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NASCAR Cup Ratings Down for New Hampshire, Nationwide Scores 1.1 Rating at Kentucky,

From ESPN PR ...

ESPN’s live telecast of the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 23, earned a 2.6 household coverage rating (2.2 U.S. rating), averaging 3,516,958 viewers, according to the Nielsen Company. The rating was down from a 3.1 for last year’s race.

ESPN’s live telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 22, earned a 1.1 household coverage rating (1.0 U.S. rating), averaging 1,406,370 viewers. The track was hosting a fall event for the Nationwide Series for the first time so no direct ratings comparisons exist.

Uncle pressdog's Fireside Chat -- Pippa, Nationwide and Alice Edition

Welcome. Sit, sit. Large dark roast? I don't even own cream, so don't ask. How 'bout that Seattle/Green Bay game last night? This whole replacement ref deal ... Festival of Head Shaking.

I was a soccer ref briefly (insert you spewing coffee here, but it's true), and I can tell you first-hand being a ref is a hard job. It's all about split second decisions. Foul or not? BAM, just like that you have to decide. No benefit of replay or anything. Plus some of those football rules get very esoteric and weird, especially compared to soccer's relatively straightforward rules (OK, the offsides rule is a little hard to grasp, apparently).

Alice Powell Goes from Lapping the Garden to Aiming for the Biggest League (F1)

Who knew the little girl from Oxford, England, who once raced around her family garden on her bike, would fancy herself one day in the same category as Lewis Hamilton? Rubbish, you say? Daft? The learned academians down down the road at the University of Oxford might raise an eyebrow and remark on the extraordinarily long odds.

Uncle pressdog's Fireside Chat -- That's Kinda Wack Edition

OK, number 1, have you tried Shift pale lager from New Belgium Brewing? Dude. I dig it big time. Here's what the marketing folk say ...

New Belgium employee-owners work in shifts to brew to life world-class beers. Those efforts are rewarded daily with a shared end-of-shift beer. We’re passing that welcomed occasion onto beer drinkers in this Shift Pale Lager. Think American pale ale meets American lager. It’s easy to drink, crisp and congratulatory. So, clock out and crack open a Nelson Sauvin-hopped Shift Pale Lager to reward your work. Or play. Or, if you’re like us, combine the two and surround yourself with drinking buddies.

Well then DRINK, ye BASTARDS® and let's discuss all things super important ...

Shea Holbrook and Tarah Mikacich Team Up for Fireball Run

Woman of pressdog® Shea Holbrook is working it on behalf of America's missing children. Check the news release and follow Shea on The Twitter @SheaRacing. News release below ...

HOLBROOK & MIKACICH NAMED CELEBRITY TEAM IN 2012 FIREBALL RUN

Racing to Raise Awareness for the Race to Recovery of America’s Missing Children

Orlando, Florida – TrueCar Racing Pirelli World Challenge driver Shea Holbrook and professional wakeboarder Tarah Mikacich will enter their 2012 Hendrick Honda Accord in the 2012 FIREBALL RUN Adventurally; Northern Exposure, which kicks-off on September 21 from Independence, Ohio.

NACAR Cup Draws Nearly 4 million on ESPN, Nationwide 1.6 million

From ESPN PR ...

ESPN’s live telecast of the opening race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 16, earned a 3.0 household coverage rating (2.6 U.S. rating), averaging 3,948,966 viewers, according to the Nielsen Company.

Last year’s race marked the first time the Chase opened at Chicagoland but the event was rained out and run on Monday. The 2010 Chase opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway earned a 2.6 household coverage rating on ESPN.

ESPN’s telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 15, earned a 1.3 household coverage rating (1.1 U.S. rating), averaging 1,656,559 viewers. The rating was up from last year’s event that earned a 1.1 household coverage rating.

IndyCar at Fontana Draws 229,000 Viewers, Dethroned by Bull Riding

The season's final IndyCar race drew 229,000K viewers to NBC Sports Network Saturday night according to information tweeted by John Ourand (@Ourand_SB) of the Sports Business Journal (sportsbusinessjournal.com). Only bull riding (237,000) did better on NBCSN last week. IndyCar had been the top rated program on NBC Sports Network for the last two race weeks.

It's the third straight race on NBC Sports Network that IndyCar attracted around 250,000 viewers, which equates to about a 0.2 U.S. household rating. 

A "U.S. household rating" measures the number of households viewing the program out of the total number of households in the U.S., regardless of if they are able to receive NBC Sports Network programming or not.

Maryeve Dufault Gets Hip Checked Out of Salem ARCA Race

Sounds like Woman of pressdog® Maryeve Dufault felt like she got screwed at the ARCA race last weekend. News release below.

Dufault’s Strong Run Ends In Flared Tempers

(Salem, Ind. – September 17, 2012) – For the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards race at Salem Speedway Maryeve Dufault had her hopes set high. She was rejoining Carter 2 Motorsports, C2M, for the second time this year and was racing at a track that she has come to enjoy. Despite a rough qualifying run the short track lived up to her expectations until a late race run-in.

Uncle pressdog's Fireside Chat -- Fond of Fontana Edition

Well, how about that? How about THAT for a final race of the season? IndyCar put on a big show at Auto Club Speedway. I watched it last night, posted race notes on it this morning and thought about it today. Now it is time to pull up a beverage and consider all things important and Life Altering ... Wait. No. Instead of that, let's talk racing.

Festival of Three Wide -- I'm never going to lie to you here, because we're beverage buddies, but I was so amazingly on fire to see IndyCar back on an oval for the first time since late June here in Iowa -- and only the fifth time all season (Iowa, Indy, Texas, Milwaukee and California) -- that I had to take a moment at the start of the race. The sight and sound of IndyCar's going 210 mph AND working multiple lines made me farklempt.

Notes Taken During the 2012 IndyCar Race at Fontana

Notes taken during the NBC Sports Network's MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA on Sept. 15, 2012.

Welcome to Fontana, California, about an hour east of Los Angeles, and home of the IndyCar season finale. pressdog® DRINK, ye BASTARDS® Beer of the Race is Bell's Amber Ale, Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI. DRINK, ye BASTARDS with any points as they run mention!