With Memorial Day weekend complete, things will stay busy in the world of motorsports. NASCAR’s series are all back in action, while the NTT IndyCar Series and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be in Detroit.
NASCAR Nashville TV Schedule
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice: 4 p.m. ET Friday. Joined in progress on FS1 at 4:30 p.m. ET
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: 5:05 p.m. ET Friday on FS1- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Allegiance 200: 8 p.m. ET Friday on FS1
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Practice: 2 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW App
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Qualifying: 3:05 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW App
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday on Prime Video
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 5:40 p.m. ET Saturday on Prime Video
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Sports Illustrated Resorts 250: 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW
- NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400: 7 p.m. ET Sunday on Prime Video
This weekend, NASCAR travels to Tennessee for its sixth tripleheader weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. This has been a weekend plagued with weather issues in the past, but the move up to right after Memorial Day has helped.
Cup teams are scheduled to park and unload in the garage Friday afternoon. No on-track activity is scheduled.
Practice is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon with live coverage on Prime Video and the Sports on Prime YouTube channel. Qualifying will be exclusive to Prime Video starting at 5:40 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Cracker Barrel 400 will begin with NASCAR Live at 6 p.m. ET Sunday on Prime Video. Race coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:15 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will serve as the primary support class. Those teams are scheduled to have a full day of work in the garage Friday.
Practice is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon with coverage on The CW App and website. Qualifying will follow at 3:05 p.m. ET. Some CW affiliates may air qualifying Saturday (practice would be pre-empted by AVP Beach Volleyball), but check your local listings to see if your affiliate will be participating.
Coverage of the Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 7 p.m. ET on The CW. Race coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:40 p.m. ET. Also note that Connor Zilisch will be in the broadcast booth as a guest analyst.
Friday night brings the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series back to the track with only four rest days since Sunday’s time-limited wreckfest. The fatigue might start to show here.
Practice is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. There will be no coverage at first. FS1 will pick up the session in progress at 4:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying will be on FS1 in full at 5:05 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Allegiance 200 will begin at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. The green flag should fly around 8:15 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Going to Be Like?
After last weekend in Charlotte, anything would be better, to be honest. The good news is that it should be better. The bad news is that it won’t be perfect.
Friday’s forecast is for cloudy skies with showers and thunderstorms possible in the afternoon, somewhere between a 30-50%. High temperatures will be in the lower 80s, but it will be humid regardless.
Saturday’s forecast is somewhat similar, but the threat of rain will be earlier in the day. It’s possible that the threat will be over before practice is scheduled, but it could still affect it. Regardless, you’re looking at temperatures in the 80s during the day. By the time the Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 starts, it should be down in the 70s.
Sunday’s forecast will be the driest of the three days. It will be partly cloudy with a high around 82°. However, there will still be a slight chance of rain.
TV Ratings Check — Charlotte
Sunday’s rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 attracted an audience of 3.06 million viewers on Prime Video. This is up 12% over last year’s broadcast. However, this number comes from the Big Data + panel formula, which NASCAR has stopped using.
Using the old formula, the race earned a 1.07 rating with 2.649 million viewers. This is down slightly from last year’s race, which earned a 1.11 rating with 2.721 million viewers.
Saturday night’s Charbroil 300 was heavily affected by rain. The CW posted this about the race viewership Thursday.
Based on this data, things were looking really good until it rained. Says a lot that so many people stuck around through the four-hour rain delay.
There is no viewership information available for Sunday morning’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 for the Trucks.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.