I think some lost 30 counts. In April 2016, she hosted FOXs coverage of Supercross maiden appearance at Gillette Stadium. In September, Trotter became the 4th woman to win a late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway. She later moved to Charlotte, N.C., the mecca for NASCAR fans, and worked for the local Fox affiliate, WCCB. DiBenedettos contract is with Team Penske. She is the daughter of two-time Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Champion and multi-car owner Bill Venturini. In addition to her IndyCar duties, Little worked at ESPN/ABC as a reporter for NASCAR from 2007 to 2014. Myers only did the Daytona 500 in 2019 and 2020 before returning full-time at every race in 2021, which he previously did from 2001 to 2018. Specifically, moto cross. Said Spake, If you ask good questions and show you are willing to learn, these guys want to help you. Jones has five top-20 finishes in the last seven races. In 2022, the "Drivers Only" broadcast returned at the same race with the same three drivers in the booth and the return of Keselowski and Stenhouse to the studio. 21 ride with Wood Brothers Racing after this season, With Brad Keselowski expected to move to Roush Fenway Racing after this season, The Wood Brothers changed crew chiefs in June, how much he and Hamlin are going for that title, MORE: NASCAR Power Rankings: Kyle Busch is No. In October 2021, Little was named to the Cynopsis 2021 Top Women in Media list in the Game-Changing On-Air Talent category. Then in 2009, she debuted in NASCAR races, namely ASA Late Model Series, ARCA, and more. On January 14, 2020, she signed for Bill McAnally Racing in the ARCA Menards Series West. Fox Sports and 2022 Fox Media LLC and Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC. He gave Danica Patrick an opportunity that no other team owner was willing to do and Danica benefited from it, Little said. Logano came within a few feet of winning the Daytona 500 and led 19 laps Sunday at Auto Club. She had been a pit reporter in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, and reporter for NASCAR Race Day. Born and raised in Beloit, Wisconsin, her go-karting fascination started at the age of ten, and it only started to grow further. This is the 27th anniversary ride. In addition, she has competed in the complete NASCAR national touring series, ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde and Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series. That eventually led to becoming a pit reporter on IndyCar Series races and the first woman pit reporter for the Indy 500. January 24, 2021 7:00 AM. Its a little nerve-racking inside, she said. All rights reserved. I started seeing NASCAR and the more I saw NASCAR the more I thought Wow, NASCAR is somewhere Id really love to be, she said. 1, MORE: Kyle Petty Charity Ride to visit Utah, Nevada. OLeary made her Cup debut in June 2018 at Michigan. She worked as a production assistant on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO in 2003 and performed freelance production work for several specialty television projects, including the MTV Video Music Awards, VH-1 Fashion Awards, CBS The NFL Today and boxing on HBO. Spake was a sideline reporter for ESPNs Saturday Primetime and Super Tuesday SEC college basketball telecasts. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was also a guest analyst for Fox before he became a permanent analyst for NBC after he retired from driving in NASCAR full-time. Also, Erik Jones says hes had talks with Richard Petty Motorsports management about next season. Since that night in Daytona where spectators and media crowded the teams pit stall to witness the two female tire changers in action the journey has been challenging for Daniels, 27, and OLeary, 29. Along the way, riders are scheduled to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Capitol Reef National Park and the Legends Motorcycle Museum. Similarly, her determination to become a NASCAR racer built up since she was a kid and racing behind the wheels of a go-kart. Those are all tracks that have the wet weather package (rain tires, wipers, etc.). Kirks last race in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 1998 Sams Town 250 (Las Vegas), and in NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 2003 Ford 300 (Homestead). While still in college, she reported on various motor sports for ESPN2 and served as a live announcer in Supercross. At age 25 and a two-time Cup race winner, Jones could draw some interest. She continues to work for NBC as a reporter for, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 10:53. Spake and Little are ESPN pit reporters for the network's live broadcasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Chance of rain 80%. Rain likely. But she officially started racing in 1993 from the Xfinity Series and then made her Camping World Truck debut in 2003. Deegan debuted in 2018 through NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and has 18 races in her bag in just under three years. In 2008 at the Camping World Truck, Jennifer made her debut and had 92 starts in total. It really is a family, she said. Stavast began her broadcasting career as a sports anchor for NBC affiliate, KKCO, in Grand Junction, Colo. Shawna is among the top 16 females competing in the NASCAR cup. She signed with Black Cat Racing the same year but ended her tenure during Speedweeks. All rights reserved. