NASCAR announcers milking Dale Jr. for all he’s worth
FOX Sports 1’s NASCAR RACEDAY (1:30 PM ET) kicks off Sunday’s coverage, immediately followed by network pre-race coverage on FOX NASCAR SUNDAY (2:30 PM ET). FOX Deportes telecasts the race live beginning at 3 p.m. ET, while FOX Sports GO, the app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content, offers live streaming of the race, as well as all practice and qualifying sessions telecast on FOX Sports 1. Customers of participating video providers may access the live streams of the race through the FOX Sports GO app for iOS devices, as well as on desktops through FOXSportsGO.com.
FOX Sports 1 features live coverage of NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES and NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES practice and qualifying sessions from Phoenix on Friday and Saturday, while NASCAR VICTORY LANE features complete post-race interviews and analysis of the day’s pivotal moments.
LARRY MCREYNOLDS ON DALE EARNHARDT JR. CARRYING MOMEMTUM INTO PHOENIX FROM HIS DAYTONA 500 WIN:
“Nothing from the racing side – chassis setups, engine configurations and so forth — is relative between Daytona and Phoenix or will carry over. But the enthusiasm I see in Dale Jr., Steve Letarte and that entire No. 88 team definitely carries over. Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, just to name a few, already are in a hole one race into the season. They go there with the attitude that they have to move forward with Daytona behind them. But Dale Jr. walks into Phoenix as the Daytona 500 champion. I watched him win two Nationwide championships in 1998 and 1999 and multiple Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500, but never saw him as enthusiastic and energized as he is now. It looks like the weight of the world is off his shoulders. This is his sixth year at Hendrick Motorsports but it hasn’t born a lot of fruit yet. Go back to 1992, my first Daytona 500 win with Davey Allison, and for the next month, we couldn’t do anything wrong. I see the same potentially happening with Dale Jr."
DARRELL WALTRIP ON DALE EARNHARDT JR. CARRYING MOMENTUM INTO PHOENIX FROM HIS DAYTONA 500 WIN:
“Winning the Daytona 500 is going to pay off big-time for Dale Jr. in Phoenix. That win energized him and was exactly what he needed to start the year. A lot of people were concerned when Steve Letarte announced his departure early on and expected a bit of a letdown with that team, but both of them took it as an opportunity to do things they hadn’t done before. Letarte hadn’t won the Daytona 500 before and now he has. The energy Dale Jr. displayed in his Victory Lane celebration won’t die in a few days. He’ll carry it right into Phoenix. They’ve run there well in the past, and when you couple that success with the energy from winning the 500, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go back-to-back with wins to open the season."
LARRY MCREYNOLDS ON THE SPORT CARRYING MOMENTUM INTO PHOENIX:
“It’s a win-win for everybody. Dale Jr. is our Tiger Woods, let’s face it. When Tiger is playing well and leading tournaments, there are a lot more eyeballs on the PGA. When Dale Jr. is performing well and is a contender, there are more eyeballs on our sport. I bet ticket sales jumped up at Phoenix on Monday morning. But it’s not like Dale Jr. and his team just fell out of the grandstands at Daytona and all of a sudden were good. He had his best Chase yet at Hendrick last season and finished the highest he has finished in points since he moved there. He had four top-five finishes in the last five Chase races last season, so it’s like they were able to capture the momentum with which they ended the 2013 season and carry it into 2014. Look for that to carry over to Phoenix."
LARRY MCREYNOLDS ON THE FAVORITE TO WIN AT PHOENIX:
“We have an ‘x’ factor at Phoenix because there are some aero changes for the series, starting this weekend, that we didn’t have at Daytona. There’s the change with the no ride-height rule that changes how you set up a car for Phoenix, but the challenges haven’t changed. The two ends of the track are very different but the challenges at both ends of the track are the same — getting the car to turn well through the middle of the corner and not lose rear grip or get loose getting off the corner. This is the sixth race on this new configuration and repave at Phoenix. Kevin Harvick has won two of those five, including the fall race. Carl Edwards won a year ago and looked ready to win the fall race but came up a little short on fuel. So, even with the ‘x’ factor of the rule changes, I’ll be watching Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards."
NASCAR ON FOX & FOX SPORTS AT PHOENIX PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE
*All times live unless otherwise indicated & subject to change
Friday, Feb. 28
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES PRACTICE (1:00-2:00 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES PRACTICE (2:00-3:30 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR RACE HUB (4:00-5:00 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES PRACTICE (5:00-6:30 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES QUALIFYING (6:30-8:00 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
2014 DAYTONA 500 ENCORE (8:00-11:00 PM ET, delayed) (FOX Sports 1)
Saturday, March 1
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES PRACTICE (11:00 AM-12:00 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES QUALIFYING (12:00-1:30 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR LIVE (1:30-2:00 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES FINAL PRACTICE (2:00-3:00 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
Sunday, March 2
NASCAR RACEDAY (1:30-2:30 PM ET) (FOX Sports 1)
FOX NASCAR SUNDAY (2:30-3:00 PM ET) (FOX)
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACING FROM PHOENIX (3:00 PM ET) (FOX)
NASCAR VICTORY LANE (8:00-8:30 PM ET; delayed) (FOX Sports 1)