The face of major league auto racing in the United States will undergo a major change next season, with old mainstays replaced by exciting prospects in new markets.
NASCAR has dropped Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway from its schedule and the Cup Series will visit Road America and Circuit of The Americas.
There is always hope of a return, however, as evidenced by what is happening with Nashville Superspeedway.
For decades, one of the mainstays of NASCAR was fender-banging, temper-flaring, battles at the Nashville Fairgrounds. It was a short oval with racing under the lights.
The fairgrounds track hosted NASCAR Cup Series events from 1958 through 1984, but when the series boomed in the 1980s, it outgrew the facility.
However, Nashville remains one of the highest-rated TV markets for NASCAR races.
In addition, Nashville has become a major destination city, showcasing music and live entertainment of all genres.
In 2000, Dover Downs Entertainment saw a future in the Nashville market and built a modern, 1.333-mile high-banked oval about 30 miles southeast of Nashville in Lebanon, Tenn. But Nashville Superspeedway was considered too far from downtown Nashville and with 25,000 permanent seats, NASCAR had little interest in adding a Cup Series date there.
Prior to the track’s closing in 2011, the NASCAR Xfinity Series raced there 21 times with the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series running there on 13 occasions. The NTT IndyCar Series had eight events at Nashville Superspeedway.
For the next nine years, car clubs kept the facility operational, and the management continued to maintain the facility. Also during that time, the business model for NASCAR changed dramatically.
Tracks that used to regularly sell out were struggling to be half full on race day and NASCAR again needed to explore new markets. That opened the door for a return to Nashville Superspeedway, which will host its first NASCAR Cup Series race on Father’s Day, June 21.
Erik Moses, the former sports commissioner for Washington D.C., and former owner of the DC Defenders of the XFL, is the new president of Nashville Superspeedway.
“I take that job and responsibility very seriously,” Moses told SPEED SPORT. “Since the announcement of my hiring, everyone from (NASCAR President) Steve Phelps all the way down has impressed upon me the importance that Nashville is a success. This is a great opportunity for us to bring Cup Series racing back to middle Tennessee and the superspeedway is a great place for that to happen.
“We are working with NASCAR to do the things necessary on the track to make sure we have exciting and safe racing,” Moses continued. “How good the race is and how competitive the race is will do a lot to make the kinds of impressions we want to make on NASCAR fans here in middle Tennessee.
“It’s a big deal and that is one of the reasons I took the job because it’s a challenge I look forward to taking on in a market that has all of the makings of being a successful NASCAR market.”
Moses believes the lessons he learned during his days in the nation’s capital have given him some tremendous experience that he can apply to Nashville Superspeedway.
“Unlike stick-and-ball sports, NASCAR races are special events,” Moses said. “They are one of a kind, even if they happen every year. It’s not one in a 162-game or 16-game schedule, it’s a special event. Being the sports commissioner in Washington for 11 years, I dealt with a lot of special events. The way you market those and have to connect the consumer base and fan base and others is slightly different because the inventory you have is different.
“I’m not selling you eyeballs for people for an entire season that may last eight months,” Moses added. “I have to get it ready for a really big one where we will have everybody’s attention for two or three days.
“It’s different but not impossible. It’s something the folks at Dover and my staff at Nashville have lots of experience with. I’m not deterred by that. It’s a different challenge, but one we are taking on at full force.”
Because it has been maintained relatively well, Moses believes he and his staff can get the facility race-ready in a relatively short period of time. There will need to be some improvements, but nothing major.
“When the track closed down, some of the equipment was sent to Dover,” Moses explained. “We have to get the SAFER barrier reinstalled. We are making certain the concrete track surface is in great shape. We have a little paving to do on the apron and the infield road course to clean up a couple of things. Plus, power-washing in the grandstands and around the track. We are also working with our colleagues at NASCAR development and design to have the kinds of amenities fans are looking for in 2021, as opposed to 2011. We are going to apply as many as those as possible at the superspeedway.”
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