The season continues to get busier. While NASCAR and ARCA will be in Phoenix, INDYCAR starts their season and Formula 1 will be in Saudi Arabia.
Before we start, remember that Daylight Savings Time will begin at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, regardless of your time zone. Before you go to bed Saturday night, make sure to adjust your clocks that need to be manually adjusted up one hour. Unless you’re in places like Phoenix. In which case, don’t do it.
A substantial percentage, but not all, of Arizona does not observe daylight savings time. These places are in Mountain standard time for the full year.
Where to Watch NASCAR This Weekend
The NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will travel to Phoenix Raceway for their fourth race weekend of the season. The weekend is naturally extremely important due to the fact that Phoenix will host Championship Weekend for the fourth straight year in November.
Coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500k will start with NASCAR RaceDay on FOX Sports 1 at 2 p.m. ET. At 2:30 p.m. ET, the show will move to FOX. Race coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 3:45 p.m. ET.
Saturday will have the NASCAR Xfinity Series teams compete in the Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200. I’m not a fan of putting periods in a race name, but that’s a discussion for another time. Coverage of the Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 will begin with NASCAR RaceDay – Xfinity Edition at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Race coverage will follow at 4:30 p.m. ET with the green flag falling around 4:45 p.m. ET.
The ARCA Menards Series will be back in action for the first time since Daytona with the General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway. The race will also serve as the season opener for ARCA Menards Series West. Drivers will earn points towards both series.
Coverage of the General Tire 150 will air live on FS1 starting at 8 p.m. ET Friday night. 40 cars will do battle on the one-mile tri-oval.
Where to Watch Other Racing Series This Weekend
The 2024 NTT IndyCar Series starts this weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. Coverage of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will start with INDYCAR Live at Noon ET on NBC. Race coverage will start at 12:30 p.m. ET with the green flag shortly afterwards. Check your local listings to see if your NBC affiliate will show the race.
INDYCAR will be joined by the Road to Indy support series. Firestone Indy NXT will race at 10 a.m. ET Sunday morning. The race will be streamed live on Peacock.
USF2000 Championship teams will race Friday at 4:20 p.m. ET and Saturday at 4:45 p.m. ET. USF Pro 2000 Championship teams race Saturday at 11:55 a.m. ET and Sunday at 8 a.m. ET. All four of those races will be streamed live on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel.
The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge is also on the bill. Those races will be at 10:55 a.m. ET and 3:45 p.m. ET Saturday. Both races will be streamed live on Peacock.
Formula 1 moves across the Arabian Peninsula this weekend to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and the tricky Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia. Like last weekend, this will be a Saturday race due to the month of Ramadan getting underway.
Coverage of the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia will begin with Formula 1: Grand Prix Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2. Race coverage will begin at 11:55 a.m. ET with the formation lap starting at Noon ET.
The zMAX CARS Tour will be back at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C. this weekend, this time for a Super Late Model-only race as part of Speedweek. Coverage from Southern National will begin at 12:45 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon on FLORacing.
Finally, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series was scheduled to be at Kennedale Speedway Park in Kennedale, Tex. for the Cowtown Classic this weekend. Unfortunately, both nights of racing have been wiped out due to heavy rains.
For a full schedule of the weekend’s action, please check out our TV Schedule page, where we will update listings for all motorsports available on television and via internet streaming.
NASCAR TV Ratings Check — Las Vegas
Las Vegas was quite positive for the NASCAR Cup Series. FOX’s broadcast of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube drew a 2.4 rating with 4.359 million viewers. This is up at least .18 of a ratings point from last year and an increase of 368,000 viewers. It was the most watched sporting event from last weekend.
Saturday’s broadcast of the NASCAR Xfinity Series The LiUNA! scored a .6 rating with 1.027 million viewers. This is down roughly .07 of a rating point and 106,000 viewers from last year.
Friday night’s broadcast of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 drew 603,000 viewers for Rajah Caruth’s maiden Truck victory. A Nielsen rating number is not available for the race, but the viewership was down from last year by 20,000 viewers.
Finally, Saturday’s broadcast of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Bahrain drew a .6 rating with 1.122 million viewers on ESPN for Max Verstappen’s stomping of the field. That is down nearly 200,000 viewers from last year, when 1.318 million tuned in. It should be noted that last year’s race was on a Sunday.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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