Announced Monday, ESPN has canceled their weekday, 30-minute NASCAR program NASCAR Now which has run on the network since 2007. ESPN, which is ending its deal to televise the NASCAR Nationwide Series and select Sprint Cup races at the end of the 2014 season, is now left with no NASCAR-specific programming. For the past couple of seasons, NASCAR Now has aired in the early AM hours, without a fixed time slot, making it very difficult to generate a regular audience.
“We will continue to present the race telecasts at the same high level fans expect from ESPN for the remainder of our final season,” said a spokesman for the network, Andy Hall, to Motorsport. “We will continue to aggressively cover NASCAR across our news platforms, including SportsCenter, ESPN.com and others.”
NBC will take over broadcasting rights for NASCAR in 2015, splitting with longtime TV partner FOX. Currently, with ESPN canning the NASCAR news and features show, only NBC and Fox Sports 1 are left with daily, weekday NASCAR-specific programming. Viewers now have the choice between watching NBC Sports Network’s NASCAR America show, which is filmed between the NBC Sports studios in Stamford, CT and Charlotte, NC or FS1, with their NASCAR Race Hub show filmed at their studios in Charlotte.
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Greg has been with Frontstretch since 2014. A life-long NASCAR follower armed with an extensive sport and digital marketing background, Greg assists the marketing team and helps to manage relationships with some of the website's sponsors. From time to time his work appears on Frontstretch, focusing on the business side of racing and how financial partnerships are affecting the sport. He and his family reside in southern Connecticut.
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This is the classic case of “if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it”. NASCAR Now was a good show when ESPN cared about it.