Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC

The Chase Is On: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in Prime Time from Charlotte

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship continues Saturday night, Oct. 16, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in prime time under the lights in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will air live on ABC with NASCAR Countdown at 7 p.m. ET and the race’s green flag 7:46 p.m. ESPN2 will air NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. as well as a practice session that day at 3:30 p.m. and practices on Friday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

ESPN2’s season-long coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series continues at Charlotte with a telecast of Friday night’s 300-mile race. NASCAR Countdown airs at 7:30 p.m. with the race telecast, presented by Hellman’s, at 8 p.m. The green flag flies at 8:16 p.m. ESPN2 also airs NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying at 3 p.m. Friday.

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.

NASCAR Now One Hour Special Reports from NASCAR Hall of Fame

ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now expands to one hour on Wednesday, Oct. 13, as the next five inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame are announced in Charlotte, N.C. Mike Massaro will host from the NASCAR Now studio with ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch, a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting committee, NASCAR Now lead reporter Marty Smith and ESPN the Magazine senior writer Ryan McGee at the Hall of Fame. In addition, reporter Shannon Spake will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway as NASCAR Nationwide Series teams have a day of testing with the new series race car before Friday night’s race.

NASCAR on ESPN analysts Ray Evernham and Ricky Craven join ESPN.com senior writer Ed Hinton as panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program airing Monday, Oct. 18, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with host Allen Bestwick.

Massaro hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing at 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. this week. Massaro also hosts as NASCAR Now surrounds Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Charlotte with episodes at 9 a.m. and midnight. Smith and Spake will report from Charlotte while Craven will join Massaro in the studio.

ESPN.com Offers RacingLive! During Charlotte 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 Saturday, Oct. 16, RacingLive! Charlotte will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET to coincide with ESPN’s telecast of the 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 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.