Tonight at 7Pm Eastern Daylight Time ESPN will be showing the Sharp AQUOS 500 from California Speedway In Fontana, CA.
This post will host the TV comments from the race while it is in-progress and the comments from the post-race programming.
Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace, and Andy Petree will host tonight's coverage. The rules for comments are on the right side of the main page, just click the COMMENTS button below to add your opinion.
Thanks again for taking time out of your day to stop-by The Daly Planet and leave your opinion.
118 comments:
Oh great. It's Hollywood Musberger. Why?!?!?!?!?!?!
But we do have Dale Jarrett. That kinda makes up for it.
oh great Brent Mustardberger, I better switch back over to SPEED.
Boy I am enjoying SPEED...i think I will save ESPN for when I have no choice.
I realize not everybody has SPEED.
Also I tried to sign up at NASCAR.com but for audio/video, it says I MUST SIGN UP FOR 14 DAY TRIAL. I got a free membership then accidentally logged into something that said TRIAL 14 day Trackpass?!
So I wonder if those of you who "think it's free" for the rest of the year, have a paid membership yourself?
I know somebody here offered to help me around nascar.com but I got the free membership.
So, once this 14 day free membership expires, I guess no more access to the races online?
I am totally confused, but that entire site is a cluttered mess.
I did ask at SPEEDTV how many USE THE SITE FOR FREE? For VIEWING and listening purposes.
This is news to me that ANYTHING on NASCAR.com is free but John seems to know what he is talking about and I believe him.
Just can't figure it out yet though realize the Busch race was last night.
I have the MRN radio qued up if ESPN gets on my nerves.
Did Brad just say something stupid?
ESPN referring to Dale Jr. as The People's Champion (????) at the beginning of the prerace taped introduction isn't going to help him get into the Chase. I thought I'd heard everything, but The People's Champion is a new one - man I hope that name doesn't catch on. What about Gordon, Johnson, Kenseth, and Kurt Busch?
And those California sports teams ESPN showed in the Dale Jr. intro actually won championships. It seems Dale Jr. doesn't have to do actually win anything to get all the coverage. ESPN stop the Dale Jr overhype!! It's embarrassing to watch.
Good to see DJ in the studio. Score one for ESPN there.
John, can you find out from ESPN if Suzy Kolber is going to host the pre-race shows for the races on ABC? She just disappeared.Is she back on MNF full-time?
Musberger just compared Nascar to football basketball and baseball in less then 2 seconds. In the same breath he also tossed in Jr.'s struggle to the chase.
What is he doing in the booth? Does Fox put John Madden or Pat Summerall in as a utility infielder? Hell no. They get professionals that have an idea of what the hell they are saying. I'm sick of it.
Are they trying to drive to people to Hot Pass etc? (I'm switching to Direct TV next week cause of ESPN's horrid coverage of my sport)
They don't get it, NASCAR is not and never will be like any other sport. The chase is NOT the playoffs, its not even kinda like it.
The only people that care about the chase after next week will be 12 drivers. Everyone else will be out to win races just like they were last week. Thats what ESPN doesn't get with all their hype.
Suzy Kolber is on vacation for one week before the start of the NFL season, which will be a long couple of months for her. ESPN sent me an email explaining her absence. Brent is just filling-in.
Jr. a magician? Give me a break, this is racing, not football, this is our time, not football...
Why do they keep showing football comebacks? They couldn't find any NASCAR races where an underdog managed to win? Derrike Cope, maybe???
We non-Jr fans are going to have to suffer through ESPN's "Jr is King" coverage until ESPN figures out that isn't the way to get ratings.
BTW, Jimmie Johnson actually THANKED ESPN. First time a driver has done that all year.
Oh my god now going to the commercial theres a 30 second football montage comparing football to Jr.s struggle to get in again.
I'm a Jr. fan, but this is just so over the top I can't understand it. What are they thinking?
FOOTBALL LONG SHOTS ARE NOT NASCAR ESPN
Why does the wife have to be watching a movie on the only TV in the house that gets SPEED????
