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Bristol Motor Speedway is throwing its hat into the ring to host an NHL game in the future.
The reporting from Sportico comes as the racetrack is set to break the MLB’s attendance record on Saturday night, with more than 85,000 people set to attend the 2025 Speedway Classic pitting the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds. The track transformed its infield, which usually serves as pit lane and parking for NASCAR teams’ haulers, into a perfect baseball diamond.
Nicknamed “The Last Great Coliseum,” Bristol Motor Speedway previously hosted a college football game between local universities, Tennessee and Virginia Tech, in 2016. The matchup between the two programs broke the college football attendance record with more than 157,000 people attending. The success with different sports has Bristol thinking bigger.
“We believe we will continue to show that Bristol Motor Speedway is a facility for lots of different types of events,” the track’s president, Jerry Caldwell, told Sportico. “You’ve got hockey and soccer that both make sense. If you want a facility that has a big open space that you can put a playing surface down … and then want to be able to host some of the largest crowds in the country, then Bristol is going to be the place to at least explore for that.”
The NHL, along with other sports, reportedly has executives at the track this weekend to learn more about the venue and its capabilities.
Caldwell’s comments about hosting other sporting events comes weeks after Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith told the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour podcast his ambitious idea for the track in the future.
“The dream, I think, the thing that would be awesome to do, and we could do it, is to put a roof on Bristol one day,” said Smith. “I would love that. And I mean, then the things you could do there, it would be, you know, we’ve got a baseball game coming up next month in Bristol. We’ve got, we’ve done a football game, you know, we could do Wrestlemania. You could have, you know, who knows what the biggest UFC fight in the world?”
The speedway has a capacity of 146,000 people for races (as of 2021). That number would blow away the previous attendance record for an NHL hockey game when 104,173 people showed up to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Detroit Red Wings in the 2014 NHL Winter Classic. The NHL already annually puts on several outdoor games including the Winter Classic and Stadium Series.
BTS at @MLB Speedway Classic @ItsBristolBaby.
You can see renderings drawings and photos, but until you actually see this gorgeous diamond in the middle of a crown jewel, it’s impossible to grasp the scale. The facility is beautifully done. The field doesn’t take up as much space… pic.twitter.com/grykbXJ1Of
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) August 1, 2025
If Bristol Motor Speedway ends up hosting a hockey game, the Washington Capitals could end up being one of the teams considered for the spot due to its proximity (397 miles away) and legion of close fans. A straight shot down route 81, the track is located just a few miles away from the city of Bristol that sits on the state line of Virginia and Tennessee.
Other teams close to the track include the Nashville Predators (286 miles), Columbus Blue Jackets (328 miles), Carolina Hurricanes (268 miles), and Pittsburgh Penguins (397 miles).
Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533-mile-long oval, was first opened in 1961 and hosts two NASCAR Cup Series races per year.
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RMNB is not associated with the Washington Capitals; Monumental Sports, the NHLPA, the NHL, or its properties. Not even a little bit.
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