Motorsports This Week on ESPN

NASCAR Nationwide Series in Prime Time from Phoenix on ESPN2

The NASCAR Nationwide Series races in prime time at Phoenix International Raceway and ESPN2 will have a live, flag-to-flag telecast of the 200-mile event on Friday night, April 9. NASCAR Countdown presented by Hellman’s airs at 9 p.m. ET, while the race telecast starts at 9:30 p.m. with the green flag at 9:45 p.m. ESPN2 is the home of the series all season, with selected races airing on ESPN and ABC.

Also from Phoenix, ESPN2 airs coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying on Friday at 5 p.m.

Marty Reid will be the lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN2’s race coverage, joined in the booth for analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Andy Petree. Pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Shannon Spake. Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.

Allen Bestwick will host NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN pit studio, with analysis by Wallace.

Craven, LaJoie, Chengelis on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR on ESPN analysts Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie and NASCAR Now reporter Angelique Chengelis will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program on Monday, April 12, at the special time of 7 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 Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at 5 p.m., Friday at 1 a.m. (late Thursday night) and Friday at 6:30 p.m. Massaro also hosts the one-hour weekend edition that airs Saturday, April 10, at 10 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. Chengelis and Nicole Briscoe will report from Phoenix, joined by analyst Rusty Wallace.

NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Bestwick and Briscoe and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include reporters Marty Smith, Shannon Spake and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie, and ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton. 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.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series in Houston

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series races this weekend in the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, and ESPN2 will air highlights of qualifying and eliminations. Qualifying action airs Saturday, April 10, at 11 p.m. ET, and again on Sunday at 1 p.m. Coverage of eliminations airs Sunday at 8 p.m.

Houston Raceway Park benefits from incredible atmospheric conditions because of its proximity to Trinity Bay, which feeds the facility cool air. The track’s first NHRA national event, in fall 1988, established HRP as one of the sport’s quickest with NHRA’s first four-second Top Fuel quarter-mile pass and a new national record. Since then, the track has been host to a dizzying array of record runs, including the first sub-4.5-second Top Fuel quarter-mile pass by Larry Dixon in 1999. In 2010, the state-of-the-art starting-line Tower Club will offer fans a VIP experience.

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 2:30 p.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.