt isn’t the only industry member hoping for a return to Fairgrounds Speedway, as Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith has had a plan in place for some time to revitalize the historic track to bring it up to par for NASCAR Cup Series racing.
During a recent appearance on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell said that conversations about returning to the track are ongoing, of course, and happen on a “weekly” basis, as Smith and track officials try to work towards a revival.
“It’s been a weekly dialogue, right? I know Marcus is trying to get there.” — Steve O’Donnell
Of course, the track isn’t just fighting the battle for funding; it is also fighting a battle with the surrounding Nashville community, as the track is now located in the heart of the metro area and surrounded by communities worried about the noise a NASCAR weekend would generate.
For his part, O’Donnell says that he understands the concern, but points to the soccer stadium and concerts that happen in the fairgrounds facility as equally noise-generating.
“It’s an uphill battle. Which I don’t understand, when you think about the noise, they got concerts and all kinds of stuff… soccer,” O’Donnell said. “It’s tough right now.”
Despite the support Nashville has shown NASCAR, with the Nashville Superspeedway, located 40 minutes away in Lebanon, often drawing substantial crowds, O’Donnell called the ongoing battle “disappointing” something shared by many fans and drivers.
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is one of the oldest race tracks in the country, but nonetheless, unlike its elder peers such as Martinsville or Darlington, the track has not hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race since 1984.
In fact, a NASCAR National Series has not scheduled a race at the venue since the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Busch (now O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series did so in 2000.
In the meantime, while local racing, series like the ARCA Menards Series East, and CARS Tour tackled the track, Nashville has encroached on the track, with neighborhoods, apartments, and an MLS stadium now surrounding the once suburban track.
There are groups pursuing the destruction of the speedway to use the area for public use, some are also concerned with the noise generated by racing, while others point to Nashville Superspeedway as a reason why the venue’s existence is redundant.
During the CARS Tour weekend at the track, Dale Earnhardt Jr suggested a compromise, telling Steven Taranto, “I think that we have to make sure, regardless of what goes on, that this racetrack survives.”
It seems as if the saga of a potential return is coming to a head, as groups within local politics have taken sides on the future of the historic race track.
What’s Happening? After Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled North Wilkesboro Speedway back from the brink, he turned to short track racing, making…
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