POSTED: Tuesday April 28th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ESPN’S NASCAR Coverage Earns 19th Sports Emmy Award

NASCAR award was for Technical Team Studio in the 2008 season and honored the ESPN Pit Studio and Craftsman Tech Garage, two mobile studio facilities utilized across ESPN platforms

ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR earned its 19^th Sports Emmy Award, among five presented to ESPN by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Monday night in New York.

The NASCAR award was for Technical Team Studio in the 2008 season and honored the ESPN Pit Studio and Craftsman Tech Garage, two mobile studio facilities utilized across ESPN platforms.

“We’re humbled that our efforts associated with both the ESPN Pit Studio and the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage were recognized,” said Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports. “Both are unique in our industry and are used as key elements of our NASCAR coverage.”

For its NASCAR Countdown studio shows that precede all NASCAR race telecasts, ESPN originates from the Pit Studio. The studio, which weighs nearly 78,000 pounds and travels all season, allows ESPN to bring the look and feel of its Bristol, Conn.,-based studio shows such as SportsCenter and Sunday NFL Countdown to the tracks. Host Allen Bestwick and analysts Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty man the pit studio for ESPN.

The mobile pit studio is outfitted with state-of-the-art LED lighting, robotic HD cameras and a dramatic, contoured, video display fronting the anchor desk. Situated near the pits at every track, the studio is elevated 14 feet while in use and 30 foot glass windows give viewers a look at the cars, grandstands and pageantry prior to the race start. 

The ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage is an enclosed studio that contains two ESPN Chevy Cutaway Cars. The studio also has room for displays of other race car elements such as engines, transmissions and shock absorbers. ESPN’s Tim Brewer, a two-time NASCAR champion crew chief, and other ESPN analysts report from the Tech Garage during race telecasts to help viewers better understand the technical and mechanical aspects of NASCAR racing.

The ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage allows ESPN to present segments in the telecasts that originate from an enclosed, controlled environment with no exterior interference, adding to the viewing experience and giving NASCAR fans more information.

ESPN has now won 128 Sports Emmy Awards in 21 years of eligibility.

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

About NASCAR on ESPN:
ESPN and ABC have comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season. All programming is produced totally in high definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNRadio 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. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

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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 · auto racing

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

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