Indianapolis Marks Beginning of ESPN’s 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Coverage

The July 27 running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will again mark the beginning of ESPN’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage. The 400-mile event at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be the first as ESPN and ESPN on ABC will have live coverage of the final 17 races of the 2008 season, including all 10 races in the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” on ABC.

Beginning at Indianapolis, the first six races in the final 17 will be on ESPN. Starting with the Richmond International Raceway event, the final 11 will be on ABC.

ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series includes telecasts of practice and qualifying from select races, the season-ending banquet and season preview and review specials. NASCAR Countdown provides a dedicated pre-race program for each race telecast, and ESPN2’s NASCAR news and information program, NASCAR Now, delivers comprehensive coverage of the series. All programs are produced totally in high definition.

In addition, ESPN2 is home to the NASCAR Nationwide Series for 2008. Select NASCAR Nationwide Series races are being televised by ESPN and ABC.

ESPN’s NASCAR coverage touches 18 ESPN platforms, including ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ABC HD, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNDeportes.com, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN International, ESPN Mobile Properties, Jayski.com, ESPN360.com, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic and ESPN Content Development.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ESPN have enjoyed a long relationship, with ABC televising the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 in addition to ABC’s 44 years of coverage of the Indianapolis 500.

Starting in 1981, ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup races over a 20-year period. The network's award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN was honored with 17 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. ESPN is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s. Live NASCAR Cup racing returned to the ESPN networks in 2007.

- nascar2008 -