On Speed following a live interview with Clint Bowyer...Jimmy Spencer trying to give Clint a compliment said..."Clint reminds me of myself"
very community minded with his Dad back in Kansas....(paraphrase).too much he really is Dizzy Dean..for those non-stick & ballers Dizz loved to say "he slud into second" Someone..not me needs a Spencer malaprop collection...
I clicked over during a commercial to see them show Kyle B talking about Gibbs racing going to Toyota.
Wonder how the owners liked kyle spilling the beans??
Kyle needs to read the book how to win friends and influence people.
I haven't been watching ESPN to hear all the JR hype but I am sure Jr wishes they would SHUT UP as well. He is not fan of this soap opera his life has turned out to be and the media that follows every hiccup.
Jr wasn't too happy while being interviewed by AB. He looked very annoyed...
SophiaZ123,
Live Leaderboard on nascar.com is free. Pitcommand and raceview are not. If you go nascar.com now, there is a picture of Ricky Rudd's face. Click it and live leaderboard will open for you. Once it is open you will see a button for the radio feed.
If you click the Live Cup Racing picture, it should give you free access to the ESPN stream if you want to watch the tv coverage online (in the event a race is ever bumped by football - because there would be no other reason to want to watch ESPN online ;-)).
anon 7.45
Thanks!!
I finally understand.
Yes, why else watch online!
:-)
Boy, Dale Junior certainly has a problem with ESPN. I noticed he was not in the promo video for the Hollywood party ESPN threw for the NASCAR drivers.
They even gave Junior a veteran in Allen Bestwick, but it did not change his mood. Wow...
Wendy is working pit road, doing a wonderful job.
His mood definitely showed. I'm not a fan of his but you have to feel a little something for him. Just get all this over, so he can become a driver and only a driver. Notice they are not talking to my man Tony..
UGH!
Paris Hilton
I just threw up in my mouth a little...
Spoke too soon..
Nice of them to let us hear some small talk between Petree and Wallace there...
I wish Jr would just take Tony's approach to ESPN and not talk to them. Maybe then ESPN will lay off "the people's champion."
Speaking of Tony, AB is talking to Tony again this week. Hmmm....
Did you hear what Brent said,...Paris has worked her way thru the NFL, now she into NASCAR... wow, what a horrible thought
No, I think he said she worked her way through both the NFL and MLB, and now NASCAR. She's a real trooper, I guess.
LOL, still what a horrible thought.
Only Brent could have gotten away with saying something like that!
Ok...I am a Dale Jr fan, along with many other drivers I like, but HONESTLY, do they THINK they are helping his cause with all this DRAMA and HYPE.
Man, I wonder what Jr thinks of all this BS.
I hope they don't keep this up the entire race.
It was good to see a lot a negative comments from JR, Spencer, Herm and then on Tradin' Paint with JR and Kyle Petty on California Speedway. Boring racing. Teams don't like the infield. Cali is not a real nascar venue compared to the traditional Southern 500.
It was good to see honest negative criticism of some of nascar's decisions.
Have not even started the race yet and OH BOY DRAFT TRACK!!!!!!!!
But Rusty, why isn't there any dirty air coming off Burton's car after he pulls under the other car??? DAFT TRACK makes no sense!!!
If I didn't know that Mr. Dawratty was a former athlete, I'd be tempted to refer to him as a "male cheerleader"
Everything is just super-duper and hunky-dory. Everyone he talks about is "top notch".
Kudos to ESPN for not going to commercial as the 78's engine blew and for staying all the way through pit stops! Also, seems like Brad has spoken to everyone this wkend, which is good. They've had trouble finding a role for him and if he can be the "inside story" guy from the garage, that's pretty cool.
Of course, after I compliment them, they miss a restart...
Glad they missed the restart, AGAIN.
First missed restart - nice!
At least they mentioned that Andretti stayed out. They've had problems catching stuff like that in the past...
Just how hard is it to actually show the restarts? Is there some technical wizardry that has to be performed that we're all unaware of? I mean if FOX and TNT can get that part right, surely the great ESPN can do it as well, right?
