Nashville Superspeedway

Not to be confused with the Fairgrounds Speedway, the other race track at Nashville, opened in 1904, 0.596 mi (0.959 km) and formerly called Nashville Speedway.

Nashville Superspeedway
Location4847-F McCreary Road
Lebanon, TN 37090
Capacity65,000
OwnerDover Motorsports, Inc.
Opened2001
2021
Major events
Tri-oval
SurfaceConcrete
Length1.333 mi (2.145 km)
Turns4
Banking14°
Race lap record0:23.271 (206.214 MPH) (Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 2003, Toyota IndyCar Series)

Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee (though the track has a Lebanon address), United States, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Nashville. The track was built in 2001 and is currently closed to all competitive events, but has been used for driving schools and GT Academy.

It is a concrete oval track 1​1⁄3 miles (2.145 km) long. Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc., which also owns Dover International Speedway. Nashville Superspeedway was the longest concrete oval in NASCAR during the time it was on the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series circuits. Current permanent seating capacity is approximately 50,000.[1] Additional portable seats are brought in for some events, and seating capacity can be expanded to 150,000.[2] Infrastructure is in place to expand the facility to include a short track, drag strip, and road course.

History

At its peak, the facility hosted four major races each year: two NASCAR Xfinity Series races and two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races (one per year prior to 2010). The IndyCar Series Firestone Indy 200 was run at the track from its opening until 2008. Each feature event was usually accompanied by a companion event from lower-tier series such as ARCA and Indy Lights. NASCAR continually showed little interest in staging a Sprint Cup Series race at the track.

In October 2009, Dover Motorsports decided to close Memphis Motorsports Park, and the Memphis Truck race originally scheduled for late June 2010 was moved to Nashville Superspeedway on April 2, one day prior to the annual Nationwide Series race at the track. The April Truck race was known as the "Nashville 200". Nashville Superspeedway became the only facility on the circuit to host two Truck Series races without hosting a NASCAR Cup event.

As is a Nashville metropolitan tradition, specially-designed Gibson Les Paul guitars are presented to race winners in place of conventional trophies.[3] The track also has a reputation for producing many first-time winners.

The track is referred by the classic term of a "superspeedway" (a track of one mile (1.6 km) or longer, compared to a short track), and is named to differentiate itself from the .596 mile Fairgrounds Speedway (previously known as Nashville Speedway USA) at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville. Until 1984, Nashville Speedway USA had conducted a pair of 420-lap Cup races, but NASCAR pulled its sanctioning license from the circuit after disputes over who would manage the track took place prior to the start of the 1985 season.

Closure

Following sluggish attendance for major events and no prospects of gaining a Sprint Cup event, Dover Motorsports announced that the track would not seek NASCAR sanctions in 2012, effectively shutting it down, on August 3, 2011. In the announcement, Dover also hinted that the track may be up for sale.[4] The track remains available for private use, such as car & tire testing.[5] The track is also available, and has been used, as a filming location for various television and film projects. Since 2012, Nashville Superspeedway has been used for testing by NASCAR teams.[6]

Sale

On May 29, 2014, it was announced that NeXovation, Inc. would be purchasing the racetrack and all assets and equipment from Dover Motorsports for $27 million.[7] However, the deal never materialized and Dover Motorsports reopened the sale of the track on July 28, 2015. NeXovation had invested $2.9 million (mostly nonrefundable) into the track, mostly in deadline extensions, and Dover pulled out of the sale after another deadline was missed and no payment was received.[8] The deal with NeXovation was ultimately canceled, though the company lost approximately $2.9 million dollars in earnest money.[9]

On August 25, 2016, Dover announced it had reached an agreement to sell the property to Panattoni Development Company in a $44.7 million deal. Panattoni plans to convert the site into a distribution and logistics park.[10] Later the deal fell through.

Reopening

On June 2, 2020, reports began to surface that Nashville Superspeedway would reopen in 2021 and would host a NASCAR Cup Series race, with a tentative date of Sunday, June 20. The race would replace one of the two races the series runs at Dover International Speedway, which is also owned by Dover Motorsports.[11] On June 3, NASCAR confirmed that the track will reopen to host a Cup race in 2021, replacing one of the two Dover dates.[12]

Records
  • NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying: David Stremme, 28.811 sec. (166.561) mph, 2007
  • NASCAR Xfinity Series Race: Carl Edwards, 2 hrs. 18 min. 28 sec. (129.949 mph), June 9, 2007
  • NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Qualifying: Erik Darnell, 29.601 sec. (162.116 mph), 2006
  • NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Race: Scott Riggs, 1 hr. 30 min. 34 sec. (132.466 mph), August 10, 2001
  • Indycar Qualifying: Scott Dixon, 23.271 sec. (206.211 mph / 331.864 km/h), July 18, 2003
  • Indycar Race: Buddy Lazier, 144.809 mph (233.047 km/h), July 21, 2001

