(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)
FansChoice.TV has quickly become the place for NASCAR fans to watch regional series and local NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action each weekend.
That will increase exponentially this year.
FansChoice.TV announced Friday that the streaming digital platform will air the entire NASCAR regional series schedule live in 2019.
They will air the complete NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West schedules – including the two summer combination races — as well as the 17-race schedule for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
FansChoice.TV aired the season-opener for the K&N Pro Series East on Sunday, February 10 at New Smyrna Speedway — a race won by Derek Kraus. They also aired all nine nights of the 53rd annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna.
Fans will be able to watch K&N Pro Series West drivers open their season on Thursday, February 28 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track, before watching Whelen Modified Tour teams kick-off 2019 at South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Speedway on March 16. The next time the K&N Pro Series East hits the track is at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 6.
With events airing live, fans will have the opportunity to stay up-to-date with all of the action from the track, while also following behind the scenes content via NASCAR Home Tracks on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Fans can also get complete FansChoice.tv updates on their social channels: Twitter and Facebook. In addition to NASCAR, FansChoice.tv streams select IMSA content as well as American Flat Track.
With the entirety of each schedule airing, fans can watch champions be crowned in all three divisions. The K&N Pro Series East season ends at Dover International Speedway on October 4, while the Whelen Modified Tour crowns their champion at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on October 13. The K&N Pro Series West returns to Arizona and ISM Raceway on Saturday, November 9 to crown their new title holder.
NBCSN’s coverage will remain unchanged. They will cover a total of 37 races between the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and Whelen Modified Tour via a tape-delayed broadcast. NBCSN already aired the East opener at New Smyrna, and will air the opener for the West and the Whelen Modified Tour just days after the races conclude.
The West opener at Las Vegas will air on NBCSN on Tuesday, March 5, at 6 p.m., while the Whelen Modified Tour opener airs on Thursday, March 21, at 6 p.m.
Following the NBCSN airings, the regional races will be archived and available on FansChoice.tv.
This is great news. My schedule will not allow me to attend all races, so now I know I can keep up with fanschoice.tv when I’ll be traveling.
The the sport, teams and fans deserve this. It’s about time.
Thanks to all that made this happen!!!
More coverage is always better…
Thanks to all who are making this happen!
Obviously this is just terrific news for modified fans but beyond the announcement I’m wondering what it all means. Is this just another expansion of FanschoiceTV programming or is it part of a longer term strategy.
FanschoiceTV started out in 2014 as a joint by NASCAR, IMSA and AMA Pro Flat Track. I assume at this stage NASCAR either owns it outright or is the managing partner in the venture.
The goal of the service was/is to give worldwide access to regional racing events in the hope of expanding the fan base. I’m guessing it may be working to some extent seeing as how they keep expanding their coverage.
Going in, they viewed it as not just a service for people not attending races but a companion service along with live timing, Twitter, Facebook and other services to enjoy on your smart phone while attending the races. It was specifically targeted to younger audiences that enjoy a great deal of their entertainment via their phones. The inclusion of flat track racing was a critical link to the younger racing fans.
Seeing as how there usually is no free lunch one wonders what the goal is over the longer term. Is it to ingrain viewing habits and ultimately move local racing to a pay per view product. One that can tap revenue nation and world wide? Speed51 is the tip of the spear offering pay-per-view packages and racing including TTOMS events at Seekonk. Is that the direction this is all heading? I hope so. Will my favorite track Stafford one day routinely offer home viewing packages of their events to live stream. I likely won’t be around to see it but it seems like it could be a very good thing.
There appears to be no mention anywhere of a blackout rule like Speed51 has. Seems insane not to have one especially with NBCSC showing some of the events.
I have to believe this is a decade long push to fundamentally change the way local racing is delivered to fans. One that if successful will expand the revenue stream of the sport and insure it’s long range survivability in a changing environment.
The current trend and one I am part of is to cut the cord on cable and satellite TV, DVR over the air content and choose your paid content a-la-cart via streaming. 5G will accelerate that trend. Picking local racing could be a part of that a-la-cart menu that many of us would chose a pay for just like we do any of the choices on Roku and the other streaming hubs.
While they are changing our viewing habits I’m happy to enjoy the show for free in the mean time.
I think it is a double edge sword. In my case I’m happy to watch the bore tour on tv because I do not like paying the extra monies and extra time at my local track. So that is at least two of us that will stay home due to tv. The other end of it is sponsorship should be easier to get with tv. Does that = less fans in the seats and a larger fan base?
Steve, I hear you, but I also think people that see it on TV will want to go to the tracks. This is a great way to get the product to people, to entice them to get to the track.
Just have to make sure people are aware that this is happening on fanschoice.tv so they get to see the great and mighty Modifieds.
In the end to me there is no better way to see a race than live and in person and I don’t think it will keep people home if they are close enough to attend the race. As far as paying for it, I hope it stays free for a long time because we pay enough for our media these days and now the State of CT wants to put a tax on streaming . I think its great for all who can not attend the races that are too far to travel too.
I wonder if they will cover the weekly divisions when they are there for the tour. I have been logged onto a few streams that would only show one race and black out the rest of the weekly show and you never knew when it would start. Honestly, it was a little frustrating at times. I think this is great, I only go to a few tour races a year and for me this will make it easier to keep interested in the tour.
I am kind of surprised that Stafford would agree to this as they were cracking down on people posting live updates on the internet a few short years ago. They have an interesting history with media coverage. Several years ago they would live broadcast audio of their shows on the internet, then they went to a media blackout, now it appears they are lightening there stance on live broadcast. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a blackout if you live within a certain amount of miles of the track.
At this time and current state of motorsports, consider this TV coverage to be free advertising.
This is when comments get really good. I had no idea Stafford blacked out live updates or had a history with media coverage. Thought they were the cutting edge.
Currently they allow so many ways to follow the action from live updates, to Sid’s in car cameras to youtube posting the features. It simply has never been better for a fan.
As for FanschoiceTV covering their NWMT races I would suspect that is a NASCAR deal. Their sanction, their rules. I’m guessing whatever they do on the lower divisions coverage will be a carefully considered strategic decision. Including the exposure of advertising.
It’s all very exciting. This may be a big deal.
I’ve recorded races that I attended live, so I get to see anything I missed at the speedway, and maybe share the experience with a friend at home watching the replay.