Honoring the hometown girl.
Today, Bristol Motor Speedway announced their plans to honor Dolly Parton throughout Bass Pro Shops Night Race week with a series of tributes featuring her signature pink butterfly.
On August 25, 2026, Dolly sadly passed away at 80-years-old in Nashville Tennessee. Dolly had been dealing with undisclosed health issues for the last year or so, and she previously shared that she was having issues with severe kidney stones. Dolly’s reps confirmed she sadly died following a “brief battle with cancer,” though the specific kind was not revealed.
Of course, since then, tributes for the late country icon have poured in, and that includes some of her local sports teams. The Tennessee Volunteers will wear an orange Dolly-inspired butterfly sticker on their helmets all season long:
They also replaced their fourth quarter song, changing it from Morgan Wallen’s “The Way I Talk” to Dolly’s “My Tennessee Mountain Home”:
And Bristol Motor Speedway created a custom pink butterfly sticker, with approval from the Dollywood Foundation, which will be made available to teams across NASCAR’s three national series to display on their race cars, and I have to imagine everyone will participate.
Additionally, they will have a:
“Prominent Dolly butterfly signage on the track walls and throughout the BMS property, Dolly Parton tribute banner that is 15 wide x 7 tall in the BMS Fan Zone where fans can write messages and add their signatures, [and] Dolly Parton’s music will be incorporated into the atmosphere throughout the BMS property during race weekend as another tribute to her unmistakable voice and extraordinary legacy.”
Jerry Caldwell, president and general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway, says Dolly’s impact of course goes far beyond her home in East Tennessee, but she’ll “always have a special place here at home”:
“Dolly’s impact reaches far beyond East Tennessee, but she’ll always have a special place here at home. We wanted to create a meaningful way for our fans and race teams to join us in honoring her during one of Bristol’s biggest weekends. We’re grateful to the Dollywood Foundation for helping us bring this tribute to life.”
It’s been incredible to see the outpouring of love for Dolly, she was just so beloved, and her appeal clearly goes so far beyond music and it’s been so cool to see how she really impacted everyone. Bristol will be much more pink because of Dolly this weekend, and I am so here for it.
The NASCAR Cup Series will race at Bristol Motor Speedway this Saturday, September 19th at 7:30 p.m:
Back in 2019, Dolly Parton and Dollywood sponsored Tyler Reddick’s #2 car with Richard Childress Racing at Bristol.
