NEW YORK — Shannon Spake has covered NASCAR and college football and basketball for ESPN. She sees "The Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol" college football game as one of the first attempts to meld the fan bases of the two hugely popular sports.
The Sept. 10 showdown between Tennessee and Virginia Tech will be staged in the infield of the famous short track at Bristol Motor Speedway. The border battle is expected to draw up to 150,000 fans and obliterate the single-game college football attendance record of 115,109 for Notre Dame at Michigan in 2013.
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Spake said there are a lot of similarities between NASCAR and college football.