ESPN's NASCAR Return Season Concludes at Homestead-Miami Speedway

By admin - Posted on November 13th, 2007

November 12, 2007 -- With 52 race telecasts and more than two dozen practice and qualifying shows, as well as a daily news and information program, ESPN has had a busy return to NASCAR in 2007. The season ends this weekend with NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and NASCAR Busch Series races at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway and Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon will battle in the conclusion of the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.

ESPN on ABC will have live coverage of the Ford 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event Sunday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m. ET. The Ford 300 NASCAR Busch Series race airs Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

ESPN Executive Vice President, Content, John Skipper said the network has seen positive results from its return to NASCAR.

“As we’ve said from the beginning, our multi-platform approach means success for us goes beyond TV ratings,” Skipper said. “NASCAR has been a highly-rated addition for ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC and especially strong for our new media platforms. We’ve seen triple-digit growth on ESPN.com.”

More than 122 million people have watched NASCAR on ESPN this year, and ABC’s Sunday afternoon races have rated more than five times higher among key male and adult demos than the programming that was in the same timeslots last year. “We did attract new, younger fans to the sport, and new fans in some major markets like New York,” Skipper said.

ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR has been the most technologically-advanced motorsports coverage in television history, including the first-ever use of high definition in-car cameras as well as the introduction of the DISH Tech Center and the ESPN Draft Tracker special effect.

“Covering NASCAR all season has been an enormous undertaking and operation,” said Skipper. “We’ve brought innovation to the production, and some fresh and diverse voices to NASCAR which provided fresh perspectives.

“Of course we’re not satisfied but we’re bullish about NASCAR’s growth, and we’re in this for eight years. We’re already hard at work on NASCAR for next year.”

About NASCAR on ESPN:

ESPN and ESPN on ABC has comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup” championship on ESPN on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Busch Series all season. For the first time in the history of televised motorsports, all programming is produced totally in High Definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, SportsCenter, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPNRadio, ESPN360.com and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981. The network's award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN was honored with 17 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

Source: ESPN

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