This weekend, NASCAR makes its sole trip to New England, where the countdown to The Chase is rather important at the moment. The popular Modifieds will also be on the card. Meanwhile, IndyCar will be in the District of Columbia and IMSA will be at VIR.
NASCAR New Hampshire TV Listings
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice: 4 p.m. ET Friday on FOX One
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: 5:05 p.m. ET Friday on FOX One
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday on TruTV/HBO Max
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 11:35 a.m. ET Saturday on TruTV/HBO Max
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175: 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1
- ARCA Menards Series Calypso 100: 2 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1
- NASCAR Cup Series Dollar Tree 301: 2 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the 34th straight year as the headlining division.
Practice is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday morning with live coverage on TruTV and HBO Max. Qualifying will follow at 11:35 a.m. ET.
Coverage of the Dollar Tree 301 will begin with USA Sports Pre-Race at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. Race coverage will start at 2 p.m. ET. The green flag will fly at 2:10 p.m. ET.
The green flag was originally supposed to be at 3:10 p.m. ET Sunday. However, the weather forecast has resulted in the start being moved up.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will serve as primary support to Cup this weekend once again. Teams are scheduled to practice Friday afternoon starting at 4 p.m. ET. Qualifying will follow at 5:05 p.m. ET. These sessions will air on FOX One.
At the time this article was written, it appeared that neither session would air at all. The announcement that practice and qualifying would be on FOX One was made only a couple of hours before the sessions began.
Coverage of the Team EJP 175 will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1. The green flag should fly around 1:50 p.m. ET. When the race finishes, we will know the 10 drivers that will be in the Truck Chase.
Out in Illinois, the ARCA Menards Series has its first dirt race of the season at The Springfield Mile. This will be a one-day show Sunday.
Teams will have 30 minutes of practice starting at 11 a.m. ET, then qualifying will be held at 12:15 p.m. ET. Neither session will be televised.
Coverage of the Calypso 100 will air live on FS1 starting at 2 p.m. ET. The green flag will fly around 2:10 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Going to Be Like?
This is the key question for this weekend. Friday looks to be the best of the three days. The forecast is for mostly sunny skies with a high of 78°.
Saturday’s weather will be a little cooler with mostly cloudy skies. Highs will be around 70°.
Sunday is the question mark. There is an 80% chance of showers with a high around 73°. Luckily, Goodyear will have wet-weather tires on hand this weekend.
If they will come into use, NASCAR will call a competition caution to let everyone pit and take on wet tires and make necessary adjustments to facilitate wet-weather racing. Part of the USA Today 301 two years ago was run on a wet surface, so we have something to look back on.
In Springfield, Ill., the weather on Sunday looks great for ARCA dirt track racing. There will be mostly sunny skies with a high around 81°.
TV Listings Update — Richmond
Saturday night’s coverage of the Cook Out 400 from Richmond Raceway earned a .83 rating with 1.516 million viewers on USA Network. This is the lowest-rated Cup race of the season so far. However, this is up 11% in ratings and 9% in viewership over last year’s race, which had a .75 rating with 1.385 million viewers.
The rain-delayed NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 250 had a .18 rating with 281,000 viewers. This is down 14% in ratings and 32% in viewership from last year. That said, the race was forced to move to FOX Sports 2 due to the rainout. Anything on FS2 struggles for viewership, so this number would be viewed as acceptable for the channel.
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.