This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series regular season wraps up in Daytona Beach. The NASCAR Xfinity Series will also be on hand. Meanwhile, the NTT IndyCar Series will be at The Milwaukee Mile. IMSA will be at VIR, while the ARCA Menards Series will be at Madison International Speedway.
NASCAR Daytona TV Listings
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying: 3 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 5:05 p.m. ET Friday on TruTV/HBO Max
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Wawa 250: 7:30 p.m. ET Friday on The CW
- ARCA Menards Series Badger 200: 9 p.m. ET Friday on FS1
- NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400: 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC
This weekend, NASCAR will be back in Daytona Beach, Fla. for its second visit of the year. There’s a good amount at stake. Since this is a superspeedway weekend, there will be no practice.
Qualifying for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET Friday. Coverage will air live on TruTV and HBO Max starting at 5 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 will begin with Countdown to Green at 7 p.m. ET on NBC. Race coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:45 p.m. ET. By the time the race ends, assuming no shenanigans go down, we’ll know who the 16 playoff drivers will be.
On the undercard will be the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This is not the end of the regular season for those drivers, but they will still be racing hard.
Qualifying is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Friday afternoon and will air live on The CW App. Some CW affiliates may choose to air the session live. Check your local listings to see if your affiliate is one of them.
Coverage of the Wawa 250 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 7 p.m. ET Friday night on The CW. Race coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:40 p.m. ET.
Outside of Daytona, the ARCA Menards Series will be at Madison International Speedway for a one-day show on Friday. Teams are currently scheduled to practice for 45 minutes starting at 4:45 p.m. ET. Qualifying will be at 6:15 p.m. ET. Neither session will be televised.
Coverage of the Badger 200 will air live starting at 9 p.m. ET Friday on FS1 during the Xfinity race. The green flag is scheduled to fly at 9:10 p.m. ET
TV Ratings Check — Richmond
While Saturday night races are far more comfortable for those fans attending races in person, they really hurt TV ratings. Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 earned a .75 rating with 1.385 million viewers on USA Network. This is down significantly from last year, when the race earned a 1.2 rating with 2.216 million viewers. It should be noted that last year’s race was on a Sunday night as opposed to a Saturday night.
Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series eero 250 earned a .21 rating with 411,000 viewers. This is down 8.7% in ratings and down 3.3% in viewership from last year’s broadcast, which had a .23 rating with 425,000 viewers. Much like the Cup race, note that this was a Saturday night race 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.