LEBANON, TENNESSEE - JUNE 25: A general view of of the grandstands as the sun sets during the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 25, 2023 in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images) | Getty Images
LEBANON, TENNESSEE - JUNE 25: A general view of of the grandstands as the sun sets during the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 25, 2023 in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Speedway Motorsports say Nashville area can handle two Cup races

Successful negotiations to bring NASCAR to Nashville could … revive a deal between Speedway Motorsports, which acquired the Wilson County speedway (confusingly named the Nashville Superspeedway) in 2021, and real estate giant Panattoni. The latter built a massive logistics hub around the racetrack in recent years and bought and developed a 147-acre chunk of land directly from the racetrack for $5 million in 2018. Promotional materials around that time — before NASCAR returned to the area, when the track’s future was uncertain — list the racetrack itself as “Phase 4” of Panattoni’s Speedway Industrial Park.

If granted a new Cup Series race in Nashville’s urban backdrop, Speedway Motorsports would have a valuable real estate asset to offload to Panattoni, a proven buyer. The track operator could also consolidate two proximate Cup Series races into one.

“Nashville’s a big enough market from a motorsports standpoint to support multiple cup races a year,” says Matthew Kuhn, a spokesperson for Speedway Motorsports. “Historically, Talladega, Daytona and larger motorsports markets have two races a year.”

See more at Nashville Scene.