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Nashville Superspeedway is Made For NASCAR | Lights Out With John Roberts · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:05
  And it is time to go lights out with the president of Nashville
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  Superspeedway, Matt Gricci. Matt, thank you so much for
• 0:11
  joining us. I know this is a hugely busy
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  time for you. We're only a couple weeks away
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  from the big event. But but looking back on this
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  thing, Nashville and racing right now just seems to be going
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  so well together. And it seems like year after
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  year, this event is getting better and better.
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  Although it's young, it just keeps building.
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  It is young. I think this is one place that
• 0:34
  everybody wants to be in and come visit.
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  And we're we're super thankful that we're here and heading into
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  our fifth annual NASCAR Triple Header weekend and it's going to
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  be an enjoyable week. We are.
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  We're two weeks away from welcoming campers onto property
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  here at Nashville Superspeedway, and we couldn't be more joyed.
• 0:53
  You know, Matt, when people go out on a racetrack, they have a
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  barometer that's there and that's the stopwatch.
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  You can see how fast you run. And that's the that's the the
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  standard by which they're judged.
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  When you're a promoter and you're trying to put a race on,
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  I think the standards is how many people that not only come
• 1:10
  there the first time, but come back.
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  And you guys have had a return crowd at Nashville.
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  You've had a huge crowd at Nashville and this place has
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  been packed that that's got to be a really good feeling for you
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  guys knowing that you're putting out a good product.
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  Really is I think you know, the entertainment aspect on the
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  racetrack has been phenomenal. But coming into the market of
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  Nashville is that people want to visit here and it's an enjoyable
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  place to to come visit. Whether you just looking to see
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  some great racing on our mile on 1/3 concrete surface or come
• 1:39
  visit Nashville for all that it has in Middle Tennessee.
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  And it's a great music scene at obviously, but good arts, good,
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  good food scene and just an enjoyable place to come visit.
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  And yeah, we see repeat customers across the across the
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  nation, but we get visitors from multiple countries as well.
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  And it's great to welcome everybody here to Nashville
• 2:00
  Superspeedway. Also, I think one of the better
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  stories about this whole thing, Matt, is the fact that this
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  Speedway basically went away for a while.
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  It was active with some of NASCAR's different series, Cup
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  Series wasn't here. But now it gets revitalized.
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  It comes back, kind of grows back up out of the out of the
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  ground again. That's got it.
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  I think it adds a little bit of, well, uniqueness to the
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  racetrack, but also it lets us know never say never.
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  In NASCAR, a track may be idle, but it certainly can come back.
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  Yeah, I think you're seeing that at a couple different places of
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  resurgence. And yeah, this place was built
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  in 2001 with the grand idea of getting a NASCAR Cup Series race
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  here. And they operated really solid,
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  tremendous events for 10 years. And you know, 2011 it shut down
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  but came back online, then hosted its first ever NASCAR Cup
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  Series race on in 2021. And it's great to see.
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  I think the team here is proud. Yes, we are.
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  We are young heading into only our fifth year, but see a
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  resurgence and how the the NASCAR scene is picked up here
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  in, in Middle Tennessee and Nashville.
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  We're we're super proud. So what was the story like for
• 3:12
  you, Matt? How did this come about?
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  I know the the first time you and I met, you're an intern in
• 3:17
  Charlotte and here you are now the president of a racetrack.
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  There's, I would imagine there'd be a great story behind that as
• 3:24
  to how this whole thing developed for you personally.
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  And now to be the youngest track president and all in NASCAR.
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  Speaking of things aging, yes, an intern team decades ago and
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  it has been, but I've had a great, great experience here at
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  Speedway Motorsports. And that's where I started as an
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  intern at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as you alluded to,
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  John. And I was was grateful for the
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  opportunities that I, I got coming up through the, the ranks
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  and the experience that I was able to gain at Charlotte Motor
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  Speedway. And just the the sheer amount of
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  events that they're on and the, the to the tier and expertise
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  that it's run. And then when Speedo Motorsports
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  had had the opportunity to purchase this venue, Marcus
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  Smith was gracious and offered me the opportunity to come over
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  here and join the team at National Superspeedway and bring
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  some Speedway Motorsports experience and, and, and
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  lifeblood into this this venue and couldn't be more proud.
