The Busch Series was born on short tracks racing under the lights and will make a return to its roots Friday night at Richmond International Raceway. ESPN2 will have live primetime coverage of the 250-lap race from the .750-mile Virginia track beginning at 7:30pm/et with NASCAR Countdown. The race will start at 8pm/et. The D-shaped Richmond track is a favorite among NASCAR drivers and fans for producing close and exciting racing. Kevin Harvick, the defending Busch Series champion and winner of the 2007 Daytona 500, has won three consecutive Busch Series races at Richmond, including a sweep of the track’s two events in 2006. Dale Jarrett will join Andy Petree in the ESPN booth for analysis during the telecast. Jarrett is filling in for ESPN’s lead auto racing analyst, Rusty Wallace, who will rejoin NASCAR coverage in June. ESPN’s Marty Reid will handle play-by-play duties, filling in for regular anchor Jerry Punch. Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro will serve as pit reporters. In addition to the telecast on ESPN2, ESPN’s signature broadband service, ESPN360.com, will deliver a live online simulcast of the event, and a Spanish-language version of the race will be televised on ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s domestic Spanish-language network. NASCAR Now, ESPN’s daily news and information show totally dedicated to NASCAR, will have its expanded Monday edition on the air from 6-7pm/et on ESPN2. The program will have extensive highlights and recaps of the weekend’s NASCAR races, as well as looks ahead to the next weekend. NASCAR Now will air on ESPN2 for 30 minutes at its regular 6:30 p.m. ET timeslot Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and at midnight on Thursday. The show will air at 6pm on Friday with reports from Richmond International Raceway. In addition, the one-hour weekend edition will air at 10am. Saturday with a wrap-up of Friday’s Busch Series race from Richmond and a look ahead to that evening’s Nextel Cup race. Sunday night’s edition of the program will air at midnight.(ESPN PR)(5-1-2007)
