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.
Coverage of Sunday's main feature kicks off at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN with the Countdown to Green, Served by Sonic pre-race show. Voda and Petty will hold down the set as Kelli Stavast, Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Mike Massaro patrol pit road. NBCSports.com lead motorsports writer Nate Ryan will provide news updates and "man about the track" Rutledge Wood will add color to the unique New York road course. Sunday's Countdown to Green will also feature Burton's look at the 2.45-mile road course from behind the wheel of NBC Sports' Toyota Camry On Track Car.
With ten drivers who have won a race this season, and one, Kyle Busch, kicking down the front door, drivers without a win are battling for entry into the 2015 postseason Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Watkins Glen marks the first of five final races before the 16-driver field is set for the Chase. Sunday's Countdown to Green pre-race show will feature NBCSN's analysis of the drivers "on the bubble," and how Watkins Glen presents one of the best chances remaining for an underdog driver to score an upset victory.
Pre-race coverage this weekend will include a sit-down interview with Kyle Petty and A.J. Allmendinger, who took the checkered flag in last year's Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. In the exclusive interview, Allmendinger discusses his expectations and goals going into this weekend at "The Glen," where he earned his only win of his Sprint Cup Series career to this point.
Once the engines fire and the green flag drops, coverage shifts to the booth, where Allen will call the action alongside Letarte and Burton. After the checkered flag has been captured, Voda and Petty handle post-race coverage from Victory Lane, featuring on-site interviews with the winner and key players from the afternoon.
NBCSN's weekend of race coverage concludes Sunday at 11 p.m. ET with NASCAR Victory Lap. Host Carolyn Manno and Brian Vickers will present exclusive interviews, analyze pivotal moments and highlights featuring race team audio.
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.
