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June 7, 2010

Motorsports This Week on ESPN

NASCAR Nationwide Series Live from Kentucky on ESPN

The NASCAR Nationwide Series races in prime time for 300 miles at Kentucky Speedway near Cincinnati on Saturday, June 12, and ESPN will have a live, flag-to-flag telecast. NASCAR Countdown airs at 7:30 p.m. ET, while the race telecast starts at 8 p.m. with the green flag at 8:15 p.m. ESPN2 is the home of the series all season, with selected races airing on ESPN and ABC.

Also from Kentucky, ESPN airs coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Marty Reid will be the lap-by-lap announcer, joined in the booth for analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Andy Petree. Pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch. Reports from two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer will air from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.

Allen Bestwick will host NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN pit studio, with analysis by Wallace and Brad Daugherty, a team owner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The Kentucky event is the second of four races in the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash. Created in 2009 and designed to increase the on-track excitement for the drivers and the fans, the bonus program was implemented to develop and support NASCAR Nationwide Series regulars, up-and-comers and those who compete part time in the Series. NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers must also compete full time in the Nationwide Series to be eligible. There is a $25,000 cash bonus awarded to the eligible race winner of the four Dash 4 Cash races but should the winner not be eligible, the prize money will roll over to next Dash 4 Cash race.

There also is a $75,000 year-end bonus awarded at the end of the season to the NASCAR Nationwide Series-only driver with the highest number of cumulative points from the four races. NASCAR drivers who compete in more than seven Sprint Cup races during the season are not eligible for the end of season bonus, even if they run all Nationwide Series races. 

The Kentucky event is the second of four races in the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash. Created in 2009 and designed to increase the on-track excitement for the drivers and the fans, the bonus program was implemented to develop and support NASCAR Nationwide Series regulars, up-and-comers and those who compete part time in the Series. NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers must also compete full time in the Nationwide Series to be eligible. There is a $25,000 cash bonus awarded to the eligible race winner of the four Dash 4 Cash races but should the winner not be eligible, the prize money will roll over to next Dash 4 Cash race.

There also is a $75,000 year-end bonus awarded at the end of the season to the NASCAR Nationwide Series-only driver with the highest number of cumulative points from the four races. NASCAR drivers who compete in more than seven Sprint Cup races during the season are not eligible for the end of season bonus, even if they run all Nationwide Series races.

Other NASCAR-related programming on the ESPN networks this week includes an airing of highlights of the 1990 ACDelco 500 from North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, N.C., on Monday, June 14, at 3 p.m. on ESPN Classic.

Evernham, Craven, Chengelis on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR on ESPN analysts Ray Evernham and Ricky Craven and NASCAR Now reporter Angelique Chengelis will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program on Monday, June 14, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Nicole Briscoe hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing this week on Tuesday, June 8 (6 p.m.), Wednesday (5 p.m.) and Friday (6 p.m.). There is no program on Thursday due to ESPN’s 24-hour FIFA World Cup Countdown programming.

Briscoe also hosts the one-hour weekend edition airing Sunday, June 13, at 8:30 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway. Chengelis and Shannon Spake will report from Michigan. 

NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Briscoe and Allen Bestwick and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include reporters Marty Smith, Shannon Spake and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie, and ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton. The NASCAR on ESPN team event coverage team of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Marty Reid, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now. 

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series in Englishtown

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series races this weekend in the Lucas Oil Deep Clean NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., and ESPN2 will air highlights of qualifying and eliminations. Qualifying action airs Saturday, June 12, at 11 p.m. ET, and coverage of eliminations airs Sunday at 4 p.m. 

One of the NHRA’s original seven national events, this race is steeped in legend: a historic facility, some of the sport’s more knowledgeable and boisterous fans and a score of dramatic moments. The event, once known as the Summernationals, has shifted on the schedule from its original scorchingly hot and humid July slot to May and June, and upsets have become the norm.

Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff report from the pits. Rieff and Dunn host NHRA RaceDay presented by Lucas Oil on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.

Also this weekend, ESPN2 airs highlights of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event held recently in Joliet, Ill. The Sportsman racers will be on ESPN2 on Saturday, June 12, at 1:30 p.m.

Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN's latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

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Media Contact: Andy Hall, 407-566-2209 or andy.hall@espn.com and George McNeilly, 407-566-2077 or george.mcneilly@espn.com

ESPN’s coverage of motor sports earned five Sports Emmy Award nominations, among an industry-leading 54 nominations earned by ESPN, Inc., it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. For the ninth time in 10 years, ESPN earned the most nominations of any submitting company. The winners will be announced Monday, April 26.

 The five nominations in motor sports included both NASCAR and the Indianapolis 500.

 Outstanding Live Sports Special: The Indy 500

Outstanding Technical Team Remote: NASCAR on ESPN

Outstanding Technical Team Studio: ESPN Pit Studio and ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage

Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction: The Indy 500

Outstanding Editing: NASCAR Sprint Cup Season in Review (produced by NASCAR Media Group for ESPN2)

 In addition, ESPN’s marketing department received a nomination for Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement: NASCAR on ESPN - Feel Your Heart Race

 ESPN has won 19 Sports Emmy Awards for motor sports in its history, 17 during the 1990s and one in each of the last two years since the network’s return to NASCAR. Overall, ABC has won 160 Sports Emmys since the awards were first given in 1980, while ESPN has won 128 in 21 years of eligibility.

 Click here for ESPN’s motorsports latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

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