FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 26th, 2020
NASCAR RETURNS TO NBC THIS SATURDAY FOR REGULAR SEASON FINALE FROM ICONIC DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
More Than 30 Hours of Motorsports Coverage Throughout the Week; Cup Series Pre-Race Coverage Saturday at 6 p.m. ET and Xfinity Series Pre-Race Coverage Friday at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN
INDYCAR Doubleheader from World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway – Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN
NBC Sports’ Motorsports Coverage This Past Weekend Reaches 12.5 Million Total Viewers Across INDYCAR, NASCAR, IMSA, Motocross and MotoGP
Nearly 15 Hours of Coverage from Mecum Auctions Kissimmee Summer Special
Dale Jr. Download with Featured Guest Danny ‘Chocolate’ Myers – Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN
STAMFORD, Conn. – Aug. 26, 2020 – NASCAR returns to NBC and the “World Center of Racing” this Saturday night in primetime with the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 – the regular season finale — under the lights at Daytona International Speedway at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.
NBC Sports will super-serve fans with more than 30 hours of motorsports programming this week, including an INDYCAR doubleheader from World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Ill., on Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN; NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Daytona on Friday at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN; and Mecum Auctions from Kissimmee, Fla., starting tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
With 13 drivers locked into the 16-driver Cup Series Playoffs, the last three Playoff spots are on the line in Saturday’s regular season finale, which is being held at Daytona for the first time. Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto and William Byron currently hold those three spots, while drivers on the outside of the Playoff picture, including 7-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, are down to their last chance to make the post-season. In addition, Kevin Harvick will be officially presented with the 2020 regular season championship, which he clinched during his seventh win of the season last Sunday at Dover International Speedway.
NASCAR CUP SERIES RACING FROM DAYTONA – SATURDAY AT 7 P.M. ET ON NBC
Saturday’s coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN with the NASCAR America Pre-Race Show, followed by Countdown to Green at 6:30 p.m. ET. Coverage will include a narrated segment by NBC Sports’ lead motorsports reporter, Nate Ryan, on Ryan Newman’s return to the 2.5-mile Daytona oval after his crash in February’s Daytona 500.
Host Krista Voda, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and 1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Jarrett, and analyst Brad Daugherty will provide pre- and post-race studio coverage.
NBC Sports’ lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen, 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton, two-time Daytona 500 Champion and recent NASCAR Hall of Fame selection Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte will call this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series races from the broadcast booth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman and Marty Snider will serve as pit reporters on-site from Daytona. Rutledge Wood will be celebrating the fans that are back on track at Daytona with special features through pre-race coverage.
XFINITY SERIES RACING FROM DAYTONA – FRIDAY AT 7 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
Friday’s coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN with an abbreviated Countdown to Green, leading up to live Xfinity Series racing from Daytona. Austin Cindric continues to lead the Xfinity Series’ regular season standings with 5 wins and 929 points, ahead of Chase Briscoe (series-high 6 wins, 867 points) and third-place Noah Gragson (2 wins, 832 points).
Current Navy Reserve Lt. Commander and NASCAR Truck Series Driver Jesse Iwuji will join NBC Sports as driver analyst and reporter during the Xfinity Series broadcast.
CHOCOLATE MYERS JOINS DALE JR. DOWNLOAD – SATURDAY AT 11:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
Danny “Chocolate” Myers is this week’s guest on the Dale Jr. Download. A long-time staffer for Richard Childress Racing, he earned six NASCAR Cup Series championships as the fueler for Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s iconic #3 Chevrolet. He is the current curator of the team’s museum and a daily host on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Produced on-site at Dirty Mo Media Studios in Mooresville, N.C., the Dale Jr. Download on NBCSN takes viewers couch-side for the taping of the motorsports icon’s weekly podcast, featuring unparalleled perspective, candid commentary, and insight that fans have come to expect from Dale Jr.
INDYCAR BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500 – RACE 1 SATURDAY AT 3 P.M. ET ON NBCSN; RACE 2 SUNDAY AT 3 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
The 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday from Indianapolis Motor Speedway was won by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato, who claimed his second Indy 500 victory in four years under caution following a late-race duel with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon. Dixon (335 points) remains atop the NTT IndyCar Series standings, now leading by 84 points over reigning champion Josef Newgarden (Team Penske, 251 points). Sato beat Ed Carpenter by four-hundredths of a second to win last year’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Saturday’s coverage of Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Race 1 will be featured at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, and Race 2 on Sunday will also be presented at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN. A 30-minute post-race program will follow both races at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Live coverage begins with a practice session on Friday at 4:30 p.m. exclusively on NBC Sports Gold’s INDYCAR Pass. Qualifying will be presented live on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET exclusively on NBC Sports Gold.
