NASCAR is a marketing juggernaut. The stock-car circuit has injected itself into the American sports psyche, thanks, in part, to its connection with the Speed Channel, which has something NASCAR on almost around the clock.
Open-wheel racing is catching on to the buzz. The Indianapolis 500, icon of Middle America for generations, is still two weeks away, but the publicity hoo-hah is already running at 200 mph.
ESPN/ABC, which will carry the 500 on May 28, is devoting 30 minutes of “SportsCenter” to coverage every weekday.
ABC and ESPN2 spend nine hours on qualifying Saturday (10 a.m., ESPN2, and 1 p.m., KMGH- Channel 7) and Sunday (10 a.m. and 4 p.m., ESPN2).
There’s also programming devoted to pit-stop competition, a parade and a pre-race wrap-up the day before its run.
NASCAR, meantime, takes its Nextel Cup touring show to the venerable track (it opened in 1950) at Darlington, S.C., the 105th time NASCAR has run there (4:30 p.m. Saturday, KDVR-Channel 31). Not surprisingly, the race has been sold out since last month.
Good gift for Mother’s Day.
Top o’ the heap
CBS Sports bragging that it’s back to being the No. 1 source of TV sporting events.
According to a new survey by TV Sports Report, CBS logged a household rating for sports events/anthologies of 16.23 percent to beat out ESPN (16.18) and Fox (14.55).
CBS carries the NFL, the NCAA men’s basketball championship, The Masters and PGA golf, U.S. Open tennis and college football.
Duck! Avs withering
Not that it’s going to make much difference, but it’s tough to keep track of the Colorado Avalanche and their TV appearances in their NHL playoff series against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Avs are on the brink, down 3-0 in the series.
As it was on Tuesday, tonight’s game is OLN, meaning part of the team’s following won’t see it because OLN is limited to Dish Network’s Top 180 and better packages.
But, if the series gets that far (chortle, chortle), Sunday’s game will be on KUSA-Channel 9 (1 p.m.) and Games 6 and 7 on Altitude, times to be determined.
Around the dial
From ESPN baseball analyst Orel Hershiser on this year’s surprise teams in the major leagues: “Cincinnati, Colorado and Detroit.” … More football: NFL Network planning to replay four games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, two nights that, so far, have no live NFL games. … Ratings of first-round games in the NBA playoffs up 19 percent over last year. Cleveland-Detroit series leading the way. … Quotable: “I’m sure the IRL can give Danica Patrick some credit for bringing new fans out to the track. They may come out of curiosity but they’ll be back because the racing is a thrill a minute.” A.J. Foyt
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He’s at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
