The Overnight Texas TV ratings were down by 9.1 percent at Texas.
NBC’s broadcast of that Sunday’s Dickies 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway earned a 4.0 overnight Nielsen Media Research rating a 7 market share, according to Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. This report also came from the MotorSportsNews.Net webpage.
We have seen reports on the Jayski.com webpage that TNT intends to pursue their commerical free broadcasts of the NASCAR races during their mid-2007 season. That cable channel plans to run the sponsor logos and messages in concert with the live coverage of the race in a corner of the picture or a split screen. Other reports tell of ESPN/ABC’s sponsors not being happy about doing the same thing. ABC/ESPN gets the last segment of the NASCAR season including the Chase To The Nextel Cup Championship. The prevailing opinion is that the fans are not happy with those wall-to-wall commericals and it’s one reason that the 2006 ratings are off significantly over 2005.
Connecticut native Mike Massaro will be covering the pits for ESPN when that network returns to airing the NASCAR action in the last third of the season in 2007. He’s been with the Bristol, CT based cable channel since 2001. Prior to that he was with with TNN, NBC and WTBS covering motorsports. When ESPN lost out on the bidding for the NASCAR events, Massaro was that network’s man on the scene for Sportscenter and the motorsports magazine formated RPM2Night. Mike likes being on the front line or the trenchs as he calls it because it’s a way to work up to the anchor booth. Mike’s new assignment will begin in February when the the NASCAR action gears up at Daytona Intl. Speedway in Fla. This report came from Area Auto Racing News.
Jeff Gordon will make a special guest appearance in ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet the Carolina Panthers Monday in Charlotte. Gordon, the winningest active drive and the current all-time money leader, will join ESPN’s Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser in the second quarter to discuss racing, football and other topics.
The ESPN telecast will also feature taped highlights of Theismann and sideline reporter Suzy Kolber at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. The popular MNF personalities are expected to get behind the wheel for a thrilling ride of their own Saturday night at nearby Lowe’s Motor Speedway as part of their visit to Carolina.
Fans who attend the Monday Night game will also have the opportunity to see a specially-wrapped ESPN stock car that was created as part of NASCAR’s return to ESPN and ABC in 2007. The vehicle will be parked alongside ESPN The Truck in an open lot at the intersection of S. Mint and Quincy Streets in Charlotte, just a few blocks from Bank of America Stadium.
With the holiday season just about here Coastal 181 has almost 100 books on motorsports by some top authors. You can order them on-line at www.coastal181.com or call them toll free at 877.907.8181. Former racer Lew Boyd is the guy in charge of the company based in Newburyport, MA and sells those books for reasonable prices which the gearheads can afford.
Let’s see what’s on the tube this weekend as NASCAR and the 2006 season comes down to the finish line. On Friday it’s Cup qualifying from Homestead on Speed at 3 p.m. with the Craftsman Truck qualifying following at 5 p.m. on that same cable channel. The Craftsman Truck race will air on Speed from Homestead at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Cup practice airs from that south Florida track at 1 p.m. on Speed. Busch qualifying airs on TNT at 2:30 p.m. while that race gets the green flag at 7 p.m. also on TNT. Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup year end event at Homestead goes off at 2 p.m. this time on NBC, that network’s NASCAR swan song, and TSN in Canada.
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES AND NOTES.
