NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. advises the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves to watch a couple of night races at Bristol Motor Speedway before the Speedway Classic. Once at the racetrack, he recommends a walk up the banked walls to truly appreciate the half-mile bullring.

MLB’s Speedway Classic on Aug. 2 means either the Reds or Braves will win at Bristol before Stenhouse reaches victory lane at his favorite track. He still plans to watch as they play an MLB game on a ballpark built inside the Bristol infield.

“Hopefully, if they get one over the wall, kind of see where that ball ends up landing,” Stenhouse said of the track where going over the wall usually means injuries and ambulances. “But, yeah, just a really cool venue and something that I’ll be looking forward to watching.”

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, now a Fox racing analyst, said search his 1990 crash where his car disintegrated after hitting a wall to learn how challenging Bristol can be.

He joined Stenhouse, former Braves centerfielder Andruw Jones, 2009 World Series champ Nick Swisher and three-time All-Star Reds first baseman and now MLB Network analyst Sean Casey in promoting the first MLB game in the state of Tennessee.

Waltrip said the banking of the track has to be seen to be believed and is a big part of its intensity.

“The banking is straight up,” Waltrip said. “You can barely climb up it, and it’s condensed down to a half-mile track. So you’re just constantly in the corners and speeds upwards of 150 miles an hour. It’s just crazy how precise and how technical you have to be to be successful there.”

Trying to hit a baseball might be a bit easier than stepping into a racecar at Bristol. At those speeds, Stenhouse said he forgot to breathe for 10 laps his first time there.

Bristol still has tickets available for an event that will feature a pregame concert with Tim McGraw and Pitbull. A fan zone outside the track will feature more music, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, a food truck row, pitching tunnels and batting cages and team mascots.

“It’s going to be one of those special nights that goes down in history,” said Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway. “People are going to want to be there and want to be a part of it or tune in on Fox and take in this event.”

Casey played in a March 2008 exhibition between the Red Sox and Dodgers at Los Angeles Coliseum that drew 115,300 for the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game. Casey said this crossover gives baseball fans a reason to check out Bristol and NASCAR fans the chance to see something different.

Players like Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz and Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will get an experience to remember.

“These guys that are going to be able to have that memory of playing at Bristol, it’s going to be a one of a kind thing,” Casey said.

Stenhouse said he played some wiffle ball during the last stop in Bristol. NASCAR will be in Iowa with a Cup race Aug. 3, but he hopes to sneak over from his North Carolina home for a chance to hit some hard balls over the fence at Bristol — or pitch off the mound.

“I hit a wiffle ball over the fence,” Stenhouse said. “Yeah, it would be cool to get there and take the field in all at the same time.”

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AP Baseball Writer Ron Blum contributed to this report from New York.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. advises the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves to watch a couple of night races at Bristol Motor Speedway before the Speedway Classic. Once at the racetrack, he recommends a walk up the banked walls to truly appreciate the half-mile bullring.

MLB’s Speedway Classic on Aug. 2 means either the Reds or Braves will win at Bristol before Stenhouse reaches victory lane at his favorite track. He still plans to watch as they play an MLB game on a ballpark built inside the Bristol infield.

“Hopefully, if they get one over the wall, kind of see where that ball ends up landing,” Stenhouse said of the track where going over the wall usually means injuries and ambulances. “But, yeah, just a really cool venue and something that I’ll be looking forward to watching.”

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, now a Fox racing analyst, said search his 1990 crash where his car disintegrated after hitting a wall to learn how challenging Bristol can be.

He joined Stenhouse, former Braves centerfielder Andruw Jones, 2009 World Series champ Nick Swisher and three-time All-Star Reds first baseman and now MLB Network analyst Sean Casey in promoting the first MLB game in the state of Tennessee.

Waltrip said the banking of the track has to be seen to be believed and is a big part of its intensity.

“The banking is straight up,” Waltrip said. “You can barely climb up it, and it’s condensed down to a half-mile track. So you’re just constantly in the corners and speeds upwards of 150 miles an hour. It’s just crazy how precise and how technical you have to be to be successful there.”

Trying to hit a baseball might be a bit easier than stepping into a racecar at Bristol. At those speeds, Stenhouse said he forgot to breathe for 10 laps his first time there.

Bristol still has tickets available for an event that will feature a pregame concert with Tim McGraw and Pitbull. A fan zone outside the track will feature more music, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, a food truck row, pitching tunnels and batting cages and team mascots.

“It’s going to be one of those special nights that goes down in history,” said Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway. “People are going to want to be there and want to be a part of it or tune in on Fox and take in this event.”

