Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | Nashville
Nashville heads to Music City this weekend, at a track that last hosted the league a decade ago. Despite no Cup races visiting Nashville Superspeedway, Roush Fenway does have quite the list of accomplishments at the all concrete facility including six Xfinity Series wins.
All-Star Recap, Nashville Preview
- Buescher came up just short of advancing to Sunday night’s All-Star Race, after getting spun out early in the action and finishing third overall in the final stage.
- Newman finished 20th in the All-Star Race, his 20th start in the annual exhibition event.
- Fifth Third Bank rides along with Buescher on the No. 17 Ford this weekend.
- Planters, the 115-year old snack brand, and the iconic Mr. Peanut will ride along Newman’s machine this weekend. Planters served as an associate on the four races leading up to Nashville (COTA, Charlotte, Sonoma, Texas).
Nashville Superspeedway Hosts Halfway Point, New Look in Cup Schedule
- This weekend marks week 18 of the NASCAR Cup Series season, the halfway point of the 36-race schedule, and with it comes a new facility in Nashville, Tennessee, along with TV coverage switching from the FOX networks to NBC.
- Nashville Superspeedway, a 1.33-mile oval in Lebanon, Tennessee, will host the NCS for the first time in its history. The facility – about a 40-minute drive from Nashville – once hosted NASCAR, ARCA and IndyCar events during its operation from 2001-11. The new event is one of many changes on the revamped 2021 schedule, and one of three tracks the series will visit for the first time.
- NBC’s portion of the schedule gets underway with this weekend’s action on NBCSN. In total, 12 races are planned on that network, with eight slated for the network NBC channel.
Practice and Qualifying Back for Nashville!
With another new track on tap this weekend, the schedule again includes both practice and qualifying, a theme not all too common in the 2021 schedule. The NCS will practice for just under an hour Saturday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. ET, and it will be live on NBCSN and MRN. Qualifying will take place Sunday morning at 11:05 a.m. ET, and will also be televised on NBCSN and MRN.
Roush Responsible for Very First, Very Last NASCAR Events at Nashville Superspeedway
NASCAR’s tenure at Nashville lasted around a decade, and Jack Roush not only opened but closed out the run the Xfinity Series had there with victories. In the very first NXS race back in 2001, Greg Biffle led 133 of the 225 laps to capture one of his five series wins that season. Carl Edwards, responsible for five NXS wins at Nashville Superspeedway, won the very last NASCAR race there, leading 124 of the 225 laps in July of 2011.
Cousin Carl Dominates in Music City
Edwards dominated in his 13 starts at Nashville, finishing top-10 in all but once race, and top five in all but two. He averaged a finish of 3.5 with five overall wins, including three-straight from 2006-07, and the final two in 2011. Driving the No. 60 entry in all 13 events, Edwards led a combined 247 laps in the first three wins, then went on to lead a combined 272 laps in the 2011 races, which stands as the last time NASCAR visited the facility.
Tale of the Tape
Overall at Nashville SS, 13 different drivers drove for Jack Roush at the 1.33-mile track, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., as the lone driver among that list still active. Roush has 28 top-10s in 46 starts, 17 of which were inside the top five, with an average finish of 12th and 813 laps led.
Roush Fenway Nashville Wins
2001 Biffle
2006 Edwards
2007 Edwards
2011 Edwards
2011 Edwards
2007 Edwards