London. Tokyo. Rickwood. Williamsport.
And now, Bristol. Major League Baseball continues to expand the scope of its neutral sites, with the Braves and Reds set to face off in the Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 2.
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It’s a 160,000-capacity behemoth of a coliseum, known for housing scores of NASCAR events throughout the season. Now, it will host the first Major League Baseball game in the state of Tennessee.
“It’ll be really cool,” Braves All-Star pitcher Chris Sale said after Braves and Reds All-Stars took a picture alongside a special-edition race car outside Atlanta’s Coca-Cola Roxy before Monday’s All-Star media availability. “I went to [the London Series] in 2019, and I really enjoy these kind of one-off things. Having it be at a motor speedway is pretty cool.”
For Sale, the moment carries extra significance.
“I grew up in a NASCAR house,” he glowed. “My dad and my uncle and my cousin, it was like -- they loved it. … My sister, she loves NASCAR. My brother-in-law loves it, so they’re gonna be there. It’s just a cool experience for the fans, too, I think. My sister’s here right now, and she’s already talking about that. It’s like, ‘We’re at the All-Star Game, let’s talk about this,’ and she’s like, ‘No, no, no, Bristol’s coming up.’”
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“I’ll be excited,” Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott said. “I grew up a NASCAR fan, so I’m kind of getting a little taste of my childhood now. I think it’s gonna be great for the game. I think it’s gonna hit areas that we maybe don’t have influence in. … Hopefully, it doesn’t stop there, hopefully maybe in the near future you see some other big-name places, like Brickyard, Indiana or Daytona.
“I think it’s good for both sides. I think it’s good for the players to get that exposure, and I think it’s good for MLB as well.”