NASCAR Now Expands for NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductions

NASCAR Now, ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program, will cover the induction of the first five members of the new NASCAR Hall of Fame with an expanded schedule this weekend. The induction is Sunday, May 23, and NASCAR Now has added a special one-hour edition to air at 11 a.m. that day. In addition, the induction will be previewed in the one-hour weekend edition airing Saturday, May 22, at 10 a.m. Mike Massaro hosts both programs from the Hall of Fame along with reporters Marty Smith and Shannon Spake. Joining the Sunday program will be analyst Rusty Wallace, ESPN.com senior writer Ed Hinton and ESPN The Magazine senior writer Ryan McGee.

The Hall of Fame induction and the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star race will be reviewed in the one-hour roundtable edition of NASCAR Now airing at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 24, in a program airing from the Hall of Fame. Host Allen Bestwick and Smith will be joined by analysts Ray Evernham and Ricky Craven.

NASCAR Now continues its month-long series on NASCAR fans in the Saturday program, which also will preview that night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The segments on fans will air in the weekend edition each week during May. Featured in the May 22 show will be Ann Howell-Davis, a deaf NASCAR fan who is part of a group that regularly attends NASCAR races. The group also manages a website that caters to deaf NASCAR fans.

Half-hour editions air at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday of this week with Massaro as host.

NASCAR Now is hosted by Massaro, Briscoe and Bestwick and originates from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Conn. Contributors include reporters Marty Smith, Shannon Spake and Angelique Chengelis, analysts Ray Evernham, Tim Brewer, Brad Daugherty, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie, and ESPN.com reporters Ed Hinton, Terry Blount and David Newton. The NASCAR on ESPN team event coverage team of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Marty Reid, Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree, Dave Burns, Jamie Little, and Vince Welch also make frequent contributions to NASCAR Now. 

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series in Topeka

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series races this weekend in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, and ESPN2 will air highlights of qualifying and eliminations. Qualifying action airs Saturday, May 22, at 8 p.m. ET, and coverage of eliminations airs Sunday at 7 p.m.

Sprawling multipurpose Heartland Park Topeka has been a Midwest favorite since it opened in 1989, but its dragstrip has gained the majority of headlines. The event, originally in the fall, has featured numerous record performances, the most significant of which was the shattering of the quarter-mile four-second and 300-mph barriers in Funny Car in 1993. The event moved to its current spot on the schedule in 2001.

Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 22-time NHRA winner Mike Dunn. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff report from the pits. Rieff and Dunn host NHRA RaceDay presented by Lucas Oil on Sunday at 10 a.m. to set the stage for that day’s eliminations action.

Also this weekend, ESPN2 airs highlights of the recent event in Atlanta for the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Series. The 30-minute program airs Sunday at 10:30 a.m. following NHRA RaceDay.

Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Weekend Coverage on ESPN Platforms

The starting field for the May 30 running of the Indianapolis 500 will be set the weekend of May 22-23, and reports from Fast Friday (May 21) and the two days of time trials (Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23) will appear on several ESPN platforms. The race will air live on ABC for the 46^th consecutive year on May 30 at noon ET. To see ABC’s promotional spot for the Indy 500 telecast, click HERE.

ESPN IZOD IndyCar Series lap-by-lap announcer Marty Reid and analyst Eddie Cheever will be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for qualifying weekend and will have video reports for SportsCenter, ESPNEWS and ESPN.com. Coverage on ESPN.com also will include the writing and reporting of ESPN.com IndyCar columnist John Oreovicz.

ESPN Classic Gears Up for Indianapolis 500   

To help race fans gear up for the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, which will air live on ABC, ESPN Classic is airing highlights of past editions of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing each Monday in May prior to the big event. In addition, the network will air six past races on Saturday, May 29, the day before the race.

And four-time Indy 500 winners A.J. Foyt and Al Unser, and 1969 winner Mario Andretti, are profiled in episodes of the ESPN Classic signature series SportsCentury airing in the weeks leading up to the race. On May 30, Helio Castroneves will be trying to join Unser and A.J. Foyt as the only four-time winners.

The Indianapolis 500 is airing on ABC for the 46^th consecutive year in 2010. ABC also is televising four other races in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season.

The remaining schedule (all times Eastern):

Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

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