MISSED RESTART #1
Nice job of split screen on the "promo" or update whatever ya call it. Only wish it would have been th race on the big side. Not a huge deal because it was on a caution lap, but nice job at trying to show a restart.
Rusty: "As this race track gets night"
What?!?!?!
I think ESPN has finally gotten one thing right.
They now know that they need to show the cars live as the make/don't make their decision to head for pit road. Good job ESPN. Please keep it up!!!
Have they showed the damage to the 99 when he was hit by the 42 on pit road? They totally missed that or chose not to talk about it.
Nice way to screw up a good broadcast ESPN. Interview a celeb.
Oh come on!!! Just when I'm praising them, they cut away from the pitstops without telling us who gained/lost positions.
They'd better reset the field before the green...
Well, Kurt Busch came down pit road first, but he didn't come off pit road first. Who did? Guess we'll never know...
Thanks ESPN!
DJ should be in the booth...
I can't believe no one pointed out the stupid question Alan Bestwick asked Stewart during the prerace show. I thought that guy had a brain. I guess not.
Don't kid yourself, Fox, TNT, and even SPEED missed their fair share of restarts. This is something NASCAR needs to fix. Every other major televised sport actually coordinates with whomever is airing the race such that play doesn't resume until TV is back from a break. NASCAR needs to do the same thing.
Why does Punch sometimes read the top-5 backwards when they go to commercial? Is it just me, or is that needlessly confusing???
There looks like there is some good close racing back in the pack, but BY GOD WE WILL KEEP THE CAMERA ON THE * CAR. To heck with everybody else.
Well, thankfully they didn't have to rush off to Stevie Wonder after that round of stops. They at least gave us the spots gained/lost for the top-10...
Well, that was a fairly decent use of the "tech center".
I wish they could do something so Brewer's voice didn't sound like he was eating peanut butter. Anyone else notice that? It's not easy to describe it exactly in words, but his voice almost always sounds "sticky".
ESPN cannot control "hard" breaks (breaks called to air local breaks). Most missed restarts come off the "hard" breaks.
And oh, by the way: the "California Speedway Girls" were such a bad distraction the drivers who are married chose to push these scantily-clad girls off in favour of their wives. Gillian's move to copy F1 and MotoGP (Wendy Venturini called them "umbrella girls") is a disaster.
There is some good racing back in the pack. I am watching Hotpass and the #20 started 22nd, made it up to 16th, then went back to 27th and is now up to 6th. If Tony is passing that many cars then I am sure others are as well. It's ashame that ESPN is always focused on the leaders or the #8 trying to get into the Chase.
At least they're giving us a decent "Through the Field" tour right now. Well, for the top-10 at least...
Graphic said "Mike Bliss" when they were showing the 49 car...
Wow, ESPN is displaying an AT&T logo under Jeff Burton's face on the 31 car's on-screen graphic. Won't that make NASCAR mad?
I think the fact ESPN doesn't even know who is in the 49 shows what they think of NASCAR.
Too bad DJ is stuck with the rest of those fools.
Thank goodness for HotPass. I am thoroughly enjoying Steve Byrnes and Wendy Venturini on Smoke's channel.
CWEBS, you're right about Brewers voice. Any one remember Buddy Bakers accouncing voice? It was almost the same sound.
Why throw a yellow for that spin? He got going okay!
Waste of a yellow..
Dr. Punch got cutoff in mid-sentence when they went to that commercial, at least on my cable system...
steve l -
I don't remember that about Buddy Baker, but I'm sure you're right.
You'd think they could do something different with the mic or some kind of sound processing to minimize it...
HOLY CRAP I"M SCARED cwebs your are reading my mind Tim Brewer sounds like he has a mouth full of saliva it is disgusting.
it's probably chewing tobacco..
yuk!!
Is there anyone else in the booth? Or is Rusty the only one? Did Doc and Andy's microphones stop working or something?
I just had to load up NASCAR 2004 so I could continually wreck the #2 car.
Someone gains 23 spots on a pit stop lets comment on it and say what a great job they did. But lets keep it a secret as to how they did it.
