NBC Sports to Present NASCAR Sprint Cup & Xfinity Series Racing This Weekend
By: Caryn Robbins Aug. 06, 2015
Fresh off last weekend's fuel mileage chess match and Matt Kenseth's second victory of the year, NBCSN heads to Watkins Glen International for a full weekend of NASCAR coverage. NBCSN presents NASCAR road course racing from beautiful upstate New York with XFINITY Series Racing from Watkins Glen Saturday at 3 p.m. ET and Sprint Cup Racing on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
NBCSN's NASCAR coverage from "The Glen" begins Friday with Sprint Cup Series practice presented by DraftKings at 11:30 a.m. ET. Breaking from routine, Rick Allen will call the action alongside analyst Kyle Petty and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte. NBCSN analyst and 21-time Sprint Cup winner Jeff Burton will venture down to pit road and interview drivers before and after their first practice of the year at Watkins Glen International. XFINITY Series practice follows at 1 p.m. ET and 3:30 p.m. ET, anchored by NBCSN reporter Dave Burns, Petty and Letarte. Final Sprint Cup practice commences at 4:30 p.m. ET, with Burns, Burton and Petty providing commentary, and the broadcast day at Watkins Glen culminates with an on-site broadcast of NASCAR AMERICA at 6 p.m. ET. Saturday's qualifying coverage kicks off on CNBC with XFINITY Series qualifying at 11 a.m. ET, followed by Sprint Cup qualifying at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN. XFINITY Series pre-race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with Countdown to Green, hosted by Krista Voda alongside Petty and analyst Parker Kligerman. NASCAR XFINITY Series Racing from Watkins Glen begins at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES POCONO RACE AND VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES RACE AT MID-OHIO DRIVE NBCSN TO SECOND-BEST NON-OLYMPIC DAY VIEWERSHIP IN NETWORK'S HISTORY Highlighted by a live telecast of NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing from Pocono Speedway and a same-day replay of the Verizon INDYCAR Series from Mid-Ohio, last Sunday, August 2, produced the second-highest non-Olympic viewership for a single day in NBCSN history. Last Sunday's total day viewership (6 a.m. - 3 a.m. ET), which featured 18 consecutive hours of motorsports coverage from 6 a.m.-midnight ET, averaged over 1 million viewers per minute (1.058 million) for the second straight week. Sunday's NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES coverage at Pocono averaged 4.3 million viewers and produced a 2.6 HH rating, ranking behind only NBCSN's NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing from Indianapolis (4.7 million viewers) on Sunday, July 26, as the most-watched telecast ever on NBCSN. In addition to NASCAR coverage on Sunday, NBCSN delivered its most-watched INDYCAR telecast to date with its same-day replay of the Mid-Ohio race (6-8:30 p.m. ET), which averaged 666,000 viewers, surpassing live coverage of the Edmonton race in 2011 (642,000). The replay was also the most-watched INDYCAR telecast on cable since Sonoma in 2008 (685,000; ESPN2). The race was broadcast live earlier in the day on CNBC. This marks the first time since NBC Sports Group acquired INDYCAR cable exclusivity in 2008 that four consecutive INDYCAR race presentations on the network eclipsed 500,000 viewers. Sunday's motorsports coverage on NBCSN also included presentations of Mecum Auctions' event in Harrisburg. NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra will present LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP coverage this weekend from the Unadilla National from New Berlin, N.Y. Coverage airs on NBC on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, followed by NBCSN's coverage at 5:30 p.m. ET. Ryan Dungey extended his lead in the 450 Class points standings with a win at Washougal, while Cooper Webb notched his second straight win in the 250 Class. Coverage begins on NBC Sports Live Extra with pre-race coverage at noon ET, followed by Moto 1 coverage at 1 p.m. ET on MAVTV. Veteran play-by-play voice Jason Weigandt, analyst and two-time AMA Pro MOTOCROSS Champion Grant Langston, and pit reporter Georgia LINDSAY will call the action.
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