WTF is with all the NASCAR coverage!!!

I mean no direspect to all you gearheads out there, but why is ESPN blowing up NASCAR! At one point this afternoon they had qualifying on both ESPN and ESPN2 ... I know NASCAR is a growing sport and all but come on, it seems like the network has jumped on the bandwagon and is going to milk it for all it's worth ... (this is what the NHL is missing by not being on ESPN by the way)

thoughts?

 

NASCAR is not "growing." It's grown.

 

ESPN now shows NASCAR races. Have you somehow missed the previous 10,000 announcements of this?

 

No, actually, there's some indication that it has reached the same tipping point that country music did at the end of the Urban Cowboy boomlet.

 

NASCAR is on ESPN. I remember a time when the NHL was this "popular." Back when it was on ESPN, too.

 

that's what I was getting at

 

Hell, I was surprised that half of the ESPN Radio hosts weren't in Daytona. Just think how bad it would be if ESPN/ABC didn't have the NBA All-Star game?

 

Could be worse. Right now I'm watching ESPN's U.S. Open (poker) coverage. And they just wrapped up a feature on, I fuck you not, a national deaf poker tournament. Seriously. You want to impress me, show me BLIND poker.

 

now that would make it hard to pick up tells

 

Bingo.

ESPN spent a ton of money to get the rights to NASCAR. Now it's time to get some of that money back in commercial sales.

 

Get used to it. ESPN's blowout coverage of NASCAR will get even bigger, if you can imagine. Fox has 13 of the first 14 races, then NBC (with TNT) gets a half-dozen. Starting with Indianapolis, ESPN/ABC with have the final 17, including all 10 of the Chase races. What you can safely call wall-to-wall coverage.

 

I went home for a minute this afternoon and the Busch qualifying was on ESPN and ESPN2.

Why?