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  I think our, my family loves living here in, in this area of
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  the country and I'm enjoying being a part of the team here
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  and everything that we get to execute an experience.
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  And again, just grateful for the opportunity of being with with
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  Speedway Motorsports and then into the role here at general
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  manager at Nashville Superspeedway.
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  And so Matt, I know as we're talking about age here, Marcus
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  was a very young man when I started hanging out at Charlotte
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  Motor Speedway. But his dad Bruton was
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  absolutely fantastic, just the epitome of a promoter.
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  And I love the attitude that Marcus has now and all you guys
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  around him at SMI is that never say never in NASCAR.
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  Bruton got was told you you can't light up a racetrack.
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  Well, what did he do? He he lit up a racetrack.
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  They were told you can't have condominiums at a racetrack.
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  What they do, they build condominiums.
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  You can't have Astroturf in the infield.
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  Guess what? Now we have Astroturf in the
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  infield places. Is it, is it a really great
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  thing for you running one of these venues to know that people
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  above you are having that kind of attitude?
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  Don't ever say we can't. Yeah, I mean, Bruton is a a
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  pioneer and obviously a Hall of Famer in in Motorsports and
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  NASCAR. And yes, never say never.
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  I think the ideas and that's the great thing about this company
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  is that we're willing to try new things and you know what, what
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  will stick, but give it a go. We want to we want to do it for
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  the fans and the experience is is paramount to us as a company
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  and how those fans experience their a race weekend.
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  And you know, Marcus Smith and the entire Smith family are just
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  great ambassadors and leaders of the sport.
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  And you've seen it with Marcus even in the short term in this
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  past couple years, bringing North Wilkesboro back online and
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  trying out the role at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a company.
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  And we're not afraid to push the limits if we think it's going to
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  be a, a better experience for the fans.
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  And that's, that's the, that's the support we get as being able
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  to sit in this seat as general manager.
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  If we have ideas that are a little bit outside the box,
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  well, they might be really inside the box as a company.
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  And if we're willing to push the limits and make sure that we're
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  we're focused on the fan, fan experience.
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  So Nashville Superspeedway is certainly very popular right now
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  with the race fans, but also there's the, there's the matter
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  of the fairgrounds SMII feel again.
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  And, and you know, Full disclosure here, I'm a Nashville
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  resident too, maybe a little bit biased, Matt, but I think if you
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  could, if you could offer the race fan 2 opportunities
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  throughout the course of the year.
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  You come, you see superspeedway racing and then you come back at
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  a different time in the schedule and you see the fairgrounds
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  revitalize. The way that SMI has has
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  promoted has proposed to do this.
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  Would it be a win win situation do you think, for both venues?
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  As fast as Nashville is growing and it continues to grow, and
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  then even as folks that just want to visit this great area of
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  the country, yeah, I think it's sustainable.
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  We believe it. And it's so easy to get here
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  from major metros in this side of the country and there's such
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  a hotbed of Motorsports enthusiasts that you get to come
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  to a market twice a year, but maybe operate that at two
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  different race tracks is a unique thing that nowhere else
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  in the country is is doing that. So I think it's something Speedo
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  Motorsports and Jerry Caldwell's continue to to engage on and
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  work towards. And you know, we're we're still
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  hopeful there, but we're again very thankful that we've got
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  this tremendous venue here at Nashville Super Speedway there
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  we can guarantee we're continuing to race on and we're
• 8:03
  looking forward to in a couple weeks.
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  So one thing also I I certainly am looking forward to is coming
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  up you guys have your kickoff party fast cars and guitars.
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  Two things we're all very proud of around here.
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  You guys for your Speedway Children's Charity chapter are
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  putting on an event that I think it's going to be spectacular and
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  can't wait to go to where people in this area really from
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  anywhere around the country have an opportunity to come here and
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  race against some of the best in the business that Chris Buscher,
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  Josh Berry, who's from Hendersonville, TN when Nick
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  Sanchez, what an opportunity for someone to come here.
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  And I think Matt, it really goes to the total experience, the
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  whole experience that someone can have not just coming to an
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  area on a race weekend, but also having the opportunity to do
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  other things in and around the area and also here to benefit
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  the children's charity. You have an opportunity to race
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  against some of the best in the biz on the simulators.
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  You're right, it's a, it's a race weekend here at National
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  Superspeedway, but it's really a race week and you know, we'll
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  start programming and be engaged fully into the market.
