DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2015) – NASCAR and NBC Sports Group announced today an unprecedented broadcast line-up of NASCAR’s popular regional touring series, with a 39-race telecast schedule for racing’s premiere grassroots series as their landmark partnership begins this season.
NBCSN’s slate features all 25 K&N Pro Series races between the top developmental series, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. The coming season will also see triple the television exposure from previous years for the stars and cars of the exciting Whelen Modified Tours, NASCAR‘s only open-wheeled division, which competes at historic short tracks from New Hampshire to North Carolina. A total of 14 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour events are included on this season’s schedule.
“This represents a big step forward for all four of our U.S. tours and reinforces NBC Sports Group’s commitment to these important NASCAR developmental series,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president for regional and touring series.
“We’re excited to begin our partnership’s racing coverage with the up and coming stars of NASCAR,” said Mike Perman, Vice President of Programming, NBC Sports Group. “NASCAR’s Regional Touring Series gives NBCSN a great way to kick off our racing action and compelling stories that will unfold throughout the year.”
NBCSN’s inaugural touring series event is the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season-opener at famed Florida short-track New Smyrna Speedway. The New Smyrna 150 will be contested on Feb. 15 and will air four days later on Feb. 19 on NBCSN.
All 39 races are scheduled to be presented by NBCSN in one-hour shows the week following the event.
NASCAR also announced that the K&N Pro Series East event at Richmond International Raceway, originally scheduled for Apr. 24, has been moved to the fall NASCAR weekend at “America’s Premier Short Track” and will open the weekend racing schedule on Thursday, Sep. 10. The race will air on NBCSN on Sept. 16.
“Working with our partners at the track and competition officials, we determined that moving the K&N Pro Series East event at Richmond to the fall date made sense for everyone involved,” Silbermann said. “This fills what was previously a month-long gap before the series finale, something I know the competitors will appreciate.”