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the season opener at Daytona, and Kyle Busch scored last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. Spakes move to FOX after several years with ESPN represented a homecoming for the reporter, who worked for FOX Sports SPEED early in her TV career. You have permission to edit this article. Moving forward in her career, after concluding the 2016 NASCAR K&N, she debuted at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Her last race for NASCAR Xfinity Series was in the 2006 AT&T 250 (Milwaukee). But neither Little nor Frake have felt intimidated by any of them. She served a similar role at WTKR (Hampton Roads, Va.) and in the USAR Pro Cup Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I have parents that reach out to me they send me pictures of their kids working on a car, Daniels said. Low around 40F. Also, on October 9, 2021, she won a 100-lap Pro Late Model feature race, becoming the first woman to win a race in the tracks premier division at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Also, the crew chief is no longer penalized unless they are one of the two crew members responsible for putting on the tire that comes off. By. Kim Crosby, born in 1964, is 58 years old talented NASCAR female driver who has won 10 races over three years. In 1999, Spake interned for the Neil Rogers Show on Miamis WQAM and later that year moved to New York City to join Nickelodeon as an assistant coordinator of on-air promotions. The Paris native played soccer at the University of Miami before joining NASCAR. You may follow her on Twitter at @JamieLittleTV and on Instagram @JamieLittleTV. Chance of rain 80%.. All of our goal in the Cup Series is to win. Little dreamed of making it into NASCAR as a television reporter by age 30, and at age 29 she was there. (Getty Images) NASCAR reporter Wendy Venturini suffered a fractured skull and a . Yet, if she had not pursued her passion, she would not see her days when she had bagged numerous wins and awards. She finished 3rd in the 2020 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. For the 2022 NFL season, she serves as a FOX NFL reporter for her sixth season, teaming with play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert and analyst Jonathan Vilma after working with Adam Amin and Mark. Little also served on the Board of Trustees for the Las Vegas chapter of Speedway Childrens Charities for three years. But the racing hasnt impacted their friendship, Larson says. There were even times in between then and now that Ive questioned what Im doing and wondering why Im doing it. During the Camping World Races of 2010, Long was booked to race only three races but ended up racing seven. She has been a fulltime NFL reporter since the 2018 season. She also created her own original NASCAR video reports on YouTube that became a weekly addition on SceneDaily.com. In 2020, she teamed with Adam Amin and Mark Schlereth to cover NFL games. She was born on June 25, 1997, in Eagle River, Wisconsin, U.S. Decker has competed at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series and in 2015, participated in the Drive for Diversity. He last was at the track at Richmond in April. Use of this website (including any and all parts and components) constitutes your acceptance of these Terms of Useand Updated Privacy Policy | Advertising Choices | Your Privacy Choices. In October 2021, Little was named to the Cynopsis 2021 Top Women in Media list in the Game-Changing On-Air Talent category. I dont want to not win races. You have entered an incorrect email address! During her teens, she slowly moved up to the Auto racing ranks and is now at the age of 21, the only woman with 19 United States Auto Club Wins. Wedding, Kids & Girlfriends. And Little would like to see NASCAR open its doors for women, whether it be Patrick, who has long been rumored to be moving to the stock car series, or someone like veteran Indy and stock car driver Sarah Fisher. Angela Cope Inside Her Truck (Source: Wikipedia). I want to share some insight with the fans. This year, weve just kind of been off a little bit all year long, no matter if its been a road course or a 550 (horsepower) race or a 750 (horsepower) race kind of off all together. She recalled that while living in New York, where she moved after graduating from college (from Florida Atlantic University), she once saw popular NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. walking down the street in Manhattan and wondered what he was doing there. Little credits her lifelong passion for the sport and affinity for dirt bikes as the springboard for her entry into television. After nearly two decades of broadcasting, she liked working from pit road,. Daniels and OLeary remain in the sport. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. We travel together. We get to know each other and their personal lives. Our goal is to have the best racing possible everywhere we race, so during the offseason, we went to work on adjustments to strengthen the racing on short tracks and road courses. In June 2022, Jamie became the first female to call play-by-play for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck . Veteran motorsports reporter Jamie Little joined FOX NASCAR in 2015 to cover pit road for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series. I can separate racing from off the track.. He got both his laps back and finished 11th. Use of this website (including any and all parts and components) constitutes your acceptance of these Terms of Useand Updated Privacy Policy | Advertising Choices | Your Privacy Choices. Tina also entered for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2003. The following year, she joined the NBAs Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) to report and produce for C-SET, the teams regional sports network. She noted that she and her fellow pit reporters