Mike Organ

morgan@tennessean.com

Matt Kenseth would like to see NASCAR to come to Gladeville track.

Belmont replaces award destroyed by fire.

Famous Vandy fan goes to baseball game.

If Matt Kenseth gets his way, a lot of Middle Tennessee NASCAR fans will get theirs.

The driver, ranked third in the Sprint Cup standings, wants to move NASCAR’s annual all-star race, currently run in Charlotte, N.C., each year to a city that doesn’t currently have a race but has a venue that meets NASCAR standards.

Nashville fits that bill.

Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville is precisely the type of facility Kenseth is talking about.

PHOTOS:Nashville Superspeedway

He mentioned Nashville while in town last week for Dollar General’s Race Day at the company’s headquarters.

“There are so many facilities that are capable of having races, that had races and don’t anymore, like Nashville, Milwaukee, St. Louis,” Kenseth said. “There’s all these tracks that are equipped and ready, yet they don’t have an 80,000-seat grandstand. Still, you could get 25,000 or 35,000 people in there, plus camping and all that stuff.”

The added exposure in such markets, Kenseth believes, would benefit NASCAR, whose attendance has suffered over the past several years.

“It’s a market that (Sprint) Cup hasn’t been to, and I just think it would be great for the sport,” Kenseth said.

Nashville hasn’t had a Sprint Cup-caliber race in 30 years. The last Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) race in the city was run at the Nashville Fairgrounds in 1984.

Some believed the Sprint Cup Series was on its way to the Midstate when Nashville Superspeedway opened in 2001.

By 2009 the facility with a 11/ 3 -mile oval track seemed headed in that direction with NASCAR Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series races being run there each year.

The IndyCar Series Firestone 200 also was run at the Superspeedway for eight consecutive years.

In 2012, however, with NASCAR events across the nation strapped with declining attendance, the facility was closed.

It is now used by several NASCAR teams for testing and it wouldn’t take much to get in back in condition to host the All-Star race.

Kenseth said the response he has received since publicly making his suggestion has been mixed.

“I kind of got chewed out by Marcus Smith, who runs the Charlotte Motor Speedway,” Kenseth said. “You get asked questions and you have ideas and you give your honest opinion about what you think would be cool for the sport, fans and different markets. The problem is there’s a lot of politics, obviously. The tracks have a lot at stake; they all want to keep their races.”

Joe Gibbs, who owns Kenseth’s team, likes the idea of NASCAR returning to Nashville, but also believes persuading officials to move the all-star race will be difficult.

“Anything we can do in Nashville, we would like,” Gibbs said. “But I think you may have a tough time (with the all-star race) because there’s so much focus around Charlotte. Most of the teams are there and, of course, it’s a great facility. But if they chose to do that it would have some pluses.”

Gibbs said he believes NASCAR officials are considering the idea. “I think they’ve talked about it; there must be some kind of consideration,” he said. “It would be great to get it here in Nashville.”

Nashville track is ‘hot’ practice site

Gibbs’ team is among those that regularly use Nashville Superspeedway for testing.

“Our rules tell us we can’t test at any track we’re racing on,” Gibbs said. “And so Nashville becomes a place where a lot of people come.”

Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, which leases the facility to different teams about 50 days each year.

“What you can do here is a lot of testing we like to do,” Gibbs said. “Like brakes, different tire ratios; we’ve done motor tests here. Sometimes it’s front-end geometry. You want to try some new things that you would be afraid to test if it was race weekend when you don’t have but a couple of hours there to practice. Whereas you can spend all day testing at a place like Nashville.”

Estranged super fan travels with Vandy

Vanderbilt superfan Lance Smith, who vowed in February not to return to campus again after being escorted by campus police out of Memorial Gym during a basketball game, traveled to Hoover, Ala., to watch the Commodores play in the SEC baseball tournament last week.

The only way Smith said he would attend another game of any type on campus again is if he receives an apology from the Vanderbilt Police Department.

RELATED:The incident that made Lance mad

The SEC tournament was the first time Smith had seen the Commodores baseball team play in person since Feb. 25. Before the opening game last Tuesday, several Vanderbilt players came out of the dugout to shake Smith’s hand.

Smith said he does not plan to renew his Commodore Club membership or purchase basketball season tickets, which he has had for more than 30 years.

Belmont replaces destroyed award

Former Belmont basketball star Charlotte Speakman lost nearly all of her possessions when her home burned in 2002.

She has spent the past 12 years replacing most of her property, but thought the plaque she received after being inducted into the Belmont Athletics Hall of Fame was gone for good.

That was until earlier this month when Belmont officials replaced the plaque she received in 1990.

Speakman is a McGavock High graduate who made the 1978-79 All-Nashville Interscholastic League First Team and went on to have an outstanding career at Belmont (1979-83).

Her friend and fellow McGavock graduate Jimmy Burkard thought it would be a nice gesture to replace the plaque, so he told the folks at Belmont about Speakman’s loss.

They agreed, and her coach Betty Wiseman re-awarded the plaque to her at a dinner May 8.

VIDEO:Betty Wiseman, a Legendary Ladies Elite 8

“I’m glad I got a second chance to appreciate more than ever the honor that Belmont awarded me,” Speakman said. “I’m truly grateful and happy.”

Hermitage bar hosts beach volleyball

The National Collegiate Sand Volleyball Association has picked Nashville for its Tennessee Regional Championship.

The tournament, for men and women, will be Saturday at Nashville Beach, behind Rusty Nail Bar and Grill in Hermitage.

Winning teams will go to the NCSVA National Championships on July 24 in Long Beach, Calif.

The tournament is open to any college student.

Titans play basketball to raise money

Some current and former Titans are bouncing from the football field to the court for a charity basketball game at Battle Ground Academy. Money is being raised for Christ Life Community of Smyrna, which plans to help a community in Peru.

The Clash of the Titans, set for Thursday, features many notable names.

The Legends team includes former Titans Kevin Dyson, Chris Sanders, Keith Bulluck, Frank Wycheck and Neil O’Donnell. Others on the team are former Vandy basketball stars Shan Foster and Matt Freije along with former Lipscomb standout Marcus Bodie.

The Stars roster includes current Titans Michael Griffin, Nate Washington, Jason McCourty, Michael Preston, Coty Sensabaugh and Brett Kern along with the Dolphins’ Cortland Finnegan (a former Titan) and 6-foot-10 former Pitt basketball star Chris Taft, who spent two seasons with the Golden State Warriors.

The game tips off at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at clashofthetitanstn.com.

TSU administrator changes sports

Tom Opdenbrouw, Tennessee State’s director of football operations for the past couple of seasons, is expected to be named the Tigers’ softball coach this week.

He replaced Jeff Dabney, who was fired May 12 after four seasons with a 58-155 career record.

The Tigers have failed to qualify for the OVC Tournament the past 13 years.

Opdenbrouw arrived at TSU in 2008 as an assistant for the softball team.

Before that he was the head coach at Lindsey Wilson, where he won at least 30 games in each of his last three seasons.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter at @MikeOrganWriter.

SPORTS ON NASHVILLE TV

The top 5 local sporting events television ratings for May 12-18.

1. Horse racing: The Preakness 7.7 rating

2. NBA playoffs: Heat-Pacers (May 18) 6.3 rating

3. NBA playoffs: Thunder-Clippers (May 15) 4.7 rating

4. NASCAR: Sprint All-Star Race 4.5 rating

5. NBA playoffs: Nets-Heat (May 14) 4.2 rating

Each rating point is equal to 10,434 Nashville homes.

Source: Mark Binda, WTVF-5 program & research director