FOX Sports Kicks 2013 NASCAR Season into High Gear with Daytona 500 Sunday: Prerace Features Announced

FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES

FOX Sports Kicks 2013 NASCAR Season into High Gear with Daytona 500 Sunday

Andrews Sits Down with Keselowski, Hendrick Drivers Roundtable & Danica Sizes Up Her Chances During

FOX NASCAR SUNDAY Special Daytona Prerace at 12:00 PM ET

Michael Waltrip Drives No. 26 for Sandy Hook Victims Fund at Daytona 500

Darrell Waltrip on Danica: She’s a Natural on Daytona Track

FOX Soccer Features Manchester City vs. Chelsea Live Sunday at 8:00 AM ET

Broadcast coverage of the 55th running of the Daytona 500 on FOX begins on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 12:00 PM ET, and the network has all the sights and sounds of the Great American Race covered to get fans ready to green flag the 2013 season. Veteran race announcer Mike Joy sets the stage at Daytona International Speedway from the checkered flag stand, while FOX NASCAR SUNDAY prerace show host Chris Myers presents up-to-the-minute reports, live interviews with drivers, crewmen and officials shaping the day’s action and Darrell Waltrip and Michael Waltrip provide analysis. FOX Sports’ Jeff Hammond serves as the network’s roving analyst, taking fans from the garages to pit road and everywhere in between. Features scheduled during Sunday’s special Daytona 500 coverage include:

* FOX Sports’ Erin Andrews sits down with defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski for an in-depth one-on-one interview and finds out what his expectations are for 2013 and how last year’s Daytona 500 set the tone for his championship season.

* NASCAR on FOX prerace host Chris Myers leads a roundtable discussion with all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. The four all-star drivers, who between them have a combined nine Sprint Cup titles, talk candidly about who feels the most pressure to succeed and what it’s like driving for Rick Hendrick.

* NASCAR ON FOX takes a close look at NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car and show fans how the stock cars have evolved throughout the years.

* In her own words, Danica Patrick puts her historic pole position win into perspective and talks about her expectations for the Daytona 500.

* A brand-new edition of BEING, FSMG’s feature franchise that gives fans an all-access at the life of sports’ biggest names, featuring Clint Bowyer.

* Driver and extreme sports competitor Travis Pastrana faces one of his toughest competitors on the track – FOX Sports’ latest production element, CAMCAT. Pastrana takes on the advanced two-point flying system that flies over the tri-oval along pit road and reach speeds of more than 85 mph, on his motorcycle.

* Special infield performance by one of country music’s biggest artists, three-time Grammy Award-winner Zac Brown Band.

* All the pageantry from the stands to pit road leading up to the dropping of the green flag.

Once the green flag drops, race announcer Mike Joy is alongside analysts Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds to call all the action on the track, while Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum patrol the pits for reports on teams and pit stops.

Coverage of this year’s Great American Race includes a collection of new cameras and graphics that are expected to add a dynamic new dimension to the viewing experience, including in-car Gyro-Cams, the FOX Super Zoom 4K camera, virtual 3D graphics and the return of a suspended cable camera over the length of pit road.

Gyro-Cam

Gyro-Cam is a gyro stabilized, in-car camera mounted in the center of the cockpit that rotates as cars enter DIS’s extreme 31-degree banked turns, keeping its view level with the horizon at all times.  The resulting look demonstrates to viewers just how dramatic Daytona’s turn angles are at race speed. To see a simulation of Gyro-Cam in action click here: http://youtu.be/NstXCsDJ3gc

FOX Super Zoom 4K

Introduced last year during FOX Sports’ coverage of MLB and the NFL, the 4K “Super Zoom” camera produces pictures with five times the resolution of normal HD cameras and captures the action at 300 frames per second.  The resulting detail is remarkable and can zoom into an area of interest during the race with incredible detail.

VIZ-RT Encoded Camera

The VIZ-RT encoded camera graphically places three-dimensional virtual objects on screen.  These graphics include delineating the “restart box,” where cars can accelerate toward the start/finish line during a restart and highlighting the entire track in yellow to emphasize that a race is under caution.

CAMCAT

Supported by two gigantic cranes outside the track, CAMCAT is an advanced, two-point flying camera system developed in Austria that skies over the tri-oval along pit road.  Previously used to cover F1 and certain Olympic events, the camera is suspended at a maximum 140 feet in the air and dips to 45 feet above the track at its midpoint. The cameras can speed up to 85 miles per hour along a 2,900 foot long cable to offer never-before-seen shots of Daytona.  FOX first employed a four point cabled camera system over pit road from 2005 to 2007.  All the cables were suspended within the track, and the camera traveled at 15 to 20 miles per hour 30 feet above ground.

MICHAEL WALTRIP DRIVES FOR SANDY HOOK VISTIMS SUNDAY – Using the biggest race of the year as a backdrop, two-time Daytona 500 champion and NASCAR on FOX analyst Michael Waltrip raises awareness and contributions for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund this Sunday. Waltrip drives the No. 26 Sandy Hook School Support Fund Toyota during the Daytona 500 and honors the 26 victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School. The car prominently features a call-to-action decal encouraging the NASCAR community to make $10 donations by texting NEWTOWN to 80888. The Sandy Hook School Support Fund, established jointly by United Way of Western Connecticut and Newtown Savings Bank, supports the healing process for the broader Newtown community including children, teachers, first responders, families, residents, mental health professionals, counselors and others, following the tragic events that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. One hundred percent of the funds raised for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund go to meet the needs of the Newtown community.

