Improving Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway has been like a tug-of-war between residents in the area, city officials and Speedway Motorsports, LLC officials. It’s been a battle that has been going on for years and is still nowhere near resolution.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently voiced his opinion on the Fairgrounds Speedway, one of his favorite racetracks. Junior would like to see all sides come to some resolution that would allow Speedway Motorsports to make several million dollars’ worth of improvements to the facility.
This includes building a massive “sound wall” that would keep things quiet for nearby residents, who are wholeheartedly against the Fairgrounds being enhanced. In fact, if they had their way, the Fairgrounds Speedway would be gone.
But Earnhardt is both optimistic and pessimistic about the future of the Fairgrounds Speedway, particularly after a recent post on social media that gave Fairgrounds supporters some hope.
“I texted Marcus (Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith), and I was like, ‘What the hell? Is this real now? Is this another one of them to get us all excited and then it goes away kind of deals?’” Earnhardt said.
“He was like, ‘Man, you never give up.’ He wouldn’t give me a straight answer. I guess they’re still working on it and I didn’t know that.
“I thought Marcus and Speedway had decided to just say, ‘Alright, we’re not doing it.’ But apparently they’re still working on it behind the scenes… trying to get to the governor to get it going.”
That’s where Junior turns optimistic while still remaining somewhat pessimistic. “So, we’ll see. I ain’t holding my breath, but I want it to happen,” he said.
“’Cause I think it’ll be better for the track and it’ll be better for the neighbors. They’re all mad because they think it’s going to be noisy and all this traffic.”
Earnhardt said that they were going to continue with all the same racing they already had, including the weekly events and about 10 other weekends.
He added that there would be one big national event, whether it was Trucks, Xfinity, or maybe Cup, and outside of what was already happening, that would be the only additional thing.
Will the promise of a sound wall sway those against the speedway?
Speedway Motorsports officials have tried to sway the Speedway’s neighbors by vowing to build a very large “sound wall” that would greatly diminish the sound of racing on the outside part of the wall, especially if NASCAR comes into play for one weekend a year.
“I’m just being honest, if I lived there and if someone walked in my front door and said, ‘Hey, they’re going to build a sound wall around that racetrack.’ I’ll go, ‘Hell yeah! I would like them to build a sound wall,’” Earnhardt said.
He explained that there were laws and protections around the track that couldn’t be taken away. Earnhardt said that some people thought they could change those laws, but at the moment the track remained protected by them.
“We love the grassroots connection. We love the vibe and energy you get at a racetrack like @FmSpeedway2025 .”@DaleJr speaks on the growth & future of the @CARSTour everything from the prize money, schedule & #NASCAR @RaceFairgrounds
— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) August 30, 2025
He continued, “And if the track’s got to be there and you’ve got a guy that wants to come in and spend all this money to make it better for you living next door, why wouldn’t you want to do it? I don’t know.
“I guess they just think that it’s going to be NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR all the time. But it’s just probably going to be one extra weekend on top of what you’re dealing with now… I would be like, ‘Bring it on. Go ahead. Ain’t no money out of my pocket.’”
