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New mega music event, NiFi Festival, coming to Texas Motor Speedway in 2016

Green Day, Miranda Lambert and Kings of Leon are just a few of the big-name artists on the bill of a brand new music fest called NiFi Festival, which takes over the Kentucky Speedway for three days this summer.

Come 2016, it will be Dallas-Fort Worth's turn to host the event.

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NiFi Festival is the product of a partnership between entertainment production company Nitro Fidelity and Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns and operates eight racing arenas around the country, including Texas Motor Speedway. And next year, staff confirmed the racetrack will trade blaring engines for blaring speakers over the festival's three days.

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While many of the details have yet to be solidified, Kenton Nelson, vice president of events and assistant general manager of Texas Motor Speedway, says NiFi will likely take place over Memorial Day weekend next year -- "Better than a 50/50 chance," he said by phone.

In fact, he says the festival had targeted D-FW as the inaugural event location, but that it wasn't organized in time for this passed Memorial Day, the proposed festival date.

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"Sometimes it's good to be the first, sometimes it's good to be the second," Nelson said, adding he will be attending the Kentucky event to see how it goes and what improvements could be made before the North Texas installment.

Producers are investing $15-$17 million into NiFi Festival, according to Billboard, with $6.5 million dedicated to talent buys. They are also projecting circa 30,000 attendees, the pub says. NiFi is a camping festival.

Texas Motor Speedway can hold 181,655 people in the infield and seats.
Texas Motor Speedway can hold 181,655 people in the infield and seats. (David Woo)

Texas Motor Speedway won't be the only NiFi venue in 2016 -- the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is reportedly also going to play host. The festival eventually plans to expand further across the nation to Sonoma, California, Atlanta and other raceways over the course of a 10-year exclusive agreement between Nitro Fidelity and SMI, according to Billboard.

If the thought of a camping music festival at a speedway sounds obscure, consider Electric Daisy Carnival, which hosts 400,000 concert attendees annually at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Texas Motor Speedway has previously held music events too, including the Rolling Stones in 1997. Last year, the speedway installed a screen bigger than the one at AT&T Stadium, named Big Hoss, which Nelson sees as a selling feature for the festival.

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Nelson believes the local NiFi Festival may exceed Kentucky's attendance numbers based on the proximity and population of North Texas. More details will be released soon, he says, perhaps even as early as within the next 30 days. So stay tuned.