Lots of TV coverage at Daytona by Fox/Speed: Next February, the Daytona 500 will get its greatest level of coverage yeat as FOX Sports and its family of networks will open the NASCAR racing season with more than 75 hours of programming from Daytona SpeedWeeks, leading up to the season-opening Daytona 500 live on FOX on Feb. 16. The unprecedented coverage, shared by FOX, FX, Fox Sports Net and SPEED Channel, includes nearly 50 hours of on-track coverage and another 20-plus hours of studio programming, marking a dramatic increase in programming hours from 2001, when FOX offered 43 hours during its network premiere from Daytona. In addition to complete coverage of the Daytona 500, network programming will be highlighted by live coverage of the 70-lap Bud Shootout (Feb. 8, FOX), presented for the first time in prime time, and the debut of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on SPEED Channel (Feb. 14). Other programming highlights include live coverage of the Feb. 8 ARCA race (SPEED), the Feb. 9 Goodies Dash race (SPEED), the Feb. 13 Gatorade Twin 125s (FX) and the Feb. 15 NASCAR Busch Series race (FOX). The FOX Sports networks also will provide live coverage of NASCAR Winston Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series qualifying (FOX, SPEED), as well as Winston Cup Happy Hour (FX) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series qualifying (SPEED). Joining Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds in blanketing NASCAR coverage at the beach will be studio analysts Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond, along with pit reporters Jeanne Zelasko, Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum and Steve Byrnes. SPEED Channel, now available in 59 million North American households, is the home of NASCAR TV and is the fastest growing sports cable network in the U.S. SPEED will be in Daytona for NASCAR testing throughout January and will open the SpeedWeeks programming Feb. 7 with several studio shows and coverage of Bud Shootout practice. SPEED also will kick off its popular weekly programming lineup, including the live Friday Trackside program with Darrell Waltrip, Hammond and Byrnes and Monday’s Inside Winston Cup with Allen Bestwick, Michael Waltrip, Ken Schrader and Johnny Benson. Fox Sports Net, now in more than 82 million homes, kicks off its NASCAR coverage on Feb. 9 with the debut of NASCAR This Morning at 10:30 a.m. ET. Another edition of NASCAR This Morning will air Feb. 16, the morning of the Daytona 500. The FSN program Totally NASCAR also returns with weeknight airings beginning Feb. 10. (Speed Channel), see the full schedule for Daytona at FoxSports.(12-6-2002)
