The TV Ratings at Michigan for the Nextel Cup race, this season, was televised on TNT, a cable network and garnered a rating of 3.3 with 3,650,000 households and 5,225,000 viewers. Last season the race was televised on FOX with a 4.5 ratings, but the rating is measured a little different from cable to network TV. The 2006 August race at MIS was on TNT and got a 4.1 cable rating.This report came from the Zap2it.com and the jayski.com webpage.
Also, the Autism 400 presented by VISA at Dover International Speedway was postponed from Sunday June 3, 2007 to Monday, June 4th and televised on FOX, the ratings as found on Zap2it.com were a 2.3 rating and a /7 share with 2,602,000 households and 3,375,000 viewers. In 2006, the Dover race was televised on FX cable network and drew a 3.7 with 5,969,000 viewers. This info came from the jayski.com webpage.
ESPN on ABC will feature NASCAR Busch Series racing live Saturday, June 30, from New Hampshire International Speedway as the series makes its only appearance of 2007 at the 1.058-mile New England oval for the Camping World 200 presented by RV.com. The telecast begins with NASCAR Countdown at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday; the 200-lap race starts at 3 p.m.
Remarkably, in the 20 NASCAR Busch Series races that have been contested at NHIS since the track opened in 1990, there has never been a repeat winner. The first race held at NHIS was a 300-lap NASCAR Busch Series race in 1990 that was won by Tommy Ellis, and current series points leader Carl Edwards won last year’s event.
Dale Jarrett, one of the founding drivers of the NASCAR Busch Series and the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion, will work in the ESPN booth as analyst for the telecast, joined by two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Dr. Jerry Punch will handle play-by-play. Pit reporters will be Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Brent Musburger will host NASCAR Countdown from the ESPN Pit Studio, while two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN Chevy Cutaway Car.
As the return of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series racing to ESPN draws nearer, ESPN is building up to the July 29 running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard with 11 hours of programming on the history of NASCAR. The month of July revs up the countdown to green with three shows highlighting NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers, Hottest Rivalries and Biggest Races. The series begins at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, July 5, on ESPN with Greatest Drivers, a one-hour special produced by ESPN Content Development. The program will count down the 25 greatest drivers in NASCAR history, chosen by an exclusive panel of NASCAR experts and historians.
Starting Monday, July 23, the week leading into the Brickyard race will include seven hours of NASCAR documentaries – The Explosion, The Dirt, The Cars, Speed and Danger and The Families. All shows will debut on ESPN. Since April, ESPN viewers have been watching “100 Defining Moments,” a series of 30-second vignettes that kicked off ESPN’s Ultimate NASCAR initiative and are featured on SportsCenter, NASCAR Now and other ESPN programming. ESPN is counting down the 100 most defining moments in NASCAR history as selected by the panel.
The NASCAR brass are no doubt happy that Juan Pablo Montoya hit the Cup winners circle in his rookie year. It wasn’t a surprise, though, that JPM was able to capitalize on other contenders errors at Sonoma, CA The hope is that the small group of F1 and Champ Car fans will crossover to watch NASCAR events on TV and buy tickets to Cup races where there’s been some empty seats recently. Montoya’s move to NASCAR from F1 has paved the way for others in that series to make the move in the future. We’re sure that NASCAR will welcome them because they fit in with that club’s future expansion plans. Could Canadian Paul Tracy be making a comeback on the Champ Car scene? He won, with survival skills, in last Sunday’s race at the Burke Lakefront Airport in Ohio. Like the CCWS race the IRL stop at the new Iowa Speedway was filled with crashes and when it was all over Dario Franchitti pulled off another win.
Officials from the country of Bahrain, near Saudi Arabia, said that they want to host a NASCAR race at their Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), a road course. “Hosting NASCAR is on the minds of the management at the BIC,” said BIC director of PR and government affairs Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa. It’s the same circuit that was originally built to accommodate the F1 Series. All this seems to be pointing to NASCAR going global in the future. This report came from autoracingsport.com and stockcargazette.com on the internet.
Yes, He REALLY Said That
Dr. Joseph Mattioli, Pocono Raceway owner, on complaints 500 mile stock car races are too long. “The day Humpy Wheeler cuts his 600 mile down to a 500, I’ll cut mine down to a 400. It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. It’s tradition.” That one came from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter. However, if NASCAR determines that long races are hurting the TV ratings then it’s a foregone conclusion that some of the 500 milers will be shortened. Consider that the Cup races spike up with viewers for the last 50 laps.
Here’s what’s happening on TV this weekend, day-by-day, for the gearheads. It’s all systems go on Friday with F1 Practice from France on Speed at 8 a.m. Speed Channel also airs the noon Cup Practice from NHIS in Loudon, NH then the Busch Practice at 1:30 p.m. and Cup Qualifying at 3 p.m. Saturday will be wall-to-wall motorhead action stating at 8 a.m. with F1 Qualifying on Speed from France. Speed comes back at 10 a.m. with NASCAR Busch Qualifying from NHIS and Cup Final Practice at 11:30 a.m. For the bikers CBS airs the FIM MotoGP from Holland at 2 p.m. ESPN kicks in with the Busch race from NHIS at 3 p.m. Get back to Speed at 6 p.m. for Craftsman Truck Qualifying from Memphis. ESPN offers the IRL Indy Car from Richmond at 7:30 p.m. and it’s back to Speed for the CTS from Memphis at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. ESPN2 airs NHRA Qualifying from Norwalk, OH and finally HDNet airs the NASCAR West race from Roseberg, OR at 11:30 p.m. Sunday will also be busy starting at 12:30 p.m. with the WoO race from Fargo, ND airing on ESPN2. Fox offers the F1 race from France Same Day Delay at 1 p.m. ESPN offers the Champ Car event from St. Jovite, Que at 2 p.m. TNT is the channel for the Cup race at NHIS at 2:30 p.m. Speed airs the FIM 250 for the bikers at 5 p.m. and the weekend wraps up with the NHRA Finals at 8 p.m. With so much on the tube this weekend, viewers will have to make some choices on their favorite form of motorsports. (end)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES AND NOTES.