NBC Sports’ lead INDYCAR commentary team of Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Townsend Bell (analyst), and Paul Tracy (analyst), who won the inaugural IndyCar race from WWT Raceway in 1997, will call both races alongside James Hinchcliffe, coming off a 7th place finish at the Indy 500, and Kevin Lee, who will report from the pits in Madison, Ill.
LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS IRONMAN NATIONAL – MOTO 2 ON SATURDAY AT 12:30 A.M. ET ON NBCSN
The 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship season continues this Saturday from Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Ind. In last weekend’s Loretta Lynn’s 2 National, Zach Osborne won his second straight race in the 450MX Class, while Jeremy Martin took home the victory in the 250MX Class, his first win since the 2018 season.
Saturday’s coverage of the Ironman National Moto2 on NBCSN begins at 12:30 a.m. ET. Live coverage of qualifying on Saturday begins at 10:10 a.m. ET exclusively on NBC Sports Gold’s Pro Motocross Pass.
Veteran play-by-play voice Jason Weigandt, analyst and two-time AMA Pro Motocross Champion Grant Langston, and pit reporter Will Christien will call the race action.
NEARLY 15 HOURS OF MECUM AUCTIONS COVERAGE FROM KISSIMMEE BEGINS TOMORROW AT 3 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
Nearly 15 hours of coverage of the Mecum Auctions Kissimmee Summer Special from Osceola Heritage Park will be presented over the course of the week on NBCSN. Coverage begins tomorrow with a 3.5-hour window at 3 p.m. ET and will continue at 2 a.m. ET. More than 8 hours of coverage will be featured on Friday and Sunday, including three hours of coverage on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Highlighted cars among the 1,000 vehicles expected to cross the auction block in Kissimmee include a 2018 Ford GT, a 1970 Chevrolet Camaro RS Z28 and a 1955 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible.
Scott Hoke will host coverage on-site in Kissimmee, alongside analysts John Kraman and Stephen Cox, and reporters Bill Stephens and Katie Osborne.
NBC SPORTS’ MOTORSPORTS COVERAGE THIS PAST WEEKEND REACHES 12.5 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS ACROSS INDYCAR, NASCAR, IMSA, MOTOCROSS AND MOTOGP
Led by the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on NBC, NBC Sports’ motorsports coverage this past weekend reached 12.5 million total viewers. In addition to the Indy 500, coverage featured NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series doubleheaders from Dover, and two telecasts each for IMSA, Motocross and MotoGP.
This weekend’s motorsports programming across NBC Sports:
| DATE | COVERAGE | TIME (ET) | NETWORK |
| Thurs., Aug. 27 | Mecum Auctions – Kissimmee* | 3 p.m. | NBCSN |
| Mecum Auctions – Kissimmee* | 2 a.m. | NBCSN | |
| Fri., Aug. 28 | Mecum Auctions – Kissimmee* | 4 p.m. | NBCSN |
| Gateway INDYCAR Practice | 4:30 p.m. | NBC Sports Gold | |
| Countdown to Green | 7 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Daytona | 7:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Mecum Auctions – Kissimmee* | 1 a.m. | NBCSN | |
| Sat. Aug 29 | Gateway INDYCAR Qualifying | 12 p.m. | NBC Sports Gold |
| Gateway INDYCAR Pre-Race | 3 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Gateway INDYCAR Race 1 | 3:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Gateway INDYCAR Post-Race | 5:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| NASCAR America Pre-Race Show | 6 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| NASCAR Cup Series – Countdown to Green | 6:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| NASCAR Cup Series Race – Daytona | 7 p.m. | NBC | |
| NASCAR Cup Series Post-Race | 11 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Dale Jr. Download | 11:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Sun., Aug. 30 | Mecum Auctions – Kissimmee^ | 12:30 p.m. | NBCSN |
| Gateway INDYCAR Pre-Race | 3 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Gateway INDYCAR Race 2 | 3:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Gateway INDYCAR Post-Race | 5:30 p.m. | NBCSN | |
| Mecum Auctions – Kissimmee^ | 11 p.m. | NBCSN |
*Same-day delay
^ Next-day delay
–NBC SPORTS–
