By the mid-1970s, NASCAR was beginning to get sporadic television coverage, often on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. But it wasn’t until 1979 that a race was televised in its entirety. This would prove to be one of the most important moments in NASCAR history.

The 1979 Daytona 500 was the first NASCAR race to be aired flag-to-flag. The race was shown on CBS, and had the good fortune of a major snowstorm along the East Coast, which kept people indoors and brought the race a bigger audience than might otherwise have been expected. And NASCAR did not disappoint. On the last lap, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison were battling for the lead when they wrecked each other on the backstretch and went sliding into the infield. Richard Petty passed the two cars and went on for the win. Meanwhile, Bobby Allison, Donnie’s brother, had pulled his car in at the site where his brother was wrecked, and the two of them got into a huge fight with Yarborough, every moment captured live on national television.

During the 1980s and 1990s, races were broadcast in a makeshift format since each track negotiated its own television deal. As such, the races would alternate each week between CBS, ABC, NBC, ESPN, TBS, and TNN.

In 2001, NASCAR signed a $2.4 billion (yes, that's a "b") television deal with FOX and NBC, with FOX covering the first half of the season and NBC covering the second (the races are often aired on the two networks’ sister stations). The networks alternate coverage of the Daytona 500.

In 2005, NASCAR announced a new eight-year, $4.48 billion deal with FOX and Disney to cover NASCAR beginning in 2007. Essentially, FOX and TNT will cover the first half of the season each year, including the Daytona 500, while Disney will air the second half of the season on ABC and ESPN.

See also:

• America's Fastest-Growing Sport
• Bootlegging Roots
• NASCAR History
• NASCAR Lore: The Call
• Organization
• The Birth of NASCAR
• The Daytona 500
• The Growth of the Sport