The moment the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Braves vacated the baseball field at Bristol Motor Speedway, a new countdown began.
Dubbed “The Last Great Colosseum,” the venue has to quickly transition from hosting the MLB Speedway Classic to being ready for NASCAR’s return, with a critical playoff race scheduled for September 13.
“As soon as the final pitch is delivered and the game concludes, our teams will start dismantling,” said Steve Swift, Speedway Motorsports’ senior operations vice president. “They’ll work through the night to transform the setup in preparation for the NASCAR event.”
Major League Baseball partnered with BaAM to establish facilities for the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds, featuring clubhouses with showers, workout rooms, offices for coaches and trainers, and batting cages. Additional temporary stands and media booths lined the bases.
Pit walls, which were removed to prevent any mishaps, need to be reinstated. According to Swift, the process of pouring and curing concrete for these walls is meticulous. While fast-curing additives are available, they are just one of the many logistical challenges arising during reconstruction.
Swift mentioned that Bristol has been fortunate to collaborate with excellent partners to ensure every aspect of the transition is managed. The focus now is on returning Bristol Motor Speedway from hosting Tennessee’s first MLB regular-season game—drawing a record crowd of 91,032 fans—back to its core as a racing venue.
“It is difficult, but it’s things that we like,” Swift said. “It gives us a challenge and we like challenges.”
The transformation to a baseball diamond in the infield required 17,500 tons of gravel to level the infield, then 340 tons of Pennsylvania clay for the playing surface.
Braves first baseman Matt Olson said Saturday that he couldn’t believe Bristol was transformed all for one game. Well, everything that can be recycled will be used somewhere after the baseball diamond is removed.
Some of the gravel will be used in Bristol Motor Speedway’s parking lots. Swift said they have found groups to help use some of the materials to help people still recovering from the damages left by Hurricane Helene. That includes 2x4s and plywood used for the grandstands.
“A lot of stuff is going to go to good use as far as the rebuild portion,” Swift said. “We just need to get it out of the way so we can put back asphalt and concrete.”
This new renovation schedule has a couple of days built in for protection. The target date for being finished is Sept. 7.
“There may still be some paint drying whenever they roll in with the Goodyear haulers, but we’ll definitely shoot for that (Sept. 7) day,” Swift said. “And at the latest, we’re looking at Tuesday.”
Bristol hosted a college football game in 2016 that drew 156,990. Now the NHL might be in Bristol’s future after Sportico reported Friday that league officials would be checking out how the racetrack handled Major League Baseball.
When asked about possibly hosting an outdoor hockey game, Swift only said a hockey rink would be similar to a football field and that Speedway Motorsports has big dreams for what is possible at places like Bristol.
“We’ve shown with football and now baseball being here, that things can take place and we can do the the things that nobody would even think about,” Swift said.
