Motorsports This Week on ESPN

The Chase Is On: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live from Talladega

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at NASCAR’s largest track as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship continues with the Amp Energy Juice 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 31, and ESPN will have a live telecast. NASCAR Countdown airs on ESPN2 at noon ET with the race telecast on ESPN at 1 p.m. The race’s green flag is at 1:19 p.m.

Marty Reid will call the action with analysis by Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, and two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree. Two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, while pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch.

NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion driver Rusty Wallace, three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham and Brad Daugherty, a team owner in the series. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race.

Jarrett, Craven, Evernham on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR on ESPN analysts Dale Jarrett, Ray Evernham and Ricky Craven will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program airing Monday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Mike Massaro hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday of this week and also hosts as NASCAR Now surrounds Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway with two episodes. The one-hour weekend edition airs at 9 a.m. with a preview of that day’s race, while the weekend wrap-up edition airs that night at 10 p.m. Shannon Spake and Terry Blount will report from Talladega while Craven will join Massaro in the studio.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series at Las Vegas

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series has only two events left this season and races this weekend in the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ESPN2 will air highlights of qualifying and eliminations, with qualifying action airing Sunday, Oct. 31, at 1 a.m. ET, and coverage of eliminations airing later that day at 9 p.m.

As the next-to-last event that will decide the season’s NHRA Full Throttle world championships, plenty is at stake in Las Vegas at this 10th anniversary event. Every run will be important because a slip at this point could be worse than snake eyes at the other Strip’s craps tables. The venue is the same as in the spring, but the weather may be different, making for high drama at an event where previous world champions have been crowned.

Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff report from the pits. Rieff and Dunn host NHRA RaceDay presented by Lucas Oil on Sunday at 10 a.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.

ESPN.com Offers RacingLive! During Talladega Race

NASCAR fans looking for an online gathering during ESPN’s telecasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now have a place to go on 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 Sunday, Oct. 31, RacingLive! Talladega will kick off at 1 p.m. ET to coincide with ESPN’s telecast of the race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/.

ESPN Radio Raceday Airs Saturday, Sunday

Each weekend morning, ESPN Radio’s RaceDay starts its engines at 6 a.m. ET with host Pat Patterson anchored from Daytona Beach, Fla. Patterson also originates the broadcast from several racetracks with key races during the season. 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.

Additionally, many of ESPN’s NASCAR reporters and analysts contribute each week as ESPN networks televise the entire NASCAR Nationwide Series and the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup" championship. A list of ESPN Radio affiliates can be found at www.espnradio.com.