One of the most exciting and popular races of the year on the Sprint Cup Series is the annual night race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The half-mile concrete oval, with 160,000 fans surrounding it, becomes a battleground as sparks fly and brakes glow red-hot, all under the glare of stadium lighting. ESPN and ESPN HD will have live, flag-to-flag coverage of the 500-lap race on Saturday, August 23, beginning at 7pm/et with NASCAR Countdown. The telecast is presented by Pennzoil Platinum and is simulcast on ESPN Deportes. The race replays on Sunday, Aug. 24, at noon on ESPN Classic. Dr. Jerry Punch will be lead announcer for ESPN’s coverage, joined in the booth for analysis by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will be pit reporters with Tim Brewer in the ESPN Tech Center. The pre-race NASCAR Countdown show from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick, with Rusty Wallace and analyst Brad Daugherty. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race. As part of the week’s buildup to the event, ESPN Classic airs the 1985 Valleydale 500 race at Bristol on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 2:00pm/et. The race originally aired on ESPN and was won by Dale Earnhardt. ESPN also has a live telecast of the Nationwide Series event at Bristol on Friday, Aug. 22, beginning at 7:30pm/et with NASCAR Countdown. The telecast airs in high definition on ESPN HD and is simulcast on ESPN Deportes.(ESPN PR)
