LONG POND -- Shannon Spake grew up in football country. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Any kind of motorsports was far from her mind.

Jamie Little has been a motorsports fan since she was 13. But, it was the two-wheel variety. Specifically, moto cross.

On Sunday afternoon, the two women will tell a national television audience why their favorite driver is no longer in the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 or why another driver is on track to win.

Spake and Little are ESPN pit reporters for the network's live broadcasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. ESPN took over the race coverage last week from TNT, which had previously succeeded Fox.

"It was all stick and ball, mainly college football," Spake said this week while working at Long Pond, where the next race is scheduled for 1 p.m. "I was a huge NFL fan, a huge college football fan when I was growing up."

She recalled that while living in New York, where she moved after graduating from college (from Florida Atlantic University), she once saw popular NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. walking down the street in Manhattan and wondered what he was doing there. "I didn't realize it was (awards) banquet time."

She later moved to Charlotte, N.C., the mecca for NASCAR fans, and worked for the local Fox affiliate, WCCB. "Living in Charlotte and working in sports, you have no choice but to cover NASCAR. For me, being a sports fan, it was a whole new world opened up to me and really exciting because I got to learn a whole new sport and I fell in love with it," Spake said.

And she needed to bone up on her new sport as well.

Spake, who thought she would be working with the NFL in some capacity, said, "When I started with Speed Channel (in 2005), I think I locked myself in my house for three months, eight hours a day, 10 hours a day. It was research, research, research. I literally locked myself in my room and then one day I kind of realized that, Yeah, I kind of do know what I'm talking about.'"Š''

Little grew up covering and even participating in dirt track racing and became the first woman pit reporter on national telecasts of moto cross. That eventually led to becoming a pit reporter on IndyCar Series races and the first woman pit reporter for the Indy 500.

She soon began watching NASCAR races and her interest in that sport was piqued.

"I started seeing NASCAR and the more I saw NASCAR the more I thought Wow, NASCAR is somewhere I'd really love to be,'"Š'' she said.

Little dreamed of making it into NASCAR as a television reporter by age 30, and at age 29 she was there.

After covering the Summer and Winter X Games, supercross, moto cross and IndyCars, she joined ESPN's NASCAR team in 2007. The 2001 San Diego University grad also worked for NBC, TNN and Speed Channel.

Spake has also worked in a variety of capacities for HBO, MTV, VH-I, HBO and CBS.

NASCAR drivers, especially the likes of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch, can be intimidating, especially when things are not going well for them. But neither Little nor Frake have felt intimidated by any of them.

Said Spake, "If you ask good questions and show you are willing to learn, these guys want to help you. They know you are there for the right reasons and they are willing to share their knowledge with you."

Little added, "I don't think intimidation has ever been a part of me. I think that's why I have been able to succeed at every level of motorsports. Because I go in with the mentality that I respect what they do and they show a mutual respect. I want to share some insight with the fans. I want to be different. I want to bring something out of them."

When Stewart was about to come into NASCAR from open-wheel racing, she heard that she would need to be careful not to ask the wrong questions.

"I was prepared for Tony and he makes you work hard. He makes you work harder on your questions. Kyle Busch is like that, too, and so is Kevin Harvick, so there are definitely guys around who you've got to work a little harder, but I wouldn't say it's intimidation," LIttle said.

But she added that there are times after Busch has crashed and she or Shannon have to approach him with a microphone, there is always the worry about which Kyle Busch they will get, the mild or the bad one.

"It's a little nerve-racking inside," she said.

Spake said she continues to pick the brains of race team members, drivers and owners every week. "I still don't know more than 60 to 70 percent of what goes on and I certainly don't know 100 percent of what goes on underneath the car. I wasn't born in a garage, but they are so gracious to help you. It really is a family," she said.

She conceded that some drivers make her more apprehensive than others. "There are some drivers certainly that in some situations when you approach them, drivers who keep you on your toes on which questions to ask that don't (necessarily) make you nervous, but keep you on your toes because you don't want to ask a stupid question.

"They will let you know that it's a stupid question and they will let everyone else know that you just asked a stupid question," she added.

But, Spake added, "Ninety-five percent of the time, these guys are awesome. They are cool and they will help you out."

She noted that she and her fellow pit reporters have to interview drivers at their worst and at their best. "It's the joy of the win and the agony of defeat. It's why we do it."

LIttle said people should also understand that they are in the entertainment business.

"We are all in this traveling circus family. We get to know each other and their personal lives. It's an entertainment show. That's what it comes down to and we all know that."

Little admits she sees herself as sort of a trailblazer for women in the business, like Danica Patrick as a woman competitor on the Indycar circuit.

And Little would like to see NASCAR open its doors for women, whether it be Patrick, who has long been rumored to be moving to the stock car series, or someone like veteran Indy and stock car driver Sarah Fisher.

"I'd like to see a woman get a fair shot in some great equipment here (in NASCAR) and that is something I will always respect (former driver and current team owner) Bobby Rahal for. He gave Danica Patrick an opportunity that no other team owner was willing to do and Danica benefited from it," Little said.

"She had the skill and the talent."

Little said that there are NASCAR drivers who are constantly driving around just trying to make races and people think they are not good drivers.

"But, if you put them in (defending Sprint Cup champion) Jimmie Johnson's car and all of a sudden, he's great."

She said, "I wish that some of these team owners over here in NASCAR, like a Joe Gibbs or a Rick Hendrick, would put a Danica Patrick or a Sarah Fisher in one of their cars."

But, if it happens, will Little or Spake be around to cover it?

"I love what I do. I am so blessed on my job," said Little, but added, "In five years, I would maybe not like to travel as much, but still be involved with racing. Maybe be in the studio a little bit more."

She would like to get married and have a family, but remain in the sport in some capacity.

Spake said, "I've always been a person who looked two or three years ahead and right now I am doing exactly what I want to be doing. I am working for ABC and ESPN on live broadcasts on one of the most popular sports out there. I am happy with what I am doing right now. I want to live in this moment and enjoy it and when the time comes, then think about the future."