ESPN To Offer Extended Coverage Of NASCAR’s Season Ender All Week

Courtesy: ESPN

The final round of NASCAR’s “Chase for the Championship” is officially upon us. Eight drivers have been cut to only four. In anticipation of the season’s final race, the Ford Ecoboost 400, ESPN will follow all four contenders—Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, and Joey Logano—all week. ESPN will have reporters with each team—Dave Burns with Joey Logano, Marty Smith with Kevin Harvick, Ryan McGee with Denny Hamlin, and Mike Massaro with Ryan Newman –early this week. And SportsCenter will air multiple live reports from the shops of each of the contenders’ teams Monday and Tuesday. They will air between 9:30am and 2:00pm ET. ESPN will offer extended coverage on each team and their preparations during the 6pm and 11pm editions of SportsCenter.

On Wednesday, there will be a press conference live from Miami featuring all four of the championship contenders and their team owners. SportsCenter will have interviews and reports from the day’s events. On Thursday, ESPN will head back to the shops with the championship contenders. ESPN’s reporters will follow the drivers’ pre-race preparations before things pick back up on track this Friday. Sunday’s season-ending race will be broadcast live on ESPN. It will be preceded by a special two-hour edition of NASCAR Countdown beginning at 1pm ET. The green flag is expected to fly at 3:16pm ET. All four of the championship contenders will appear on Countdown from the ESPN Pit Studio.

ESPN NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven will be on SportsCenter frequently throughout the race weekend with insight into the race and the championship contenders. He will also have an interview with the newly crowned champion after the race Sunday night.

None of the four final drivers in this year’s championship hunt have won a championship at NASCAR’s top level before. All four come from multi-car race teams. And they each represent one of NASCAR’s car makers—Ford, Chevy, Toyota.

More information on ESPN’s coverage of the 2014 NASCAR Championship week and weekend is available online at:

Website: http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPN

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Daugherty, Others Staying With ESPN After 2014 NASCAR Season Ends

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN and NASCAR are parting ways at the end of the 2014 season. Despite this change, there’s good news for audiences and ESPN’s NASCAR broadcast team. ESPN announced this week that analyst and team owner Brad Daugherty will remain with the worldwide leader in sports.

ESPN announced this week that Daugherty will join ESPN’s basketball broadcast team beginning Monday, December 1^st. Daugherty is a former five-time NBA All-Star and college basketball standout. He will serve as an analyst on ESPN’s NBA Tonight, NBA Coast to Coast, and SportsCenter regularly. He will also make appearances on ESPNU’s ACC Sunday Night package along with other other programming across the ESPN family of networks.

Before joining ESPN’s NASCAR broadcasts, Daugherty served as a reporter for ESPN and ABC’s college basketball from 1999 – 2001. Prior to joining ESPN’s ranks, he also served as a game analyst for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs local broadcasts. His playing career included eight seasons as a member of the Cavaliers after being selected in the first round of the NBA Draft in 1986. He averaged 19 points and 9.5 rebounds per game during his career. His love for NASCAR showed throughout his career as he wore the number 43 in honor of “The King” Richard Petty. The Cavs retired his number in 1997.

Daugherty is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill at the age of 16 and graduated from the university in 1986. He was named an All-ACC player twice during his college career and a first-team All-American in his senior year at the university. He averaged 20.2 points and 9 rebounds per game during his senior year at UNC.

Daugherty’s is not the only move that ESPN has announced in regards to the network’s NASCAR broadcast team. Veteran racer and long-time ESPN NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven recently signed a new deal with ESPN that will see him remain with the network as a NASCAR analyst for SportsCenter and other ESPN news platforms. Nicole Briscoe, it was announced last month, will serve as an anchor on SportsCenter and will also take on additional assignments. And reporter Marty Smith will stay on board with ESPN, too. He will remain with ESPN as a Bureau Reporter for ESPN. Allen Bestwick, who has led ESPN’s NASCAR coverage each week, will remain with the network, too. He will stay on to call ESPN’s IndyCar races and to cover tennis and golf coverage. He will also anchor some programming on ESPN’s new SEC Network.

More information on ESPN’s on-air staff and all of the latest sports headlines from ESPN is available online at:

Website: http://espn.go.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPN

Twitter: http://twitter.com/espn

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Championship Battle Still Very Tight As NNS Heads West Again For Week Five

Courtesy: NASCAR/ESPN/ESPN2/ABC

The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads back out west this weekend for week five of the series’ schedule.

JR Motorsports driver Regan Smith will look to make a dent in his current single-point lead over Roush Racing driver Trevor Bayne this Saturday when the NNS takes to the track for the Treatmycot.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.  Saturday’s telecast begins at 4:30pm ET on ESPN with ESPN’s NASCAR Countdown pre-race show.  The green flag is expected to drop at 5:17pm ET.

Allen Bestwick will call the race.  He will be joined in the booth by former NASCAR crew chief Andy Petree.  Rusty Wallace will sit in for former Winston Cup Champion and fellow ESPN analyst Dale Jarrett this week.  Nicole Briscoe will host NASCAR Countdown.  She will be joined by ESPN analysts Ricky Craven and Brad Daugherty.

More information on ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series is available online at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Heads Out West This Weekend

Courtesy: NASCAR/ESPN/ESPN2

The NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to Phoenix this weekend.  Drivers will face off in the desert in the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 presented by Kawasaki.  Current series points leader Sam Hornish, Jr. and the rest of the field will look to rebound this week after this past weekend’s devastating wreck in the series’ season opening race at Daytona.  NASCAR Countdown host Nicole Briscoe will be joined by analysts and NASCAR veterans Rusty Wallace and Ricky Craven along with Brad Daugherty beginning at 4pm. 

Allen Bestwick will helm the race broadcast as he calls lap-by-lap action from the booth.  He will be joined by two more well known NASCAR veterans in Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree for in race analysis.  Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch, and Vince Welch will have the call from the pits.  The green flag is currently expected to drop at 4:45pm EST/1:45 PST.  The race will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.