The NASCAR Nationwide Series takes center stage this weekend with an event at Nashville Superspeedway, and the series will make its first appearance of the season on ESPN for a live, high definition telecast of the 300-mile race on Saturday, April 11, at 3 p.m. ET. The telecast is presented by Pennzoil. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC. The race re-airs Sunday, April 12, at noon on ESPN Classic.
The race is the first of four events that make up the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash, a competition program involving four stand-alone races on the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season and providing Nationwide Series drivers an opportunity to race for their own bonus program. In the Nashville race, if an eligible driver takes the victory, he will receive an additional $25,000 bonus from Nationwide. At the end of the season, the eligible driver with the highest accumulated points from the four races will win an additional $50,000.
Marty Reid will be the lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage from Nashville, joined in the booth for analysis by Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will report from the pits, while Tim Brewer will be in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.
Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by Wallace and Brad Daugherty in the ESPN pit studio.
ESPN2 will televise NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice from Nashville on Friday, April 10, at 6 p.m., as well as qualifying on Saturday at 11 a.m.(ESPN PR)(4-6-2009)
