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BRISTOL, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 19: Ty Gibbs, driver of the #54 M&M’s Kyle Busch Tribute Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 19, 2026 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Bristol Motor Speedway had no shortage of star power Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Brad Pitt<\/a> generated plenty of attention throughout the NASCAR Cup Series weekend<\/a>, but another familiar face from the sports world was also spotted behind the scenes before the race: Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson.<\/p>\n The former NFL<\/a> quarterback attended the Bristol night race as a guest of 23XI Racing and got an up-close look at NASCAR\u2019s pre-race operation. Wilson was spotted inside the drivers meeting before later crossing paths with Pitt during a busy night at the Tennessee short track.<\/p>\n \n Russell Wilson Gets Behind-the-Scenes Look at NASCAR at Bristol<\/p>\n Wilson wasn\u2019t simply watching Saturday night\u2019s race from afar.<\/p>\n The Super Bowl XLVIII champion attended the Cup Series drivers meeting, where he was photographed talking with NASCAR figures before the field took to the half-mile track. Wilson was at Bristol as a guest of 23XI Racing, the Cup Series organization co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.<\/p>\n His presence created another notable crossover between two of America\u2019s biggest sports. Wilson spent more than a decade in the NFL and became one of the league\u2019s biggest stars during his time with the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl championship.<\/p>\n Saturday night gave him a much different view of elite-level competition.<\/p>\n Wilson was also seen meeting Pitt inside the drivers meeting. The brief interaction brought together a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars in a setting neither is normally associated with: a packed NASCAR drivers meeting at Bristol.<\/p>\n Brad Pitt, Russell Wilson Add to Star-Studded Bristol Night<\/p>\n Pitt had a much more prominent official role in Saturday\u2019s festivities as a co-grand marshal for the Cup Series race. He spent time around the track before the race, met NASCAR drivers and joined in giving the command to fire engines.<\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s visit was more understated, but it added another major name to an already memorable night at Bristol.<\/p>\n The celebrity appearances came amid an emotional evening for the NASCAR community, which also celebrated the life and legacy of Kyle Busch<\/a>. The familiar M&M\u2019s colors returned to the track as part of the tribute, while Busch\u2019s family and fans honored the late two-time Cup Series champion.<\/p>\n With Pitt commanding attention throughout the speedway and Wilson quietly taking in NASCAR<\/a> from the inside, Bristol delivered plenty to see before the green flag ever dropped.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMaggie MacKenzie<\/a> Maggie MacKenzie covers NASCAR for Heavy.com. She previously worked for NASCAR.com, where she reported, wrote, and edited race-weekend coverage and traveled to key events throughout the season. She has more than ten years of experience in sports media and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. More about Maggie MacKenzie<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty BRISTOL, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 19: Ty Gibbs, driver of the #54 M&M’s Kyle Busch Tribute Toyota, drives…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-902457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2296137007-1-e1789867367692.jpg\")
GettyBRISTOL, TENNESSEE \u2013 SEPTEMBER 19: Grand Marshals Brad Pitt (R) and Super Bowl Champion and NFL Analyst, Russell Wilson talk at the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 19, 2026 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n