Statement from ESPN regarding the start of Saturday night's race at Charlotte

   Statement from ESPN regarding the start of Saturday night's Bank of America 500, which was unavailable on TV until Lap 26:

   “We started the race on ESPN3, which is available to 95 million homes. We’re fortunate to have multiple TV networks available, but tonight there were live events on all of them, including an epic football game on ABC and an overtime NBA game on ESPNEWS. We joined the race on ABC at lap 26.”

NASCAR statement regarding the start of Saturday night's race

   Statement from NASCAR regarding the start of Saturday night's Bank of America 500, which was not televised by ABC/ESPN:

   “We are disappointed that our fans were unable to see the start of tonight’s race. We do all we can with the networks to avoid delays when live sports run late. We’re grateful for the passion of our fans and are thankful to those now watching on ABC.”