Feature race winners

NASCAR Xfinity Series
Season Race Name Month Winning Driver Manufacturer
2001 Pepsi 300 April Greg Biffle Ford
2002 Pepsi 300 April Scott Riggs Ford
Inside Traxx 300 June Jack Sprague Chevrolet
2003 Pepsi 300 April David Green Pontiac
Trace Adkins Chrome 300 June Scott Riggs Ford
2004 Pepsi 300 April Michael Waltrip Chevrolet
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Jason Leffler Chevrolet
2005 Pepsi 300 March Reed Sorenson Dodge
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
2006 Pepsi 300 April Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Carl Edwards Ford
2007 Pepsi 300 April Carl Edwards Ford
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Carl Edwards Ford
2008 Pepsi 300 March Scott Wimmer Chevy
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Brad Keselowski Chevy
2009 Pepsi 300 April Joey Logano Toyota
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Kyle Busch Toyota
2010 Nashville 300 April Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
Federated Auto Parts 300 June Brad Keselowski Dodge
2011 Nashville 300 April Carl Edwards Ford
Federated Auto Parts 300 July Carl Edwards Ford

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series
Season Race Name Month Winning Driver Manufacturer
2001 Federated Auto Parts 200 August Scott Riggs Dodge
2002 Federated Auto Parts 200 August Mike Bliss Chevrolet
2003 Federated Auto Parts 200 August Carl Edwards Ford
2004 Toyota Tundra 200 August Bobby Hamilton Dodge
2005 Toyota Tundra 200 August David Reutimann Toyota
2006 Toyota Tundra 200 August Johnny Benson Jr. Toyota
2007 Toyota Tundra 200 August Travis Kvapil Ford
2008 Toyota Tundra 200 August Johnny Benson Toyota
2009 Toyota Tundra 200 August Ron Hornaday Jr. Chevrolet
2010 Nashville 200 April Kyle Busch Toyota
Nashville 200 August Todd Bodine Toyota
2011 Bully Hill Vineyards 200 April Kyle Busch Toyota
Lucas Deep Clean 200 July Austin Dillon Chevrolet

IndyCar Series
IRL IndyCar Series history
Season Date Winning Driver Chassis Engine Team
2001 July 21 Buddy Lazier Dallara Oldsmobile Hemelgarn Racing
2002 July 20 Alex Barron Dallara Chevrolet Blair Racing
2003 July 19 Gil de Ferran Dallara Toyota Team Penske
2004 July 17 Tony Kanaan Dallara Honda Andretti Green Racing
2005 July 16 Dario Franchitti Dallara Honda Andretti Green Racing
2006 July 15 Scott Dixon Dallara Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
2007 July 15* Scott Dixon Dallara Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
2008 July 12* Scott Dixon Dallara Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
  • 2007 Race postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon due to rain
  • 2008 Race shortened to 171 laps due to rain

See also
  • List of NASCAR race tracks

References
  1. Welcome to Nashville Superspeedway
  2. Welcome to Nashville Superspeedway
  3. "Unique trophies in NASCAR". NASCAR. September 25, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  4. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dover-motorsports-inc-declines-2012-nascar-sanctions-for-nashville-superspeedway-2011-08-03?reflink=MW_news_stmp
  5. Tom Kreager [@Kreager] (22 December 2011). "Dover Motorsports will make Nashville Superspeedway available for testing starting in 2012. Superspeedway no longer hosting NASCAR races" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. Rickard, Caitlin (February 22, 2014). "Superspeedway still idling". Lebanon Democrat. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  7. "Agreement reached to sell Nashville Superspeedway". WKRN-TV. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
  8. Humbles, Andy (July 31, 2015). "Nashville Superspeedway sale reopened". The Tennessean. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  9. Ward, Getahn (August 25, 2016). "Nashville Superspeedway to be sold to developer Panattoni". The Tennessean. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  10. Ward, Getahn (August 26, 2016). "http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/real-estate/2016/08/26/distribution-park-planned-nashville-superspeedway-site/89371262/". The Tennessean. External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  11. Humbles, Andy (June 2, 2020). "2021 NASCAR Cup Series race to be scheduled at Wilson County's Nashville Superspeedway". The Tennesseean. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  12. Albert, Zack (June 3, 2020). "NASCAR Cup Series to race at Nashville Superspeedway in 2021". NASCAR. Retrieved June 3, 2020.

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