Casey played in a March 2008 exhibition between the Red Sox and Dodgers at Los Angeles Coliseum that drew 115,300 for the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game. Casey said this crossover gives baseball fans a reason to check out Bristol and NASCAR fans the chance to see something different.

Players like Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz and Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will get an experience to remember.

“These guys that are going to be able to have that memory of playing at Bristol, it’s going to be a one of a kind thing,” Casey said.

Stenhouse said he played some wiffle ball during the last stop in Bristol. NASCAR will be in Iowa with a Cup race Aug. 3, but he hopes to sneak over from his North Carolina home for a chance to hit some hard balls over the fence at Bristol — or pitch off the mound.

“I hit a wiffle ball over the fence,” Stenhouse said. “Yeah, it would be cool to get there and take the field in all at the same time.”

___

AP Baseball Writer Ron Blum contributed to this report from New York.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press

Larry McClure, a longtime NASCAR Cup Series team owner of the Morgan-McClure Motorsports team, has passed away at the Age of 81. NBC’s WCYB News affiliate had the initial report of McClure’s passing on the morning of Wednesday, June 25.

In the NASCAR world, McClure’s claim to fame was his role as co-owner of the renowned Morgan-McClure Motorsports team, which he owned alongside Tim Morgan and Jerry McClure. The team fielded the No. 4 machine in the NASCAR Cup Series from the 1983 season through the 2007 season.

Connie Saylor made the first start in the NASCAR Cup Series for the organization in the 1983 Winston 500 at Talladega. Saylor would start that race from the 33rd position and would retire after an engine failure on Lap 23 to finish 40th.

The team would rack up 14 victories over 702 races in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks, including three Daytona 500 wins (one with Ernie Irvan in 1991, and two with Sterling Marlin in back-to-back seasons in 1994 and 1995).

Over the years, the team featured a lot of truly talented and legendary drivers behind the wheel of its race cars. including NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, who made six starts with the team in 1983. Martin scored the first top-10 finish for the team in the 1983 Talladega 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Other notable drivers that had a turn in the Morgan-McClure ride included A.J. Foyt, Lake Speed, Phil Parsons, Joe Nemechek, Bobby Hamilton, Robby Gordon, Mike Skinner, Johnny Sauter, Jimmy Spencer, John Andretti, and Ward Burton.

However, no driver had more success driving for Morgan-McClure Motorsports than Sterling Marlin. In a four-year run with the organization from 1994 to 1997, Marlin won six races (tied for the most in team history with Irvan), and he finished a team-best third in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings in 1995 behind Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt.

Morgan-McClure Motorsports also fielded a car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series one time in 1993 with Jimmy Hensley behind the wheel of the car, and the organization also had a part-time ARCA Menards Series operation through the 2000s, which won one race with Keith Segars behind the wheel in the 2002 Food World 300 at Talladega Superspeedway.

McClure was the uncle of former NASCAR racer Eric McClure, who passed away in 2021.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a dozen NASCAR teams to provide 11 years of financial data to the stock car series as part of an ongoing legal fight but sharply limited what they need to share.

A day after hearing arguments from both sides, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina said the information will “allow NASCAR to have much of the arguably relevant substance of the requested information, while protecting the legitimate interests” of the 12 teams. They had raised concerns that the private financial details could end up being made public and would hurt competitive balance.

Under the decision, the teams must provide top-line data — total revenue, total costs, and net profits and losses — dating to 2014. The teams and NASCAR were ordered to settle on an independent accounting firm to handle the details by Friday, with that work paid for by NASCAR.

Earlier this week, attorneys for 12 of the 15 overall race teams argued against disclosing their financial records to become part of NASCAR’s antitrust lawsuit. They are not parties in the ongoing suit filed by 23XI Racing, which is owned by the NBA Hall Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins.

23XI and Front Row are the only two organizations of the 15 that refused last September to sign take-it-or-leave offers on a new charter agreement. Charters are NASCAR’s version of a franchise model, with each charter guaranteeing entry to the lucrative Cup Series races and a stable revenue stream. Of the 13 teams that signed, only Kaulig Racing has submitted the financial documents NASCAR subpoenaed as part of discovery.

Teams have long argued that NASCAR is not financially viable and they need a greater revenue stream and a more permanent length on the charter agreements, which presently have expiration dates and can be revoked by NASCAR. Two years of negotiations ended last fall with 13 teams signing on and 23IX and FRM instead heading to court.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

All American 400 Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
Nashville, TN

Hosting races since 1904, historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is home to one of the premier ARCA races in the nation, the All American 400. If you want to do more than just watch the Super Late Models from the stands, purchase a pit pass to wander through the garage and pits—you’ll see crews in action as they change the tires and put out the fires to get their drivers back on the track.

