Dale Earnhardt Jr. stepping in to back a track is nothing new. Raised in the sport and shaped by laps at venues from his Late Model days, he has long worn his ties to such places on his sleeve. That is why he is pushing to renovate the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
The effort has met resistance from residents who point to noise, traffic, and the cost of a renovation plan first floated in 2021 to bring the track back to NASCAR or, at least, to stage lower-tier races.
Along the way, the debate has also taken a turn toward the personal, but Dale Jr. has not bowed down and reacted to the comment with his own sarcastic jab.
The latest flare-up came when Restore Our Fairgrounds reshared a video of Earnhardt Jr. from the Nashville Fairgrounds after his CARS Tour Late Model race, where he finished 12th on the 0.596-mile oval, and wrote, while taking a dig at Junior,
“Yet another North Carolina billionaire who wants to run up credit-card debt on the backs of Nashville taxpayers. I wish Dale Jr. and his good buddy Marcus Smith at Speedway Motorsports would just count their money in Charlotte instead of terrorizing neighbors in South Nashville.”
NASCAR reporter Steven Taranto, who uploaded the original interview where Earnhardt said there should be a compromise for both Nashville citizens and the race track, posted a screenshot of the exchange on X, pairing it with a stand-up clip of George Carlin, who spoke about the “NIMBY” impulse. In the clip, Carlin says:
“People don’t want it near them. We got something in this country you’ve heard of. It’s called NIMBY, N-I-M-B-Y. Not in my backyard. People don’t want any kind of social help located anywhere near them. You try to open up a halfway house. Try to open up a rehab center for drugs or alcohol. Try to build a little home for some retarded people who want to work their way into the community. People say, not in my backyard. People don’t want anything near them. Especially if it might help somebody else.”
Dale Jr. did not let the remark slide either. He fired back at the “billionaire” claim with a short retort, saying that if he were, he would buy the track to preserve it in its entirety. “A billionaire??? I’d just buy the place,” Earnhardt posted
The exchange gave rise to a wave of fan reactions.
One user, claiming to have traced the source of the post, wrote, “I found the lady behind it all. And as you can see, she is clearly recruiting people to sign her petitions that don’t even live in Nashville. I’m fairly certain that this main lady doesn’t even live in Nashville anymore, which is equally insane.”
Another fan rallied to Dale Jr.’s side, posting, “Yeah you know a lot of land but a billionaire probably not in $$$ but in fans, maybe not 1 billion but between $ fans, you’re blessed and who cares what one person thinks and yeah I know you would buy the place if you were a billionaire”
A third one took a dig at the comment made by the user, making a point often made by race fans responding to those who oppose metropolitan racetracks, stating, “It’s like moving near an airport and complaining about the sound. The track was there first.”
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