Did You Notice?… NASCAR remains committed to bringing racing back into downtown Nashville? News surfaced this week Speedway Motorsports is continuing efforts despite a new mayoral administration to fund a redevelopment of the old Fairgrounds track. Last raced on by the NASCAR Cup Series in 1984, the .596-mile oval recently hosted SRX and remains active with local racing divisions.
It’s worth noting NASCAR already has implanted itself back in the region with 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway, although that track is a good 35-40 minutes outside the city in a town called Lebanon, TN. Still, the lobbying continues, a push for SMI to reconnect with one of the sport’s iconic tracks despite large swaths of the country that remain without a major stock car race in their backyard.
As the sport embarks on a new chapter next season, from its TV package to a likely new agreement with Cup race teams, it’s an opportunity to explore new places NASCAR could head in the coming decade. There’s been talk the sport might go international again, with rumors of a race in Montreal building up steam before ultimately coming short of fruition in 2024. Now, there’s rumblings of a return to Mexico City, where the sport’s Xfinity Series once raced in the late 2000s.
That said, there’s plenty of American markets starving for attention, major media markets devoid of a NASCAR event. And with the sport tinkering successfully with both an exhibition inside a Coliseum (L.A.) along with a street race (Chicago), there are now more options than ever to take stock car racing across the country.
With that in mind, here’s five places I’d love to see NASCAR expand to, in order of their importance to growing the sport over the next decade. Keep in mind we’re having a little fun in terms of speculation; just because a city is tops on the list doesn’t mean the sport is in serious discussions about going there. But these are all markets that should all be under consideration within the next 10 years if the sport is serious about growing their brand, touching areas where the sport has not yet made a major impact.
New York City
The top media market in the country has long been a crown jewel coveted by the France family. When they moved the season-ending banquet to the renowned Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1981, it was an “I made it” moment as NASCAR found itself implanted into downtown Manhattan. Suddenly, stock car racing was within an arm’s length…
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