ESPN Ramps Up Coverage for Chase for NASCAR Sprint Cup

ESPN will televise the 10 races that make up the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, beginning with the Sunday, Sept. 15, GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway and ending Nov. 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR's version of the playoffs, the 10 races will determine the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.

Nine of the 10 races will air on ESPN on Sunday afternoons, with the Saturday night, Oct. 12, race at Charlotte Motor Speedway airing in prime time on ABC. Elements of ESPN's coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup include:

NASCAR NonStop -- ESPN's telecasts of the 10 races in the Chase will have a different look with the return of NASCAR NonStop, a split-screen commercial format designed to bring more racing action to viewers. The format, which debuted in ESPN's 2011 coverage of the Chase, will show the advertisement on the left side of the screen and a continuation of racing action on the right side. ESPN's scoring ticker will continue to move across the top of the screen, allowing NASCAR fans to follow the running order of the race during the breaks. NASCAR NonStop will take effect at or near the halfway point of the race, with the first half of the race presented in the traditional commercial break format

SportsCenter - ESPN's flagship news and information program SportsCenter will air immediately following the nine Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup events airing on ESPN with expanded post-race coverage, including exclusive interviews with the race winners. ESPN NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven will be in the SportsCenter studio for the post-race analysis and as he has done for the past three years, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards will join SportsCenter live from the track following each Chase race with additional analysis from the perspective of a driver who just competed in the event. In addition, ESPN lead NASCAR reporter Marty Smith and others will be on-site for all Chase events and will report from the tracks for SportsCenter each day during the events.

NASCAR Now -- The weekend wrap-up edition of ESPN2's daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now returns for the Chase and will air on Sunday nights after the nine Sunday afternoon races in the Chase. NASCAR fans should check their local listings for the time of the weekend program. In addition, ESPN2 will air a one-hour NASCAR Now Chase Preview at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12, and ESPNEWS will air a NASCAR Now Chase Media Day special at noon that day.

ESPN Radio -Each weekend morning, ESPN Radio's RaceDay starts its engines at 6 a.m. with host Pat Patterson anchored from the site of that weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, ESPN Radio's RaceDay listeners get an hour of news, previews and analysis, as well as profiles and interviews with NASCAR's biggest names and newsmakers and the involvement of listeners via calls and e-mails.

ESPN.com -- ESPN.com will continue to provide seven-day-a-week news and analysis of all things related to NASCAR and the Chase, through the written word as well as podcasts and video. ESPN.com writers Ed Hinton, Marty Smith, Ryan McGee, Brant James and John Oreovicz and motorsports editors K. Lee Davis and Joe Breeze will lead coverage with insightful columns, features and blogs.

ESPN Deportes - ESPN's Spanish-language multimedia brand in the U.S. will televise the GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway live, joining the race at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 15. The early stages of the race will be live on ESPN Deportes+, the brand's ESPN3 extension accessible via ESPNdeportes.com, beginning at 2 p.m. ESPN Deportes will also have live telecasts of the Chase races at Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway, with delayed telecasts of the other races in the Chase. ESPN Deportes' NASCAR commentator team will feature Andrés Agulla (play-by-play) and Alex Pombo (analysis). In addition to the telecasts of the races, ESPN Deportes will have segments for its edition of SportsCenter.

ESPN International - ESPN International is one of the world's leading syndicators of sports programming and its relationship with NASCAR is helping maximize coverage of NASCAR and providing a solid base of distribution. Through a combination of sales and network programming, the 38 NASCAR Sprint Cup races (including the Bud Shootout and Sprint All-Star Race) and 33 NASCAR Nationwide Series races are available to 112 countries and territories around the world. In addition, U.S. troops and their families serving around the world and Navy vessels at sea can watch the season through American Forces Network.

WatchESPN -- All NASCAR programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS is available on computers, smartphones, tablets, Xbox and Apple TV via WatchESPN, accessible to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliate provider including Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV, Midcontinent Communications, Cablevision, Cox, Charter Communications and AT&T U-verse (coming soon to NRTC members' customers).

Gretchen Wilson -- Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Gretchen Wilson will be featured in ESPN's telecasts of the 10 races in the Chase. Wilson, who has appeared at numerous NASCAR races and had a connection to racing as a child, will narrate and appear in the opening teases of the telecasts of the 10 races, with each tease tailored to the racetrack hosting that week's event. In addition, her music will be featured through the entire Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on ESPN.

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule on ESPN Networks

(all times Eastern) NASCAR Green

Date Location Countdown Flag Network
Sept. 15 Chicagoland Speedway 1 p.m. 2:16 p.m. ESPN
Sept. 22 New Hampshire Motor Speedway 1 p.m. 2:15 p.m. ESPN
Sept. 29 Dover International Speedway 1 p.m. 2:15 p.m. ESPN
Oct. 6 Kansas Speedway 1 p.m. 2:16 p.m. ESPN
Oct. 12 Charlotte Motor Speedway 7 p.m. 7:46 p.m. ABC
Oct. 20 Talladega Superspeedway 1 p.m. 2:19 p.m. ESPN
Oct. 27 Martinsville Speedway 1 p.m. 1:43 p.m. ESPN
Nov. 3 Texas Motor Speedway 2 p.m. 3:16 p.m. ESPN
Nov. 10 Phoenix International Raceway 2 p.m. 3:15 p.m. ESPN
Nov. 17 Homestead-Miami Speedway 2 p.m. 3:15 p.m. ESPN

About NASCAR on ESPN:

ESPN produces comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Additionally, ESPN is the television home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series. ESPN's NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, WatchESPN, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN on Xbox LIVE, ESPN Radio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network's award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 19 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide.