FOX NASCAR at Charlotte Motor Speedway Quotes and Programming Schedule

FOX Sports packs the biggest racing weekend of the year with more than 25 hours of live NASCAR coverage from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning Thursday, May 21, and continuing through Memorial Day Weekend. Racing begins with Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY SERIES race (2:30 PM ET) and culminates with the 56th running of NASCAR’s longest race, the COCA-COLA 600, live on FOX on Sunday, May 24 (6:00 PM ET), with pre-race coverage beginning at 5:30 PM ET with FOX NASCAR SUNDAY.

On Sunday, Mike Joy leads the FOX NASCAR booth from the 1.5-mile Charlotte track with analysis from NASCAR Hall of Famer and record six-time COCA-COLA 600 winner Darrell Waltrip and former crew chief Larry McReynolds. The trio is joined on pit road by Jamie Little, Chris Neville, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum. Chris Myers hosts the network’s coverage alongside analyst Michael Waltrip.

A special FOX NASCAR SUNDAY is dedicated to service members who have fallen in the line of duty in the past year. FOX Sports recognizes these service members on a graphic scroll displaying their names and service branch.

Little, who in February became the first female to cover both the DAYTONA 500 and the INDIANAPOLIS 500 for live network TV, is doing “the double” between the Indy 500 and the COCA-COLA 600 this weekend. Little travels with Jeff Gordon to document his day driving the Indy 500 pace car before flying back to Charlotte that afternoon to compete in his final COCA-COLA 600. The feature airs in Sunday’s FOX pre-race show, after which a longer version airs Monday, May 25 on NASCAR RACE HUB (6:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1). Little has served as a pit reporter for the Indy 500 numerous times.

Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY SERIES race is the third of four XFINITY Series races broadcast on FOX in 2015. Adam Alexander calls Saturday’s race alongside Michael Waltrip and driver analyst Clint Bowyer. Bowyer is one of five NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES drivers announced as part of a rotation in the FOX and FOX Sports 1 booth for FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES season. Also scheduled as guest analysts are defending NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES champion Kevin Harvick, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, 2012 champ Brad Keselowski and Danica Patrick.

Reporting from the XFINITY Series pits at Charlotte are Welch, Little and Yocum. NASCAR RACEDAY – XFINITY, FOX Sports’ pre-race show, airs at 2:00 PM ET, hosted by Danielle Trotta alongside analysts McReynolds and Kenny Wallace.

Kicking off Sunday’s Cup Series coverage is NASCAR RACEDAY, hosted by Trotta with McReynolds and Wallace, at 4:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1. It includes a feature with Wallace and Kasey Kahne at Fort Bragg; an interview with Denny Hamlin; a piece on the relationship Barney Visser, a Vietnam War vet and owner of the No. 78 Chevrolet team, has with the family of a fallen Vietnam War soldier with whom he first became acquainted at their induction ceremony in Denver, who are his guests at Charlotte on Sunday; and the “24 Salute” reflects on Jeff Gordon’s first win and early racing days.

COCA-COLA 600 POLE QUALIFYING is live on FOX Sports 1 on Thursday at 7:00 PM ET. On-track action kicks off Thursday at 2:30 PM ET on FOX Sports 1 with Cup Series practice.

FOX Sports GO, the critically acclaimed app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on the go, offers live streaming of all NASCAR programming in 2015. Customers of participating video providers may access the live streams of the race through the FOX Sports GO app for iOS devices, as well as on desktops through FOXSportsGO.com. For the latest NASCAR news and information, please visit www.FOXSports.com and follow @NASCARonFOX on Twitter.

In addition to live programming from the track, FOX Sports 1 and NASCAR Productions debut ONE HOT NIGHT: THE 1992 NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE on Thursday, May 21 (8:30 PM ET). The one-hour special flashes back to the revolutionary race that marked the debut of lights around a 1.5-mile track, and treated a record crowd to a thrilling last-lap battle between young guns Davey Allison and Kyle Petty. The documentary incorporates a compilation of newly discovered images and behind-the-scenes recollections from the drivers, key players and witnesses to the night NASCAR went primetime.

