TELEVISION BROADCAST SCHEDULES SET FOR 2005 NASCAR SEASON

Total of 99 live broadcasts – 38 in prime time – planned for three national series

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 14, 2005) – NASCAR and its television partners today announced the full 2005 broadcast schedules, including an unprecedented 38 prime-time races, live coverage of all 99 events from the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the first NASCAR-sanctioned points race in Mexico. The upcoming season will mark the fifth year of NASCAR’s successful partnership with NBC, TNT, FOX, FX and SPEED Channel. Since the partnership was established in 2001, the total number of households tuning in to NASCAR events has increased each year. According to Nielsen Media Research, 196 million households tuned in to watch NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events in 2004, a 2% increase from the previous year. The NASCAR Busch Series drew 52 million households in 2004, up 8% from 2003. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series had 10.5 million households, a 22% jump over the 2003 mark. FOX will kick off the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season with the broadcast of the 47th annual Daytona 500 beginning at 1 p.m. (ET) on Feb. 20. FOX and FX will air the first 16 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races as well as three non-points events. The first half of the season features five prime-time events, including a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race on Mother’s Day weekend. Broadcast of that race, the Carolina Dodge Dealers 500 on Saturday, May 7 at historic Darlington Raceway, begins at 7 p.m. (ET) on FOX. NBC and TNT will begin their second-half coverage with the Pepsi 400 from Daytona International Speedway on July 2 at 7 p.m. (ET). The action will continue to build to race No. 26, the cutoff for drivers to qualify for the “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.” That race, the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, will air Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. (ET) on TNT. Texas Motor Speedway will host its first Chase race Nov. 6; the broadcast starts at 3 p.m. (ET). The season ends with the Ford 400 on Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The NASCAR Busch Series will be broadcast via a split schedule with FOX and FX during the first half of the season, and NBC and TNT during the second half. FOX’s season begins with the Hershey’s TAKE 5 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. (ET). FOX also will broadcast the first NASCAR Busch Series points race held outside the United States. On March 6, the NASCAR Busch Series will be in Mexico City for the Mexico 200 at the famed Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course, with the broadcast beginning at 3 p.m. (ET). NBC and its cable partner, TNT, broadcast their first NASCAR Busch Series race on July 1 from Daytona International Speedway. The Winn-Dixie 250 presented by PepsiCo is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. (ET) start on TNT. NBC also will cover the return of the NASCAR Busch Series to Watkins Glen International for the first time since 2001, on Aug. 13, starting at 2 p.m. The 2005 NASCAR Busch Series season will end on Nov. 19 as part of Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The season finale will be broadcast on NBC. For the third consecutive season, PEE Channel is the exclusive home of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, the Florida Dodge Dealers 250, will be the first of 16 prime-time races. It airs Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. (ET). Atlanta Motor Speedway, one of three tracks to host a pair of events in 2005, will shift its March 18 World Financial Group 200 from afternoon to a start of 9 p.m. Texas Motor Speedway’s Silverado 350K on Nov. 4 will be held at night – 9 p.m. (ET) – as it was from 1999 to 2001.