SPEED Notes: All-Star Week

Sprint Cup

SPEED Notes: All-Star Week

SPEED kicks off 70 hours of All-Star programming with Thursday's Sprint Pit Crew Challenge...

Megan Englehart | Posted May 18, 2011 Charlotte, NC

SPEED™ is the exclusive television home for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race from Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., with live race coverage beginning May 21 at 7 p.m. ET.

ALL-STAR Watch Presented By Lowe's - Let's Build Something Together

SPEED KICKS OFF 70 HOURS OF ALL-STAR PROGRAMMING WITH THURSDAY’S NASCAR SPRINT PIT CREW CHALLENGE

Earnhardt Jr. (on NASCAR RaceDay): “ … I want to give them hope. I want to make that ticket worth the money they spent on it.”

CALLING ALL CREWS: SPEED kicks off All-Star Week by shining a spotlight on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pit crews with Thursday’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge at 8 p.m. ET. Steve Byrnes hosts from Time Warner Arena in Charlotte, N.C., alongside former crew chiefs Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond with Bob Dillner reporting from the arena floor.

EARNHARDT JR. FEATURE ON NASCAR RACEDAY: NASCAR RaceDay Built by The Home Depot, SPEED’s popular pre-race show, features co-host Kenny Wallace’s in-depth, sit-down interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

On whether he still feels pressure to perform for the fans:

Earnhardt: “I mean I feel like there's an expectation I need to meet. I want to meet that, I want to do that. Whatever they expect from me I want to be able to go out there and do it. I don't sit here and go ‘that's unfounded, that's unwarranted,’ and I refuse to try and live up to those standards or whatever. I want to go out there and make 'em happy. When we go to Talladega, a track that we run well at and have a lot of people that want to see us run well, I try to get to the lead as soon as I can get there, immediately. I want to be up front, I want to be in the top five, I want to give them hope. I want to make that ticket worth the money they spent on it.”

John Roberts, Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds host a special, three-hour edition of the high-energy show with reporters Hermie Sadler and Wendy Venturini that includes the fan-favorite Pennzoil Ultra Victory Challenge with NASCAR drivers Trevor Bayne, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano showcasing their best celebratory burnouts and donuts. AJ Allmendinger and Rutledge Wood co-host the event. Live driver interviews include Allmendinger, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, among others.

SUPER SLO-MO CAMERA: SPEED adds a unique element to its live coverage of Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race with the addition of the XMO camera, a super high-speed HD camera that permits extreme slow-motion playback. The network will use the camera to enhance its coverage of the racing action and pit stops throughout the night. XMO cameras generally can record and playback at rates beginning at five or six times faster or slower than standard ones.

RANDY MOSS ON ALL-STAR RACE: Randy Moss, NFL player and co-owner of Randy Moss Motorsports, has seen his share of “All-Star” games with seven appearances in the NFL’s Pro Bowl.

“The thing with the All-Star Race is that these guys are putting on their helmets and racing for a lot of money to win,” Moss said of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. “I was at the All-Star Race last year and I can tell you this, it’s going to be crazy. It’s as intense as any NASCAR race that I’ve seen.”

TRUCKS CONTINUE TO CLIMB: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues to pick up steam, with the Dover race scoring a .93 (732,000 households) Nielsen Household Rating, up 26 percent from last season’s .74 (560,000 households). It marked the third NCWTS race in a row to score a year-to-year ratings increase (Martinsville 4 percent, Nashville 18 percent), and the series is now pacing up 5 percent from 2010. Race coverage, which peaked at 1.04 (818,000 households; 1,158,000 total viewers), was the highest-rated Trucks race from the Monster Mile since 2006, when it also scored a .93. The increase was driven in large part by a younger male audience, with ratings among Men 18-34 up 47 percent year-to-year.

SPEED SOCIAL TRACKER: New for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race this year is the SPEED Social Tracker, a social media dashboard comprised of at least 20 SPEED on-air personalities answering fans’ questions in real time and posting analysis via Twitter and SPEED’s Facebook page during the All-Star Race and in the preceding weeks. Several on-air personalities will be seated on a specially-equipped pit box that enables them to be fully interactive during the All-Star Race. All social media interaction will live on the SPEED Social Tracker, located at www.SPEED.com/Allstar or SPEED’s Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/speed under the “SPEED Social Tracker” tab. Also new for SPEED’s 2011 coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race are upgraded production elements that include a touch screen and enhanced graphics interface inside the Hollywood Hotel, as well as increased radio communication with drivers during the event.

LIKE SPEED, WIN $10,000: Fans can enter for the chance to win $10,000 on the SPEED Facebook page, with special codes offered during SPEED coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race for more chances to win.

FORMULA ONE FROM SPAIN: SPEED treks from Charlotte to Barcelona Sunday for live coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix at 8 a.m. ET. The network offers live coverage of the weekend’s second practice session from the Circuit de Catalunya Friday at 8 a.m. ET and qualifying Saturday at 8 a.m. ET. SPEED.com will offer live streaming of the weekend’s first practice session at 4 a.m. Friday and the third on Saturday at 5 a.m. ET, as well as a post-race roundtable discussion at approximately 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday.

About SPEED™
SPEED, anchored by its popular and wide-ranging coverage of NASCAR, is the nation’s first and only cable television network dedicated to automotive and motorcycle racing, performance and lifestyle. Now available in more than 82 million homes in North America, SPEED, a member of the FOX Sports Media Group, is among the industry leaders in interactive TV, video on demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services. For more information, please visit SPEED.com, the online motor sports authority.

About FOX Sports Media Group
FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG) is the umbrella entity representing News Corporation’s wide array of multi-platform US-based sports assets under Chairman & CEO David Hill. Built with brands that are capable of reaching more than 100 million viewers in a single weekend, FSMG includes ownership and interests in linear television networks, digital and mobile programming, broadband platforms, multiple web sites, joint-venture businesses and several licensing partnerships. FSMG now includes FOX Sports, the sports television arm of the FOX Broadcasting Company; Fox’s 19 regional sports networks, their affiliated regional web sites and FSN national programming; SPEED and SPEED2; Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus; FUEL TV; and Fox College Sports. In addition, FSMG also includes FOX Sports Interactive Media, which comprises FOXSports.com on MSN, whatifsports.com and scout.com, reaching over 20 million unique visitors monthly. Also included are Fox’s interests in joint-venture businesses FOX Deportes, Big Ten Network and STATS, LLC, as well as licensing agreements that establish the FOX Sports Radio Network, FOX Sports Skybox restaurants and FOX Sports Grills.