Chipper Jones 1-on-1: On baseball at Bristol, friendship with Chase Elliott and his Cup championship pick

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Chipper Jones had never been to Bristol Motor Speedway prior to last week when Major League Baseball announced the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds would play a regular-season game Aug. 2, 2025.

That was a little surprising, considering Jones is a big NASCAR fan as he grew up relatively close to Daytona International Speedway and has attended several races.

A Class of 2018 inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the former Braves third baseman and NASCAR fan talked to FOX Sports about his thoughts on Bristol and baseball, getting a ride around with Elliott, the broadcast booth (and his recent viral moment) and his NASCAR championship pick.

Is this really your first time at Bristol?

First time ever at Bristol. I grew up about 20 miles inland from Daytona Beach, so I grew up going to a bunch of Daytona 500s and Firecracker 400s. But this is a bucket list for me, stepping foot on this place. Obviously, I'm seeing what the baseball park is going to be like. This is the third or fourth track I've gotten to get into the [race] car, but first time with my good buddy Chase Elliott. It was a lot of fun.

Did Chase Elliott scare you at all?

The pucker factor was probably a 9.5 for me. He's like, "They've got governors on this thing. We can't go real fast." So I was like, "Thank goodness for that."

You've gotten to take a look at the baseball park layout here at Bristol. Is it going to be a hitter's park? Would you have liked to hit here?

I believe it's going to be a hitter's park. Obviously, it depends on the weather, of course, and I'm sure the wind swirls and whatnot down in this bowl. But looking at those 330 signs and that 400 sign [positioned where they would be in the outfield], they look awfully lot closer than they do in a major-league ballpark.

Growing up near Daytona, do you remember the first Daytona 500 or Firecracker 400?

The first Daytona 500 I went to was Richard Petty's 200th [win]. I got to see President [Ronald] Reagan fly in on Air Force One and congratulate him and whatnot. It was definitely one to remember. I wasn't necessarily a Petty fan, although I am now because I've met him quite a few times. But back in the day, I was a big Cale Yarborough fan. I liked to see him and [Bobby] Allison mixing it up on the backstretch.

I know your dad taught you how to hit. I'm curious, did your father Larry teach you how to drive?

No — not to the extent that I see these boys. They're going around this place where it feels like literally almost out of control, and they've got one hand on the wheel like they're out for a Sunday stroll. It really is amazing to me what they're able to do on race tracks in such close quarters.

I would think in Pierson or DeLand (the small towns where you grew up), they would let you go 100 and not ticket you.

We got one stretch that would probably be able to house that kind of speed. I will neither confirm or deny that I've been on that stretch before. 

Have you been watching the Cup races this year?

Oh, yeah. Never missed a Sunday. I'm a huge Chase fan. He's a big Braves fan. We've been buddies for a long time. I go to races. He goes to Braves games. We kind of scratch each other's backs. I'm a huge fan. I was a huge fan of Jeff Gordon and all the guys at Hendrick Motorsports. 

So if you've been watching the races, how's Kevin Harvick doing in the FOX booth?

He's doing good. As someone who has tried their hand at going up in the booth and calling a baseball game, I think he does really good. It's really good to hear from guys like him and other guys that do it like Clint Bowyer and whatnot to get a driver's perspective. I know the fans enjoy hearing that.

You do good. You went a little viral (last week) for predicting the Braves manager (Brian Snitker) was going to get ejected the other night.

The strike zone was a little inconsistent. You can kind of feel, having played for so long, especially knowing Snit for as long as I have, that his teapot was about to boil over.

Have you seen all the replays of it online? It's been played a lot.

I did not. I have not seen it. I've got seven boys at home, so they keep me quite, quite busy. I haven't been able to get on social media.

And finally, did you tell Chase to go win the championship? Do you think he's a favorite to win the championship? Or do you have a favorite to win the championship? 

I definitely like the guys in the Hendrick stable. I think somebody's going to come through. Obviously, up to this point, [Kyle] Larson's been the guy, but William Byron can win any race on the circuit as well as anybody else in that stable. I think most of us who follow the sport would probably put Larson in the driver's seat up to this point.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.