Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, a possible site for future NASCAR national series races, announced Wednesday that it has canceled Sunday’s 34th All American 400 Super Late Model race because of impending rain.
Kyle Busch was scheduled to compete in the event, which is among the top Super Late Model races in the country.
The cancellation comes a day after The Tennessean reported that the track’s operator breached its contract with Nashville Fairgrounds.
Last week, The Tennessean reported that financing to upgrade the .596-mile racing facility and other matters have led to questions about the viability of bringing a national series NASCAR race back to Nashville.
Bristol Motor Speedway and the track’s operator entered into an agreement in December to try to bring NASCAR national series events to the track.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked NASCAR President Steve Phelps on the Dale Jr. Download about a national series race returning to Nashville.
“Are we going to be racing in Nashville or not? I don’t know,” Phelps said. “I know that at least I’ve been told, (Speedway Motorsports, Inc. CEO) Marcus (Smith) has had discussions with the folks in Nashville at the fairgrounds. How likely is that going to happen? Right now he has no sanctioning agreement for 2021, so he can’t bring anything there. If he wants to bring something there, obviously NASCAR has to have an involvement. They are our dates. We will absolutely (get involved) when it’s time.”
The All American 400 Super Late Model race was set to run last fall before it was postponed by rain and rescheduled for this weekend. Sunday’s forecast for Nashville, Tennessee, calls for a 100 percent chance of rain, according to wunderground.com
“The forecast is awful for this weekend and we don’t want the racers and fans to have to spend the money in travel costs to come here for nothing,” said Claire Formosa, VP of Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, on the track’s Facebook page. “Many of the drivers were coming from a long way, so we wanted to do this early to help them out. We are now going to focus on our regular season opener next Saturday and get prepared for the 35th All American 400 this year.”
The All American 400 is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2019.
This decision comes after questions about certain actions by the track promoters.
The Tennessean reported this week that Laura Womack, Nashville Fairgrounds director, notified track operators Tony and Claire Formosa in a letter that they have 30 days to remedy issues.
According to the newspaper’s report, Womack said that the Formosas:
# Failed to pay rent on time.
# Owe $31,930 from concessions revenue from the 2018 season.
# Violated track rental curfew on March 27.
The Tennessean reported that the track’s rent for January to March was paid April 4.
Womack requested that the Formosas appear at the Fair Board meeting April 16 to address the matters.
Claire Formosa told the Tennessean that “there are some things that we are aware of that we have taken care of, like the office rent. The other two things ... there is a lot more to it than what is being stated in the letter.”