Racer Kevin Conway profiled on ESPN E:60 on Tuesday

ESPN’s prime time newsmagazine program E:60 will air a NASCAR-related story in the episode airing Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. On the surface, it was a race like any other.  She would have been easy to miss.  A blur on the screen.  A flash in the frame.  But on that Saturday, if you looked closely at the swarm of cars covered in ads making perpetual lefts, you may have noticed her face, her smile, the hope that she brought to a family. 

 

Her name was Melissa Lech, and she had been home on summer break from the University of Illinois when she was struck and killed while walking on the side of the road.  The driver never stopped and after three years the case went cold.  Then came September 17, 2011. As E:60’s Chris Connelly reports, on that day, in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Chicagoland Speedway, former NASCAR driver Kevin Conway breathed new life into Melissa’s story by racing with her photo on his car. The gesture, an act of kindness to a family he had never met, would set in motion an unpredictable series of events that would include a startling confession, an innocent man spending two years in prison, and a family still in search of answers.

 

When the world had forgotten Melissa Lech, racecar driver Kevin Conway reminded them, and in the process forever changed the lives of two families.  Click HERE  for a preview clip of “Left Turn.”

 

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup racing will be featured in prime time on ABC as Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the Bank of America 500 on Saturday night, Oct. 11. Coverage of Race No. 5 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s 10-race version of the playoffs, begins with NASCAR Countdown presented by 5-Hour Energy at 7 p.m. ET with the race’s green flag at 7:46 p.m. The race will air in Spanish on ESPN Deportes on Oct. 13 at 4 a.m.

 

ESPN2 will air NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying at Charlotte on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. as well as practice sessions on Friday, Oct. 10, at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

 

The track also will hold a 300-mile NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Friday night, Oct. 10, and the race will air live on ESPN2 at 7 p.m., with the green flag at 7:46 p.m. ESPN Deportes will air the race at 4 a.m. on Oct. 11.

 

ESPN2 will air NASCAR Nationwide Series practice on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. All NASCAR programming on ESPN2 is available on computers, smartphones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One via WatchESPN, accessible to fans who receive ESPN’s linear networks as part of their video subscription from an affiliate provider.

 

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series has the weekend off but fans can still get their fill of drag racing action when ESPN2 airs highlights from the recent event for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series in Reading, Pa., on Sunday, Oct. 12, at 6 p.m.

 

RacingLive! on ESPN.com is a live blog where fans can engage in debate and discussion with ESPN.com writers and editors during the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. On Saturday night, Oct. 11, RacingLive! Charlotte will coincide with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/.

Adam Sinclair