What channel is the NASCAR race on today? What time does the NASCAR race start? These are the questions that plague race fans every Sunday, when each Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race will be on either FOX or FS1 for the first half of the 2019 season with differing start times.
As for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the channel that will broadcast the race is FOX. The start time for the Coca-Cola 600 is 6 p.m. ET, and the start time for the pre-race show on FOX is 5:30 p.m. ET.
MORE: Watch the Coca-Cola 600 live with fuboTV (7-day trial)
The 6 p.m. ET start time for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 signals the fourth night race of the 2019 season. As for the TV channel, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to FOX after three straight weeks of races on FS1. As part of FOX's TV deal with NASCAR for the 2019 season, FOX was slated to show nine Cup races this year, and FS1 was scheduled to show eight, including last week's All-Star Race.
Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which will consist of four stages (all 100 laps), is the 14th race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule (13th when not counting the All-Star Race). Below is all the info you need regarding how to watch the race.
What channel is NASCAR on today? Time, TV for Coca-Cola 600
- Race: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
- Date: Sunday, May 26
- Start time: 6 p.m. ET
- TV channel: FOX
- Live stream: Fox Sports Go | fuboTV
- Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday will be the ninth and final race of the season to be shown on FOX. The rest of the races through the first half of the Cup Series season will be shown on FS1, as NBC will take over for the second half of the season, starting at Chicagoland.
In addition to the TV coverage on FOX, Sunday night's race is available via live stream through FOX Sports Go or fuboTV. New fuboTV users can sign up with a seven-day free trial.
In this race last season, Kyle Busch yanked the Charlotte Motor Speedway monkey off his back with excessive force. The driver had never won a points race at the 1.5-mile oval until he led 377 of 400 laps in the 2018 Coca-Cola 600. Now the active Cup Series leader in laps led (1,370) at Charlotte seems ready for more.
"I like running the 600 miles," Busch said this week. "I think it brings a different aspect to our sport — it's longevity. People will say, 'It’s too long. It's boring.' Whatever. Well, you know, it's a part of the product and history that we've had on Memorial Day weekend for a long time that you run the extra hundred miles.
"And car preparation goes into that. Will your car make it? Will your engine last? Are the drivers able to be competitive throughout the whole race? You’ll have fatigue sometimes, even at a 500-mile race. So, if you don't show signs of weakness, you should be pretty good."
MORE: Full 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule
Other drivers are hoping the rules package that's new for the 2019 season will help keep the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from running away with another Coca-Cola 600 win. Among those drivers are two of Busch's teammates.
Denny Hamlin has never won at Charlotte, yet he has the third best driver rating (97.3) at the speedway and the second-best average finish (12.1) in the field. Further, his 10.5 average start in the race is third best among active drivers.
Another Gibbs driver, Martin Truex Jr., is hungry for a Coca-Cola 600 win for the opposite reason: his recent success. In just the last five races at the Charlotte oval, Truex has led 716 laps — the most of any driver — and has finished worse than third only once in that span.