COME ON, 23 SPOTS!!!! SAY 2 tires fuel only SOMETHING!!!!!
seiko -
Good point! Let's see if they tell us before the green...
Hey, I was just wondering something. Why doesn't ESPN have a telestrater? With all their new technology and toys, you'd think that would be a natural things to have?
Well, there we go. Two tires for Biffle on that stop. He's dropping back fast, but at least they finally talked about him...
Junior needs a "Hail Mary" to get back in the chase? I wish someone could explain to me how that makes any sense at all!
Matt
I can just see Muffin-Burger with one of those things!!
A telestrator? Tell me who's going to use it! I could MAYBE see them entrusting Andy with one...
cwebs
I swear I was just about to type..
My goodness now they have Doc doing football analogies.
And with all the pre race and race Jr. Bush hype... Why when the #2 drops 5 spots during the commercial break don't they say a word?
Junior trying to make the chase is the rough equivalent of a football team with 2 games left in the season needing things to fall their way in order to make the playoffs. No respectable football analyst would ever say "that team needs a Hail Mary". It just doesn't make sense!
seiko -
"And with all the pre race and race Jr. Bush hype... Why when the #2 drops 5 spots during the commercial break don't they say a word?"
Good question! They didn't say much when the #2 fell back into the field on one of those early rounds of caution flag pitstops either! They were too busy glamming it up with Stevie Wonder!
Why show a recap of an accident from a previous race in the middle of green flag racing? For a moment, I thought the 00 was wrecking live. We've seen enough of his wreck this weekend, you can just mention it at this point, please, ESPN. If it wasn't for the fact the replay was during the day, there would have been no indication until after the replay that it was, in fact, a replay.
OK, ESPN, I know you have to do your SC 30in30 update and want to do your race review too, but please NEVER put them back to back during green flag racing. You know when it's at the 30 min point, so don't do your race review until the next commercial break. Just a word of advice.
Rusty: "Longest and widest pit roads."
I think he meant to say: "Longest and widest pit STALLS."
Wow, Vickers gained a bunch of spots. Wonder if he just took two tires? That would make sense, considering that they just made green-flag stops.
Did any lead-lap cars stay out???
Ok here we go again 11 spots by Vikers on pit road..... HOW??? Did he take 2 only fuel only stay out????
Just so aggravating.
I would be nice if they could tell us these kind of things before the restarts!
Full throttle crap, I hate that!
Ok Rusty how can we remember that Vikers only took 2 tires when YOU DIDN'T TELL US IN THE FIRST PLACE???
First real mistake by the directors tonight was that deal with Sorenson. Instead of following him when he started to slow, they kept following Harvick and Busch with those rediculous points bubbles above them. Bad Move.
NASCAR, can we please get just one more caution lap so we can see the restart!
Just a thought experiment . . . what will they do if that "unsponsored" orange car were to win the race?
seiko -
Exactly! Who was Rusty talking to? The viewers were never knew that Vickers had only taken two tires until that very moment!
matt -
They compounded that mistake when they proceeded to linger to long on the incident and forgot to cover the cars heading for pit road...
I don't remember watching a race that had so many non-racing commercials in it. It's about all football previews.
Who's paying all the advertisement bills for this thing?
Oops, make that "viewers never knew" and "linger too long" in those above comments...
Rick Hendrick, the "voice of God"?
Please.........
What a stupid statement Rusty!!
Musberger: "NEXTEL NASCAR Cup"
steve l:
Yeah, I wish they had mentioned something about it seems like Hendrick may not just throw Kyle to wolves, like he did with Vickers last year.
Also, have they ever mentioned that these drivers trying to clinch a spot in the chase is based off Junior actually winning and leading the most laps?
Hmmm, I seemed to have missing exactly WHY Hamlin went to pit road when the green flag flew.
OK, ESPN, don't get lazy now. Why did Denny Hamlin pit? And how bout an update on Reut or perhaps a mention of AJ Allmendinger's great run? These guys may not be named Jr, but they do have fans.
Nothing like 15 laps late with that info on Hamlin.....
