Viewer's Guide: Las Vegas

The Nextel Cup Series returns this week at Las Vegas, but the biggest changes to the television schedule take place in the Busch Series.

For the first time this season Busch Series qualifying will air on SPEED, with the Sam's Town 300 lineup being set at 8 p.m. ET, Friday. That immediately follows Nextel Cup Series qualifying, also on SPEED, at 6 p.m. ET.

• NASCAR on SPEED click here

ABC is your place for Busch Series coverage on Saturday, beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 2:30 p.m. ET. Shortly after 3 p.m., LVMS chaplain Kenny Farmer will deliver the invocation, followed by the singing of the national anthem by Darryl Worley. The starting command is scheduled for 3:08 p.m. with the green flag set to wave at 3:16 p.m.

The race will be called by ESPN personalities and will be re-aired on ESPN2 at 3 a.m. ET, Sunday and on ESPN Deportes at 4 a.m. ET, Sunday.

After the Busch race fans can flip over to SPEED for Nextel Cup Happy Hour. The final UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 practice can be seen on a tape-delayed basis at 5:30 p.m. ET. It's the only practice session in either series that will be broadcast this weekend.

On Sunday, ESPN's NASCAR Now at 10 a.m. ET and SPEED's NASCAR RaceDay at noon set the tone for Cup racing. FOX is on the air from Vegas at 4 p.m. ET. Farmer will deliver the invocation at 4:30 p.m., followed by the national anthem, to be sung by Phantom of the Opera star Sierra Boggess. John Byers will give the starting command at 4:38 p.m. ET, with the green flag scheduled for 4:46 p.m.

This week's featured drivers on DirecTV NASCAR HotPass are Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Dale Jarrett and Carl Edwards.

For the second consecutive week there isn't a Craftsman Truck Series race. The series returns next week at Atlanta.

WEEKEND PROGRAMMING

Show: NASCAR Live
Network: SPEED
Time: 4 p.m. ET, Friday
Host: Steve Byrnes

Show: Trackside
Network: SPEED
Time: 5 p.m. ET, Friday; Re-airs: 3:30 a.m. ET, Saturday
Host: Steve Byrnes
Analysts: Larry McReynolds, Jeff Hammond, Elliott Sadler

Show: NASCAR Performance
Network: SPEED
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET, Saturday; Re-airs: 8 a.m. ET, Sunday; 1 p.m. ET, Sunday
Host: Larry McReynolds
Analysts: Chad Knaus, Bootie Barker (Continued)