Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC
NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series at Charlotte
The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will race under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend with races on Friday and Saturday nights, Oct. 12-13. ABC will have a live telecast of Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, the fifth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, with NASCAR Countdown at 7 p.m. ET and the race’s green flag at 7:46 p.m. Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race airs on ESPN, with NASCAR Countdown at 7 p.m. and the green flag at 7:46 p.m. ESPN2 will have telecasts of practice and qualifying sessions for both series on Thursday and Friday (schedule below). All NASCAR programming on ESPN and ESPN2 is also available on computers, smartphones and tablets with the WatchESPN app and WatchESPN.com. The schedule:
| Date | Time | Event | Network |
| Thu., Oct. 11 | 2 p.m. | NASCAR Nationwide Series practice | ESPN2 |
| Thu., Oct. 11 | 3:30 p.m. | NASCAR Sprint Cup practice | ESPN2 |
| Thu., Oct. 11 | 6 p.m. | NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice | ESPN2 |
| Thu., Oct. 11 | 7 p.m. | NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying | ESPN2 |
| Fri., Oct. 12 | 4 p.m. | NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying | ESPN2 |
| Fri., Oct. 12 | 5:30 p.m. | NASCAR Sprint Cup final practice | ESPN2 |
| Fri., Oct. 12 | 7 p.m. | NASCAR Countdown | ESPN |
| Fri., Oct. 12 | 7:30 p.m. | NASCAR Nationwide Series pres. by GoDaddy.com | ESPN |
| Sat., Oct. 13 | 7 p.m. | NASCAR Countdown | ABC |
| Sat., Oct. 13 | 7:30 p.m. | Bank of America 500 | ABC |
Announcers:
Booth: Lap-by-Lap announcer Allen Bestwick (Sprint Cup); Marty Reid (Nationwide Series); analysts Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree.
Pit reporters: Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch.
NASCAR Countdown: Nicole Briscoe (host); Rusty Wallace, Ray Evernham, Brad Daugherty (analysts).
NASCAR Now Schedule
ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now will preview the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the one-hour edition airing Saturday, Oct. 13, at 10 a.m. ET. Host Mike Massaro will be joined in the studio by ESPN NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven with reporters Marty Smith and Jim Noble at the track. The week’s schedule:
|
Date |
Time | Show | Host | Network |
| Tue., Oct. 9 | 3:30 p.m. | NASCAR Now | Jonathan Coachman | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
| Wed., Oct. 10 | 3 p.m. | NASCAR Now | Shannon Spake | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
| Thu., Oct. 11 | 5:30 p.m. | NASCAR Now | Mike Massaro | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
| Fri., Oct. 12 | 5 p.m. | NASCAR Now | Mike Massaro | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
| Sat., Oct. 13 | 10 a.m. | NASCAR Now | Mike Massaro | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
| Mon., Oct. 15 | 3 p.m. | NASCAR Now | Shannon Spake | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
NHRA Lucas Oil Series Action Airs Sunday
While the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series has the weekend off, drag racing fans can still get their fix when ESPN2 televises an hour of action featuring the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series on Sunday, Oct. 14, at 2 p.m. ET.
The telecast will include highlights from the recent event at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.
Motorsports on Other ESPN Platforms
ESPN.com — RacingLive! on ESPN.com is a live blog where fans can engage in debate and discussion with ESPN.com writers and editors during the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. On Saturday, Oct. 13, RacingLive! Charlotte will coincide with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/. ESPN.com motorsports writer David Newton will report from Charlotte.
ESPN Radio — Each weekend morning, ESPN Radio’s RaceDay starts its engines at 6 a.m. ET with host Pat Patterson anchored from the site of that weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, ESPN Radio’s RaceDay listeners get an hour of news, previews and analysis, as well as profiles and interviews with NASCAR’s biggest names and newsmakers and the involvement of listeners via calls and e-mails.