NASCAR’s 36-race season comes to a close in South Florida this weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 21. ESPN will have a live telecast of the final race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the close championship battle involving Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick is decided.
NASCAR Countdown airs at noon ET on ESPN2 with the race telecast on ESPN at 1 p.m. The green flag is at 1:15 p.m. Also from Homestead, NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying will air on ESPN2 on Friday, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. Practice sessions air Friday at 11:30 a.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m.
ESPN2’s season-long coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series comes to a close at Homestead with a telecast of Saturday’s Ford 300. NASCAR Countdown airs at 4 p.m. with the green flag is at 4:45 p.m.
Marty Reid will call the action with analysis by Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, and two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree. Two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, while pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch.
NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion driver Rusty Wallace, three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham and Brad Daugherty, a team owner in the series. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race.
Bestwick also hosts SportsCenter at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, a half-hour special that will set up the final race with news, interviews and analysis. The program airs on Saturday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Wallace, Evernham and Daugherty will provide analysis, with reporters Nicole Briscoe, Mike Massaro and Marty Smith.
NASCAR Now To Originate from Homestead
ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now will originate from Homestead-Miami Speedway and the NASCAR season finale for episodes airing Thursday through Sunday of this week.
A half-hour program hosted by Allen Bestwick airs Thursday, Nov. 18, at 4 p.m. ET from the ESPN Pit Studio inside the speedway. Bestwick then hosts a program airing at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and another airing Saturday at 1:30 a.m. (late Friday night).
NASCAR Now will surround Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead with two episodes originating from the speedway. The one-hour weekend edition hosted by Nicole Briscoe airs at 9 a.m. with a preview of that day’s race, while the weekend wrap-up edition hosted by Bestwick airs that night at 10 p.m. Briscoe, Mike Massaro and Marty Smith will be reporters at Homestead.
Massaro hosts episodes airing earlier in the week, including Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 1 a.m. (late Tuesday night) and Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
ESPN.com Offers RacingLive! During Homestead Race
NASCAR fans looking for an online gathering during ESPN’s telecasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now have a place to go on ESPN.com.
RacingLive! on ESPN.com is a live blog where fans can engage in debate and discussion with ESPN.com writers and editors during the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. On Sunday, Nov. 21, RacingLive! Homestead will kick off at 1 p.m. ET to coincide with ESPN’s telecast of the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/.