Hey Matt, Rusty got our message! Now he needs to mention Labonte's good run, and Kahne getting the lucky dog and now running in the top 10.
I think someone at ESPN is reading these comments in real time. Just after I finished reading mithmurr's comment, Rusty started talking about Hamlin...
I don't think it sounds very professional to hear Rusty say "Driving his BRAINS out".
Stewart is not coming in, lets see if they say anything about it.
It took him taking the lead for them to talk about Stewart. And while it gives me a feeling of power, Hamlin only got mentioned when he got lapped, and Labonte when he took the lead. So they are keeping it to the leaders and the Chase bubble.
Oh, and everyone raise their hands for the question to Blaney about if the blowing the engine made him think about the points and being in 35th.
Why did they keep saying Tony Stewart staying out was bad strategy? It failed, certainly. But, Tony had nothing to lose, the difference between a 9th and 19th place finish doesn't mean much when you're in the chase. Stealing a win though . . .
I'm just so excited for the chase to start! Imagine only 12 cars (well 13 including Jr.) to talk about the entire race.
How refreshing will that be, only 12 cars plus the peoples champ out there on the race track. The other cars on the track are there just as distractions to the "real" racing. Plus theres always the chance that one of them will haul off and hit the wall so hard that rusty can invoke Dale Sr.
Drove the "salt" out of that race car!~!
ok...was watching in the living room earlier with room mate and no computer in there...had TV muted most of the time and listening too MRN.
I love Jr but this is nuts. Did ESPN YAP about him non stop?? I heard on MRN there are actually 43 cars in this race tonight.
Also, where did Dale Jarrett's voice come from and Brad...are they all in the booth? Maybe I missed something in the last few minutes but when I came by to my room and the tv, I thought it was the three stooges in the booth.
I swear, I wish Jr would tell these folks off if they interview him after the race.
I still want to know what dumb question AB asked Stewart...
but honestly..the camera work has not been good at all.
and the split screens of race cars...good idea but the cars were so far away they looked like gnats on the TV.
Geez.
MRN guys are fantastic...even if they are off sync from the broadcast.
What's hanging off of the BK car???
Didn't anybody in the booth see that?????????
I believe Jarrett is sitting right next to Brad.
And no, Johnson's team has done a crap job tonight. And Johnson's driving is horrible. It's just a terrible fluke of the time-space continuum that he is somehow in the lead by that much. And if every one of these drivers is as good as they say and is going to win a race in the next year, there will be about 45 races next year I think.
sophiaz123:
The 00 BK MWR Camry is in 32nd in the race, and not in the Chase. Therefore, the car *does not exist* unless it is in a wreck. Then it will get replays during green flag racing of an entirely different race.
I just got hit by a blinding flash of the obvious.
I was thinking what ESPN will have to talk about during the NASCAR Now and races. Now that Jr. wont be in the chase. Considering that that is about 80% of their coverage.
Its so simple!!! The can talk about where in the point standings Jr. would be if he actually MADE it into the chase!!!! My gift to you ESPN my gift to you.
I can see it now showing the 12 chasers then skipping down to the 15 or 16th spot showing where Jr would be. If he made it in. How great will that be!
This of course if the sponsorship and car number things are beaten to death.
I’ll give ESPN a B- tonight. I gave them a C for last week’s Cup race at Bristol, and they definitely did a better overall job tonight. I would have given them a B or maybe even a B+ if they hadn’t forced Stevie Wonder into the broadcast at such an inappropriate time.
ESPN seems to at least be trying to improve in these areas:
Discussing pit strategy.
Covering caution flag pitstops.
Showing the cars committing (or not) to pit road.
Preparing Daugherty to say something useful.
Restraining themselves with the DAFT TRACKER.
Otherwise:
They still don’t seem to fully grasp the concept of “resetting the field” before a restart. There was some progress with this tonight, but it’s still a problem.
Rusty still has a lot of rough edges.
Two missed restarts. I guess that’s about average.
Full Throttle needs to go. If they insist on continuing to use it, they need to do a better job of picking the right restart for it.