2013 FSMG DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS

TELEVISION SCHEDULE

*All times Eastern and subject to change

NASCAR ON FOX & SPEED SIZZLES WITH NEW SHAKE AND BAKE BLOG – FOX Sports and SPEED have every twist and turn of the NASCAR season covered and now fans who want more can see beyond what makes it on-air. The FOX Sports Digital Media team introduces “Shake and Bake,” an all-new NASCAR blog that includes hilarious outtakes from taped features, highlights and bonus footage from NASCAR on FOX and SPEED broadcasts. “Shake and Bake” also provides race weekend recaps capturing NASCAR culture and the most outrageous stories in NASCAR. Check it out at FOXSports.com/ShakeAndBake

FOX SOCCER AIRS CHELSEA/MANCHESTER CITY SUNDAY – This Sunday, the high-intensity action starts well before the green flag is waved in Daytona, as FOX Soccer airs the “Game Before the Race,” featuring Barclays Premier League giants Manchester City and Chelsea, live at 8:00 AM ET. The fixture pits second-place and defending BPL champion Manchester City against a Chelsea side anchored by newly acquired striker Demba Ba and veteran fan favorite Frank Lampard. City faces a big task ahead, as they have won only one of their last four BPL matches against the Blues. The match also marks the third called match by Gus Johnson on FOX Soccer, who will partner with color commentator Lee Dixon live from Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

FOX SPORTS RADIO GETS FANS READY FOR GREAT AMERICAN RACE – FOX Sports Radio brings listeners coverage of the Daytona 500 all week, featuring special appearances by NASCAR drivers, including the first female NASCAR qualifier in the pole position, Danica Patrick; two-time Daytona 500 crew chief champion and NASCAR on FOX analyst Larry McReynolds; the youngest driver to win the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series, Joey Logano; and NASCAR Champion, named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers of All Time, Mark Martin. FOX Sports NASCAR analysts join the radio network throughout the week to provide expert insight into the upcoming race, and on Sunday, Feb. 24, Rob D’Amico brings listeners a special edition of the weekly SPEED SPORT on FOX Sports Radio, previewing the race from 7:00 – 9:00 AM ET. The week-long coverage can be heard on 400 radio stations nationwide, FOXSportsRadio.com, iHeartRadio and by downloading the FOX Sports app.

DW: DANICA A NATURAL ON DAYTONA TRACK – Danica Patrick made history on Sunday, becoming the first female driver to capture the pole position in a Sprint Cup Series race. NASCAR on FOX analyst Darrell Waltrip says that the accomplishment didn’t exactly come as a surprise, calling her a “natural” on the Daytona International Speedway track. “Remember that a year ago she won the pole for the Nationwide race. Last week, she was also the fastest in practice. So the question to a lot of us was could she back up her times in practice with a top qualifying lap. She sure did that.”

Analyst Jeff Hammond thinks that the key to Patrick’s future success could depend on the connection she has with her crew chief. “Being fortunate to enjoy the success I had as a crew chief, I firmly believe Danica’s fortunes this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rest on her relationship between her and crew chief Tony Gibson. If she and Tony can find the chemistry so critical between driver and crew chief, then I think you will see Danica take her career to new heights.”

MCREYNOLDS: GEN-6 CAR PROVIDES EARLY EXCITEMENT – Last Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited was the official debut of NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car, and NASCAR on FOX analyst Larry McReynolds liked what he saw. “It’s now more of a science than ever before. No longer can you simply ride around there, pushing the guy ahead of you until your engine gets too hot. Now, you really have to figure out where you want to be on the track and with whom.”

FLORIAN CAUTIONS ROUSEY ABOUT POSSIBLE UPSET AT HISTORIC UFC 157 CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT – The UFC^® makes history on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 10:00 PM ET as undefeated superstar “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey defends her UFC^® bantamweight title against Marine Corps veteran Liz Carmouche in the first ever women’s fight at  UFC^® 157: ROUSEY VS CARMOUCHE. UFC TONIGHT’s Kenny Florian cautions Rousey about an upset: “Liz Carmouche is not intimidated by this whole event. She is not intimidated by Ronda Rousey. She’s going out there to win. Really, she has nothing to lose. That’s a dangerous girl.” In the end, Florian still believes Rousey will pull out the win. UFC TONIGHT featured an exclusive interview with Rousey this week, which can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/8QCy4Ns3-W8

FORMER UFC CHAMP EVANS OFFERS ANALYSIS ON FUEL TV UFC 157 WEIGH-IN AND POSTFIGHT SHOWS – Coverage of UFC^® 157 begins Friday, Feb. 22, at 7:00 PM ET when FUEL TV telecasts the weigh-in LIVE. The program is hosted by Karyn Bryant with former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans and current UFC light heavyweight No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen adding analysis. UFC 157 POSTFIGHT SHOW airs on FUEL TV on Saturday, Feb. 23, immediately following UFC 157 (1:00 AM ET), featuring host Jay Glazer, with analysts Sonnen and Evans breaking down the biggest and best moments of the evening. Three-time MMA Journalist of the Year Ariel Helwani interviews fighters backstage.