The Bristol Motor Speedway Bass Pro Shops Night Race weekend will feature a stout lineup of dignitaries and VIPs headlined by Academy Award-winning actor and producer Brad Pitt and Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris. The duo will give the famous command for drivers to start their engines during Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Two-time Indy 500 winner and two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion Josef Newgarden has been named the Chevrolet celebrity pace car driver for Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Chase race, fulfilling a racing wish he made public in 2019.
Legendary country music artist Lee Greenwood will return to Bristol Motor Speedway for the first time since 2018 to perform his popular patriotic anthem, “God Bless the USA,” prior to the Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
The children of Motor Racing Outreach will perform Saturday’s national anthem, while the Cherokee High School Navy JROTC Color Guard will handle the presentation of colors for both Friday and Saturday night. A pair of Titan C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 189th Airlift Wing out of the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas will perform the ceremonial flyover for Saturday’s race.
People are also reading…
Grammy Award-winning tenor and King University artist in residence Aaron Blake highlights the dignitary group for Friday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Food City 300, alongside Food City senior vice president and chief operating officer Greg Sparks. Blake will perform the national anthem, while Sparks gives the famous command for drivers to start their engines. Mike Rife of the Vansant Church of Christ will deliver the invocation.
Dr. Jeff Jarvis, the president of University of Northwestern Ohio, gave the famous command for Thursday night’s UNOH 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics dignitaries and VIPs, Sept. 17
- Grand marshal: Dr. Jeff Jarvis, president of University of Northwestern Ohio
- Honorary starter: Chuck Bills, CEO of Ohio Logistics
- Presentation of colors: Dobyns-Bennett High School Air Force JROTC Color Guard
- Invocation: Billy Mauldin, president and senior chaplain for Motor Racing Outreach
- National anthem: Jesse Keith Whitley
Food City 300 dignitaries and VIPs, Sept. 18
- Grand marshal: Greg Sparks, Food City senior vice president and chief operating officer
- Honorary starter: Jimmy Spencer, former driver, team owner and TV personality
- Presentation of colors: Cherokee High School Navy JROTC Color Guard
- Invocation: Mike Rife, Vansant Church of Christ
- National anthem: Aaron Blake, Grammy Award-winning tenor and King University artist in residence
- Special VIP: Misty Deskins, Food City senior director of marketing
Bass Pro Shops Night Race dignitaries and VIPs, Saturday, Sept. 19
- Grand marshals: Brad Pitt, star of Paramount Pictures Heart of the Beast, and Johnny Morris, founder of Bass Pro Shops
- Honorary pace car driver: Josef Newgarden, two-time Indy 500 winner
- Honorary starter: Rick Huddleston, 54-year Bass Pro Shops employee and Ranger Boats engineer
- Presentation of colors: Cherokee High School Navy JROTC Color Guard
- “God Bless the USA”: Lee Greenwood, legendary country music artist
- National anthem: Children of Motor Racing Outreach
- Fly-by: A pair of C-130 Hercules from the 189th Airlift Wing, Little Rock, Arkansas, Air Force Base
Some of the most memorable moments in NASCAR history have taken place during the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on the super-challenging .533-mile high-banked concrete oval. NASCAR’s best drivers will go doorhandle to doorhandle — NASCAR postseason style — and only the strongest will survive 500 laps of mayhem and chaos on the iconic short track.
Friday features Nobody Trashes Tennessee qualifying, the Food City 300 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase race and a post-race concert featuring Tim Dugger. The weekend culminates Saturday night with the 500-lap, postseason Bass Pro Shops Night Race for the NASCAR Cup Series.
