SPRINT CUP TO ESPN FOR SECOND HALF

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACING COMING TO ESPN FOR SECOND HALF OF SEASON

 

Ford EcoBoost 400 will be telecast live, flag-to-flag on ESPN Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. EDT

Miami – This weekend’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) will be the launching point for ESPN’s live, flag-to-flag telecasts of the final 17 races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season culminating with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.  Last year’s broadcast of the championship race from South Florida garnered ESPN its largest audience ever for a NASCAR event.

 

Beginning Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway, the final 10 races will comprise the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s playoffs, concluding Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the crowning of the series champion.

 

ESPN’s NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage team will include four former NASCAR Sprint Cup champions:

·         Dale Jarrett -- the inaugural race winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway (1995) and 1999 Sprint Cup Series champion

·         Two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree and lap-by-lap announcer Allen Bestwick in the booth

·         Rusty Wallace, the 1989 Sprint Cup Series driving champion and three-time champion crew chief Ray Evernham will be analysts for NASCAR Countdown with host Nicole Briscoe and analyst Brad Daugherty, a NASCAR team owner

 

Pit reporters during ESPN’s 17-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage will be:

·         Dave Burns

·         Jamie Little

·         Mike Massaro

·         Dr. Jerry Punch

·         Shannon Spake

·         Vince Welch

·         Marty Reid will be the lap-by-lap announcer for the remainder of ESPN’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race telecasts including the Ford EcoBoost 300 on Nov. 17

 

In addition to the live telecasts, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing will be covered on other ESPN multimedia outlets:

 

WatchESPN – All of ESPN’s NASCAR television content is also viewable digitally through WatchESPN and WatchESPN.com, the online-accessible authenticated version of ESPN.

NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series race telecasts airing on ESPN and ESPN2 can be seen on WatchESPN as can ESPN2’s daily news program NASCAR Now.

 

ESPN Deportes — ESPN’s Spanish-language television, radio and Internet in the U.S. will televise all 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races airing on ESPN networks on a delayed basis. ESPN Deportes’ NASCAR commentator team will feature Andrés Agulla (play-by-play) and Alex Pombo (analysis). In addition to the telecasts of the races, ESPN Deportes will have segments for its edition of SportsCenter.

 

ESPN.com — Award-winning motorsports journalists Ed Hinton, Terry Blount, David Newton and John Oreovicz and ESPN.com motorsports editors K. Lee Davis and Joe Breeze will lead the reporting team, with additional contributions from NASCAR Insider Marty Smith as well as ESPN the Magazine’s Ryan McGee. ESPN.com, along with Jayski.com, will feature extensive video, audio and editorial coverage of the 2012 NASCAR season, as well as providing multiple ESPN Fantasy games and content distributed to other emerging platforms such as Apple’s iTunes Store and Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE.

 

espnW.com — espnW’s mission is to connect female fans with the sports they love and follow, and with Danica Patrick competing in her first full year of NASCAR racing, espnW.com has been following her all season with news, features and behind-the-scenes information.

 

ESPN Radio — Each weekend morning, ESPN Radio’s RaceDay starts its engines at 6 a.m. ET with host Pat Patterson anchored from the site of that weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. The program airs 52 weeks a year.

 

ESPN International — ESPN International is one of the world’s leading syndicators of sports programming and its relationship with NASCAR is helping maximize coverage of NASCAR and providing a solid base of distribution. In addition, U.S. troops and their families serving around the world and Navy ships at sea can watch the season through American Forces Network.

 

ESPN Mobile — ESPN’s mobile platforms give fans on-the-go access to all the racing action, news and developments.

About NASCAR on ESPN

ESPN produces comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Additionally, ESPN is the television home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series. ESPN’s NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, WatchESPN, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN on Xbox LIVE, ESPN Radio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network's award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 19 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide.

 

About Homestead-Miami Speedway

The Speedway has been open since 1995 following an initiative to spur economic recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.  The 640-acre facility is active more than 280 days per year and hosts NASCAR’s Championship Races during Ford Championship Weekend (November 16-18, 2012).  The Sprint Cup Championship Ford 400 is broadcast live on TV and radio to 175 countries and into 24 languages.  The 2011 championship attracted ESPN Television’s largest NASCAR Sprint Cup viewership ever with a peak audience of 10.5 million when the checkered flag fell. Homestead-Miami Speedway, featuring a 1.5-mile oval and 2.21-mile road course, generates more than $250 million annually for the region. For more information, visit www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com.    

- HMS