How to watch 2021 Supercross season on NBC Sports: Schedule, streams

The Monster Energy AMA Supercross season is set to begin for 2021, and NBC Sports will have the full broadcast schedule of all 17 events.

The Jan. 16 opener, the first of three consecutive events in Houston, Texas, will be shown live on NBCSN, starting at 6 p.m. ET. A one-hour Supercross 2021 preview special will air Jan. 9 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC with appearances from title contenders Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb, Justin Barcia and Zach Osborne.

Race broadcasts on NBC and NBCSN will feature play-by-play announcers Leigh Diffey and Todd Harris with analyst Ricky Carmichael, host Daniel Blair and reporter Will Christien. All televised coverage also will be streamed on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App.

Supercross recently announced the finalization of its 2021 schedule, which will begin outside Southern California for the first time in 25 years. The 17-race tour will include multiple events in several cities and the debut of Supercross at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Exclusive streaming coverage formerly on NBC Sports Gold’s Supercross and Pro Motocross Pass will move to Peacock Premium, which is available for $4.99 per month. The Supercross and Pro Motocross packages will have live coverage of all Supercross heats, qualifiers and races and Pro Motocross main practice sessions, qualifers and motos. On-demand replays (including the full 2020 season, which was added this week) are available without commercial interruption.

Below is the complete 2021 Monster Energy Supercross broadcast schedule:

Date	Event	Coverage^#	Time (ET)
Sat., Jan. 16	Houston	NBCSN	6 p.m.
Tues., Jan. 19	Houston	NBCSN*	10:30 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 23	Houston	NBCSN	8 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 30	Indianapolis	NBCSN	8 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 31	Indianapolis	NBC^	5 p.m.
Tues., Feb. 2	Indianapolis	NBCSN*	11 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 6	Indianapolis	NBCSN	8 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13	Orlando	NBCSN	7:30 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 20	Orlando	NBCSN	7 p.m.
Sat., March 6	Daytona	NBCSN	7 p.m.
Sat., March 13	Arlington	NBCSN	7 p.m.
Tues., March 16	Arlington	NBCSN*	10:30 p.m.
Sat., March 20	Arlington	NBCSN*	10:30 p.m.
Sat., April 10	Atlanta	NBC	3 p.m.
Tues., April 13	Atlanta	NBCSN*	10 p.m.
Sat., April 17	Atlanta	NBCSN	7 p.m.
Sat., April 24	Salt Lake City	NBCSN	7 p.m.
Sat., May 1	Salt Lake City	NBCSN	10 p.m.
Sun., May 2	Salt Lake City	NBC^	1:30 p.m.

*Same-day delay

^ Taped coverage

#All televised coverage streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

How to watch the 2021 Supercross season on NBC Sports: schedule, streams and times

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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