''NASCAR Now'' was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

news and analysis show that aired year round Tuesday through Saturday as a thirty-minute show at 2:00am ET on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

. ''NASCAR Now'', that debuted on February 5, 2007, was broadcast in HD from

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

and also had a daily segment on

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

. ESPN2 also aired editions of the show on the day of all NASCAR

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

races, starting with the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

. A race preview show aired at 10 A.M. ET on race day, with a post-race edition running on ESPN2 on the evening following the event. Unlike its predecessor, ''RPM 2Night'', ''NASCAR Now'' covered only NASCAR news and information and there were no highlight restrictions on the program; both

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

and still photos were available for its use. It was part of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's new television package with NASCAR, which gave them the opportunity to produce and air a daily show about the sanctioning body. Previously,

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...

had the exclusive rights to produce daily NASCAR magazine shows. Beginning in 2012, the start time of the show was moved from a 5:00pm ET to a 2:00am ET start time due to other conflicts on the network. The show remained on ESPN2. On June 23, 2014 ESPN announced that it had cancelled NASCAR Now.

Personalities

The lead host of the show was former

anchor

Nicole Briscoe Nicole Briscoe ( Manske; born July 2, 1980) is an American sportscaster who is employed by ESPN. Originally focused on covering auto racing for the network, which included stints as the host of ''NASCAR Countdown'' and ''NASCAR Now'', Briscoe beca ...

Mike Massaro Michael Massaro (born 1970) is an American sportscaster and journalist who covers auto racing as a pit reporter for MAVTV's ARCA Menards Series coverage. He was previously a studio host and pit reporter for NASCAR on ESPN and NASCAR on NBC. He ...

was also another regular host, and

Allen Bestwick Allen Bestwick (born September 24, 1961) is an American sportscaster. He is the lead play-by-play voice for University of Connecticut women’s basketball telecasts for SNY, the lead track announcer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the l ...

hosted a special "roundtable" edition of the show on Mondays from 2008 to 2010. Bestwick also hosted regular editions of the show on other days. In 2008, Marty Smith was named lead reporter for the program after being a "NASCAR Insider" for the show in 2007. NASCAR Insiders for the program included award-winning journalists

Tim Cowlishaw William Timothy Cowlishaw (; born March 31, 1955) is an American sportswriter. He is a columnist for ''The Dallas Morning News'' and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports talk show ''Around the Horn.'' Career Cowlishaw attended the University of ...

, Angelique Chengelis, Terry Blount and David Newton. The program also included current drivers

Stacy Compton Stacy Marshall Compton (born May 26, 1967) is a NASCAR former team owner and former driver. He is a former co-owner of Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia in the Craftsman Truck Series, and is a former racing analyst for ESPN full-time. Before he ran ...

and

Boris Said Boris Said III (born September 18, 1962) is an American semi-retired professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports and in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 2 ...

. Here is a list of all of the past personalities on ''NASCAR Now''.

Former

Hosts *

: (host, 2007–2014) *

: (host, 2009–2014) (correspondent, 2007–2014) *

: (host, 2008–2014) (correspondent, 2008–2014) *

Shannon Spake Shannon Spake (born July 23, 1976) is an NFL reporter and NASCAR host for Fox Sports. Previously, she worked for ESPN where she contributed to ''SportsCenter'' to give pre and post-game reports, and also worked as a sideline reporter for SEC on E ...

: (host, 2010–2014) (correspondent, 2007–2014) *

Doug Banks Calvin Douglas Banks Jr. (June 9, 1958 – April 11, 2016) was an American radio personality and host of The Doug Banks Radio Show. Career highlights The Philadelphia-born, Detroit-raised Banks began his radio career broadcasting on his high sch ...

: (host, 2007) *

Erik Kuselias Erik Kuselias is an Emmy Award, Emmy award winning television and radio personality and host who currently works for CBS Sports, where he hosts “Sportsline” (the network’s show on sports wagering) and CBS Sports HQ. A Mensa International ...

: (host, 2007) *

Chris Fowler Chris Fowler (born ) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN, who serves as the play-by-play announcer for '' Saturday Night Football'' on ABC and ESPN’s tennis coverage. He is also known for his work on '' College GameDay'', which he h ...

