How NASCAR Hosting MLB at Bristol Will Help “Cross-Pollinate” Two Major League Fan Bases

NASCAR is all set to host Major League Baseball at one of stock car racing’s most iconic venues next season. Bristol Motor Speedway will witness baseball fans flood the stands of ‘The Last Great Coliseum’ next year with the ‘MLB Speedway Classic’ set to go live from the infield on August 2, 2025.

The regular season baseball game will help promote two distinct fan bases of two sports that have not generally been linked with each other yet. The Cincinnati Reds’ home game against the Atlanta Braves is set to be the first time a regular season American League or National League baseball game has been played in the state of Tennessee.

NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain elaborated on how the unique collaboration will showcase not only stock car racing’s state-of-the-art facilities but also the sporting aspect and pools of talent found in MLB. “I think it’s unmeasurable what it could do for both sports,” Chastain told Forbes.

He added, “People coming here may have never even heard of Bristol, but they’re coming for the baseball game. And Bristol season-ticket holders might think, ‘You know what? I want to go see a baseball game here.’ I think you’re going to have quite a bit of cross-pollination with that.”

Former baseball third baseman Chipper Jones who attended the media interaction at Bristol Motor Speedway announcing the event recently also spoke on how he felt about the collaboration. “I grew up 25 miles inland from Daytona, so I went to numerous Daytona 500s and Firecracker 400s. Seeing all the haulers packed in, this place doesn’t look as large.”

“Being from the South and knowing what NASCAR means, seeing the butts in the seats and how loud it gets, my pucker factor was a 9.5,” said Chipper as 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott took him around a lap of the 0.5-mile-long track.

Bristol Motor Speedway has been host to football games in the past, with the venue not entirely new to stick and ball events. ‘The World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ most recently hosted a regular-season college football contest between the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech in 2016.

The event drew a crowd of 156,990 people. Bristol followed the event up with yet another NCAA FCS football game between East Tennessee State and Western Carolina just a week after. With the entirely new concept set to debut for the two premier sporting leagues in the country, it remains to be seen how fans and critics respond to the upcoming event.