Saturday at the PRI (Performance Racing Industry) Trade Show, Bob Sargent of Track Enterprises announced that the ARCA Menards Series East will compete at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville on May 2nd.
Bob Sargent announces Nashville Fairgrounds will host ARCA Menards Series East race May 2. pic.twitter.com/QLg1oUco6k
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) December 14, 2019
Track Enterprises has reached a deal to become the new promoter for events at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
The track has been rumored to be making a return to NASCAR, but several huge obstacles have gotten in the way. However, it’s obvious the sanctioning body wants to return and the city as well as the sanctioning body have begun to receive pressure from drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, who have publicly said they will race at the track if it returns to the NASCAR National Series schedule.
The ARCA Menards Series East, of course, is a rebranding of NASCAR’s long-time K&N Pro Series East. That series has not competed at the Fairgrounds Speedway since 2008.
The ARCA Menards Series competed at the facility last May.
This looks like a promising step at showing what the track — which hasn’t hosted a NASCAR National Series event since 2000 — is capable of from a NASCAR National Series standpoint.
Additionally, ARCA announced during the event that Souix Chief Manufacturing will sponsor a 10-race Showdown set of race, which will pit the ARCA Menards East and West division teams against each other. The showdown will pay out $920,000 over the 10-race stretch.