Here’s your 2015 Chinese Grand Prix NBCSN, NBC Sports Live Extra times

By Tony DiZinnoApr 8, 2015, 3:53 PM EDT
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The series of flyaway races to kick off the 2015 Formula 1 season continues with the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.

It’s another overnight race. Here’s the skinny on this weekend’s broadcasts:

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FORMULA ONE CHINESE GRAND PRIX – SUNDAY AT 1:30 A.M. ET ON NBCSN

Coverage of the F1 season continues on NBCSN this Sunday at 1:30 a.m. ET with the Chinese Grand Prix from Shanghai International Circuit. Two weeks ago in Malaysia, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel notched his first win with the team, defeating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to grab the top spot on the podium for his first win since the 2013 season. Last season, Hamilton recorded his third career Chinese Grand Prix victory, the most by any driver since its inaugural race in 2004.

Live coverage begins exclusively on NBC Sports Live Extra on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET with Practice 1, followed by NBCSN’s live coverage of Practice 2 on Friday at 2 a.m. ET. Live Extra’s coverage continues Saturday at 12 a.m. ET with Practice 3, and shifts to NBCSN for qualifying at 3 a.m. ET. Live Chinese Grand Prix coverage begins Sunday morning at 1:30 a.m. ET, followed by F1 Extra at 4 a.m. ET.

Lead F1 announcer Leigh Diffey will call this weekend’s action, and will be joined by veteran analyst and former racecar driver David Hobbs, and analyst and former race mechanic for the Benetton F1 team Steve Matchett. F1 insider Will Buxton will serve as the team’s on-site reporter from Shanghai International Circuit in China.

FORMULA ONE MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX ON NBCSN IS MOST-WATCHED OVERNIGHT F1 RACE ON CABLE IN 18 YEARS

NBCSN’s live coverage of the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, highlighted by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel earning his first win with his new team, was the most-watched overnight F1 race on cable in 18 years, averaging 384,000 viewers.

Viewership of the race, which aired overnight from 2:30–4:55 a.m. ET, was up 55% vs. 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix average viewership (248,000), and up 217% vs. the 2013 viewership on NBCSN (121,000).

Including the Australian Grand Prix, which was the first race of the season, NBCSN’s 2015 F1 coverage has averaged 324,000 viewers, up 31% vs. 2014 through two races (248,000), and up 163% vs. 2013 through two races (123,000). Click here for more information on 2015 F1 viewership on NBCSN.

TV TIMES: FORMULA 1, INDYCAR, MECUM AUCTIONS

Date Program Time (ET) Network
Thur., April 9 Mecum Auctions: Houston 4:30 p.m. NBCSN
F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Practice 1 10 p.m. NBC Sports Live Extra
NASCAR K&N Series: Greenville Pickens 11 p.m. NBCSN
Fri., April 10 Mecum Auctions: Houston 12 a.m. NBCSN
F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Practice 2 2 a.m. NBCSN
Mecum Auctions: Houston 1 p.m. NBCSN
INDYCAR Chronicles: James Hinchcliffe 5:30 p.m. NBCSN
Sat., April 11 F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Practice 3 12 a.m. NBC Sports Live Extra
F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying 3 a.m. NBCSN
Mecum Auctions: Houston 2 p.m. NBCSN
IndyCar Grand Prix of Louisiana – Qualifying 5 p.m. NBCSN
Sun., April 12 F1 Chinese Grand Prix 1:30 a.m. NBCSN
F1 Extra 4 a.m. NBCSN
IndyCar Grand Prix of Louisiana 2:30 p.m. NBCSN
Mecum Auctions: Houston 7 p.m. NBCSN

Attention NASCAR teams: IMSA drivers available for Daytona!

Ker Robertson/Getty Images
By Nate RyanJul 9, 2020, 7:00 AM EDT
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NASCAR will be making its debut on the Daytona International Speedway road course next month, and there’s a big fan who’d like to join the historic weekend.

This fan actually has impressive credentials, too — a few thousand laps around the 12-turn, 3.56-mile layout that annually plays host to the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

In 2014, the winning GTLM team in the sports car endurance classic included IMSA Porsche driver Nick Tandy, who rabidly has followed NASCAR for more than 30 years since growing up in England.

So why not try racing NASCAR? Especially because Tandy has the weekend of Aug. 14-16 free.

He’s not picky, either — offering up his services on Twitter (as well as those of Porsche teammate Earl Bamber) for an ARCA, Xfinity, trucks or Cup ride.

Tandy’s affinity for American stock-car racing runs deep.

His first trip to the World Center of Racing was as a fan attending the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17, 2008. During Rolex testing in January, Tandy, 35, said he hadn’t missed a Cup race on TV in 15 years.

Among his favorite NASCAR drivers: the Earnhardts, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. When IMSA ran the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2014, Tandy stayed a few extra days at the Brickyard and bought Kyle Busch gear for himself and his children.

He briefly took the stage during a NASCAR weekend last October. After IMSA’s season finale at Road Atlanta, Tandy made a few demonstration laps and a burnout in his No. 911 Porsche before the Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway.

He also has some experience in stock cars, having raced Modified-type grass-roots series on England’s quarter-mile short tracks.

Couple that with a Daytona road course record that includes two consecutive podium class finishes (including last Saturday) and a sports car resume with 13 IMSA victories and an overall win in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans … and maybe a NASCAR team should take a look.

And Tandy isn’t the only IMSA driver who likely would be available.

Corvette driver Jordan Taylor, who won the 2017 Rolex 24 overall title with Jeff Gordon as a teammate (and the inspiration for his Rodney Sandstrom persona), also tweeted his availability for the weekend on the high banks.

Sports car veteran Andy Lally, a GTD driver with multiple class wins in the Rolex 24 as well as 38 Cup starts (he was the 2011 rookie of the season in NASCAR’s premier series), also hung out his shingle.

There also is AIM Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth (who just won at Daytona last Saturday), the Englishman who teamed with Kyle Busch at the Rolex 24 in January and made an Xfinity start at Mid-Ohio last year with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Many sports car drivers (such as Taylor) already live in Florida, and many are hunkering down in the Sunshine State with IMSA returning to action at Daytona last week and Sebring International Raceway next week. Because of COVID-19-related travel concerns and restrictions, several IMSA stars who live outside the country are riding out the pandemic within a few hours of Daytona with nothing to do.

Why not a weekend at the World Center of Racing?

Over the years, scads of “road-course ringers” (including some Formula One veterans) have tried their hands in stock cars at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

How about considering the many sports car drivers who already have reached victory lane at Daytona by making a few right-hand turns, too?