The speedway is an 18-degree banked paved oval measuring 0.596 miles (0.959 km) in length. Inside the main oval sits a smaller 0.250-mile (0.402 km) paved oval. The track's current configuration is the result of several changes over its long history: it was converted from a quarter-mile track to its present length between 1969 and 1970, the banking was reduced from 35 degrees to 18 degrees in 1972, and the surface was repaved between the 1995 and 1996 seasons.
The site's racing heritage predates the modern oval by decades. On June 11, 1904, the original 1-1/8-mile dirt oval hosted "horseless carriage" and motorcycle races. Racing pioneer Barney Oldfield was among the competitors at a follow-up event in September 1904, drawing participants who had traveled directly from the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. The track began hosting annual events tied to the Tennessee State Fair starting in 1915, with many Indianapolis 500 veterans bringing their cars down to compete.
Paved track racing began in earnest in 1958. On July 19, 1958, the first race was held on the new paved surface. On August 10, 1958, a capacity crowd of 13,998 watched Joe Weatherly win the track's inaugural NASCAR race.
The speedway hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race every year from 1958 to 1984 — a run of 42 Cup races. Richard Petty won nine of those races; Darrell Waltrip won eight, including five of the last seven between 1981 and 1984. Waltrip was also prolific in lower-level NASCAR events at the track, and counting NASCAR, USAC, ASA, and local races combined, holds the all-time track record with 67 total wins.
A notable historical oddity occurred in 1959: in a 200-lap Grand National race, all 12 cars that started also finished — the first time an entire starting field completed a Cup race. That feat would not be repeated for 36 years, until the 1995 Tyson Holly Farms 400.
NASCAR departed the track after 1984 due to a dispute over management of the facility. The top series did not return, though lower-tier NASCAR events came back in the mid-1990s: the Busch Series ran nine races at the Fairgrounds between 1984 and 2000, and the Craftsman Truck Series held five events between 1996 and 2000. Both series moved to the newly opened Nashville Superspeedway for the 2001 season.
The track has launched or developed numerous drivers who went on to Cup Series careers. Coo Coo Marlin was the first back-to-back track champion in 1965 and 1966. His son Sterling Marlin won three track titles. Bobby Hamilton won championships in 1987 and 1988. Darrell Waltrip won two track championships and raced there from his earliest career years. Country music star Marty Robbins was a regular competitor in his signature purple and yellow cars. The Alabama Gang — Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, and Nashville native Red Farmer — frequently visited the track in the 1960s and 1970s.
The track's flagship invitational event, the All American 400, is a 400-lap race for super late model stock cars that has been held at the Fairgrounds since 1981, with some editions shortened to 300 or 200 laps. Originally co-sanctioned with the All Pro Super Series and American Speed Association, the race has continued in various forms and has attracted top regional and national late model talent throughout its history.
The track was renamed Music City Motorplex in 2003, though the Fairgrounds Speedway name has remained the common reference. After a period of uncertainty regarding Nashville's plans to redevelop the fairgrounds site, a 2009 ballot measure protected the track, and it continued operating. In December 2021, Speedway Motorsports reached an agreement in principle with Nashville Mayor John Cooper on a plan to renovate the facility and potentially return NASCAR Cup Series racing.
The track has appeared in multiple NASCAR simulation titles over the years, including the Grand National Expansion Pack for NASCAR Racing 2, and subsequent NASCAR Racing 1999 Edition, NASCAR 4, NASCAR 2002, and NASCAR 2003. iRacing laser-scanned the facility in October 2019 and added it to their service in September 2020. It also appears in SRX: The Game, released in 2021.