Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC

NASCAR Busch Series Live on ABC From New Hampshire

ESPN on ABC will feature NASCAR Busch Series racing live Saturday, June 30, from New Hampshire International Speedway as the series makes its only appearance of 2007 at the 1.058-mile New England oval for the Camping World 200 presented by RV.com. The telecast begins with NASCAR Countdown at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday; the 200-lap race starts at 3 p.m.

Remarkably, in the 20 NASCAR Busch Series races that have been contested at NHIS since the track opened in 1990, there has never been a repeat winner. The first race held at NHIS was a 300-lap NASCAR Busch Series race in 1990 that was won by Tommy Ellis, and current series points leader Carl Edwards won last year’s event.

Dale Jarrett, one of the founding drivers of the NASCAR Busch Series and the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion, will work in the ESPN booth as analyst for the telecast, joined by two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Dr. Jerry Punch will handle play-by-play. Pit reporters will be Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro.

Brent Musburger will host NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN Pit Studio, while two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Chevy Cutaway Car.

More ESPN Ultimate NASCAR Programming To Premiere July 5

As the return of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series racing to ESPN draws nearer, ESPN is building up to the July 29 running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard with 11 hours of programming on the history of NASCAR. The month of July revs up the countdown to green with three shows highlighting NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers, Hottest Rivalries and Biggest Races.

The series begins at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, July 5, on ESPN with Greatest Drivers, a one-hour special produced by ESPN Content Development. The program will count down the 25 greatest drivers in NASCAR history, chosen by an exclusive panel of NASCAR experts and historians.

Starting Monday, July 23, the week leading into the Brickyard race will include seven hours of NASCAR documentaries – The Explosion, The Dirt, The Cars, Speed and Danger and The Families. All shows will debut on ESPN.

Since April, ESPN viewers have been watching “100 Defining Moments," a series of 30-second vignettes that kicked off ESPN’s Ultimate NASCAR initiative and are featured on SportsCenter, NASCAR Now and other ESPN programming. ESPN is counting down the 100 most defining moments in NASCAR history as selected by the panel.

NASCAR Now Schedule

NASCAR Now, ESPN’s daily news and information show dedicated to NASCAR, will have its expanded Monday edition on the air from 6-7 p.m. ET tonight on ESPN2. The program will have extensive highlights and recaps of Sunday’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race from Infineon Raceway and Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race from The Milwaukee Mile and will look ahead to next weekend with updates on the latest news items.

NASCAR Now will air on ESPN2 for 30 minutes in its regular 6:30 p.m. ET time slot Tuesday through Friday of this week. The one-hour weekend edition will air at 10 a.m. Sunday, July 1, with highlights from Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race at New Hampshire and a look ahead to Sunday’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at the same track. The weekend wrap-up edition of the program will air at midnight Sunday.

NASCAR Now is hosted by Erik Kuselias, Ryan Burr or Allen Bestwick and originates from ESPN’s High Definition studios in Bristol, Conn., with reporters Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake. Contributors include analysts Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Stacy Compton and Boris Said, along with NASCAR insiders Terry Blount, Angelique Chengelis, Tim Cowlishaw, David Newton and Marty Smith, as well as D.J. Copp, a member of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s NASCAR team.

ESPN to Feature IndyCar Series Under the Lights at Richmond International Raceway

The IndyCar Series will race under the lights in prime time at Richmond International Raceway and ESPN will have live coverage at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, June 30.

Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick and defending IndyCar champion Sam Hornish Jr. will be among the drivers competing on the .75-mile track located at the Virginia State Fairgrounds.

Marty Reid will anchor the ESPN telecast, joined in the booth by former IndyCar Series driver Scott Goodyear for analysis. Jack Arute, Brienne Pedigo and Vince Welch will report from the pits.

ESPN’s IndyCar Series programming is seen in 208 countries this year. ESPN Networks and Syndication Sales reaches 176 countries, with the American Forces Network airing in 32 additional countries.

NHRA Coverage from Ohio To Air Saturday and Sunday on ESPN2

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series moves to Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, this weekend for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, and ESPN2 will have coverage of qualifying and finals Saturday and Sunday. Qualifying coverage from the Ohio drag racing facility will air at 10 p.m. ET Saturday, with three hours of finals coverage at 8 p.m. Sunday.

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series will make its first appearance at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The track was founded in 1963 and purchased in 1973 by the Bader family, which continues to make improvements. Last year, the facility underwent a $4 million improvement project that included luxury sponsor suites, a state-of-the-art media center, track paving in the professional pit area and tower renovation.

Paul Page will anchor ESPN2’s coverage from Norwalk, with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff will report the action from the pits. Rieff also will host NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. ET Sunday on ESPN2. The half-hour program will set the stage for Sunday’s eliminations with driver interviews, features and up-to-date information. An episode of American Dragster will follow at 11:30 a.m.

Champ Car World Series Action Live from Mont-Tremblant on ABC

The Champ Car World Series will make its first appearance of the season in Canada this weekend with its inaugural event at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant in St. Jovite, Quebec. Sunday’s race will be televised live by ESPN beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

At least 13 events in the international open-wheel racing series will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPN on ABC in 2007, with the networks exclusively airing the series in 2008. The networks have a long history with Champ Car that began in 1981, when the first race aired live on ESPN was a Champ Car event from Milwaukee, won by Mike Mosley. Series events appeared on the networks through the 2001 season. Many of the great moments in the history of the series were seen live on ESPN and ABC, including Alex Zanardi’s 1997 win in Cleveland, where he introduced the world to victory doughnuts, and Mario Andretti’s final Champ Car win in 1993 at Phoenix.

Rick Benjamin and Jon Beekhuis will be in the booth for the St. Jovite race, with Cameron Steele and Bill Stephens reporting from the pits. Michelle Beisner will be a feature reporter on the telecast.

Also part of the weekend will be a race for the Champ Car Atlantic Championship. Fans can watch the action live on ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband service, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. A condensed telecast will air on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. July 6.

NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Action Airs Sunday

The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will air at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday, July 1, on ESPN2 with coverage of series action from the ProCare Rx NHRA SuperNationals from Englishtown, N.J.

Featuring race vehicles that range from 5-second Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars to 15-second Stockers, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is the premier Sportsman series in drag racing. Eight categories are included in the series, which is showcased at select NHRA national events. ESPN’s Dave Rieff will anchor the coverage from Englishtown.

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Racing on ESPN2 Sunday

World of Outlaws sprint car racing will be featured at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday, July 1, on ESPN2. The one-hour program will recap the previous night’s WoO event at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, N.D.

The telecast continues the World of Outlaws’ “SuperClean Summer of Money," with eight consecutive weekends of racing on ESPN2 at eight different tracks. The World of Outlaws is the premier sanctioning body in the world for winged sprint car racing.

ESPN2 Garage Programs To Air Throughout the Week

Episodes of shows in the ESPN2 Garage block of automotive programming will air throughout the week. Designed to complement ESPN’s extensive coverage of NASCAR, IndyCar, Champ Car and NHRA racing in 2007, ESPN2 Garage is dedicated to the automotive, motorcycle and motorsports worlds. ESPN2 will air more than 1,100 hours of motorsports programming in 2007.