Atlanta Motorsports Park
Dawsonville, GA

Pro-level go-karts, racing schools, private sessions with your own car: Atlanta Motorsports Park is a speed lover’s dream. Two award-winning, Formula 1–style tracks test your mettle behind the wheel with technical turns, elevation changes (some of the world’s most intense) and a skid pad for perfecting driving in the rain. Kart racing is open to anyone 12 and up, and kids as young as 5 can ride along.

Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, AL

There’s more than IndyCar racing at Barber. What you’ll first notice is crazy art scattered around the road course, such as the Lady in the Lake sculpture and a massive metal spider standing guard over the track. See the artwork up close with a Porsche Track Experience, or sign up for an off-road adventure or obstacle course. Then head to the museum, which houses the planet’s largest collection of motorcycles.

BMW Performance Center
Greer, SC

Think you can drift your way through a track’s turns with BMW’s latest M series performance car? Find your limits at the BMW Performance Center’s East Coast location, where you can join a one- or two-day driving school (cars provided!) to learn how to drift on a skid pad and find the perfect line through each turn. Zentrum Museum and X Series factory tours cap off the ultimate driving day.

BMW Performance Center West
Thermal, CA

Snowcapped mountains and desert vistas provide a stunning backdrop for your track day at the BMW Performance Center in California. During your all-day session, you’ll get to learn the basics of driving a high-performance machine, from quick turns on the Handling Course to hard braking on a skid pad. The best part just might be the timed laps to discover who’s the fastest driver in your class.

Circuit of the Americas
Del Valle, TX

The U.S. Grand Prix, one of the country’s only Formula 1 races, is on many race fans’ wish list. But visiting Circuit of the Americas is almost more fun when there’s no race; that’s when you can drop new experiences into your bucket. The COTA Driving Experience gets you speeding down the track like a pro, and go-karts, mini golf and track nights for cyclists open this Austin icon to everyone.

DirtFish Rally School
Snoqualmie, WA

Get your kicks—and bumps, jumps and hairpin turns—with a rally program at DirtFish Rally School. More than 30 courses let you push your Subaru to the max during your half-day, full-day or three-day school. It’s popular with pros and stunt drivers who want to learn new skills, but it’s also accessible to anyone new to rally racing. Plus, a track photographer captures your driving sessions for a frame-worthy memory.

Las Vegas Grand Prix Hospitality Packages
Las Vegas, NV

It’s the hottest ticket in Sin City: Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix gives you VIP access with its Hospitality Packages. You’ll get stellar views of the course and the Strip, all-inclusive dining (interested in a trackside dinner hosted by Gordon Ramsey?) and access to the garages and exclusive Vegas clubs. There’s a wide range of price points, so pick your package to watch this grand race like an A-lister!

NASCAR Driving Experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte, NC

If you’ve ever wanted to face the sweeping banked turns at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Driving Experience gives you the green light. Ride along with an instructor, who’ll treat you to a few high-speed laps, or take the wheel yourself to see if you’re fast enough to earn the pole position. From five-minute sessions to 40-lap speed tests with pit stops and spotters, it’s the fastest way to have fun.

NASCAR Hall of Fame
Charlotte, NC

Celebrating stock car racing’s legends, the NASCAR Hall of Fame takes you through 75 years of victory lanes. While there, you can take the checkered flag in the iRacing simulator—the same simulator the pros use to get ready for race day. Or grab a headset and call the race just like Darrell Waltrip (boogity, boogity, boogity!). The best part? It’s a top-tier experience for a cheap-seats price.

NASCAR Racing Experience at
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona, FL

Drivers, start your engines! Daytona’s NASCAR Racing Experience gets you in the driver’s seat of an actual stock car on one of the world’s most famous tracks. Only need five minutes to fulfill your need for speed? Or do you want to feel the grind of a real race with a 48-minute session? You’ll find lots of options (including ride-alongs if you don’t want to drive) for your speedway fantasy.

Porsche Experience Center Atlanta
Atlanta, GA

Southern charm meets German engineering at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta. Take the joy ride of your life in a Porsche 911 with either a 90-minute drive or a quick ride-along drifting demo on one of two tracks. If you’re ready to take your talents to the next Grand Prix race, you can head to the Simulator Lab and race on famous circuits like Nürburgring and Monaco.

SpeedVegas
Las Vegas, NV

At SpeedVegas, you can feel the wind in your hair in an exotic supercar going triple-digit speeds—or the dirt in your face with an off-road adventure in a Baja truck. For a more social outing, pro-level go-karts let you race your friends. Have a child who loves fast cars? Anyone 11 and up can ride in a Lamborghini or Ferrari for the thrill of luxury performance at an affordable price.

