Motorsports This Week on ESPN

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live from Watkins Glen on ESPN

ESPN will have live, flag-to-flag coverage in high definition as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series goes road racing at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on Sunday, Aug. 9. The telecast begins with NASCAR Countdown presented by Degree V12 at 1:00 p.m. ET and the race’s green flag is at 2:18 p.m.

The final 17 races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will air on the ESPN Networks, with the first six on ESPN and the final 11 on ABC, including all 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

ESPN’s coverage from Watkins Glen includes a live telecast of NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying on Friday, Aug. 7, at 3 p.m., and a telecast of NASCAR Sprint Cup final practice on Saturday, Aug. 8, at 1:30 p.m., both on ESPN2.

Dr. Jerry Punch will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.

Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty, owner of a winning team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in the ESPN pit studio.

Also this week, ESPN Classic will air highlights of the 1992 Save Mart Supermarkets 300 from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Goes Road Racing at Watkins Glen

ESPN2 continues its season-long coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend as the series races on a road course for the first time this season at historic Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. The live, flag-to-flag telecast airs Saturday, Aug. 8, at 2:30 p.m. ET. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC.

Also on Saturday, live coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying airs at 10 a.m. on ESPN2, while coverage of final practice airs Friday, Aug. 7, at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Marty Reid will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.

Evernham, LaJoie, Craven on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR on ESPN analysts Ray Evernham, Randy LaJoie and Ricky Craven will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program on Monday, Aug. 10, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Mike Massaro will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Massaro also hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing Tuesday through Thursday of this week at 5 p.m., and Friday at 6:30 p.m. following NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice at Watkins Glen International.

Massaro also hosts the one-hour weekend edition that airs Sunday, Aug. 9, at 10 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen. The weekend wrap-up edition airs at 10 p.m. Nicole Manske and Angelique Chengelis will report from Watkins Glen for both programs. .

NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Bestwick and Manske and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include NASCAR Insiders Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Boris Said, 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, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Spake and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now.

Feel Your Heart Race Makes Encore Appearance

As ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continues this week at Watkins Glen, ESPN2 will present an encore airing of Feel Your Heart Race, a half-hour look into why and how NASCAR attracts the most devoted fans in the country. The program airs Saturday, Aug. 8, at 1 p.m. ET.

Produced and directed by noted documentary filmmaker Doug Pray and Oil Factory, Feel Your Heart Race allows viewers to take a look inside the hearts and minds of drivers and fans to reveal NASCAR as a sport that is honest, real, complex, beautiful and fueled by passion. The story is told directly and entirely by top NASCAR drivers and their fans without narration or commentary and contains scenes of life at the track, colorful fan interviews and surprisingly honest testimony from drivers themselves about what it really feels like to be behind the wheel.

NHRA Full Throttle, Lucas Oil Series Action Monday on ESPN Classic

ESPN Classic airs two hours of drag racing action featuring the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and the Lucas Oil Sportsman Series on Monday, Aug. 10, beginning at 11 a.m. ET.

The first hour includes highlights from the recent Sportsman Series event at Norwalk, Ohio. The second hour features a look back at the 2003 Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., for the Full Throttle Series.