Nashville Fair Board approves Bristol Motor Speedway’s proposal to host NASCAR race at historic track 

NASCAR has shown the green flag to yet another historic racetrack to make its comeback in the future with the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee. Owned by the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, the track used to host Cup Series races from 1958 all the way up to 1984 before dropping off the calendar.

Recent news about the historic track broke out in the form of an alliance between Bristol Motor Speedway and the Nashville Fair Board Commissioners. They will renovate and lease the property on Tuesday next weekend.

This will bring us one step closer to bringing modern-day stock car racing to the track. The proposal, however, must still be approved by the Metro Council for the Metro Sports Authority to continue with their plans. There will be three hearings in light of the proposal going forward, with one of them including a public hearing.

Jerry Caldwell, president and general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway, spoke about the possibility of NASCAR returning to the historic track and said:

“We are thankful to the Nashville Fair Board for supporting the vision to restore the historic Fairgrounds Speedway. They invested a lot of time vetting this opportunity, and we agree it provides a financially responsible future for the speedway while shifting the risk off taxpayers to a private operator, and completes the restoration of the Fairgrounds (Speedway) with improvements like a state-of-the-art sound-reduction wall that benefits the surrounding neighborhoods."

Bristol Motor Speedway is responsible for leasing, managing and operating the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Bristol's management will be responsible for keeping the sport's noise away from the adjoining neighborhoods by installing sound mitigation systems.

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No timeline set for Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway renovation, specific dates for NASCAR's return still unknown

Bristol Motor Speedway and NASCAR have not set any particular timeline for the renovations of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway as of now. The hearing for the Metro Council is also yet to take place.

However, NASCAR President Steve Phelps is committed to not confirming the 2023 Cup Series schedule to try and keep on making changes to the season. This certainly does bring a ray of hope for the project.

Historic race tracks such as North Wilkesboro Speedway have made a return to the Cup Series. The sport is also exploring new avenues in the form of a street race in Chicago. Hence, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway has a good chance of making a comeback in stock car racing.

Meanwhile, the Cup Series prepares to go racing this Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Ambetter Health 400.