We’ve made it to the penultimate weekend of the NASCAR season. While there’s plenty of short track racing to be had this weekend, Formula 1 will be in Brazil this weekend, while the FIA World Endurance Championship will wrap up their season in Bahrain.
Before we start, please make note that daylight savings time will end late Saturday night/early Sunday morning at 2 a.m. ET. Before you go to bed, make sure to change your clocks back one hour if they don’t do so themselves.
Where to Watch NASCAR This Week
This weekend, NASCAR has a tripleheader weekend at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Va. All three races will determine which drivers will make the Championship 4 for Phoenix.
The NASCAR Cup Series will headline the weekend. On-track action will begin Saturday with practice at 1 p.m. ET. This will be streamed live at NBCSports.com and on the NBC Sports App. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards.
Coverage of the Xfinity 500 will begin with Countdown to Green at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Race coverage will start at 2 p.m. ET with the green flag around 2:10 p.m. ET. Despite a 2 p.m. ET start, the end of daylight savings means that the race will run right up against darkness.
The weather for Sunday looks good, but a little cool. The general consensus is for sunshine early on with a high of 64° before clouding up. Since it’ll be dark by the time the race ends, bring a jacket if you’re going.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is scheduled to race on Saturday, although teams will load into the infield Friday morning. It will be a busy day.
Practice is scheduled for 3:35 p.m. ET Friday afternoon with coverage on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards.
Coverage of the National Debt Relief 250 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 3:30 p.m. ET on The CW. Race coverage will start at 4 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET.
The weather on Saturday looks nice. There will be partly cloudy skies with a high of 69°.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will have a one-day show on Friday. Practice is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET. Coverage of the session will air live on FOX Sports 2 starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards.
Coverage of the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 will begin at 6 p.m. ET Friday on FOX Sports 1. The green flag will fly around 6:15 p.m. ET.
Of the three days in Martinsville, Friday might be the iffiest of the bunch. The forecast is for cloudy skies and a high of 78°. However, there is a 40% chance of showers. If a shower shows up, it could cancel qualifying. If it happens during the race, it could result in the rain tires coming out to play again. Regardless, this race will mostly be run at night, so bring a jacket.
TV Ratings Check — Homestead
Sunday’s broadcast of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway earned a 1.31 rating with 2.344 million viewers. This is up very slightly in the Nielsen ratings and up by 94,000 viewers (4.17%) from last year.
Unfortunately, viewership numbers for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Baptist Health 200 are unavailable. If those numbers are released, we will update this column.
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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I’m feed with NASCAR I love to watch Xfinity racing but now I can’t..watch it on that CW channel so next year I won’t see them.at.all!!
Which channel? My local CW affiliate is showing football games instead of racing. If I’m lucky some off the wall station -DABL- might be done with their football game in time to show the race…if I can even get reception. So far am singularly unimpressed with the ability of the CW (or whomever is showing it) to bring a race to viewers. Searching around, hoping I can find a race…stinks.