The in-race reporter needs to go too, especially if they’re not going to utilize it at all near the end of the race. Yes, I know Bowyer was not near the front by then.
They did very little to keep us up to date on any cars outside the top-15. Admittedly, this is an almost unavoidable problem, but they can do better.
I think either Dale Jarrett or Ricky Rudd would fit nicely in the booth. You all know who they would replace…
cwebs
Good God...they are still asking JR about the FRICKING POINTS. Jr looks exhausted as most all drivers are.
HELLO...the boy is exhausted.
Can ESPN NOT talk about somebody else????
How about an update on Rudd's wrist?
Bobby Labonte had another good run but of course, he is not in the chase so who cares??
REMEMBER VICTORY LANE IS ON LIVE.
Ug....Carl looks so not interested in Jamie Little
Oh no. Stuart Scott. I can't stomach that...
Thanks John for allowing us the space to vent.
Ya'll take care!
I thought that the last 15 laps or so with Jerry, Andy, Rusty, Brad and Dale chatting was cool. It def added something that has usually been lacking and that was excitement and interest in the race. Dale did a great job talking bout guys like Ruet, Ragan and Blaney and is the only ESPN announcer who knows that they are actually in the race. But this rush to get off the air to Sportscenter was terrible and will only get worse with ABC. I doubt we'll even hear from the winner once we get to ABC.
P.S. I think we all know AB did not want to ask Jr about the points, but was being "forced" to by ESPN producers.
Always a pleasure, your comments are great and we have a very diverse bunch of regulars.
The new Fontana NEXTEL Cup column is up for your comments. Thanks for stopping-by.
JD
What is the point of Musberger? It's painfully obvious he knows nothing about racing and his numerous mistakes are embarrassing. And what was with having Stevie Wonder in the booth? Was he the only celebrity the Speedway could attract?
I love Tradin Paint. Kyle Petty has the cojones to take on tougher items and give his honest opinion. Thank God some people had the guts to tell it like it is---that the California race is a complete waste of time, the people in CA have no interest in Nascar and they need to give this race date to another track.
Overall, I'd give this race coverage a D+. With their overhype of Jr to the continued mistakes, they'll have to work hard to get a C from me.
All you California haters need to lighten up. Where's all the nasty talk about Phoenix getting two races or Texas getting two? Oh wait, its because Phoenix or Texas didnt take your precious Southern 500 away. *sigh*
I wish I could have been there, but I cant afford $100 for tickets, and I already had other plans Saturday instead of the Busch race. Guess I'm part of the problem.
Besides CA, name another track that has boring races.
Kevin in SoCal
Rusty proves that excellence IN a sport doesn't make one good at describing it. His limited vocabulary (does every driver have to "drive his 'blank' out" or "drive the 'blank' out of" his car? I'll tell you what, he's not very good.
Lots of decisions by the producer to start doing a pre-planned "story" complete with pre-produced graphics, when according to MRN and RaceView, something important was happening on the track.
You need to be embarrassed when you're the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports but must reply on a reporter pointing at a pit crew's own TV monitor to see the videotape, shot with their camera, showing a crew member being run over. To put this in terms ESPN can understand, do you go to a baseball team's video guy to get a shot of their runneer stealing a base?
Speaking of that, PLEASE stop using other sports to illustrate concepts in NASCAR. You don't produce stories with race video to explain how other sports work.
And I am still waiting to see ESPN explain the foul line in baseball every game or what all those stripe on the ice mean in hockey. After all, they explain every rule in stock car racing in every single race, so I figure a complete description of every rule in every sport must be the new policy.
All you California haters need to lighten up. Where's all the nasty talk about Phoenix getting two races or Texas getting two? Oh wait, its because Phoenix or Texas didnt take your precious Southern 500 away. *sigh*
Exactly.
10,000 seats were empty for Sunday's race. Other tracks sell out for every race.
If Californians don't want to go see NASCAR races, then why hold two races there?
Reinstate the traditional tracks when the new ones don't draw.
Texas got a second race when NASCAR moved the race from Rockingham. And if you think there's been no "nasty talk" about that, you haven't been paying attention.
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