[NASCAR president Steve] O’Donnell, who was a guest on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast on April 14, said he wants to see NASCAR return to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway more than ever and that the zMAX Series was proof NASCAR belongs in Nashville. However, he said the effort to get NASCAR back to Nashville is an “uphill battle.”
“Nashville is one of our most historic tracks; we’d love to be there,” O’Donnell said. “We’d love to be in both places in Nashville (including Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon), it’s a great market … obviously, we’ve got a lot of hard-core fans there. I was glad to see the CARS Tour go there. It was a great crowd, which was awesome. So hopefully that builds a little more momentum and gets (Nashville stock car racing) back in the limelight, especially from the media.”
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“Listen, it’s been a weekly dialogue, right?” O’Donnell said. “I know [Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith] is trying to get there. It’s been an uphill battle, which I don’t understand. When you think about the noise and everything, I mean they’ve got concerts (at nearby Geodis Park) and all kinds of stuff, they’ve got soccer. But it’s tough right now.”
— Tennessean —