As The Chase continues, we come to an infamous race weekend. Bristol at night. It’s going to be a busy three days and nights on the high banks. Meanwhile, IMSA will be in Indianapolis for a sprint race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Bristol TV Schedule
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice: 3 p.m. ET Thursday on FS2
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: 4 p.m. ET Thursday on FS2
- ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series East Bush’s Beans 200: 5:30 p.m. ET Thursday on FS1
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics: 8 p.m. ET Thursday on FS1
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Partes Series Practice: 2 p.m. ET Friday on The CW App/ESPN Unlimited
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Qualifying: 3:05 p.m. ET on The CW App/ESPN Unlimited
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET Friday on TruTV/HBO Max
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying: 5:40 p.m. ET Friday on TruTV/HBO Max
- NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Food City 300: 7:30 p.m. ET Friday on The CW/ESPN Unlimited
- NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race: 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on USA Network
As noted, it’s Bristol time. I do believe that the event has dropped off a fair amount since it was moved to September a few years back. Next year’s schedule moves the event back to August, eliminating the conflicts with college football.
It’s going to be a busy weekend. The NASCAR Cup Series will serve as the headliner for a two-day show starting bright and early Friday morning. Unlike most of the other races on the schedule, the Bristol night race has traditionally been a two-day weekend (ex.: in the 1990s, they would hold second-round qualifying and happy hour the day of the race).
Practice is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET Friday afternoon with live coverage on TruTV and HBO Max. Qualifying will follow at 5:40 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race will begin with USA Sports Pre-Race at 7 p.m. ET Saturday night on USA Network. Race coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:40 p.m. ET.
Primary support to Cup will be the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Those teams will pull into the infield at 7 a.m. ET Friday for a one-day show.
Practice is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Friday afternoon with live coverage on The CW App/website and on ESPN Unlimited. Qualifying will follow at 3:05 p.m. ET. Some CW affiliates may choose to provide coverage, but check your local listings.
Coverage of the Food City 300 will begin with NASCAR Countdown Live at 7 p.m. ET Friday night on The CW and ESPN Unlimited. Race coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag at 7:40 p.m. ET. Unlike last weekend, there will be no football wreaking havoc with the schedule.
Thursday night is a doubleheader at Bristol with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series taking center stage as its Chase finally gets underway. Gotta love three straight off-weeks before it starts.
Teams are scheduled to practice starting at 3 p.m. ET Thursday afternoon with live coverage on FS2. Qualifying will follow at 4:05 p.m. ET.
Coverage of the UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics will start at 8 p.m. ET Thursday night on FS1. The green flag should fly around 8:15 p.m. ET.
Finally, the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East will hold a combination race Thursday. This race will serve as the season finale for ARCA Menards Series East.
ARCA teams will practice for 45 minutes starting at 1 p.m. ET Thursday. Qualifying will follow shortly afterwards. Neither session will be televised.
Coverage of the Bush’s Beans 200 will air live on FS1 starting at 5:30 p.m. ET. The green flag should fly around 5:40 p.m. ET.
What’s the Weather Going to Be Like?
Bristol Motor Speedway may be in the mountains, but that doesn’t mean that it’s immune from summer-like weather. While it will be a little cooler temperature-wise than the nearest small cities, it can still be quite humid.
The forecast for Thursday is for partly sunny skies for most of the day with a high around 84°, but there will be a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms. AccuWeather is predicting that they could show up around 2 p.m. ET, which would be right when ARCA teams are scheduled to qualify. If that holds, it would likely wipe out the ARCA session and possibly threaten on-track activity for the Trucks.
Friday’s forecast is similar, but a little cooler. Partly cloudy skies with a 50% chance of thunderstorms, but a high around 81°. Most of the adverse weather would be in the morning or early afternoon. Temperatures would be in the 70s for the O’Reilly race.
Saturday’s forecast is similar to Thursday with a forecast high of 84° with a 50% chance of thunderstorms. Temperatures will fall into the 70s during the race.
It will likely be humid all three days and nights, so keep hydrated. Luckily, Bristol is a place where fans can duck onto the concourses to get some shade if need be.
TV Ratings Update — Gateway
Sunday’s broadcast of the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter averaged 1.635 million viewers on USA Network Sunday. This is up 7% from last year, despite the onslaught of NFL games Sunday.
Saturday night’s Nu-Way 225 powered by Bobcat had 797,000 viewers on The CW. This is down 19.5% from last year’s race, which had 989,000 viewers. There were no real differences schedule-wise between this year’s race and last year’s event, other than NASCAR Countdown Live effectively getting wiped off linear TV due to Texas State-UTSA running long.
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.
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