NASCAR great Kenny Wallace isn’t afraid to give his two cents on Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
Fans of NASCAR know how big of a deal it was for the sport to return to Music City. The stock car auto racing organization went over a decade without hosting race in Nashville, Tennessee before they returned in 2021 with a Cup Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway.
As far as racetracks in Nashville, the Superspeedway in Lebanon is longer, coming in at 1.33 miles. The shorter (and more historic) half-mile track that used to host NASCAR races is located at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
There’s been rumblings of NASCAR returning to the Nashville Fairground ever since former Mayor John Cooper announced in 2021 that the city had signed a letter of intent with Bristol Motor Speedway to renovate the Fairgrounds Speedway, which hasn’t hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race since 1984.
Evidently, that’s still been a work in progress – or maybe even a work in limbo – all of these years later. Current Mayor Freddie O’Connell views the potential renovation as a low priority compared to other issues Music City faces, and has been hesitant to commit to restoring the Nashville Fairground Speedway due to taxpayer protection and noise complaints from the community.
But there’s still life in the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, even without any renovations. That was proven to be true when Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the CARS Tour (premiere short track, late model racing series) went to the historic race track and, well, actually used it.
You know the old saying… if Dale Earnhardt Jr. is racing, people will come.
The former NASCAR driver was thrilled to race at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway again. He’s always been a proponent of reviving the track, and though he has no inside knowledge of the latest on those plans, he said in a social media post that he feels good about the future of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway:
“I feel like the race was a good success. We loaded up a lot of clean race cars at the end of the night. I spoke with several competitors that hoped we would return for another race so that’s exciting. Nashville Fairgrounds is a special place. 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. I’m still very optimistic that the track’s future is secure.
I’ve got no inside knowledge, but when you are there on the property you realize that anyone who walks that same ground can’t help but acknowledge the history and the potential. Appreciate anyone who came out to the race or viewed it on Flo Racing. Big thanks to our competitors for making the trip, and the new teams that joined us.”
There’s no doubt that there’s a racing community in Nashville that’s dying for the fairgrounds speedway to become a hot spot again.
The only problem? There’s a large amount of Nashvillians that oppose the restoration of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Ironically enough, there’s a coalition that’s called “Restore Our Fairgrounds” that’s fighting to end auto-racing at the location for good. You’d think with a name like that, they’d be on board with bringing the racetrack back to its former glory. But the Nashville coalition actually has other plans for the Nashville Speedway… and it involves repurposing the whole thing.
It was early in December of 2025 that the group submitted a petition to the city’s charter revision commission aiming to remove racing as a use of the property altogether. They are proposing that racing be done at the Nashville Superspeedway, and the Nashville Speedway location at the Fairgrounds to be reimagined with affordable housing, green space, and protections for the nearby Brown Creek.
In other words, there’s a large group of people that don’t want NASCAR-style racing to return to the historic track, and current mayor Freddie O’Connell hasn’t done anything that would lead anyone to believe he’s trying to help NASCAR return to the Nashville Fairgrounds.
But after a successful run at the fairgrounds, NASCAR great Kenny Wallace can’t help but imagine racing’s return to the historic track. In a video posted online, he attributed the excitement returning to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway to Dale Jr., and called out the mayor of Music City for dragging his feet when it comes to the track’s restoration:
“The Dale Earnhardt Jr. effect. Did you see that show last night? My gosh. I watched that race last night and Dale Jr. did a wonderful job. He did a kick-*ss job. But let’s be honest, he was passing for like 15th and the crowd was on their feet. Sold out, 12,000 people.
If that doesn’t tell you that people are ready for a race at Nashville, nothing will. That mayor better get his head out of his *ss… Dale Jr. and the CARS Tour, all it took to say, ‘Hey Nashville deserves the NASCAR Cup Series to be back.’ That is the Dale Jr. effect.”
Tell us how you really feel, Kenny Wallace.
And to be clear, Mayor Freddie O’Connell hasn’t come out and blatantly said that he doesn’t support the restoration of the historic race track. He’s just kept the doors open for a solution that could work for everyone, and not hurt taxpayers. If you ask Kenny Wallace, that hesitance stance means the mayor’s head is… well, you know.
Dale Jr. recently spoke at length about the track, but ultimately admitted that there’s only so much he can do:
