NBC Sports, MRN Extend Partnership On NASCAR Telecasts

NBC Sports and MRN have extended their partnership in which MRN race announcer Mike Bagley will call part of today’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at Watkins Glen Int'l. Bagley was part of NBCSN's experimental broadcast for yesterday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Zippo 200, where Bagley was one of three announcers stationed throughout the 2.5-mile road course, plus two announcers in the main booth. The move received mostly positive reviews on Twitter during yesterday’s race. NBC Sports and MRN could additionally look to extend the move to other races this year, as the Xfinity Series has two more road-course races this season. MRN, which is owned by ISC, is one of the two NASCAR radio networks that calls races for affiliates alongside SMI’s PRN.

Meanwhile, Watkins Glen today announced that the track has a sellout for its roughly 33,000-seat grandstands for today’s Cup race. That makes it the second race this year to announce a grandstand sellout after the season-opening Daytona 500.