NASCAR Cup Series Championship Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock; Pre-Race Coverage Begins at 1:30 p.m. ET
“Some of the most elite athletes imagine success, and they will it into existence. I feel like that’s what is unique about Chase (Elliott).” – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Transcript - Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Steve Letarte Preview NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Championships
Xfinity Series Championship to be Decided Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN; Green Flag at 8:30 p.m. ET
Media Availability with Kyle Petty and Jeff Burton at NASCAR Championship Media Day in Phoenix Tomorrow, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. PT
STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 3, 2021 – The 2021 NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series champions will be crowned at Phoenix Raceway this weekend with nearly 15 hours of coverage across NBC Sports. Coverage of the Cup Series Championship begins this Sunday, Nov. 7, with a special edition of Countdown to Green pre-race coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, with the wave of the green flag shortly after 3 p.m. ET. The Xfinity Series Championship will be decided in primetime on Saturday night with coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Live coverage from Phoenix begins on Friday with an hour-long NASCAR Cup Series practice at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Qualifying will be presented Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on CNBC.
The Cup Series Championship 4 features Kyle Larson, making his first career appearance, reigning champion Chase Elliott, three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr.
2021 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 4 DRIVERS
| Drivers | Season Wins |
| Kyle Larson | 9 |
| Chase Elliott | 2 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 4 |
| Denny Hamlin | 2 |
The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship will be presented in primetime on Saturday, Nov. 6, with pre-race coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET, leading into race coverage at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Xfinity Series practice will stream on NBC Sports digital platforms and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Qualifying will be presented on NBC Sports digital platforms and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
The Xfinity Series Championship 4 includes reigning champion Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, and Daniel Hemric.
2021 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 4 DRIVERS
| Drivers | Season Wins |
| Noah Gragson | 3 |
| Austin Cindric | 5 |
| Daniel Hemric | 0 |
| AJ Allmendinger | 5 |
NBC Sports’ lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen will call the Cup and Xfinity Series Championship races this weekend from Phoenix alongside Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte, 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton, and two-time Daytona 500 Champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame selection Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Marty Snider, Dave Burns, Kelli Stavast, and Parker Kligerman will contribute coverage from pit road during the Championship races. NBC Sports’ Rutledge Wood will provide reports and interviews throughout the weekend’s races.
Pre-race coverage this weekend will take place from three locations around the track:
- Peacock Pit Box: Marty Snider with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett and Brad Daugherty
- Rattlesnake Hill: Kelli Stavast alongside auto racing icon Kyle Petty and Steve Letarte
- Front of the Grid: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton
Weekend coverage highlights include:
- Championship 4 Interviews: All Cup Series Championship 4 drivers will be interviewed during pre-race coverage on Sunday. On Saturday, three of the four Xfinity Series Championship 4 drivers will be interviewed (Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric).
- AJ Allmendinger: NBC Sports motorsports reporter Nate Ryan interviews Xfinity Series Championship contender AJ Allmendinger, discussing his career and the success he’s found during the 2021 season with Kaulig Racing during Saturday’s pre-race coverage.
- Rutledge Wood: Rutledge Wood will conduct a number of interviews throughout the weekend, including with Rio Olympic tennis gold medalist, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and actress and musician Kristin Chenoweth. Wood will also narrate a piece saying goodbye and looking back on the Gen-6 car ahead of the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022.
- Up to Speed: NBC Sports’ content series Up to Speed will feature three social media influencers for Championship weekend, including Emelia Hartford, Frank Michael Smith and Chris Ashley. Hartford and Smith will be on-site in Phoenix, and Ashley will capture content remotely. Combined, they have a social media following over three million.
- Dierks Bentley: Multiplatinum singer and Phoenix native Dierks Bentley’s pre-race concert will be featured during Countdown to Green Sunday on NBC.
