Catchfence

Nashville Superspeedway had been coasting on financial fumes in recent years, but on Wednesday any hope of it fulfilling the economic promise its owners envisioned sputtered to a halt amid weaker sales and a dwindling payroll.

But local officials say the decision by the 25,000-seat track’s corporate owner, Dover Motorsports Inc., to let the facility go dark won’t leave taxpayers on the hook for a remaining $21 million in outstanding bond debt issued 12 years ago when the speedway was first being developed.

Crowds at the 1.33-mile track’s events, even for the second-tier NASCAR races that it staged, had been declining since 2007. So, too, had the track’s staff, slipping from 35 employees in 2009 to just 10 as of Wednesday.

“If you have tuned in to any NASCAR race, you can see holes in the grandstands everywhere,” said Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover Motorsports. He said the national economy has hurt.

- The Tennessean