Bristol race postponement brings rain of TV coverage questions

Ray Slover

Bristol race postponement brings rain of TV coverage questions image

NASCAR fans had this question echoing across the Twitterverse on Sunday: What channel is carrying the rescheduled Sprint Cup race at Bristol?

The easy answer: CNBC. The usual follow-up questions: What's that, and where can I find it?

MORE: Rain plagues Bristol | Restarting lineup

UPDATE: Rain prevented the race from beginning at 1 p.m. ET as scheduled. When showers finally ended, NASCAR said racing could begin about 4:30 p.m. ET.

NBC and Fox share the NASCAR TV coverage package. Fox aired the first half of the season and is doing select subseries races. It carried races both on the mothership and its Fox Sport 1 affiliate.

MORE: 2016's weather woesImages from rainy Bristol

NBC has faces numerous questions and problems since taking over the coverage. Most races are on NBC Sports Network, which like Fox Sports 1 is not an over-the-air medium. While Fox and NBC can be picked up with old-school technology — does anyone still use rabbit-ears antennae — FS1 and NBCSN are available on cable and satellite carriers. Races also are available via online applications.

Radio coverage includes stations on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM.

What is particularly galling for fans trying to watch the Bristol race on TV is this: The night races was to be carried on NBCSN. But because of Olympic coverage commitments, that channel was not available. So, CNBC got the race coverage.

To help alleviate confusion, NASCAR's website posted a channel guide that listed where to find CNBC on major satellite and cable providers. CNBC normally carries business news programming and is used as a spillover for NBC sports coverage. At noon ET on Sunday, CNBC.com made no mention of its TV channel's coverage of the Bristol race. Neither did NBCSports.com mention the race being aired on its sister TV channel. A list of headlines included only word of Saturday night's postponement.

Still, NASCAR faced backlash from fans on social media. One example?

In an age of massive TV options, channel hopping isn't what fans want.

By the way, NASCAR fans in Canada were told they could watch the race on TSN5 ... good luck with that.

Ray Slover