Motorsports This Week on ESPN

NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series Live from Michigan on ESPN

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., this weekend and ESPN will have a live, flag-to-flag telecast of the Carfax 400 on Sunday, Aug. 15. The NASCAR Countdown pre-race show kicks off the day at noon ET with the race telecast at 1 p.m. The race’s green flag is at 1:16 p.m.

Marty Reid will call the action with analysis by Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, and two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree. Two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, while pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch.

NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion driver Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty, a team owner in the series. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race.

Following the race on Sunday, additional reports, analysis and interviews from Michigan will air on ESPN’s flagship program SportsCenter as will be the case for all 14 races airing on ESPN this season.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series also races at MIS this weekend and season-long coverage on the ESPN networks continues. The Carfax 250 airs on ESPN beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 1 p.m. on Saturday, with the race telecast at 2 p.m. and the green flag at 2:16 p.m.

ESPN.com Expands Coverage with RacingLive!

NASCAR fans looking for an online gathering during ESPN’s telecasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now have a place to go on ESPN.com.

RacingLive! on ESPN.com is a live blog where fans can engage in debate and discussion with ESPN.com writers and editors during the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. On Sunday, Aug. 15, RacingLive! Michigan will kick off at 1 p.m. ET to coincide with ESPN’s telecast of the Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/.

Keselowski, Craven, Chengelis on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski will join ESPN analyst Ricky Craven and NASCAR Now reporter Angelique Chengelis as panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program airing Monday, Aug. 16, at the special time of 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Shannon Spake will host the weekend editions of NASCAR Now airing around the Sunday, Aug. 15, live coverage of the Carfax 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Michigan International Speedway. The one-hour preview show airs at 9 a.m. while the weekend wrap-up edition airs Monday at 1 a.m. (late Sunday night). Chengelis and Marty Smith will report from MIS, while Craven will join Spake in the studio for analysis.

Spake also hosts half-hour weekday episodes of NASCAR Now airing late night this week due to ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series. Programs air Wednesday, Aug. 11, at midnight (late Tuesday night); Thursday, Aug. 12, at midnight (late Wednesday night); Friday, Aug. 13, at midnight (late Thursday night) and Saturday, Aug. 14, at 1 a.m. (late Friday night).

NASCAR Now is hosted by Mike Massaro, Nicole Briscoe, Allen Bestwick and Shannon Spake and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include reporters Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, and Ricky Craven, ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton and ESPN the Magazine senior writer Ryan McGee. 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 Minnesota

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series races this weekend in the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway and ESPN2 will air highlights of qualifying and eliminations. Qualifying action airs Saturday, Aug. 14, at 11 p.m. ET, and coverage of eliminations airs Sunday at 10 p.m.

NHRA’s version of a weeklong campout, this event is a popular stop due to the area’s recreational opportunities. Avid fishers often spend the days before the event trolling the area’s many lakes for walleye, bass, and northern pike, and a huge on-site campground provides nightly camaraderie for racegoers who sit around fires discussing the day’s action. A 700-foot concrete launchpad, one of the longest on the tour, helps boost performances at the last event at which teams can secure positions for the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

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 10 a.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.