A ruthless plot to permanently destroy one of America’s most historic racetracks is underway, and a NASCAR insider is now sounding the alarm. We’re talking about the Nashville Fairgrounds, the second-oldest racetrack that opened in 1904. Despite the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. headlined a CARS Tour race to a sold-out crowd earlier this month, insider Matt Weaver claimed that a return for Nashville Fairgrounds to the NASCAR schedule is possible, but there are a lot of factors that ‘it won’t happen.’

Matt Weaver reveals the three-way battle for Nashville Fairgrounds

Weaver revealed that the track is protected by a 2011 referendum on its property. And for someone to come in and threatens the racing at the property, almost 40,000 signatures would be needed to start an election, which would then need to be passed.

Having said that, Weaver pointed to the soccer stadium of Nashville SC, which is also on the same Nashville Fairgrounds property, the intentions of its owner Jack Ingram, and the three-way interwoven paths related to the track.

“Despite claims to the contrary, John Ingram, who runs the soccer team there, he does not want that racetrack to continue existing. He can say all day long that it’s not true, but he is behind many of the groups that are opposing the speedway because he wants that property for other purposes. He doesn’t want a brand new sporting multi-purpose entertainment facility in his backyard, siphoning non-sports events from him. That’s just the reality,” Weaver described.

To Weaver’s point, back in 2018, Ingram went on record claiming he can get behind the idea of ‘soccer supports racing.’ This was an idea former Nashville Mayer John Cooper also believed in, to the point where a deal with SMI was on the horizon in 2021. But then Cooper left his office and Ingram changed his tune.

In a recent statement by his team, it is stated that Jack Ingram doesn’t see how ‘a massive expansion of the racetrack’ is feasible because the Fairgrounds site won’t be able to ‘absorb that level of added impact.’

Along with the Jack Ingram side of it, Matt Weaver also pointed out to Bob Sergeant of Track Enterprises who has the lease which is a year-to-year lease. Weaver claimed that Sergeant wants to have a lease as long as 5 years, while not competing with Ingram.

And then there’s Marcus Smith of Speedway Motorsports (SMI), who is interested in the lease, as long as it is a long-term one of at least 30 years.

“If I’m going to invest a ton of my own money, I want to have the runway to play that out. And so each of these three dueling narratives are intertwined. And there’s a lot of different directions that it can go,” he added.

Weaver claimed that the situation is ‘so darn nuanced’ with three dueling intertwined narratives. However, he mentioned there could be a way.

Nashville Fairgrounds needs a lot more of what Dale Jr. brought to the venue

Further talking about the Nashville Fairgrounds’ racing future, Matt Weaver explained that Bob Sergeant intends to continue racing and turn the facility into a modern short track venue instead of a NASCAR Cup venue. But Weaver also believed there is a counter-narrative to Sargeant’s intentions, and it involves one of NASCAR’s most famous and influential names, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

“The $60 million at a minimum that place probably needs will be provided for local short track racing. You need some sort of national event. You need the place to look like it did on Saturday with Dale Jr. and the CARS Tour with 13-14,000 people,” he described.

It’s worth mentioning that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Marcus Smith were both key players in bringing North Wilkesboro Speedway to the map. The NASCAR Hall of Famer played a big role in helping restore the historic racetrack and advocating for it, which eventually led to it landing the All-Star spot on the NASCAR calendar.

Weaver added that if Marcus Smith of SMI doesn’t get the long term lease, it would be a lot easier for someone to turn the 2011 referendum. He mentioned that the facility would need a lot of good publicity and numbers in thousands, instead of weekly races hosted in front of hundreds of ‘family and friends,’ which could potentially mean that someone like Dale Jr. might have to get involved, as he did in NWS.

Either way, as things stand for the racing future of Nashville Fairgrounds, it’s Bob Sargeant battling John Ingram in the shadows while Marcus Smith waits to enter on the condition of getting a long-term lease.