“Like Visiting an Old Friend”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sums Up Emotional Revisit to Nashville Fairgrounds After 27 Years

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will return to race at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on April 11, lining up in the Tootsie’s Music City Showdown, taking the wheel of his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet in a CARS Tour Late Model Stock event. His outing is still a few weeks away, but he’s decided to head over to the track to get some laps in.

Dale Jr. took part in a tire test to get a feel for the surface and what it might throw his way. The CARS Tour runs on Hoosier Racing Tire rubber, and test days like these help teams get their ducks in a row, gauging wear and grip before race day.

However, for Dale Jr., the outing went beyond tracking numbers on a sheet. Going to the Nashville Fairgrounds also brought back some old memories.

“I went to Nashville Fairgrounds yesterday to test @HoosierTire for the upcoming @CARSTour race there on April 11th. I had a lot of fun. I hadn’t ran a lap there since middle of 1999. I raced there a dozen times in the mid 1990s when it was a hotbed for Late Model Stocks,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“You’d have 30 cars for a weekly 100 lap feature. It was amazing. Somehow the Late Model Stock footprint receded to western Tennessee over the years. 

“Anyhow, the track is fast. There are some weeper issues and a massive bump off turn 2 but it wasn’t nothing of real concern. We also got a chance to test mufflers. The noise ordinance makes them a requirement… It was emotional to make those laps yesterday. Like visiting an old friend and realizing they still were the same person you always admired,” the NASCAR Hall of Famer continued.

Nashville holds additional significance for him because it also has ties to his dad Dale Earnhardt Sr. Beyond the seat time, Dale Jr. touched on talks involving Marcus Smith and local officials around sound barriers, a step tied to keeping racing in the area.

Junior‘s last race at the venue was the 1999 BellSouth Mobility 320 in what was then the Busch Grand National Series and a return has been on his radar for years. In 2021, he told The Tennessean he would jump at the chance to race there again if the series made its way back.

The venue has a long history with NASCAR, hosting Cup races from 1958 through 1984, as well as runs of the O’Reilly Series and Craftsman Truck Series through 2000. These days, it keeps the engines running with a summer schedule.

April 11 will mark the first time the CARS Tour heads to the Fairgrounds, with both the Late Model Stock division and the Pro Late Model Tour on the bill. The event came together with help from Justin Marks and backing secured through Steve Smith.