“Did you see that show last night? My gosh. If that doesn’t tell you that people are ready for a race at Nashville, nothing will,” was Kenny Wallace’s reaction after watching the massive show Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled off at the historic Fairgrounds Speedway in April of this year. Watching a packed, sold-out crowd go wild, Wallace credited the entire thing to Dale Jr., saying it is his “effect.” But now, just two months later, he is here going against Junior and also contradicting his own stance.
“Maybe we just need to forget about the Fairgrounds,” he said on Coffee with Kenny. “Should we sh** can Fairways and build a short track out there.” This change of feelings, though, didn’t come out of nowhere.
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After Kenny Wallace visited the sprawling, high-capacity Nashville Superspeedway out in Lebanon, he feels that it is doing a fine enough job and can accommodate far more fans than the Fairgrounds.
“We had 30,000 people at Nashville Superspeedway. I don’t think you’re ever going to fit 30,000 people into the Fairgrounds, “he added on Coffee with Kenny. “When I was leaving Nashville Superspeedway to go over to the Lebanon airport, there was a mile-long line. Could you imagine a mile-long line at the Fairgrounds?”
“Coffee with Kenny”
MY Review of the documentary
“ @KyleLarsonRacin The Double”. And
Do we need Nashville Fairgrounds now? pic.twitter.com/A63grc6SUx
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— Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace) June 3, 2026
His argument is mostly around capacity and growth potential. The Fairgrounds Speedway can accommodate roughly 15,000 spectators on a packed night, while Nashville Superspeedway can expand to around 38,000. For NASCAR and race promoters, that difference could translate into larger crowds, greater revenue, and more room for future expansion. But even then, the debate over the Fairgrounds goes beyond just the attendance figures.
Speedway Motorsports has spent years attempting to bring a NASCAR-sanctioned race to the track. This also included a plan to renovate it. However, the plans have been halted since 2021 due to challenges faced by the authorities. Plus, there has been persistent resistance from residents concerned about the noise and its impact on the surrounding community.
In fact, there are social media pages dedicated just to opposing a revamp. Even proposals to construct sound-absorbing walls to address the issue have not been met kindly. The community also targeted Earnhardt Jr. earlier, who has been attempting to raise awareness about the track’s condition by hosting CARS Tour races at Fairgrounds Speedway.
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“Yet another North Carolina billionaire who wants to run up credit-card debt on the backs of Nashville taxpayers,” a resident protested against the effort, stating, “I wish Dale Jr. and his good buddy Marcus Smith at Speedway Motorsports would just count their money in Charlotte instead of terrorizing neighbors in South Nashville.”
Earnhardt Jr. responded to this, writing: “A billionaire??? I’d just buy the place.”
Wallace, at one point, seemed to understand the historical significance of the Fairgrounds, which is why he supported its redevelopment, much like Dale Earnhardt Jr. However, his visit to last Sunday’s Cup Series race, won by Denny Hamlin, appears to have changed his mind.
Why nostalgia alone can’t save the historic fairgrounds despite Dale Jr.’s best efforts?
When Dale Jr. took to the track earlier in April, it was his first time stepping back on the Fairgrounds Speedway since 1999. Understandably, he was hit with a wave of nostalgia and extremely optimistic about the track’s future.
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“I know there’s a lot of challenges ahead for that facility, but there is zero doubt after last night that the racing community there is as strong as ever,” Junior mentioned then. “I’m still very optimistic that the track’s future is secure.” But amidst that, perhaps he overlooked some of the issues that the track could possibly face in the future. And this is what Ken Schrader pointed out.
“I’m sorry. [The] Nashville event is great. But there’s a big group that doesn’t want the speedway there, and it’s not gonna be there long term in my mind because there’s no place to put the people or the trucks or the trailers or anything. They’ve used up all the ground. It was little when I went there in 1984. It didn’t get better,” he said when speaking on the Herm & Schrader podcast.
Moreover, a track’s development is not limited to the mile-long asphalt that is laid in the oval, or the grandstands, or even the route till there. NASCAR facilities are massive now compared to the older days, and tracks need separate areas to facilitate the haulers, the team’s working areas, etc. In fact, even the fans need somewhere to park. With the massive development that has taken place around the Fairgrounds Speedway, which seems hard to achieve now, this is exactly what Schrader pointed out.
Nostalgia is one thing, but practicality is another. If NASCAR were to invest more in the Nashville Superspeedway than the Fairgrounds Speedway, or if they were to construct a new track on a new patch of land that is not the target of criticism from the local community, it would understandably be a lot better for the sport in terms of return on investment.
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