NASCAR closes on TV deal

The negotiations over NASCAR's future television contracts continue out in Beverly Hills, Calif., where Richard Glover reports the process is "right on schedule." NASCAR's energetic vice president of broadcasting and new media hints the sanctioning body's next multi-year deal will look much the same as the current contracts.

The Fox/FX and NBC/Turner groups, who have enjoyed NASCAR Nextel Cup broadcast rights since 2001, each want to re-up and continue their split-season relationships with big-league stock car racing. The current $2.4 billion contract ends next season and Glover predicts the next contract will be signed and announced sometime in late November or early December.

He said there could be some minor changes, "tweaks" as he called them, to the next big TV contract. The Daytona 500 is apparently some sort of wild card in the process, now that NBC/Turner enjoys the fruits of the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship playoff format. The Chase was added into the mix last season, the fourth year of the current contract. Daytona Beach Journal