NASCAR Pick ‘Em: NBC Sports’ free-to-play game, NASCAR Pick ‘Em, features a weekly contest for each NASCAR Cup Series race. NASCAR Pick ‘Em is available for download now on the NBC Sports Predictor app powered by PointsBet (available in the App Store and Google Play Store) and at nbcsports.com/predictor.
BROADCAST TEAM
- Play by Play: Rick Allen
- Analysts: Steve Letarte, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Pit Reporters: Marty Snider, Dave Burns, Kelli Stavast, Parker Kligerman
- Specialty Reporter: Rutledge Wood
HOW TO WATCH
- TV – NBC, NBCSN, CNBC
- Streaming – NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, Peacock, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold
| Date | Coverage | Network/Platform | Time (ET) |
| Fri., Nov. 5 | NASCAR Cup Series Practice | NBCSN | 4 p.m. |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series Practice | NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold | 6 p.m. | |
| Sat., Nov. 6 | NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying | NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold | 5:30 p.m. |
| NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying | CNBC | 7 p.m. | |
| Countdown to Green – NASCAR Xfinity Series | NBCSN | 8 p.m. | |
| NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship | NBCSN | 8:30 p.m. | |
| NASCAR America Post Race – NASCAR Xfinity Series | NBCSN | 11 p.m. | |
| Sun., Nov. 7 | Countdown to Green – NASCAR Cup Series | NBC, Peacock | 1:30 p.m. |
| NASCAR Cup Series Championship | NBC, Peacock | 3 p.m. | |
| NASCAR America Post Race – NASCAR Cup Series | NBCSN | 7 p.m. |
NASCAR ON NBC CHAMPIONSHIP 4 MEDIA DAY AVAILABILITY
NASCAR on NBC analysts Kyle Petty and Jeff Burton will have a media availability at the NASCAR Championship 4 media day tomorrow, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. PT at the Phoenix Convention Center.
NASCAR ON NBC CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL
Yesterday, NBC Sports NASCAR analysts Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Steve Letarte previewed the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series Championships on a media conference call. Below are highlights. Click here for a full transcript.
Letarte: “When you get to the culmination of a championship, I think everybody just hopes that it’s a great event, a great battle, and with these four drivers I don’t know how it can’t be.”
Earnhardt Jr. on Chase Elliott: “Some of the most elite athletes…imagine success, and they will it into existence. I feel like that’s what is unique about Chase…as far as the mentality and the attitude and personality, I think Chase goes in with the best approach.”
Jarrett on Kyle Larson: “I still believe that Kyle Larson has to be considered the favorite…I know that he hasn’t raced for a championship like this before, but he doesn’t seem to let anything bother him. He is so confident in his ability that I don’t think the moment is going to be overwhelming to him as to what he has to go do.”
Earnhardt Jr. on rivalries within the sport: “I think that the drama and the rivalries is great for the sport…when you see the drivers in a bit of a disagreement or conflict with another driver, even if they’re not really willing to be involved, we get to see a little bit deeper into their personalities. We get to see a little bit more of who they are when they handle these types of difficult situations and how they handle it tells us more about them.”
MOTOGP ALGARVE GRAND PRIX
The penultimate race of the 2021 MotoGP season, the Algarve Grand Prix from Algarve International Circuit in Portugal, will be presented this Sunday at noon ET on NBC and an encore later in the evening at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Fabio Quartararo, who clinched his first MotoGP title two weeks ago, won the Portuguese Grand Prix at the same track earlier this season.
DALE JR. DOWNLOAD
Former car owner Tommy Russell, who was a close friend of Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s, is this week’s guest on the Dale Jr. Download episode that airs Thursday at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Produced on-site at Dirty Mo Media Studios in Mooresville, N.C., the Dale Jr. Download on NBCSN takes viewers couch-side for the taping of the motorsports icon’s weekly podcast, featuring unparalleled perspective, candid commentary, and insight that fans have come to expect from Dale Jr.
--NBC SPORTS--