Chase race start times adjusted
NASCAR will move the start times of its Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup events on Sunday afternoons to avoid a starting time that conflicts with kickoffs of NFL games.
Officials with International Speedway Corp. announced the change during their call Thursday with financial analysts in discussing their fourth-quarter results. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston later confirmed the changes.
The races at Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Dover, Kansas, Talladega and Martinsville will start at 2 p.m. Eastern, while Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami will start at 3 p.m. Eastern. The other Chase race, at Charlotte , is a Saturday night event.
In 2010, all of the Chase races on Sundays except Texas , Phoenix and California started at 1 p.m.—the same time that the NFL kicked off its early games.
ESPN, which was in its first year of televising the nine Sunday races of the Chase after they were televised on ABC in previous years, will keep those events. Viewership for eight of the nine races that were moved was down at least 15 percent and overall ratings were down by more than 20 percent for seven races.
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