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Bristol Motor Speedway has hosted some very unique events over the years. With a seating capacity of around 146,000, it not only has put on several racing events on its paved track throughout the years, it has also hosted a Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech college football game, a dirt NASCAR race, and now, in 2025, it will play host to a Major League Baseball game.
That’s right. On August 2, 2025, Bristol Motor Speedway will host the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds in a regular season Major League Baseball game.
In a little less than 100 days, the Braves and Reds will play a game in the eighth largest sports venue in the world. By comparison, the largest stadium in Major League Baseball, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, holds around 56,000 fans.
According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the largest crowd to ever see a Major League Baseball game was 115,300 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on March 29, 2008. However, that was an exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. The largest attendance at a regular season MLB game was 86,563 when the Cleveland Indians played host to the New York Yankees at Municipal Stadium on Sept. 12, 1954.
Will the Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway set a new record? It’s certainly possible, but according to Front Office Sports, “the league is still working through exactly how many seats to sell to ensure good views of the action.”
As one can see in the renderings of what the baseball field will look like inside the speedway below, there will potentially be some seats that are very, very far away from the action.
“There are some luxuries you get from being in such a big venue like Bristol. But there are still a number of things to balance, including fan experience and having a backdrop that immediately makes it clear it’s a racetrack,” said MLB SVP of global events Jeremiah Yolkut.
In addition to the game itself, Bristol Motor Speedway and Major League Baseball announced this week that there will also be a pregame concert by country music star Tim McGraw on August 2.
“This event tells a great story, being able to bring the culture of one sport into another,” said Bristol Motor Speedway president Jerry Caldwell. One thing is for sure. It certainly will be different.