Call in sick to work. Use a vacation day. Maybe even do the infamous "work from home." There are only two racing weekends left in the entire 2008 season and Friday's NASCAR TV is an all-day affair.
From 11AM straight through until 11:30PM, NASCAR fans can get non-stop coverage on ESPN2 and SPEED of what should be a very interesting day from the Phoenix International Raceway.
SPEED's John Roberts will preview the entire day's activities on NASCAR Live to start the coverage. Hermie Sadler and Randy Pemberton will join Roberts as reporters. This show will give fans a glimpse of how things are going at PIR on day number one of a very big weekend.
Steve Byrnes and his team of Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds are stepping-in this weekend to handle Nationwide Series practice and qualifying. SPEED will have the practice sessions at 11:30AM and 3:30PM. Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini will be reporting from the garage area.
Sprint Cup Series practice pops-up on ESPN2 at 2PM hosted by Dr. Jerry Punch. He will be joined by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the Infield Pit Studio. Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro will handle the reporting duties.
The real action begins at 4:30PM when Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip host Craftsman Truck Series qualifying on SPEED. There is an incredibly tight championship points race in this series and many of the drivers are experienced flat track specialists. It should be interesting to see who winds-up on the pole in this session. As usual, Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander will be handle the reporting duties.
The "big boys" come back at 5:30PM on ESPN2 when Punch and company host Sprint Cup Series qualifying. With only two races to go, some teams will be trying to start up front with an eye toward the final top ten while others are clinging to their top thirty-five spot in points. Some teams have absolutely nothing to lose by trying for the pole.
Updated: After the Halloween fun of last week, Krista Voda returns without the green make-up to host The Set-Up at 7:30PM on SPEED. This show previews the Truck Series race. Voda was originally going to have Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis on to unveil the new Camping World Truck Series logo. That has now been pushed back to next week at Homestead.
All three of those folks will have to clear the grid at 8PM as the trucks get ready to rumble. This series is on a roll, with ratings for last week up almost 40% over last year. Allen, Parsons and Waltrip should have their share of excitement as this is a great track for the trucks. Dunlap and Alexander will patrol pit road, but this time neither one of them will be in a dress.
The long day of NASCAR will be topped-off by Trackside at 10:30PM. The fun bunch of Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds will be joined by Elliott Sadler for this hour. The program has two guests who remain on the set and join-in the conversation. This week Greg Biffle and Marcos Ambrose will stop by.
Over twelve hours of NASCAR to digest on Friday alone with a big menu of programming still to come on Saturday and Sunday. Program those DVR's, fire-up the TiVo's or better yet take a mental health day. Only Homestead is left on the NASCAR menu, but as veteran fans know, a lot of things happen in Phoenix that always add new twists to the final race of the season.
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