Racing this week on ESPN

The NASCAR Nationwide Series races for 300 miles Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and ESPN2 will have a live, flag-to-flag telecast of the third event of the 2010 season. ESPN2 is the home of the series all season, with select races airing on ESPN and ABC.

NASCAR Countdown presented by Hellman’s airs Saturday, Feb. 27, at 4 p.m. ET. The race telecast is presented by GoDaddy.com and starts at 4:30 p.m. with the green flag at 4:46 p.m. Marty Reid will be the lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN2’s race coverage, joined in the booth for analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Andy Petree. Pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch. 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 Jarrett and Brad Daugherty, a team owner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Evernham, Craven, McGee on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR on ESPN analysts Ray Evernham and Ricky Craven and ESPN the Magazine senior writer Ryan McGee will be panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program on Monday, March 1, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Allen Bestwick will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Nicole Briscoe hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing Tuesday through Thursday of this week at 5 p.m. and Friday at 6 p.m. Briscoe also hosts the one-hour weekend edition that airs Sunday, Feb. 28, at 9 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mike Massaro and Marty Smith will report from the speedway. .

NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Bestwick and Manske 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 Lucas Oil Sportsman Action on ESPN2

Drag racing fans can watch an hour of action featuring the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 10 a.m. on ESPN2. The program will include highlights of the Sportsman cars and drivers from the recent event at Auto Club of Southern California Raceway in Pomona, Calif.