NASCAR is headed back to the Music City.
(Well, 30 miles away from the Music City, but whatever.)
NASCAR and Dover Motorsports Inc. on Wednesday announced that Nashville Superspeedway will reopen and host a Cup Series race in 2021. Consequently, Dover International Speedway will lose one of its two Cup races next season.
Nashville Superspeedway opened in 2001 and regularly hosted NASCAR Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series events until lagging attendance resulted in an effective closure in 2011. The 1 1/3-mile concrete oval track never has hosted a Cup race.
BREAKING NEWS: NASCAR Cup Series to race at Nashville Superspeedway in 2021: https://t.co/Qqp7zlZhAD pic.twitter.com/u5ZdAmpIVa
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 3, 2020
“Thanks to the collaboration of Dover Motorsports and our broadcast partners, we are excited to bring NASCAR racing back to Nashville, a place where the passion for our sport runs deep,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps said in a statement. “The Nashville market is a vital one for our sport, and bringing NASCAR Cup Series racing to Nashville Superspeedway will be an integral building block in helping us further deliver on our promise in creating a dynamic schedule for 2021.”
An official date for the 2021 Nashville Cup race has not been revealed, though June 20 has been floated as a “tentative” date in multiple reports.