Series announces national broadcast schedule

2010 NASCAR National Series Television Times Announced
Earlier, Consistent Starts Highlight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 4, 2010) -- Telecast times for the 2010 NASCAR season have been released, and as previously announced, the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule features earlier, consistent start times throughout the year.

Points races in the Eastern and Central regions of the country will begin at 1 p.m. ET, West Coast events will begin at 3 p.m. ET, and night races will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. (Note: NASCAR's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, will start at 6 p.m. ET on May 30.)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races will be seen on either FOX, TNT, ESPN or ABC.

The preseason non-points Budweiser Shootout at Daytona will be on FOX (8:10 p.m. ET on Feb. 6). In addition, two other non-points events -- the Gatorade Duel at Daytona (2 p.m. ET on Feb. 11) and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (7:30 p.m. ET on May 22 at Charlotte Motor Speedway), will be on SPEED.

FOX will have the first 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup points races, beginning with the 52nd running of the Daytona 500 (Feb. 14, 1 p.m. ET) and ending with the May 30 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

TNT will have the next six events, beginning with the Pocono 500 at 1 p.m. ET on June 6 at Pocono Raceway and ending with Chicagoland Speedway's LifeLock.com 400, July 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

ESPN and ABC will carry the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup events. ABC will telecast three races, including the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup "cutoff" race -- the Richmond 400 on Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

ESPN will telecast 14 races, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. ET.

The 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series season will be telecast on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. ABC will have four events, ESPN will have nine and ESPN2 will have 22. ESPN2 opens the season with the DRIVE4COPD 300 at 1:15 p.m. ET on Feb. 13 at Daytona. ESPN2 also will telecast the season-finale Ford 300 on Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami (4:30 p.m. ET).

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to SPEED for an eighth consecutive season. This year, SPEED will show the entire 25-race schedule, opening with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. ET at Daytona. The series returns to Darlington Raceway this season, Aug. 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

-source: nascar