Why the NASCAR Cup Series could stay at Nashville Superspeedway
With a NASCAR Cup Series race firmly established there, the Nashville Superspeedway is in a more stable condition in its second year than when it opened in 2001.
When news broke in the late 1990s that Dover Motorsports was building a superspeedway track in Lebanon, it was assumed that the NASCAR Cup Series would be held in the area for the first time in over 15 years.
But that didn’t happen.
When the groundbreaking ceremony for the 2.14-kilometer oval track took place on August 26, 1999, the developers announced that they were prepared to double or even triple the original capacity of 50,000 seats for a Cup race.
Nashville attorney Gary Baker, former owner of Bristol Motor Speedway and Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, went so far as to say at the time that Nashville Superspeedway had the potential to draw larger crowds than Bristol, which routinely drew 140,000 fans.
The first edition of the racetrack lasted ten years and during that time the Cup Series was never resumed.
Nashville deserves NASCAR, and NASCAR deserves Nashville
Baker was convinced that Nashville needed a superspeedway long before the Nashville Superspeedway was built. In fact, he planned to build a facility similar to the Nashville Superspeedway in the 1980s.
His and Warner Hodgdon’s lease with the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, which then hosted two Cup races annually, was expiring, and Baker wanted to capitalize on the growing NASCAR market.
He bought land in Williamson County, chartered a plane and took several community leaders to Charlotte, North Carolina, to show them what he was planning.
“I wanted to build a superspeedway track in Nashville that could hold 150,000 to 200,000 people,” Baker said. “That’s how many people we would have put in the stands. This is Nashville, and if John Cash and Waylon Jennings were doing the pre-race and post-race runs, they would have come from all corners of the world. It was time, and I was ready to do it.”
Baker said Hodgdon disagreed. Hodgdon, a California real estate developer who died in 2013, instead wanted to expand the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in a similar way to how Richmond Raceway was expanded in the 1980s.
“I said that wouldn’t work,” Baker said. “The fairgrounds were too small and had terrible entrances and exits. Let’s buy a piece of land somewhere and build a superhighway.”
The engineering drawings for the superspeedway track Baker wanted to build were located where the Primus Financial Services complex in Cool Springs is today.
“It was ready to go, but when Warner (Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway) went bankrupt, it became risky,” Baker said. “NASCAR had to cancel the Cup date because they were afraid a bankruptcy court could put the track in the hands of anyone they wanted. And so NASCAR was gone.”
On March 5, 1985, a legal notice was published in the Tennessean about the bankruptcy of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
Baker always believed that the NASCAR Cup belongs in Nashville. In fact, Baker took back control of the bankrupt facility when it was auctioned off on March 15, 1985, in hopes of luring the Cup back to town.
“All the drivers and people from NASCAR loved coming to Nashville,” Baker said. “It was one of their favorite stops on the entire circuit. So, yes, Nashville deserves NASCAR and NASCAR deserves Nashville equally.”
Nashville Superspeedway was doomed without NASCAR Cup races
NASCAR was booming when the $125 million Nashville Superspeedway opened on April 13, 2001. Television ratings had reached historic highs in the 1990s, and sold-out crowds were the norm at most racetracks.
Nashville Superspeedway only needed to secure a NASCAR Cup race to be in on the party, but that didn’t happen.
NASCAR officials said at the time they were interested in new markets, which was an indication that the Southeast would be excluded.
Veteran NASCAR sportswriter Larry Woody of Tennessee, who covered NASCAR Cup races at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for many years, was never convinced there would be a Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway.
At the time, Dover Motorsports hosted two Cup races, and many, including Woody, felt that Nashville Superspeedway’s best chance of hosting a Cup race would be to move one of those races there.
However, financially it did not seem to make sense for the company.
“I thought the only way to do it was if Dover moved one of its races here. They kept saying they wouldn’t do that because they host two (Cup races) a year and they bring fans to the track. Plus, Dover also owns Dover Entertainment, a casino across the street,” Woody said. “So they would actually be giving up four big crowds if they moved a Cup race from there. I said, ‘Well, if Dover doesn’t bring a race here, I don’t think NASCAR is going to give them one.'”
The Nashville Superspeedway hosted numerous races from 2001 to 2011, including the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series and the IndyCar Series, but there was never any indication that the track would ever host a Cup race.
Nashville Superspeedway to host NASCAR Cup race after reopening
In 2019, there was again talk of the NASCAR Cup returning to Nashville. However, not at the Nashville Superspeedway.
Speedway Motorsports was interested in leasing the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in hopes of bringing Cup racing back to the historic track in some form.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott and Clint Bowyer were among the NASCAR personalities who strongly supported the Cup’s return to Music City.
That’s why it was such a surprise when Dover Motorsports officials announced on June 3, 2020 that they would reopen the Nashville Superspeedway and finally move one of their Cup races there.
That wasn’t what Elliott and some of the other drivers who wanted to bring the Cup back to the Nashville Fairgrounds had in mind. Nashville Superspeedway, which has a concrete track, had a reputation for lacking head-to-head racing, which drivers didn’t like. Elliott tweeted, “One nap in this place will be the death knell for the fairgrounds, bummer.”
Elliott changed his mind two years later when he won the second annual Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. The action-packed race was interrupted by a long weather delay and finished under floodlights.
The NASCAR Cup Series race shifted up a gear at the Nashville Superspeedway
Two of the first three races of the Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series were sold out. The race gained even more importance in 2021 when SMI purchased Dover Motorsports.
In addition to Dover Motor Speedway, SMI owns Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway.
“There were a number of reasons that led to the NASCAR Cup coming to Nashville Superspeedway,” said Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway. “It was a great time for us as a sport to say, ‘What is the right thing that we need to do? Not what we’ve done so far, but what is the next thing that we need to do? How can we continue to grow this sport, how can we continue to find those markets that are really hungry for more motorsports?’ and it was very natural.”
Caldwell said the success of the Ally 400 was further proof to SMI that Cup racing would once again be a success at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
“The economy here is really strong, there was a desire at the local and state level to bring this racetrack online and bring it back to life,” Caldwell said. “And then there was a huge desire from the fans who said, ‘We love this market and it makes a lot of sense.'”
What does the future of the NASCAR Cup Series look like at Nashville Superspeedway?
The vision that many had in the 1990s of the potential of the Nashville Superspeedway has finally come true with the success of the Ally 400 in its first three years.
“The Nashville NASCAR Cup date was canceled in the 1980s and there was no quick return,” Baker said. “At the time, NASCAR was riding quite a high, and now NASCAR needs to return to some of its roots that made it the incredible elite sport that it is. They’ve done that by coming to Nashville Superspeedway.”
Ally Financial became the title sponsor of the NASCAR Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway in its inaugural year (2021). That contract expires this year.
According to Matt Greci, senior vice president and general manager of Nashville Superspeedway, negotiations are currently underway with Ally Financial and other potential sponsors for a new contract. Everything indicates that a Cup race will be held again in 2025.
“We continue to see positive momentum throughout the sport and the industry,” Greci said. “We’re pleased with where things are right now. We’re excited about the future. Nashville is important to (SMI) as a company and to NASCAR.”
The high number of visitors to the Ally 400 is supported by the fact that the number of camping guests at the circuit is 10% higher this year than last year.
“The market continues to grow and NASCAR is entertainment,” Greci said. “I would argue that Nashville is the entertainment center of the country, if not the world. So it’s very important for (SMI) to be here with motorsports and NASCAR at Nashville Superspeedway because of the entertainment value. People are going to come to Nashville and we want to have the opportunity to entertain them here.”
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or at X @MikeOrganWriter.
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