Reigning Daytona 500 champion William Byron promoted the MLB Speedway Classic, a special regular-season game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves at Bristol Motor Speedway. A ballpark will be built across the infield for the matchup between the Reds and Braves later this year on August 2nd.
MLB announced the special crossover with NASCAR last year in August, with Bristol Motor Speedway, dubbed 'The Last Great Colosseum,' to host the first-ever MLB game in Tennessee. The venue will serve as the home field for the Reds, with a capacity of 146,000 spectators.
Hendrick Motorsports' ace, William Byron, recently visited Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, to promote the upcoming Speedway Classic. The reigning Daytona 500 winner put on a show by doing donuts on the field. His Chevy featured a special Braves-themed paint scheme. Expressing his excitement for the event, he said:
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"Yeah, I think it'll be really fun. I'm definitely going to be tuned in. I feel like Bristol is such a massive place. It's really a 'Colosseum' as we call it. So it'll be nice to watch, just to see how baseball fits in there."
Despite the temporary ballpark serving as the home game for the Reds, Byron insists that Braves fans will be out in droves. He added:
"There will be a lot of Braves fans there, I feel like."
NASCAR is set to visit Bristol Motor Speedway on April 13 for the Food City 500. One month after the Speedway Classic, the Cup Series will return to the half-mile oval on September 13 for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, which will serve as the cutoff race for the Round of 16 in the playoffs.
Byron has already qualified for the playoffs with a victory in the season opener and is currently leading the standings with a 13-point lead over Christopher Bell.
William Byron reflects on unfortunate strategy call at Phoenix
William Byron started on pole for the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway and finished inside the top three in both stages, leading 83 laps in the race. His outing was derailed in the final stage, as caution fell when he was in the pits.
Byron restarted at the back of the pack, charged through the field and settled for a sixth-place finish at the checkered flag. The #24 Hendrick Motorsports driver reflected on the unfortunate turn of events in the final stage, saying (via NBC Sports):
"Yeah, unfortunately that caution just came out right when we were on pit road. Here at Phoenix, you can’t get away with losing a lap. It was just an unfortunate situation there. It was an aggressive call, and I thought that it was going to set us up for a shot. It was just crazy there at the end. We restarted 21st and got up into the top-10 pretty quickly. I feel like we probably used up a lot of tire on the reds to get the last few spots, so it was hard to get much more."
NASCAR heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, where Byron made a trip to the victory lane in the 2023 Spring race. He also finished inside the top-10 in both races last year. The Pennzoil 400 is scheduled for this Sunday (March 16) at 3:30 pm ET.
