It’s song to NASCAR’s ears: the stock automobile collection is decided to return to Nashville, Tennessee in 2021.
Nashville Superspeedway will take a Cup trudge for the valuable time subsequent season, ending NASCAR’s decade-long absence from the tune. The Nashville tune is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc., which has held Cup trudge weekends each year since 1969. Dover will stop conception to be one of its dates and transfer it to Nashville for an expected leisurely June 2021 trudge weekend.
Nashville Superspeedway held Xfinity and Truck events from 2001 unless 2011.
The postulate to return NASCAR to Nashville took root after a a success blowout final December for its season-ending awards find together. There salvage been burnouts on Broadway, a occasion with nation song well-known person and NASCAR fan Blake Shelton and a NASCAR-themed night at the Immense Ole Opry. Buoyed by the pleasure, Dover started discussions with NASCAR and its TV broadcast partners about running a trudge at the Superspeedway.
“Critically after the awards feast, it became as soon as, how attain we find to Nashville as soon as we per chance can?” Dover CEO Mike Tatoian informed The Linked Press. “It made it a moderately straightforward dialogue that it became as soon as by Dover Motorsports.”
The 1.33-mile concrete tune became as soon as inbuilt 2001 by Dover Motorsports and hosted NASCAR and IndyCar events unless 2011. The tune is located on roughly 1,000 acres correct exterior Nashville, and currently has 25,000 permanent grandstand seats and lights for night racing.
There’s a good deal of labor forward: Tatoian acknowledged giving the tune a latest makeover would payment no longer lower than $8 million to $10 million and he’d admire to suit ability at the 25,000-50,000 tag.
He also expected to rent a stout-time workers that will operate independently of Dover. NASCAR eyed a date of June 20, 2021.
Tatoian acknowledged he’s hopeful the Truck, second-tier Xfinity Sequence and IndyCar can also all but again salvage a home on the Nashville agenda.
Dover tried to earnings on the NASCAR boon of the leisurely 1990s and early 2000s and had invested at one point more than $100 million in constructing the Nashville tune to transfer with Dover and in its portfolio and tracks it owned in the St. Louis and Memphis areas.
“The conception at the time 20-something years previously became as soon as that if NASCAR became as soon as going to salvage an enlargement, which at the time became as soon as the enlighten time to be taking into consideration, we wished to claim these markets,” Tatoian acknowledged. “It didn’t happen. It correct by no device lended itself to transfer conception to be one of our races for the time being. So in 2011, after 10 or 11 years of working, we decided it became as soon as time to shutter the operation. However we held onto it, fortunately, correct in case there became as soon as ever a possibility in the end to attain what we’re doing now.”
Dover has provided simply about 300 acres of property advance Nashville Superspeedway since 2018 for simply about $10 million.
The shift to Tennessee is believed to be one of the valuable foremost signs that NASCAR surely intends to shake up its traditionally mature agenda. The sanctioning body is anticipated to originate foremost modifications to its 2021 agenda, which may per chance also encompass more short tracks, mid-week races and doubleheaders.
The industry bought an surprising preview of what can also lie forward when the coronavirus pandemic forced a gigantic shakeup to this season’s agenda. NASCAR has already crawl 5 Cup events since the season resumed Can also 17.
Dover, the positioning of two NASCAR weekends each year since 1971, became as soon as scheduled to take a trudge in Can also this season unless the coronavirus pandemic forced a postponement. Dover is anticipated to crawl Cup races on Aug. 22 and 23.
“It looks an increasing selection of admire we’ll be web hosting a doubleheader,” Tatoian acknowledged. “That’s a real ache and that’s what we’re centered on.”
Dover is scheduled to take a Can also date in 2021. Tatoian acknowledged the aptitude of Dover shedding a trudge had Nashville did no longer work became as soon as by no device talked about.
The Cup Sequence ran 42 events at the archaic Fairgrounds from 1958 by 1984, and the lower-level Xfinity and Truck Sequence final raced there in 2000. NASCAR also extinct to host an annual “Sound and Flee” tournament that blended its stars and nation artists at events around Nashville unless 2010.
Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are amongst the drivers who won races at the Superspeedway.
