What’s Happening?

Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) and country music performer Tim Dugger announced that Dugger would perform at 10 SMI NASCAR races in 2024. Many fans were excited to see Dugger perform, but, a few were underwhelmed by the announcement. Regardless of what side of the fence you fall on, we at the Daily Downforce pooled together who the fans wanted to see perform at a NASCAR race.

• Tim Dugger is a country music artist who is also a NASCAR enthusiast. He first came onto the NASCAR scene in 2011 when he filmed a music video at North Wilkesboro Speedway featuring, then Truck Series driver, Austin Dillon.
• Pre-race concerts are often used as entertainment for fans at the track or to sell tickets. On top of getting tickets to a NASCAR race, you get a live music act, which is often a big win for NASCAR fans.
• Fans gave their thoughts to the Daily Downforce on some musical acts they both have seen at NASCAR races and those they would love to see. These acts could make for some interesting future NASCAR pre-race concerts.

Why Would This Move Be Controversial?

Many fans are very excited to see Tim Dugger play at SMI tracks this summer. Reddit user kevinm0388 even says he has worked for Dugger before.

Having a concert at a NASCAR race is a great thing, and it is often a major selling point for race fans. However, many fans do not like this because Dugger is not a well-known musician. Georgiadawg25 on Reddit claimed as much.

Eric Estepp elaborated more on this on Out of the Groove. He called having only Dugger perform a “Missed opportunity” because few people outside of NASCAR know who Dugger. He mentions how major musical acts can often sell tickets to NASCAR races.

Major concert acts can indeed be selling points at races. The Chicago Street Race had artists like Miranda Lambert and The Chainsmokers slated to play before the rain got in the way. IndyCar brought in Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, and Ed Sheeran for a race at Iowa.

This move has been controversial. However, we did get some input from a few fans about which acts to perform at a NASCAR race.

In the Stands

Josh brought up Blake Shelton, who performed at Texas Motor Speedway before the 2022 All-Star Race. Talk about a big name, he would be awesome to bring back to the race track.

Patrick Weseman brought up an interesting performer, the Goo Goo Dolls, who performed at Charlotte in 2013. They would definitely be interesting to bring back.

Lenny Kravitz performed at the Daytona 500 one year, and he would be quite the eclectic musical artist to bring back.

Jared Mills brought up both Justin Moore and Kid Rock, who would be interesting to bring back to a NASCAR race. It would certainly pique some interest.

Landon suggested some hometown flavor with Alabama natives Muscadine Bloodline performing at Talladega Superspeedway. It would be interesting to see a truly local act at Talladega.

GARRET suggested bringing Disturbed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This would definitely be very different, but, it could sell a few tickets.