Bolden to join NBC NASCAR TV team

The AP's Jenna Fryer noted NBC Olympic track & field analyst Ato Boldon will "join NBC Sports Group's NASCAR broadcast team as a features contributor beginning next week."

His debut will be July 1 during coverage at Daytona Int'l Speedway. NBC Sports Exec Producer Sam Flood said, "I want a fish out of water to show what NASCAR is all about."

It was during his coverage of the Rio Games that Boldon "first expressed" curiosity about NASCAR to Flood. Boldon will "report on what makes NASCAR fans loyal to their drivers while hanging out in the track infield."

He will also "examine NASCAR's earlier days of racing on Daytona Beach."

Fryer noted Boldon will also "report from" races at Bristol, Charlotte and Homestead-Miami. NBC "plans to use him as a hauler driver, a member of Joe Gibbs Racing's pit crew and will give him the wheel of NBC Sports' on-track car to experience the horsepower and track banking." AP