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  And we are really excited about this Speedway Children's
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  Charities, Guitars and fast Cars event that we're doing on
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  Wednesday, May 28th. It's over at Portium 1A short
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  drive from us here and close to downtown Nashville.
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  They've been a great partner for us to set up some racing
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  simulators and get these active drivers, as you mentioned,
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  Chris, Josh and Nick into there and we're working on some more,
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  but it's going to be a great event for us to raise funds, you
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  know, mention Speedway Motorsports.
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  Speedway Children's Charities is our giving arm.
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  It's our opportunity to give back to each of our local
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  communities. So anything that we are raising
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  through our chapter here at National Superspeedway, it's
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  going to stay right here in the market, it's going to stay in
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  Middle Tennessee and it's going to support children and families
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  in need. Along those same lines, Matt, I
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  think when, you know, people can say in racing, they can say,
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  hey, we support you or think you're doing a great thing.
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  But when they put their money where their mouth is, just a
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  couple weeks ago, you and I were both at this announcement that
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  was absolutely fantastic that you guys have a partner in
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  Cracker Barrel. Now this is the Cracker Barrel
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  race. That name is on here and it's a
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  it's a nationwide brand that people associate with.
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  But for a big company like that, yeah, again, it's great to have
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  big crowds. That's one thing.
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  But boy, when someone is willing to invest and we must say a
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  bunch of coin into this thing like that, how big of a thing
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  was that to have Cracker Barrel now as your entitlement partner?
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  It's massive. I would say, you know, it's, I
• 10:44
  can't say Cracker Barrel 400 enough without putting a smile
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  on my face. They're a local partner here.
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  They were born and bred here in Lebanon, TN 8 miles from us at
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  the racetrack. And you know, homestyle family,
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  your home away from home is their location.
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  That's what we like to say here at Nashville Super Speedway as
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  well. Hopefully we're your home
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  racetrack and bringing those worlds combined and executing
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  Cracker Barrel 400 is gonna be great.
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  But it's also a Speedway Motorsports wide opportunity for
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  us and them to engage in all of our NASCAR Cup Series and race
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  weekends that they get to experience the Speedway
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  Motorsports event and customers. And a true partnership is how do
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  we, how do we benefit them? We're trying to drive more
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  traffic to their stores and get their brand out there and we're
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  super excited to bring them on board.
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  One of the things about the race, Matt, it's been, it's,
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  it's been hot before. And I know you guys are very
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  concerned about the safety of fans and also the fan
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  experience. But moving this race to the
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  night time and moving the date, all those things I think put
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  together for a much better fan experience.
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  Whereas somebody might say, hey, I was there before and it was
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  kind of uncomfortably hot. You guys have done a lot to
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  improve that fan experience. Yeah, We know the this area of
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  the country can be pretty, pretty hot in the months of
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  June, July, August. Typically we've been the 3rd or
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  4th week of June on the schedule.
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  This year we're May 30th through June 1st.
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  So we, we've tried to move that to a more accommodating weather
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  wise weekend and we're really excited about that date for all
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  of our races. But instead of 1, not 2, but all
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  three of our races are under the light.
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  So you get cooler temperatures at night.
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  Plus seeing racing under the lights is there's nothing much
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  more. The top stat, seeing cars go 2
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  wide, three wide, whether it's the Wreck Roofing 200, Tennessee
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  Lottery 250 or the Cracker Barrel 400, you're going to see
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  cars and trucks underneath the lights, which is super exciting.
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  We've been able to get that for all three of our races this
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  year. Well, Matt, want to say
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  congratulations on your success so far.
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  It's certainly been great to see racing come back to that
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  racetrack. I know the drivers like it and
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  the fans like it right now, and I know you guys are working your
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  butts off day and night to make it a great experience.
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  So congratulations on the past, good luck on the future, and
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  we'll see you very soon under the lights in Nashville.
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  Of the lights, May 30th through June 1st.
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  Looking forward to welcoming everybody here.
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  John, thank you for all your support.
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  We're going to have great driver appearances even in the fan zone
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  with you. And throughout the weekend,
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  we're going to be programming music and driver appearances,
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  and it's going to be exciting race weekend.
• 13:31
  Looking forward to it, Sir. Thanks, Matt.
• 13:33
  Thank you. I appreciate it.