POSTED: Monday April 6th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Motorsports This Week on ESPN

NASCAR Nationwide Series Live from Nashville on ESPN

The NASCAR Nationwide Series takes center stage this weekend with an event at Nashville Superspeedway, and the series will make its first appearance of the season on ESPN for a live, high definition telecast of the 300-mile race on Saturday, April 11, at 3 p.m. ET. The telecast is presented by Pennzoil. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC. The race re-airs Sunday, April 12, at noon on ESPN Classic.

The race is the first of four events that make up the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash, a competition program involving four stand-alone races on the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season and providing Nationwide Series drivers an opportunity to race for their own bonus program. In the Nashville race, if an eligible driver takes the victory, he will receive an additional $25,000 bonus from Nationwide. At the end of the season, the eligible driver with the highest accumulated points from the four races will win an additional $50,000.

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

Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by Wallace and Brad Daugherty, a winning team owner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in the ESPN pit studio.

ESPN2 will televise NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice from Nashville on Friday, April 10, at 6 p.m., as well as qualifying on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Reporter Roundtable Monday on NASCAR Now

Three prominent journalists who cover NASCAR racing will join host Allen Bestwick for an hour of discussion on the Monday, April 13, edition of NASCAR Now, ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program at 5 p.m. ET. Panel members for the reporter roundtable will include Jim Pedley, formerly with the Kansas City Star and now the managing editor of new racing website RacinToday.com; Jeff Gluck of NASCAR Scene; and NASCAR Now lead reporter Marty Smith.

Half-hour episodes of NASCAR Now air Tuesday through Friday of this week. The airtimes are Tuesday at 5 p.m., Wednesday at 6 p.m., Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Friday program leads into ESPN2’s live coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway. 

NASCAR Now is hosted by Nicole Manske, Mike Massaro and Bestwick 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.

NHRA Lucas Oil Sportsman Series Featured Saturday on ESPN2

Action from the NHRA Lucas Oil Sportsman Series airs Sunday, April 12, at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN2. The program features racing from the recent NHRA event in Las Vegas. Dave Rieff hosts the coverage for ESPN2.

Featuring race vehicles that range from 5-second Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars to 15-second Stockers, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is the premier Sportsman series in drag racing. Eight categories are included in the series, which is showcased at select NHRA national events.

Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN\‘s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

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Contacts:       Andy Hall at 407-566-2209; andy.hall@espn.com
                George McNeilly at 407-566-2077; george.mcneilly@espn.com

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Keywords · ESPN · NASCAR · NHRA Lucas Oil Sportsman Series

Name: Andy Hall
Organization: ESPN
Email:
Phone: +1.407-566-2209
URL: http://espn.go.com/

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