| Runtime: | 2 hours (including commercials, was also 2 hours from 2002–2004) |
| Starring: | Matt Yocum (2002–2004) |
| Country: | United States |
| Network: | Speed Channel NBCSN[1] |
NASCAR Classics is a series of NASCAR races that aired on Speed Channel. It aired from 2002 to 2004 and returned in 2009 before quietly disappearing off Speed Channel again in 2012. It returned again in 2014 on NBCSN. Matt Yocum was the host of the series before originally ending in 2004.
The program, when it started mainly showed races from CBS that spans from 1979 to 2000. One of the races that they have shown were the Daytona 500 races from 1979 all the way to 2000. Also, they showed races from Talladega Superspeedway from the summer. The last race that was shown was the 2000 Pepsi 400 in 2004. In the spring of 2009, the series returned after a five-year hiatus and started off with the 2006 Food City 500 at Bristol where Kurt Busch earned his first win with car owner Roger Penske and remembered when Jeff Gordon pushed Matt Kenseth after being spun out late in the race. Several months later, Gordon took out Kenseth at Chicagoland Speedway, which was shown later in 2009. Since its return, they have shown recent runnings of the weekend's race (such as 2008 Sharpie 500 shown during the 2009 Sharpie 500 weekend), which expands from 2003 to 2008's event. Speed now shows races from Fox, TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBC. On February 15, 2010, it featured the first non-cup race ever on NASCAR Classics which witness the first race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season at Daytona. The series is currently airing on NBCSN.
During the original series, Speed showed all of the Daytona 500 races on CBS. They also showed other races from that CBS broadcast including Talladega Superspeedway's July/October race (CBS aired it from 1979–97) and the July race at Daytona (CBS showed it in 1999 and 2000). Florida's Fox Sports Net channel Sun Sports has shown NASCAR Classics during the five-year hiatus. Also, ESPN Classic has shown races as well, mostly from ESPN family of networks, with an exception on February which shows the Daytona 500. Before 2002, Speed showed other NASCAR races (originally broadcast by Mizlou) back when it was known as Speedvision; the races shown before that time are in bold.