NASHCAR? Dale Earnhardt, Jr. supports a NASCAR plan in Nashville

NASHVILLE — Could ‘NASHCAR’ be coming to Nashville? Dale Earnhardt, Junior says NASCAR and Nashville are the perfect match be coming to Nashville?

NASCAR racing fans are feeling like their in the fast lane as Junior throws his support for a plan to bring NASCAR to Nashville.

Thirty years have past since NASCAR has hosted a Cup Series race in the Music City.

During a recent Dale Earnhardt Junior podcast he said there is no other place he’d rather see racing in Nashville than the Fairgrounds Nashville.

The plan could be complicated due to the fact of the current construction of the new soccer stadium.

“In my personal opinion, they’re much more excited about the soccer team and the upgrades that’s going to bring to that sort of facility there,” Earnhardt, Jr. said in the podcast. “They’re less concerned about the future of a racetrack and what it could do for the community. They’re less confident in its future and what it could do for the community. That just seems to be the impression I get.”

He asked the President and COO Speedway Motorsports his thoughts on the same podcast. “We do have a lot of supporters in the community that want to see NASCAR back in Nashville and to see that speedway taken care of, ” said Marcus Smith. “We’ve got some great ideas to make that happen. We’ve talked to a lot of people on the fair board and the city. They’ve got a brand new Mayor that we’re going to talk to pretty soon and follow up on those discussions.”

According to AltDriver.com, from 1958 to 1984, the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, which is the oldest continually operating track in the United States, held one NASCAR Cup Series race a year. There have also been nine Xfinity Series races and five Truck Series races held at the track, the most recent of which was held in 2000. After that, Fairgrounds Speedway was replaced by Nashville Superspeedway, which has a 50,000-person seating capacity and held NASCAR events until 2011.

NASCAR will be coming back to Nashville in December, albeit in an award show capacity, for Championship’s Week and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards.

“It makes perfect sense because we are going there with our banquet and to celebrate our champion,” Dale Jr. said. “It’s an amazing city and I think that’s a great match for us.”

Tennessee Ledger’s “vast staff” reached out for comment by legendary sports announcer, former anchor and reporter Rudy Kalis for comment, “I believe that Nashville would be a perfect place for the annual All Star race. If you combine that with special performances by country music stars you’d have a gold mine. Dale Junior knows that. He knows how much his dad loved racing here. He knows the reputation of the track. I remember being at the Fairgrounds Speedway in 1996 when Dale Junior’s Late model car burned up on the track in turn 4. We interviewed Junior who didn’t seem rattled by it all, but was determined to find a way to race. The late Bobby Hamilton offered him one of his Fords to run in the race. Dale, a Chevy guy, thanked him, accepted, but taped over the Ford emblems, taped over the 4 in Bobby’s #43 and raced. He led and probably could have won, but had mechanical issues with 30 laps to go. Junior knows and loves the history of this track and the Hall of Fame champions who raced here. He also knows, as I do that from a business standpoint NASCAR needs to get back to its country roots and Nashville as the crown jewel of country music and stock car racing is the perfect place to showcase and revitalize the sport”.