Final Talladega TV Ratings and some news: NBC Sports coverage of the EA Sports 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (1:15-4:30 p.m. ET) tied last year’ 4.8/12, the highest national rating ever for any auto race in competition with professional football, according to the national ratings released today by Nielsen Media Research. The EA Sports 500 from Talladega, which saw #20_Tony Stewart move into the Championship lead for the first time in his four-year Winston Cup career, peaked from 3:30-4 p.m. ET with a 5.0/11 as Dale Earnhardt Jr. took his third consecutive Talladega checkered flag. Through 13 telecasts (excluding Daytona 500), NASCAR Winston Cup coverage on NBC and TNT has produced a 4.3 national rating/10 share, a two percent increase over last year’ record breaking season average of a 4.2/11 through the comparable weekend. This increase is an impressive gain considering the 34 percent ratings increase last year. Wally Races, Stewart in the Booth: TNT begins the race weekend on Saturday with Winston Cup Happy Hour at !2noon/et followed by BGN at 1:00pm/et. NBC & TNT analyst Wally Dallenbach takes the wheel of his #6 Pepsi Dodge for his second BGN race of the season. Current Winston Cup point leaders Tony Stewart will fill in for Dallenbach in the booth while Dallenbach is racing.(NBC PR)(10-11-2002)
