''NASCAR Countdown'' is 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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

and

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

prerace show that debuted on February 17, 2007. It was a live on-site pre-race show for all Sprint Cup and

races televised on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

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 ...

and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. It came as a result of

getting broadcast rights to

races, including the

Chase for the Sprint Cup The NASCAR playoffs, formerly officially known as the Chase for the Nextel/Sprint Cup (Nextel from 2004–2007, Sprint from 2008–2016), is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as The Ch ...

. The program was also available in high-definition on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. Along with the press release of this program,

also announced plans for a daily show devoted to

entitled ''

NASCAR Now ''NASCAR Now'' was a NASCAR news and analysis show that aired year round Tuesday through Saturday as a thirty-minute show at 2:00am ET on ESPN2. ''NASCAR Now'', that debuted on February 5, 2007, was broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and ...

''. ''NASCAR Countdown'' was telecast from a new, state-of-the-art mobile pit studio, similar to ''

NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network in the United States si ...

s "Hollywood Hotel." At Sprint Cup events, the program was always hosted by

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 b ...

. Joining Briscoe was five-time

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

All-Star and former winning

team owner Brad Daugherty and former Cup champion

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

Andy Petree Joseph Andrew Petree III (born August 15, 1958) is an American former NASCAR crew chief, driver, team owner, and broadcaster who has worked as the rules analyst for '' Fox NASCAR''. He used to be the Vice President of Competition at Richard Childr ...

and

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American former race car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ...

also contributed to the program from the broadcast booth.

Variations

*On February 17, at the

Orbitz 300 The Daytona 300, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the United Rentals 300, is the first race of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, held at Daytona International Speedway. It is held the day before the Daytona 500, and is considered the ...

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was the original host of their ...

broadcast from a separate studio between turns 3 and 4, while

Chris Fowler Chris Fowler (born August 23, 1962) 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 ...

took his place in the pit studio alongside Daugherty and Tim Brewer. Both sets were used in the program. *On March 4, Fowler substituted for Musburger again, this time as the only host. ESPN did not explain Musburger's absence, but the race was held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and it is possible that Musburger could not enter

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

due to a lack of a valid

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

. (Since January 23, 2007,

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

, or ICE for short, has required all visitors from the U.S. to either Canada or Mexico to carry passports in those countries. The law took immediate effect for air travelers, such as those working the NASCAR on ESPN broadcasts

*On March 10, the first of the six races on broadcast sister ABC, the two-studio setup returned at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

and Musburger and Fowler co-hosted once again. *In addition to Musburger and Fowler, Erik Kuselias and

Allen Bestwick Allen Bestwick (born September 24, 1961) is an American sportscaster. Known for his work covering NASCAR for NBC and ESPN, he is one of the lead track announcers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway along with Dave Calabro and was the lead broadca ...

have served as hosts. *''Countdown'' was pre-empted in consecutive weeks on April 7 and 14 because

women's tennis Women's tennis is one of the most popular female sports. It is one of the few in which women command success and popularity that equal those of their male counterparts. Women's Tennis Association is the main organization which runs female tennis ...

matches, the preceding programs on ESPN2, ran long both weeks. It was also pre-empted on October 13 because the Arizona-Southern California football game ran longer than anticipated that day. *Musburger returned as the host for the June 30, 2007 Busch Series telecast from New Hampshire on ABC.

References

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

External links

Motor Sports at ESPN.tvNASCAR at ESPN.com
{{ESPN original programming 2007 American television series debuts 2000s American sports television series 2010s American sports television series ESPN original programming ESPN2 original programming American Broadcasting Company original programming

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

Variations

See also

References

External links