: (host, 2007) *

Ryan Burr Ryan Burr (born March 17, 1978, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a sports television journalist. Burr worked for the NBC Sports Group from 2012 to 2021, with his duties mainly consisting of hosting all programs on Golf Channel and college basketball ...

: (host, 2007–2008) Analysts *

Tim Brewer Timothy Ivan "Tim" Brewer (born February 4, 1955) is an American former stock car racing crew chief and television analyst for '' NASCAR on ESPN''. He was part of '' NASCAR Countdown'', the pre-race show, with host Brent Musburger and fellow anal ...

: (lead analyst, 2007–2014) *

: (lead analyst, 2007) *

: (analyst, 2007–2009) *

Brad Daugherty Brad Daugherty may refer to: * Brad Daugherty (basketball) (born 1965), American NBA player, currently a television sportscaster * Brad Daugherty (poker player) (born 1951), American poker player {{Hndis, Daugherty, Brad ...

: (lead analyst, 2007–2014) * Mark Johnson: (analyst, 2007–2014) *

: (analyst, 2007–2009) *

Rusty Wallace Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...

: (analyst, 2007–2014) *

Ray Evernham Raymond Donald Evernham Jr. (born August 26, 1957) is an American consultant for Hendrick Companies, formerly an auto racing crew chief for Bill Davis Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, owner of his own team Evernham Motorsports from 2001 to 2 ...

: (analyst, 2008–2010) * Christopher Harris: (fantasy analyst, 2007–2014) Reporters *

Marty Smith Marty Smith (November 26, 1956 – April 27, 2020) was an American professional motocross racer. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1974 to 1981, most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team with whom he won t ...

: (lead reporter, 2007–2014) *David Newton: (reporter, 2007–2014) *Terry Blount: (reporter, 2007–2014) *Angelique Chengelis: (reporter, 2007–2014) *

Ryan McGee Ryan McGee is a senior writer for ''ESPN The Magazine'' and formerly a television producer with ESPN, Fox Sports Net, and NASCAR Media Group. He covers a variety of American sports, but is best known for his motorsports work, particularly NASCAR, ...

: (reporter/analyst, 2009–2014)

Special co-hosts

* Ricky Craven: (co-host on post/pre-race shows, 2008–2014)

Fill-in hosts

Mike Yam Mike Yam is a studio host for the NFL Network. Previously, he was hired to be the lead studio host for the Pac-12 Network where he worked from 2012 to 2020. Prior to his arrival at Pac-12, he was an ESPN anchor from October 2008 through August 2 ...

: (host, 2011–2014) * Marty Reid: (host, 2012–2014) *

Jonathan Coachman Jonathan William Coachman (born August 12, 1973), also known as "The Coach", is an American sports analyst and former professional wrestling personality currently signed to WWE and XFL. Early life Before embarking on an announcing career in pro ...

: (host, 2012–2014)

Segments

''NASCAR Now'' featured numerous segments that appear both during the show and also during evening editions of ''SportsCenter''. Some of the segments are listed below. *Pit Pass: This segment mostly appeared during ''SportsCenter'', when they ran through the top stories in NASCAR with news, analysis and debate. *Starting Grid: This was the opening segment of the program when they run through the top stories at the hour in the world of NASCAR. *Under the Hood: This segment appeared before every commercial break when the host runs through everything coming up on the show. *Over the Wall: This segment appeared every week when D.J. Copp goes over what to watch out for during pit stops on Sunday.

Special episodes

On April 29, 2008, the show hosted a special one-hour edition of ''NASCAR Now'' to commemorate Dale Earnhardt Day. On August 19, 2009,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

did a live interview on the program after honoring the defending

champion

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

and the rest of the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

.
Quotes from President Obama interview on ESPN2's NASCAR Now

References

TruckSeries.com: Musburger, Wallace, Punch Headline ESPN/ABC NASCAR Team

External links

Motor Sports at ESPN.tvNASCAR at ESPN.com
{{ESPN2 2007 American television series debuts 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows 2014 American television series endings American sports television series ESPN2 original programming

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

Personalities

Former

Special co-hosts

Fill-in hosts

Segments

Special episodes

See also

References

External links