NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood Says NBC, USA Network Ready for NASCAR Run

NBC Sports this weekend will take over 2022 NASCAR Cup and Xfinity broadcasting duties and first up is Nashville Superspeedway where the NBC Sports team will broadcast 15 hours of practice, qualifying, and race coverage across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network. NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood says the team is excited to take over for Fox Sports.

“It was fun to watch the Fox team put on the first half of the season, including having Junior join their group for Talladega,” he says. “And it was great to see the audiences.”

A highlight for Flood from the first half of the season was heading to Los Angeles ahead of the Super Bowl and checking out that unique production.

“I really loved the scene there and the idea of bringing NASCAR out to the fans in new ways, which is one of the things we’re going to be doing this year,” he says. “We’re going to be really reaching into the fans.”

For example, NBC Sports Features Reporter Rutledge Wood will have a new CityView camera.

“He’s going to be able to go around to new places and for this [first] race he’ll be down on Broadway in Nashville telling stories and getting a different view of the race world and welcoming the audience to the various cities and locations in and around the tracks that makes NASCAR so special,” says Flood.

Flood says also look for NBC Sports to have more fun with drones and Bat Cam as well as a new robotic camera.

“We’re going to have a new robotic camera on the pace car that’s going to be a part of every Cup race where we’ve got a new home on USA,” he says.

He says the addition of USA Network to the mix is bringing a lot of excitement and energy to the efforts.
“They’ve already rolled out some shoulder programming, which we’re thrilled that they’re doing,” he explains. “It’s part of making USA the home of NASCAR for the second half of the season with a great plan and a great partnership there.”

A big part of that USA programming effort will be the playoffs which Flood says he and the team are happy to have.

“We’re glad we’ve got the race to the playoffs,” he says.

NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green pre-race coverage will get underway in Nashville Sunday at 4 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock leading into Ally 400 race coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Peacock will present post-race coverage immediately following the checkered flag at 9 p.m. ET.

Countdown to Green ahead of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Tennessee Lottery 250 gets underway Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, leading into race coverage at 3:30 p.m. ET. Post-race coverage will begin at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.