Flood making a big jump

Sam Flood, who'll produce the TNT coverage of this weekend's NASCAR event at New Hampshire International Speedway, got a big promotion Tuesday. He became coordinating producer of NBC Sports, placing him at No. 3, behind Dick Ebersol (chairman Sports & Olympics) and executive producer David Neal.

Both Neal and Flood took a step up the NBC ladder when executive producer Tommy Roy stepped aside to relocate to Florida. Roy will continue to produce NBC's golf coverage, which includes the US Open and the PGA Tour's swing through Florida.

Flood didn't hesitate when asked what the new job would mean. ''More overlap in working with Dick [Ebersol]," he said. ''Whenever you have the chance to work and interact with him, it's a great experience."

Flood's main assignments will remain the same: NASCAR, NHL (once the NBC TV deal with the league officially comes to fruition), Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies, Summer Olympics track.

Looking down the road, Flood's experience as a feature producer for NBC's NFL pregame shows would signal a role when that league returns to NBC as ''Sunday Night Football" next season.

Flood has many Massachusetts ties. He attended Noble & Greenough School, where his father was headmaster and hockey coach, and Williams College.

When Flood stepped into the NASCAR producer's seat, he said it was like having to follow 43 ''balls" instead of the one used in most major sports.

He'll be aware of all 43 cars in Sunday's New England 300 (TNT, 1:30 prerace, green flag at 2 p.m.), but Flood's cameras and most of the 80,000 who will jam NHIS will be following the drama of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, the two NASCAR luminaries who are fighting to get into the mix for the season-ending 10-race ''Chase for the Nextel Cup."

NBC calls the first 10 races of its 20-race NASCAR season ''The Race to the Chase," and this is a good one, with both Earnhardt, despite his win last week in Chicago, and Gordon on the outside looking in with seven races remaining (including Sunday's). The top 10 drivers in the points race -- and any other drivers within 400 points -- qualify for the ''Chase," which begins Sept. 18 when the circuit returns to Loudon, N.H., for the Sylvania 300.

''It used to be that you'd get down to the end of the season and only three or four drivers realistically had a chance at the points title," said Flood. ''Now there are 16 to 18 who could get there."

TNT will air the pole qualifying tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., followed by the New England 200 Busch race at 3 p.m. WWZN's ''Weekend Thunder," with host Bob McKinnon, will be at NHIS previewing the action tomorrow (noon-2:30 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m.-1:15 p.m.). CN8's ''Sports Pulse" tonight at 10 p.m. will feature a NASCAR segment.

Ratings out of the park
Boston returned big ratings for both Monday's ''Home Run Derby" and Tuesday's All-Star Game. Nationally, ESPN did a 4.9 rating for the home run contest, but the event did an eye-popping 12.6 rating in Boston. According to Comcast's Amy Lau, that was the top-rated show in the Boston market Monday night, and the numbers were even stronger in the male 25 to 54 demographic: 13.1. The All-Star Game did a 19.5 rating in Boston (33 share). That put Boston No. 3 among the 56 Nielsen metered markets. St. Louis (23.3 rating/34 share) and Detroit (22.5 /33) were the top markets. Nationally, the game did a 9.8 rating . . . Everyone gets a piece of this weekend's four-game Sox-Yankees series. NESN had last night's game, tonight at 7 is Channel 38's game in Boston (NESN elsewhere in New England), Fox has tomorrow's national telecast (Channel 25, 1:20 p.m. with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver), and ESPN has Sunday's game at the unusual ''Sunday Night Baseball" starting time of 6 p.m. as a lead-in to its ESPY Awards telecast at 9 p.m. . . . NBC has added Cris Collinsworth as studio analyst for its NFL studio show Wednesday. Given Collinsworth's relationship with NBC in-house host Bob Costas on HBO's ''Inside the NFL," it's a good bet they could be the key players for NBC's coming pregame show. Fox released Collinsworth immediately, making Troy Aikman the No. 1 Fox analyst. Why make the move, especially a year before NBC goes on the air? Collinsworth cited family, especially during the six years his contract will run and coincide with his children's high school years. ''At Fox, I was on the road from Friday to Sunday, meaning I'd miss their games," he said. ''This way, I'll be home for those Friday night football games." . . . Neal, who oversees all of NBC's Olympics production, is only the sixth person to hold the executive producer title at the network, following: Scotty Connal (1970-77), Don Ohlmeyer (1977-82), Mike Weisman (1982-89), Terry O'Neil (1989-93), and Roy (1993-2005) . . . Another promotion: CN8 has named executive producer Bill McColgan its director of New England sports programming and signed ''Sports Pulse" host Ed Berliner to a new two-year contract.

Marvelous analyst
Marvin Hagler will be the in-studio guest analyst for tonight's ''Friday Night Fights" (ESPN2, 9 o'clock). It's a case when the analyst (Hagler will join Brian Kenny in Bristol) is higher profile than the featured bout between featherweights Jason Litzau and John Nolasco in Temecula, Calif. It's an encore for Hagler, who was in Bristol last June. ''He got the greatest reaction of any of the top fighters we've had. He's not in the mainstream that much, so it's special to have him because he's held in the highest regard by all fans," said Kenny . . . Former stars also will be on display on Channel 4 tomorrow from 2-3 p.m. and Sunday from 5-6 p.m. as part of the ''EA Sports Quarterback Challenge." Current players Matt Hasselbeck, Ben Roethlisberger, and Jake Delhomme are at center stage, but another segment features past greats, including John Elway, Boomer Esiason, Bernie Kosar, and Dan Marino . . . TNT goes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from the British Open today and also has early-morning coverage tomorrow (7-9 a.m.) and Sunday (6-8 a.m.) leading into ABC coverage tomorrow (9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.) and Sunday (8 a.m.-1:30 p.m.).

Bill Griffith's e-mail address is griffith@globe.com.