Can Hendrick Motorsports 3-Peat?
Kyle Larson dominated the inaugural event back in 2021 in leading 264 of the 300 laps that day. A year later, while Hendrick Motorsports had a combined 42 laps led all day/night, all belonging to Chase Elliott, Elliott still came home victorious.
Hendrick Motorsports is 2-for-2 on the 1.33-mile concrete track. Can they three-peat?
In fact, if you back to the final year of the Nashville Fairgrounds, that’s a race Geoff Bodine won with HMS giving the organization winners of the last three trips to Music City USA.
Larson was fourth a year ago here too. The thing is, he was 32nd and 20th respectively at Dover and Darlington this year. In saying that, he had a fast car in Dover and was an innocent bystander for Ross Chastain taking out Brennan Poole. In Darlington, had the race won before a late caution and Chastain’s bumper again.
Elliott qualified sixth and fourth respectively and won a year ago too. Elliott was 11th and third this year on Dover and Darlington as well.
William Byron finished third in 2021, he won Darlington this year and was fourth in Dover also this spring too. With HMS having won both races at this track by two different drivers, Byron is next in line for victory.
The thing is, they’ve struggled in finding wins lately. After scoring four wins in a seven-race span, they’ve since won just once (Darlington) in the last seven points paying races too.
Ford’s Turn?
Chevrolet led 282 of 300 laps in 2021. Toyota last year upped the ante in leading 253 of 300 in 2022. Is it Ford’s turn to dominate this time around?
It would be surprising if they do.
Ford has led a combined 10 of the 600 laps here. They only had two cars in the top eight last year and two in the top nine a year prior.
The thing is, they’ve also only led 8 of the 400 laps in Dover and 9 of the 295 in Darlington. Stats prove that they may be the ones to fade this weekend.
They also have just two wins all year as well.
What’s Nashville’s Future?
NASCAR took a risk in 2021 by bringing the Nashville Superspeedway back. The track was left for dead but with how much Music City USA has embraced the NASCAR crowd and is one of the biggest growing cities in America, they decided to not only come back to the 1.33-mile track, but to bring the Cup Series with them.
Now, Nashville has the banquet as well as a Cup date. With a packed house in 2021, Kyle Larson won the inaugural Ally 400. However, that packed house saw 1 driver lead 264 of 300 laps and win by 4.335-seconds.
A year ago, the weather marred event saw Toyota’s dominated in leading 253 of the 300 laps.
If this track wants to remain on the future schedule, they need to put on a show.
See, with the Nashville Fairgrounds gaining more and more traction, if they want to have 2 dates in the city limits each year, this race needs to produce. The criticism of this track in the past was that it was a dull race and hard to pass on. The last two years didn’t help.
Plus, with the news at the start of this month that legislation has been filed to approve a lease partnership between Nashville and Bristol Motor Speedway to restore and operate the historic Fairgrounds Speedway, the talks are getting louder of moving that direction. The partnership between Bristol and Nashville provides significant relief for the taxpayers by shifting $40 million of deferred maintenance backlog and future capital investment obligations to Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Metro is obligated by the 2011 charter referendum to preserve the historic uses at the Fairgrounds, including auto racing. In the roughly 40 years since NASCAR last raced in this city, no one has presented a long-term solution for this historic venue,” said Councilmember Zach Young. “The speedway holds so much history and it’s well past time we have a plan for a comprehensive renovation that provides a future for racing at the Fairgrounds.”
The first motorsports races were held at the Fairgrounds in 1904. This makes the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway the second-oldest continually operating track in the country and one of the oldest continually operating venues in Nashville. The Fairgrounds has run local series racing for 64 consecutive years and hosted great Tennesseans such as Coo Coo and Sterling Marlin and even country music star Marty Robbins. In later years, NASCAR champions such as Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt won races at the track.
However, the Fairgrounds Speedway has fallen into disrepair and is in desperate need of a complete renovation. The facility is dangerous for competitors, spectators, and workers. The grandstands are falling apart and out of ADA compliance. The common areas such as bathrooms are dirty, foul, and unsanitary.
“The Fairgrounds Speedway is hallowed ground for both Nashville and NASCAR. If given the opportunity, we will restore the speedway, increase parking for soccer and flea market events, and install a sound reduction barrier at no cost to taxpayers,” said Jerry Caldwell, Bristol Motor Speedway president and general manager.