have to interview drivers at their worst and at their best. They will let you know that its a stupid question and they will let everyone else know that you just asked a stupid question, she added. Each year since 2017 (except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Fox has had active Cup Series drivers (plus crew chief Chad Knaus in 2019 and 2021) serve as every member of the broadcast team for one of their Xfinity Series races (Pocono in 2017, Talladega in 2018, and Charlotte in 2019, 2021 and 2022). ESPN took over the race coverage last week from TNT, which had previously succeeded Fox. She also hosted and produced Lunch with Lindsay, a sports segment in which she interviewed renowned athletes, politicians and entertainers. Reporter, NASCAR on NBC View Bio JEFF BURTON Analyst, NASCAR on NBC View Bio JUSTIN BYCZEK Senior Vice President, Programing and Rights Management, NBC Sports Group View Bio CURT BYRUM Analyst, Golf Channel View Bio Kevin Barnett Sitting Volleyball Analyst View Bio Dain Blanton Beach Volleyball Analyst View Bio Spake has also worked in a variety of capacities for HBO, MTV, VH-I, HBO and CBS. Relatively few women have contested a full season in any of NASCAR 's touring series, although this is increasingly common. LONG POND Shannon Spake grew up in football country. There she made 15 starts and ended up in the 45th position. This years Indianapolis 500 featured Paretta Autosport. This article was last updated by Bikram Jirel on December 5, 2022. Ive always had that competitive drive, competitive nature. Her passion for stock race cars grew after receiving a pit lane pass for the NASCAR All-Star Race. Wallace has failed to finish both races to date, parking after an accident at Daytona and losing an engine at Auto Club. Rinaldi also guest reported on the Daytona 500 pre-race shows in 2021 and 2022. Tina Gordon On Her Phone (Source: Briefly News). It has been fun competing with him and racing hard together. After covering the Summer and Winter X Games, supercross, moto cross and IndyCars, she joined ESPNs NASCAR team in 2007. Next season will be Littles 20th year in broadcasting and her newest assignment will continue a long line of firsts for the California native. Ad Choices. The Indianapolis resident is well-rounded outside the four corners of a racetrack, as well. But, if it happens, will Little or Spake be around to cover it? 20 Toyota, owned by her family. The Wood Brothers changed crew chiefs in June, replacing Greg Erwin with Jonathan Hassler. Loving racing karts when she was 5, she started to race at the age of 8. I just want to get better and do better.. NASCAR Driver Hailee Deegan (Source: Wikimedia). Czarniak joined FOX Sports in 2019 as a NASCAR studio host for NASCAR RACE HUB: WEEKEND EDITION and Thursday NASCAR RACE HUB shows, as well as a FOX NFL sideline reporter alongside play-by-play announcer Albert and analyst Rond Barber. Originally from Colorado, Stavast graduated with a Bachelors degree in broadcast journalism from Chapman University. Kyle Busch was the only driver to appear as a guest analyst on a 2020 broadcast that did not return for any races in 2021.[10][11]. I know it can open other opportunities for women in the future, and I hope the younger girls aspiring to cover racing see the sky is the limit.. Then, keep on reading our list of best female NASCAR drivers. Cope made her beginning in this field through the Xfinity Series back in 2011. It was all stick and ball, mainly college football, Spake said this week while working at Long Pond, where the next race is scheduled for 1 p.m. I was a huge NFL fan, a huge college football fan when I was growing up. Jamie Little moved to Fox in 2014 and in 2015 became the first female pit reporter to cover both the . Before starting her career as a racer, she was a principal of a Louisiana Middle School, where she ended her tenure in 2004, leading to her first race in 2004 at Aarons 312. Besides racing, she runs Tinas Dream Ranch business and is also politically active. In 2007, she earned the title of the first female driver winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Weve made some gains, but we havent just been knocking it out of the park as far as catching up, so we just have to keep working and hopefully get better.. Over the past several years, Stavast has covered the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the Baja 1000, the Red Bull Air Race, and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Horton, a strength coach with the NBAs Milwaukee Bucks before moving into NASCAR in 1998, said the diversity pit crew program goes to colleges to show male and female athletes potential opportunities in stock car racing. A few hours later, she was joined by Dalanda Ouendeno on pit road, marking the first time two Black women changed tires for a team in the Daytona 500. In her free time, Vincie enjoys spending time with her family, hiking and reading suspense novels. These female racers are setting an example for the females of the next generation. I am so blessed on my job, said Little, but added, In five years, I would maybe not like to travel as much, but still be involved with racing. In 2007, Venturini was one of the commentators for DirecTV's NASCAR Hot Pass coverage, making her the first female play-by-play announcer in auto racing history. Although I've always preferred to be viewed as a motorsports broadcaster and not solely as a female broadcaster, it is an honor to be the first in this role. Little also worked for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), tire changers for the same team in NASCARs premier series. 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