It’s time to get nervous, race fans. This weekend, NASCAR descends upon Talladega Superspeedway for a tripleheader of racing. Meanwhile, the Intercontinental GT Challenge will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the headliner of SRO America’s season finale weekend.
Where to Watch NASCAR This Weekend
As noted, this weekend, all three of NASCAR’s National-level Series will be in Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway. Remember that Talladega Superspeedway is in the Central time zone, so all of the official schedule times that you see on Jayski are one hour behind Eastern time.
There is no scheduled practice this weekend, so coverage from Talladega will begin with qualifying at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. That session will air live on USA Network.
Coverage of the YellaWood 500 will begin with Countdown to Green at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC. Race coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET, while the green flag will fly at 2:15 p.m. ET.
The weather forecast for Sunday is pretty good. There is currently no chance of rain with partly cloudy skies and a high of 87°.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series has the primary support slot after not having a second race there last year. Teams are scheduled to pull in Friday and go through inspection.
Qualifying for Xfinity teams is scheduled for Noon ET Saturday morning. The broadcast will start on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App. USA Network will pick up the session in progress at 12:30 p.m. ET. Current TV listings indicate that the whole session will be done by 1 p.m. ET, but the likelihood of that is not high.
Coverage of the United Rentals 250 is scheduled to begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 3:30 p.m. ET on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 4 p.m. ET and the green should fly at 4:15 p.m. ET.
Weather for Saturday is identical to Sunday. 87° with partly cloudy skies with no precipitation, but a bit humid. Make sure to keep hydrated.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be back at Talladega for their 19th straight year. However, the race is now a Friday afternoon affair after having always previously run on Saturday.
Qualifying is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET Friday in Talladega. The session will air live on FOX Sports 2.
Coverage of the Love’s RV Stop 225 is scheduled to air live on FOX Sports 1 Friday starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. The green flag is scheduled for 4:50 p.m. ET.
Weather-wise, the forecast looks good for Friday with partly cloudy skies and a high of 83°. However, there is a 20% chance of rain. While slight, any precipitation at Talladega could cause major delays due to the sheer scale of track drying that would be required.
TV Ratings Check — Kansas
Last Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 presented by ESPN Bet had 1.794 million viewers for Ross Chastain’s first win of the year. That is up 2% (34,000 viewers) from last year’s broadcast. However, it is the lowest-rated regularly scheduled Cup broadcast of the year to this point.
The equivalent weekend last year was the second race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. That race earned a 1.16 rating with two million viewers.
The Kansas Lottery 300 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series had 772,000 viewers Saturday afternoon on The CW. That is down 42% from last year’s race, which earned a .8 rating with 1.325 million viewers. It should be noted that the race aired live on NBC.
In 2022, the race aired on USA Network and had 672,000 viewers, 100,000 less than The CW got.
Finally, Friday night’s coverage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kubota Tractor 200 on FOX Sports 1 earned a .20 rating with 335,000 viewers. That is down more than 30% from last year.
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.