Motorsports This Week on ESPN and ABC

Drag Racing’s Biggest Event, NASCAR Doubleheader at Atlanta

ESPN2 Airing 10 Hours of NHRA U.S. Nationals Coverage

The biggest event of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season will have more than 10 hours of coverage on ESPN2 this weekend with the running of the 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. Expanded qualifying and eliminations cover age will culminate with six consecutive hours on Labor Day Monday, the final day of competition.

ESPN2’s coverage begins Sunday, Sept. 6, at 11 a.m. ET with NHRA RaceDay to bring viewers up-to-date with the latest NHRA news and set up the day’s action. Immediately following at 11:30 a.m., ESPN2 will telecast 2 ½ hours of U.S. Nationals qualifying. More qualifying coverage airs for two hours starting at 5 p.m.

NHRA RaceDay returns on Monday with a special one-hour episode at noon, followed at 1 p.m. by coverage of eliminations.  

Each Labor Day weekend, NHRA racers and fans descend on O’Reilly Raceway Park for the biggest, oldest, richest, and most prestigious drag race in the world. The fabled strip is regarded by many as one of the smoothest on the circuit. The event also hosts the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, the bonus event for Pro Stock Motorcycle racers, and is the last event in the Countdown to 10.

Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn . Reporting from the pits will be Gary Gerould , Dave Rieff and John Kernan . Rieff and Dunn also host NHRA RaceDay.

ESPN’s Backseat Drivers Return at Atlanta Nationwide Series Race

ESPN2’s live coverage of the Sept. 5 Degree v12 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will see the return of ESPN’s “Backseat Drivers,” a television concept that debuted several weeks ago at Michigan International Speedway. The telecast will prominently feature ESPN’s five NASCAR champion analysts and will be done without a traditional “play by play” announcer.

Tim Brewer , Ray Evernham , Dale Jarrett , Andy Petree and Rusty Wallace will give viewers the experience of sitting at home and watching the race with NASCAR experts. With Brewer contributing reports and analysis from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, Evernham, Jarrett, Petree and Wallace will call the race from the booth.

In addition to the five champions, coverage will include pit reporters Dave Burns , Jamie Little , Shannon Spake and Vince Welch , while Allen Bestwick will host. The telecast begins with Bestwick, Wallace and Evernham in the ESPN Pit Studio for NASCAR Countdown at 6:30 p.m. ET. The race’s green flag flies at 7:15 p.m.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live from Atlanta on ESPN

ESPN will have live, flag-to-flag coverage in high definition as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competes at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 6. The telecast begins with NASCAR Countdown presented by Degree V12 at 7 p.m. ET and the race’s green flag is at 7:46 p.m. The race marks the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta to be scheduled as a night race, and the first on Labor Day weekend. ESPN’s telecast is presented by Pennzoil.

The final 17 races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will air on the ESPN Networks, with the first six on ESPN and the final 11 on ABC, including all 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Dr. Jerry Punch will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree . Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns , Jamie Little , Shannon Spake and Vince Welch , with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.

Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace , three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham and Brad Daugherty , owner of a winning team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in the ESPN pit studio.

Craven, Said, Wallace on NASCAR Now Roundtable

NASCAR driver Mike Wallace will join ESPN NASCAR analysts Ricky Craven and Boris Said as panelists on NASCAR Now’s weekly roundtable discussion program on airing Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 1 a.m. ET (late Monday night), on ESPN2. Mike Massaro will host the edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program.

Massaro also hosts half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now airing this week at later times than normal due to ESPN2’s coverage of U.S. Open Series tennis. Episodes air Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 1 a.m. (late Tuesday night), Thursday, Sept. 3, at 12:30 a.m. (late Wednesday night), Friday, Sept. 4, at 1 a.m. (late Thursday night), and Saturday, Sept. 5, at 1 a.m. (late Friday night).

The one-hour weekend edition airs Sunday, Sept. 6, at 10 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The weekend wrap-up edition airs at 11:30 p.m. that night. Nicole Manske hosts the Sunday shows, while Massaro and Angelique Chengelis will report from Atlanta for both programs. Said will join Manske in the studio. 

NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Bestwick and Manske and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include NASCAR Insiders Marty Smith and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Boris Said, 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, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Spake and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now.

Traxxas TORC Series Action on ABC Sunday

Action from the Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL returns to ABC on Sunday, Sept. 6, at 4 p.m. ET with live coverage of the Crandon 40th Anniversary of Off-Road Racing event held in Crandon, Wis. The premier short-course racing series with the top stars in off-road racing, this exciting form of door-to-door action is appearing on both ESPN2 and ABC this season.    

The 2009 season features eight total rounds of racing. ESPN2 will air five rounds with three to appear on ABC. Marty Reid, lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN on ABC's coverage of the Indianapolis 500 and selected NASCAR races, will call all of the Traxxas TORC Truck Series events on ESPN2 and ABC. Joining Reid will be long-time extreme sports announcer Tes Sewell and former Miss USA Kimberly Pressler as pit reporter.

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