Former Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves mascot Blooper, and NASCAR drivers Chase Elliott … More
Bristol Motor Speedway – one of the most well-known tracks on the Nascar circuit – will look a whole lot different come Aug. 2. The entire infield will turn into a baseball field as the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will play the MLB Speedway Classic presented by BuildSubmarines.com.
“We’re really bringing our sports together with the speed of Nascar and the speed of baseball,” Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway, said. “The deep roots of country music that was born in Bristol, Tennessee. All of these things are converging into one. When you have Tim McGraw, Pitbull and Jake Owen meeting with the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds and the deep history of Nascar, it’s all taking place at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Fan experience is really important to us. There will be a tremendous fan plaza launching before the game. As you go in, you’ll be able to enjoy Tim McGraw, Pitbull, international stars, then you’ll see the first Major League Baseball game inside of a racetrack.”
Bristol usually hosts a pair of Nascar races, but the Speedway Motorsports-owned facility has recently gotten quite creative. In 2016, it held the Battle at Bristol NCAA game between the University of Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies, holding a record 156,990 fans.
The MLB Speedway Classic, which will air on FOX, will be the first-ever MLB game played in Tennessee. The MLB Fan Zone will not only have live music, but also batting cages, food trucks, racecars to take photos with, a ferris wheel and more.
Construction is shown of the ball field being constructed in the infield of Bristol Motor Speedway … More
Talks to host a baseball game at Bristol first began several years ago, around the time of the college football match. The Speedway Motorsports management team then brought in engineers to see if it’s possible to turn the .5-mile racetrack into a baseball field, and then back into a racetrack.
Caldwell explained that since this announcement took place, there have been an influx of companies interested in sponsorship packages with the racetrack. Several of those organizations are ones that have not purchased sponsorship packages for Nascar races and they may do so now.
“They are seeing the value of the crossover and the value of this unique event,” Caldwell said. “Our NCAA football game is one that people still talk about and say, ‘I was there’ or ‘I wish I was there.’ This will be that type of event, and fans and companies want to be part of it.”
The base for the field has already been constructed, and the grass will be delivered within a few weeks.
“I grew up playing baseball as a kid, so to go to Bristol in the spring and see the layout on the asphalt and trying to picture a baseball field on the infield at Bristol is wild,” 2023 Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said. “For me, Bristol is by far the coolest venue we go to. The way the fans sound in that place is electric, and that’s even with racecars on it. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like with a baseball game.
“For us on the Nascar side, it gets the fans coming for the baseball game excited to come see a race at Bristol. As a racer, I would tell any fan to come see an event at Bristol.”
Bristol will have just over a month to reconstruct its infield ahead of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, which is the Cup Series regular season finale on Sept. 13. Not only will the grass need to be removed from the infield, but portions of the pit wall and the Goodyear Tire Building will need to be reconstructed.
“We’re marrying these two fan bases together,” Caldwell concluded.