Sportbike Track Time
South Haven, MI

Sportbike Track Time invites you to BYOB (bring your own bike) and put it to the test at GingerMan Raceway. Sessions are offered throughout each track day for motorcyclists of every skill level. Intermediate and advanced riders can even add on a one-on-one coaching session to enhance their abilities. A professional photographer is also on site for each session to help commemorate your day.

Talladega Garage Experience
Lincoln, AL

If you’re going to a NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway, then go all out with premium passes to the Talladega Garage Experience. Your upgrade comes with incredible access to each team’s garage, perfect for seeing crews tune the cars or fix wreck damage. Plus, you’ll get to attend pre-race ceremonies (you’ll be close enough to wave at Chase Elliott!) and watch the race from Big Bill’s Open Air Social Club.

Track Tours at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, IN

Ready to kiss the bricks like an Indy 500 winner? The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum offers several track tours, from a visit to legendary Gasoline Alley to a lap around the oval that ends at the most famous yard of bricks on earth. For a deeper dive into the track’s IndyCar history, take the 90-minute golf cart tour—by the end, you’ll want to be the next open-wheel racing star.

About Newsweek Fans’ Choice Awards

Our nominees are editorially driven with contributions from a panel of journalists and sports fans. The final list is determined by Newsweek editors. Readers can vote once per category, per day. For more details, read our terms and conditions. For any questions, please see our FAQs or email us at fanschoice@newsweek.com.

Our Featured Panelists

Shannon DalPozzal

Shannon DalPozzal is a writer and traveler, where she blends storytelling with a lifelong passion for unique American experiences. She spent her childhood summers at Huntsville Speedway in Alabama, cheering on her uncle from the grandstands and falling in love with the roar of engines and the thrill of the track. Now based in coastal Maine, Shannon is the Best-Selling author of Of a Woman: The Journey to Becoming and host of the podcast Unpacked with Shannon DalPozzal. She explores everything from memoir to motorsports with curiosity, heart, and a keen eye for culture.

Susan Lanier-Graham

Susan Lanier-Graham is the founder and publisher of WanderWithWonder.com and an accomplished storyteller, journalist, and creative strategist. With more than 75 published books and hundreds of articles to her name, she crafts content that informs, inspires, and connects with readers through authenticity and purpose. Susan’s sports journey began on horseback and grew to include a passion for horse racing, basketball, soccer, and motorsports. She played basketball in junior high and high school and remains a devoted fan. She’s also drawn to the global energy of soccer fans and is an avid NASCAR enthusiast, having taken hot laps at top tracks across the U.S. With a gift for storytelling and a commitment to meaningful work, Susan brings heart, strategy, and a sense of wonder to everything she creates.

Karon Warren

The daughter of a drag racer, Karon Warren was born with a need for speed. She routinely visits NASCAR tracks and NHRA dragways around the country to see her favorite racers in action. When she’s not watching racing, she writes for a variety of outlets, including USA Today’s 10Best, U.S. News & World Report, AAA, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She also is the author of “100 Things to Do in the North Georgia Mountains Before You Die.” For more on Karon and her travels, check out www.thisgirltravels.com.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a dozen NASCAR teams to provide 11 years of financial data to the stock car series as part of an ongoing legal fight but sharply limited what they need to share.

A day after hearing arguments from both sides, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina said the information will “allow NASCAR to have much of the arguably relevant substance of the requested information, while protecting the legitimate interests” of the 12 teams. They had raised concerns that the private financial details could end up being made public and would hurt competitive balance.

Under the decision, the teams must provide top-line data — total revenue, total costs, and net profits and losses — dating to 2014. The teams and NASCAR were ordered to settle on an independent accounting firm to handle the details by Friday, with that work paid for by NASCAR.

Earlier this week, attorneys for 12 of the 15 overall race teams argued against disclosing their financial records to become part of NASCAR’s antitrust lawsuit. They are not parties in the ongoing suit filed by 23XI Racing, which is owned by the NBA Hall Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins.

23XI and Front Row are the only two organizations of the 15 that refused last September to sign take-it-or-leave offers on a new charter agreement. Charters are NASCAR’s version of a franchise model, with each charter guaranteeing entry to the lucrative Cup Series races and a stable revenue stream. Of the 13 teams that signed, only Kaulig Racing has submitted the financial documents NASCAR subpoenaed as part of discovery.

Teams have long argued that NASCAR is not financially viable and they need a greater revenue stream and a more permanent length on the charter agreements, which presently have expiration dates and can be revoked by NASCAR. Two years of negotiations ended last fall with 13 teams signing on and 23IX and FRM instead heading to court.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.