Below are quotes from FOX NASCAR analysts Jeff Hammond, Darrell Waltrip and McReynolds on the week’s headlines and the race ahead, as well as the full FOX NASCAR programming schedule from Charlotte Motor Speedway:

MCREYNOLDS ON WHERE A TEAM NEEDS TO BE IN POINTS AFTER THE COCA-COLA 600 TO STAND A CHANCE OF MAKING THE CHASE WITHOUT A WIN:
“The 600 is very close to the halfway point of the regular season, and with eight drivers in on wins already, I wouldn’t feel comfortable unless I was in the top 15 after the 600.”

MCREYNOLDS ON WHAT DRIVER COULD BEAT JIMMIE JOHNSON OR KEVIN HARVICK ON A MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACK:
“Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski or Martin Truex Jr. are the best bets to dethrone Johnson and Harvick at a mile-and-a-half track at this time. If I had to choose just one, I’d go with Logano. But the one thing his team is having a tough time with right now is keeping up with the track as it changes throughout the race. They’re fast at the beginning of the race and can lead a bunch of laps, but need to be more aggressive with their adjustments as the track changes during the course of the race.”

MCREYNOLDS ON WHETHER JOHNSON OR HARVICK HOLD THE ADVANTAGE AT CHARLOTTE:
“It’s hard to say one of them has an advantage over the other. They are right at each other’s heels every time they compete on a mile-and-a-half track. They’re the only two drivers to have won a mile-and-a-half race the past seven races. Last year, Johnson won the Coca-Cola 600 and Harvick won the fall race at Charlotte, which is where this streak started. Until we see how things unfold on-track, and even qualifying and practice aren’t great measuring sticks because most of those sessions aren’t run under the same evening conditions as the 600 will be, it’s almost a toss-up between those two.”

WALTRIP ON WHETHER JOHNSON OR HARVICK HOLD THE ADVANTAGE AT CHARLOTTE:
“They’ve been taking turns winning on the mile-and-a-half tracks. But Johnson won at Kansas, also a mile-and-a-half track, and even had to sort out some issues from early in the race with the car’s performance. Both teams are hitting on all eight cylinders with driver, car and strategy. But Charlotte was Johnson’s house for quite a while, so I’ll give the nod to the No. 48, even though it really should be Harvick’s turn to win since Johnson won at Kansas.”

HAMMOND ON HIS ASSESSMENT OF THE AMOUNT OF PASSING IN THE NASCAR SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE AND HOW THAT COULD TRANSLATE TO THE COCA-COLA 600:
“A little bit more work as far as Goodyear is concerned to foster more tire fall-off would be really good. But I like the fact it put a little more strategy into it. I am curious to see if it works out in the 600 by taking two tires and trying to get track position, because with the aero situation, and not being able to pass, getting out front was key this past weekend. You had to get your car out front in clean air, so that’s what everyone is going to be doing on Sunday night.”

HAMMOND ON THE MOMENTUM DENNY HAMLIN AND THE NO. 11 TEAM CARRY INTO THE COCA-COLA 600 WITH THEIR ALL-STAR WIN:
“It’s huge. You come in knowing you are capable of coming up with the right setup at this track. You’re confident you understand what went on Saturday night and how it will translate to Sunday night. You’ll put that type of setup in your car for the 600. You brought a great race car to the All-Star Race but should be bringing a better car for the 600 because it’s a long race and you need a car that will take a lot of adjustments and be well-balanced.”

MCREYNOLDS ON WHETHER JOHNSON CAN MATCH DALE EARNHARDT BOTH IN NUMBER OF WINS (76) AND CHAMPIONSHIPS (SEVEN) THIS SEASON:
“There is no reason to believe Johnson can’t both match Dale in wins and championships this season. We’re not even a third of the way through the season and he has won three races. He didn’t even have a win this time last year until the Coca-Cola 600, and some of his best tracks are still to come, such as Dover and Pocono. He could tie and surpass Dale’s 76 wins this year alone, but I tend to believe that the way the championship format is structured, it’s a bit of a crapshoot. That’s much harder to predict because there are so many variables, but he and the No. 48 team certainly are capable of pulling it off.”

WALTRIP ON WHETHER JOHNSON CAN MATCH DALE EARNHARDT BOTH IN NUMBER OF WINS (76) AND CHAMPIONSHIPS (SEVEN) THIS SEASON:
“Johnson will match Dale Earnhardt’s 76 wins this year. His car is good enough, and the new aerodynamics and horsepower package seems to suit him well. Whether he gets that seventh championship this year, though, is too hard to say this early in the season. If his car runs like it has been running, Johnson stands a good chance. He’s in great shape and winning a lot, and that’s what it will take to close the deal.”