FOX NASCAR at Kansas Speedway Quotes & Programming Schedule

FOX Sports offers 17 hours of live coverage, including 12 consecutive hours on Friday, of the NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES and NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES from Kansas Speedway this weekend, culminating with the Cup Series race live on FOX Sports 1 on Saturday, May 9 (7:30 PM ET), with pre-race coverage beginning at 7:00 PM ET with NASCAR RACEDAY.

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

On Tuesday evening, FOX NASCAR received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series as the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented its 36th Annual Sports Emmy Awards in New York. The Emmy Award marked FOX NASCAR’s 18th in 14 years of coverage (2001-’14) in a category that also featured nominations for ESPN College Football, ESPN Monday Night Football and NBC Sunday Night Football.

The NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES returns to action at Kansas on Friday, May 9, live on FOX Sports 1 (8:30 PM ET) in its fourth stop of the season. Adam Alexander calls the action alongside analysts Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip, with pit reporting by Hermie Sadler and Vince Welch.

NCWTS SETUP, hosted by John Roberts and two-time NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES champion Todd Bodine, sets the stage for the evening’s Truck Series race at 8:00 PM ET. Featured in the pre-race show are: a flashback to Kyle Busch’s win at Kansas last year; a look back at Joey Logano’s win at the series’ last race at Martinsville; a Johnny Sauter feature; a review of the post-race skirmish between the Nos. 00, 88 and 29 at Martinsville; a lighthearted word-association game with drivers; and an update on non-NASCAR races run by Truck Series drivers during their off weeks.

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.

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

WALTRIP ON THE BIGGEST CHANGE HE’S SEEN IN DALE EARNHARDT JR. IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS:
“From what I’ve observed, Dale Jr. finally quit listening to people comparing him to his father. He was always judged against his father and could never live up to those expectations, and that really weighed on him. Dale Jr. finally let go of that, said ‘This is who I am and this is what I’ve accomplished. I am not my father.’ Dale Jr. has won two Daytona 500s, multiple races, is a 12-time most popular driver and has had an amazing career. That’s a lot to be proud of, and he finally has accepted and recognized that.”

MCREYNOLDS ON THE EMOTION DISPLAYED BY EARNHARDT JR. IN VICTORY LANE AT TALLADEGA:
“Look back to when Dale Jr. won the Daytona 500 last year and how excited he was, and then at Martinsville when he won his first grandfather clock. But I’ve never seen him as emotional as he was Sunday at Talladega. Maybe it’s because after all the questions about Greg Ives as his crew chief, they finally got to Victory Lane together. Dale Jr. also mentioned his father’s birthday was this past week. Maybe it’s the fact he hadn’t won at Talladega — a place he and his father loved to race — in more than a decade. It’s probably a combination of all those factors that got to him in Victory Lane.”

WALTRIP ON POST-TALLADEGA DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER DRIVERS SHOULD SLOW WHEN THERE’S AN ACCIDENT BUT NO CAUTION FLAG IS DISPLAYED:
“I can understand why drivers are upset when they spin out and cars are flying by them every which way. But I think the concern really comes from confusion because, for example, at Daytona, NASCAR threw the caution and the race ended under yellow. But at Talladega, there also was a wreck but no yellow flag. If it’s the last lap at a track as big as Talladega and someone spins but cars are getting by and there’s no imminent danger, NASCAR has to make a decision. NASCAR let them race back probably because of the size of the track. You can’t have a rule for every situation or expect NASCAR to react to every situation. Sometimes we have to leave it up to the guys who are racing.”

MCREYNOLDS ON GREG IVES’ FIRST CAREER SPRINT CUP WIN AS A CREW CHIEF WITH EARNHARDT JR.
“If you’re going to win your first race with Dale Jr., Talladega is the place to do it. Greg Ives could run for governor in Alabama right now and probably win. I’m not sure anyone has stepped onto a Sprint Cup pit box carrying the type of resume Ives does with his background. He was the lead engineer for five of Jimmie Johnson’s six championships, and then he took Chase Elliott as a rookie driver last year and won three races and the XFINITY Series championship.”

MCREYNOLDS ON DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EARNHARDT JR.’S FORMER CREW CHIEF STEVE LETARTE AND CURRENT CREW CHIEF IVES:
“Letarte and Ives have two completely different crew chief styles. Steve Letarte was a cheerleader for his driver while Ives is very low-key and toned down. But at the time in Dale Jr.’s life and career when Letarte took over as his crew chief, I don’t think Ives would have worked for Dale Jr. Letarte’s attitude truly rubbed off on Dale Jr. I’ve heard, even in the first 10 races this season, situations where Dale Jr. was the cheerleader for not only his crew chief but his pit crew, and that’s a great thing to hear.”

MCREYNOLDS ON THE EFFECT IVES HAS HAD ON EARNHARDT JR.:
“I hear confidence. I hear confidence when Ives tells Dale Jr. something and when he talks to the pit crew. That goes a long way because if the captain of the ship sounds a little iffy about what he’s telling the driver and crew, they won’t have confidence. Ives is very low-key but he’s very confident.”

WALTRIP ON THE FAVORITE TO WIN SATURDAY NIGHT AT KANSAS:
“The Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski will be pretty tough at Kansas. But we’ve also seen Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson be strong on the mile-and-a-half tracks so far in 2015. It will be Harvick and Johnson with Logano and Keselowski in hot pursuit at the end.”

Full schedule in attached PDF.