“Bristol Motor Speedway is the very best operator in the motorsports industry. It’s exciting that the city has chosen a partner who has the ability to preserve the historic speedway and make the Fairgrounds successful for all of Nashville,” said Nashville Predators CEO, Sean Henry.
The Bristol partnership would generate $200 million annually in economic activity, according to an analysis by Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics.
Rejection of the Bristol partnership would mean Metro taxpayers will be on the hook for the ongoing maintenance of the speedway, which is projected to be in excess of $40 million. The savings to the Nashville taxpayers can be better utilized for other necessary services such as education, first responders, and crime prevention.
The Bristol partnership also improves the quality of life for the surrounding neighborhood by investing in a sound reduction barrier, limiting race dates, agreeing to strict curfews, increasing parking options, and committing to specific local partnerships.
More importantly, the Bristol partnership has the support of the local neighborhood residents who favor a future that will reduce auto track sounds and relieve current parking constraints. Bristol believes that being a good neighbor is critical to the successful operation of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and is working with local neighborhood organizations in partnership.
“This is going to be a great opportunity for the students at Glencliff High School, which is one of the most diverse high schools in the state of Tennessee, and really give them a piece of their own backyard,” said Glencliff High School Academy Coach, Thommye Kelly.
“Bristol has been a consistent supporter of Conexión Américas for the past two years. They have been a great new corporate partner and we look forward to them being a part of our community for at least the next 30 years!” Tara Lentz, Co-Executive Director of Conexión Américas.
The Bristol plan to restore the Fairgrounds Speedway will include the addition of hundreds of new parking spaces that could be used for soccer games, flea market days, and special events.
Another way the Bristol Partnership will improve the quality of life is with the installation of a sound reduction barrier that will significantly reduce impact on the surrounding neighborhood by up to 50%.
Bristol will be hiring locally for hundreds of well-paying full-time and part-time jobs for individuals working in ticket operations, facility maintenance, event logistics, and guest relations.
The agreement approved by the Fair Board requires that Bristol limit motorsports events to 10 weekends per year. Additionally, Bristol has committed to reduce track rentals for practice dates to not more than 20 days per year. Motorsports events will be limited to the hours between 3-9 p.m. on school days; and noon to 10 p.m. on weekends when school is not in session.
Will Start Time Hinder Crowd?
We keep banging that Noon drum or at the very least a 1 p.m. ET start in NASCAR but 5 p.m. ET last year and now 7 p.m. ET this year? The inaugural race for Nashville race was your typical 3:30 p.m. ET start on Father’s Day.
Last year was an odd time. This year, you know it’s going to be at night, but what does this do to the crowd?
Starting later makes it tougher to get home for those coming into town from out of state. With Nashville’s proximity to cities like Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Knoxville and even into the Carolina’s, you can get a lot of out of town fans to come to this one. But starting this late, you almost make it impossible for them to get back home afterwards.
If you give yourself 3 hours for the race, plus another hour or so to get out of the parking lots, you’re not even beginning your drive towards your house until around midnight ET.
Does that hurt the attendance?
Is Sunday Night Better Than Saturday Night Now?
NASCAR is taking a chance. They know Saturday night’s aren’t good for viewership anymore. But, to not risk a stagnant all day race schedule, they’ve adopted a new model – Sunday nights.
It works for football. Sunday Night Football is a staple for NBC. Why not Sunday Night NASCAR?
Overall, 10 NASCAR Cup Series races will air in primetime during the 2023 season. The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, the Bristol Dirt Race, NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Chicago Street Race, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway highlight racing under the lights this year.
Among them are 7 points paying races including 5 of the 7 taking place on a Sunday night at that. Nashville and Atlanta are movers from Sunday afternoons to Sunday nights.
Will it work?
We’ll soon find out.
The Clash was moved in February from a late afternoon east coast time to Sunday primetime. The All-Star race was also in Sunday primetime. Both were exhibition events. What about a points paying race?
If this works and ratings are big, then expect some shifts down the line.
In markets like Nashville and Atlanta and others in the south, you don’t have to sit and bake in the summer heat.
Race Review Online 