Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live in Prime Time on ABC

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series appears on ABC for the first time this season when it races for 500 laps in prime time under the lights at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Saturday night, Aug. 21. The NASCAR Countdown pre-race show kicks off the evening at 7 p.m. ET with the race telecast at 7:30 p.m. The race’s green flag is at 7:43 p.m.

Also from Bristol, coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying airs Friday, Aug. 20, at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Marty Reid will call the action with analysis by Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, and two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup 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 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.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series also races under the lights at Bristol this weekend and season-long coverage on the ESPN networks continues. The race airs on ESPN beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 7 p.m. on Friday, with the race telecast at 8 p.m. and the green flag at 8:13 p.m.

Rusty, Ricky, Ray on NASCAR Now Roundtable

ESPN analysts Rusty Wallace, Ricky Craven and Ray Evernham will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program airing Tuesday, Aug. 24, at 1 a.m. ET (late Monday night) on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Mike Massaro will host the weekend editions of NASCAR Now airing around the Saturday night, Aug. 21, live coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The one-hour preview show airs at 9 a.m. Saturday while the weekend wrap-up edition airs Sunday, Aug. 22, at 10 a.m. Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis will report from the speedway, while Craven will join Massaro in the studio for analysis.

Massaro also hosts half-hour editions of NASCAR Now airing Tuesday and Thursday of this week at 5 p.m. and Wednesday at 6 p.m. There is no program on Friday due to live NASCAR programming.

NASCAR Now is hosted by Mike Massaro, Nicole Briscoe, Allen Bestwick and Shannon Spake and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include reporters Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, and Ricky Craven, ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton and ESPN the Magazine senior writer Ryan McGee. The NASCAR on ESPN team event coverage team of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Marty Reid, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now.

ESPN.com Expands Coverage with RacingLive!

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 night, Aug. 21, RacingLive! Bristol will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET to coincide with ESPN’s telecast of the 500-lap race at Bristol 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/.

NHRA Lucas Oil Series Action Airs Sunday

Highlights from the recent event at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag racing Series will air in a one-hour format at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 22, on ESPN2.

The series features Sportsman drag racing cars.