The 2007 Nascar Television Schedule

The Daytona 500 is only days away and Nascar fans across the nation are gearing up for the sport's version of the Super Bowl. Some are airing out their tents and cleaning out their motor homes, but most are dusting off our televisions. If you're one of the latter, you need to be aware that the Nascar schedule has been altered. No, the tracks have not changed, but the stations carrying the races have. For those of you who like to plan ahead, here's a guide to where the races are this season.

The first 13 races of the season are on Fox. The station will broadcast each points race from the Daytona 500 to the June 3^rd race at Dover. Fox will also carry the Budweiser shootout on February 10^th. Speed Channel, however, will show the Gatorade Duel races on February 15^th as well as the Nextel All-Star Challenge on May 19^th.

TNT will carry the next six races of the season, including the June 10^th race at Pocono and the July 15^th race at Chicago. After TNT's six race segment, ESPN will take over broadcasting the races. ESPN will show the seven races up to the beginning of the Nextel Cup Chase. The ten race Chase segment will be shown on ABC.

So, what does this mean for Nascar fans? Hopefully, more race coverage and less "human interest stories" such as the ones regularly shown during NBC's coverage last season. Each of the networks covering Nascar this season have experience telecasting racing, so the season should be well-broadcast. The announcers for most of the stations haven't been publicized yet, but several former drivers are in the running for the coveted positions.

In addition to the changes in broadcasting the Nextel Cup schedule, some changes have been made to the television showings of the other two main Nascar series. The Craftsman Truck Series will be shown nearly exclusively on Speed, with one race (March 31^st at Martinsville) broadcast on Fox. ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast the entire Busch series.

As a Nascar fan, I am excited about these changes! The new television package will allow more fans to view the races and allow for better coverage all the way around. I'm looking forward to what ABC and ESPN will bring to the table. As Nascar gets more popular, the television coverage gets better. 2007 should be an excellent season for us armchair fans!