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NASCAR Busch Series fans will have a new television destination in 2007.

Beginning Feb. 17, ESPN2 will be the new home of the NASCAR Busch Series with select races to air on ESPN on ABC. ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer has called the NASCAR Busch Series “one of the jewels in the rough of the (full NASCAR) deal,” and fans will notice a new shine on the gem with ESPN’s elevation of the series. With its multi-media platforms and the same standards and quality of production as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series including use of High Definition cameras, SportVision enhancements and state-of-the-art graphics, ESPN is poised to provide a tremendous experience for viewers.

“We are as excited as the fans to launch our NASCAR coverage starting with the NASCAR Busch Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway,” said ESPN executive vice president of content John Skipper. “Having the NASCAR Busch Series entirely on one network is really going to serve the NASCAR fan and allow us to tell a story all year long. The strength of the NASCAR Busch Series significantly enhances all of our content offerings and brings tremendous value to ESPN2 and ESPN on ABC.”

In addition to all 35 NBS races, the networks will telecast practice and qualifying from 17 races, the season-ending banquet and a season preview and review specials. There will also be a dedicated pre-race program for each race called NASCAR Busch Series Countdown as well as comprehensive coverage of the Busch Series in ESPN2’s NASCAR news and information program, NASCAR Now. And, for the first time in televised motorsports, all will be produced in High Definition.

To help fans prepare for the new season, NASCAR Now will debut on Feb. 5, marking the network’s first-ever daily program solely dedicated to NASCAR, delivering the latest race news and information. Also on Feb. 5, ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) will start a countdown of the “100 Defining Moments” in NASCAR history. These 30-second vignettes will lead to ESPN and ESPN on ABC’s airing of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, beginning July 29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

ESPN’s comprehensive NASCAR Busch Series coverage will extend to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, SportsCenter, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPNRadio, ESPN360, ESPN International and EOE, among other ESPN platforms.

The above may sound great to the Bristol, CT based network. But, fans are going to be a bit confused as to where to find the Busch Series next year. Last year the first half of the NASCAR season was on Fox/FX and then the second half went to NBC/TNT. So here we go again with another early season NASCAR/Network learning curve.

“Having ESPN2 showcase the excitement and anticipation of the season-opening Daytona 300 from Daytona International Speedway is the perfect way to open the NASCAR Busch Series season,” said speedway president Robin Braig. “We’re excited to have ESPN’s multi-media platforms showcase this great event to millions of fans around the world.” In 2006, Chevy driver Kevin Harvick captured the coveted NASCAR Busch Series season title by a record margin of 824 points over Carl Edwards.

“It is great that ESPN is rejoining NASCAR,” said Harvick. “I think it will help the sport and with ESPN’s full-season broadcast of the Busch Series, I believe it will help owners secure more sponsorship dollars for their Busch programs. I also think that ESPN will bring a lot of new features to their broadcast that will entice more fans to join the world of NASCAR.” ESPN2 will become the motorsports destination for NASCAR Busch Series fans with more than 500 hours of motorsports programming in 2007.

SPEED, the worldwide leader in motorsports television coverage, has announced coverage of 14 ARCA RE/MAX Series races in 2007, each scheduled for live or same-day delayed broadcast to a national television audience.

“SPEED Channel and ARCA have a strong relationship dating back to 1997,” said Rick Miner, SPEED Sr. VP of Production & Network Operations/Executive Producer. “The ARCA RE/MAX Series provides great racing with wonderful storylines, already scoring some of the best motorsports ratings on the network. With 14 races in 2007, most of which are live, we believe the fans will support this series like never before. We expect this to be a classic ‘win-win’ for ARCA and SPEED.”