As the year continues, more and more racing gets underway for the season. We’ve got a busy weekend in Bristol, Long Beach and Bahrain ahead of us.
NASCAR Bristol TV Schedule
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice: 3:35 p.m. ET Friday on FS2
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: 4:40 p.m. ET Friday on FS2
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol: 7:30 p.m. ET Friday on FS1
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Practice: 11:30 a.m. ET Saturday on The CW App
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying: 12:35 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW App
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 2 p.m. ET Saturday on Amazon Prime Video
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 3:05 p.m. ET Saturday on Amazon Prime Video
- NASCAR Xfinity Series SciAps 300: 5 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW
- NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500: 3 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1
This weekend, the NASCAR parade marches up to Bristol Motor Speedway near Blountville, Tenn. for a full three days of action on the high banks. Things should be interesting, but don’t expect the wild level of tire wear that last year’s race had.
For NASCAR Cup Series teams, they are scheduled to practice Saturday at 2 p.m. ET with live coverage on Amazon Prime Video. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards.
Coverage of the Food City 500 will begin with NASCAR RaceDay at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Race coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET with the green flag at 3:15 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will load into the garage Friday in Bristol, but will not have any on-track activity until Saturday. Instead, they’ll spend the day prepping and going through inspection.
Practice for the Xfinity Series is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. ET Saturday morning. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards. Coverage will stream live on The CW App and on The CW’s website. Some CW affiliates may also choose to air the sessions live.
Coverage of the SciAps 300 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 5 p.m. ET with the green flag at 5:10 p.m. ET.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will return after taking a week off for their first of two visits to Bristol. Practice is scheduled to begin at 3:35 p.m. ET Friday, with qualifying following shortly afterwards. Coverage of the sessions will air live on FOX Sports 2 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1. There is no official pre-race show scheduled, but the green flag will fall around 7:50 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Looking Like?
Friday is not looking good in Bristol. There is a 90% chance of rain with a high around 50°. Since Bristol Motor Speedway is in a somewhat mountainous area, temperatures might be lower than that. If the Truck race is postponed, that could cause chaos with the weekend’s schedule. If that happens, we will keep you up to date here at Frontstretch.
Saturday will still be cool. Highs are expected to be around 50° with spotty showers in the morning. It’ll clear out as the day continues on.
Sunday will be the best day of the weekend. There will be sunny skies and a high around 65°. The advice is to bring a jacket to all three days in Bristol, but especially earlier in the weekend.
TV Ratings Update — Darlington
Sunday’s broadcast of the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway earned a 1.3 rating with 2.517 million viewers on FS1. This is down .1 of a ratings point and 115,000 viewers from last year. It should be noted that the race ran more than a month later on Mother’s Day last year. Last year, the Cup Series was at Martinsville on this particular weekend. FOX Sports was quick to point out a ratings and viewership increase from that weekend.
NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington on @FS1 scores most-watched Sunday cable telecast 👀 pic.twitter.com/LLiE3D1VHh
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) April 8, 2025
Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 earned a .6 rating with 1.12 million viewers. This is an increase of 29.1% in ratings and 43.2% in viewership over last year on FS1 (.48 rating, 782,000 viewers). It keeps up a string of eight consecutive Xfinity races with more than a million viewers that dates back to Daytona.
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.