NASCAR 2009 TV Season Outline Announced

NASCAR released an outline of telecast strategies that are going to be shared across the digital domain known as TV. So it's time to set your recording times or snack times, depending how you approach your NASCAR race viewing! Here's how the TV schedule is looking right now as announced by NASCAR:

First up:
The non-points Budweiser Shootout at Daytona at 8:10 p.m. (ET) on Feb. 7 at Daytona International Speedway. (FOX)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Cup points races will be spread across FOX, TNT, ESPN or ABC networks, with America's Funniest Videos alloted to the last 30 minutes of each race on ABC! (Please tell me you know I'm joking, right?)

SPEED gets in on the act when they broadcast the non-points events –
the Gatorade Duel at Daytona (2 p.m. ET on Feb. 12) and the
NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (7:30 p.m. ET on May 16 at Lowe's Motor Speedway).

FOX has the first 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup points races, starting with the
Daytona 500 (Feb. 15, 2 p.m. TV start time; green flag 3:20 p.m. ET) and their telecast reign
ends on May 31 with the race at Dover International Speedway at 2 p.m. (ET).

TNT takes over with the next six races starting with
The Pocono 500 at 2 p.m. (ET) on June 7 at Pocono Raceway and ending with
Chicagoland Speedway's LifeLock.com 400, July 11 at 8 p.m. (ET).

ESPN / ABC will broadcast the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup events.
ESPN starts with the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at 2 p.m. (ET) on July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ends with the
Sept. 6 event at Atlanta Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET).

ABC completes the season with 11 broadcasts, or 11 chances to get it right starting with the 26th race of the season,
Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. (ET).
ABC also will air the entire 10-race Chase where it culminates with the final race of the season with the Ford 400 on Nov. 22 at 3:15 p.m. (ET) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Nationwide Series
The 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.
ABC will broadcast four events, ESPN will broadcast five and ESPN2 will broadcast 26.
ESPN2 opens with the Camping World 300 at 1:15 p.m. (ET) on Feb. 14 at Daytona.
New to the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule is a race at Iowa Speedway, held on Aug. 1 at 4:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN.
ESPN2 will also present the airing of the season-finale Ford 300 on Nov. 21 at Homestead-Miami (4:30 p.m. ET).

Camping World Truck Series
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be on SPEED beginning with the season-opening
NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. (ET) at Daytona.
The season-finale Ford 200 on Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami begins at 8 p.m. (ET).
Allin all, SPEED will broadcast 23 of the 25 races.

FOX will broadcast two Truck Series events, with the first being at the Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. (ET).
FOX also will broadcast the NCWTS Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway on March 28 at 2 p.m. (ET).

There ya have it gang. TV contracts spelled out. Now will ABC really have learned their lessons from last year or do they stick with their contractual obligations yet again, hoping a race doesn't run over on their watch? Like that ever happens!?

Any bets on how rain delays / field set by weather we might see this year? I hope it's less than last year, that's my guess!!

Did You Know: Some Competition Numbers

• That 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers had at least one top-five finish in 2008.

• That 37 NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers had at least one top-10 finish in 2008.

• That NASCAR Sprint Cup races averaged 11 leaders and 21 lead changes in 2008.

• That a series-record 89.6% of the cars were running at the finish in 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

• That 43 NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers had at least one top five in 2008.

• That 49 NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers had at least one top 10 in 2008.

• That 60 NASCAR Nationwide drivers led at least one lap in 2008.

• That 28 NASCAR Camping World Series drivers had at least one top five in 2008.

• That 43 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers had at least one top 10 in 2008.

• That 20 of the 25 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races had a margin of victory under one second in 2008.

• That more than 2,000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series chassis have been inspected at the R&D Center since Nov., 2006

• That the No. 22 Toyota team raced the same car at 11 different NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events in 2008 – or nearly one third of the schedule

• That the No. 1 Chevrolet team raced the same car at 10 different NSCS events in 2008, as did the No. 29 Chevrolet and No. 21 Ford teams.

source: NASCAR media

Did You Know?: NASCAR Milestones

• That Jimmie Johnson will attempt to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships (Well, OK, maybe you put that one together already.)

• That for the first time in his 11-year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, Tony Stewart will be driving for a different team other than Joe Gibbs Racing. Stewart is the new driver/owner of Stewart-Haas Racing and will drive the No.14 Chevrolet in 2009. (Gotta wonder how the temper will fare? Probably OK.)

• That Joey Logano will be the youngest driver ever to run the Daytona 500. He’ll be 18 years, 8 months and 22 days on February 15. The previous youngest was Clark Dwyer in 1983. He was 19 years, 1 month and 8 days old.

• That Jeff Gordon needs to lead 89 laps to reach 20,000 career laps led. (That's a lot of clean air!)

• That Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer look to extend an all-time record this season. Harvick has run 80 consecutive races without a DNF. Clint Bowyer is second with 73. (Ohhh, media curse!)

• That as long as Jeff Gordon makes each of his starts this year, he’ll move into the sixth spot for most consecutive starts. He now has 545. By season’s end, he’ll have 581.

• That with two poles, Ryan Newman will move into the top 10 on the all-time poles list. Newman enters this season with 43 career poles. (I hope he and his new team can do it!)

• That Bill Elliott will make his 800th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start with his fourth start of 2009.

• That Ron Hornaday Jr. needs one win to become the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver with 40 career wins.

• That there have been back-to-back first-time race winners in each of the last four NASCAR Nationwide Series seasons. Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano did it last year, winning their first races at Nashville and Kentucky.

• That the Atlanta Motor Speedway event on March 8 will be the track’s 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

• That three tracks will be celebrating their 80th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season:
Dover, Michigan and Talladega.

source: NASCAR media

NASCAR The Sport: Did you Know

• That NASCAR is the #1 spectator sport as 17 of 20 highest attended U.S. sporting events in 2008 were NASCAR races.

• That NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events averaged nearly 120,000 fans in 2008.

• That NASCAR remains strong as the #2-rated regular season sport on television.

• That NASCAR is televised weekly in more than 100 countries and in more than 30 languages.

• That more than 400 unique corporate sponsors are involved in NASCAR.

• That NASCAR has the most Fortune 500 involvement in all of professional sports.

• That NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks across more than 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico.


source: NASCAR media