Friday afternoon at 3:30PM Eastern Time, ESPN2 will present qualifying for the NEXTEL Cup Series from Martinsville, VA. This program is live and is scheduled to run for two hours and then join the Friday thirty minute edition of NASCAR Now.
On-hand to do the commentary will be Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace, and Andy Petree. Reporting from the pit road will be Allen Bestwick, Mike Massaro, Jamie Little and Dave Burns. The ESPN announcers have often been located in the Infield Studio for this program, which restricts them to watching the TV monitors for the action.
This page will host your comments about this program on ESPN2. You may add comments before, during, or after the live qualifying. Please read the rules for posting located on the right side of the main page, and restrict your comments to the TV personalities and issues associated with this program.
Thank you for taking the time to stop-by The Daly Planet and leave your opinion.
68 comments:
weather not looking good
from NWS for Martinsville
Today: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 76. South wind between 9 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tonight: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. South wind 7 to 10 mph becoming west. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
SPEED NASCAR Live is on. Jet driers are on the track but not moving because of light rain.
Steve Byrnes said drivers got in a short practice, between 3 laps (Gordon) and 20 laps (some other unnamed drivers). NASCAR says practice is over. Qualifying was moved to 4:45, but I don't think they'll start at that time. Truck qualifying is supposed to start at 2:40 and go until 4 and that's obviously not happening.
John Roberts says if it rains again, Cup drivers will line up by points and qualifying will be cancelled.
correction to my post at 2:36: truck series practice- not qualifying- is this afternoon.
Speed hasn't said one way or another (they're interviewing Cup guys, including Biffle who says he ran 7 laps with no qualifying run), but truckseries.com says practice is underway for the trucks.
Schedule Change****
NASCAR moved qualifying and practice around. Final practice is now until 4:30 PM ET, when it will be qualifying. ESPN2 is covering practice right now.
The change was made by NASCAR because of the weather.
I thought practice was called. They practiced a bit earlier until it rained again and then they called it. That's what all the websites as well as SPEED are reporting.
Interesting that ESPN2 is presenting the first rain-shortened Cup practice that I mentioned in my posts at 2:36 and 2:52 as a current practice that's going on right now. Because ESPN2 is broadcasting Cup instead of truck practice, which as of 3:35 p.m. is currently in session. (Hornaday is leading, Dario is 20th and Jacques is 27th, according to truckseries.com)
I know it was the first Cup practice on ESPN2 because they said Michael Waltrip just wrecked. Well, that actually happened more than an hour ago.
Now ESPN is saying its raining and Cup practice is delayed. I am rolling my eyes right now, Dr. Punch!
I hate to call people liars, but let's just say ESPN is not being honest in their presentation. ;-)
They also mentioned it as final practice. I don't think NASCAR has canceled tomorrow's practice already.
I also find it amusing that they didn't think practice was worth broadcasting earlier today when it was originally scheduled, but now since they are dealing with weather issues they decide to show it.
2008? - Jerry its still 2007.
ESPN2 also just replayed the NASCAR Now segment about the ride to the airport JD mentioned in his review. It was indeed very humorous and I liked it (more like that, please!), but the fact that are trying to pretend they're airing it because of the "Cup practice rain delay" is kind of bugging me.
According to a truckseries.com post at 3:53, the truck practice caution is now out due to rain.
here's their trackside live if anyone wants to keep track of the real action.
http://www.truckseries.com/tracksidelive/
Was the practice taped earlier while they were actually practicing? If yes, why did they not broadcast it live? This just seems very weird to me.
Anonymous said...
Was the practice taped earlier while they were actually practicing? If yes, why did they not broadcast it live? This just seems very weird to me.
October 19, 2007 4:06 PM
Exactly. They had no desire to broadcast it earlier and the only reason we are seeing it now is because they are in a jam with the weather.
They had no intention of showing it.
ESPN had other non-NASCAR programming scheduled til 3:30 PM eastern.
Presenting this stuff as live on ESPN2 is pretty bogus. Dr. Punch just said word has JUST come from NASCAR that there is no more Cup practice because of the rain.
Yeah, right.
truckseries.com reports at 4:02 that truck practice is back under green.
tape delayed huh?
lets see interviewed so far - Did I miss anyone - who will refuse?
Johnson
Kenseth
Burton
Bowyer
Huh ?!? I wonder why they taped it?
Ok, so I just got home and am watching the ESPN2 broadcast on DVR. So you guys are saying that this wasn't live coverage, it was taped from like 2:00?
That is very very strange, and I don't know why ESPN is being dishonest and acting like this was a live broadcast.
I give them credit for making a decision to tape practice and use that as rain fill when their 3:30 air time came. I'd much rather see practice instead of talking, despite the dishonesty... even though it didn't really work out too well because it looks like the session was cut short by rain almost immediately after ESPN started recording it (or was that really the scheduled end of practice and ESPN lied to us again?)
My only question is if ESPN decided to televise practice why haven't they shown us any practice speeds??? I fast-forwarded through the video packages and have caught up to live coverage. Have they ever shown any speeds from the session yet or did I just miss that during my fast-forwarding?
No mention of who were the fastest cars (that I saw), and certainly no mention of the "go or go situation" that ESPN avoids like the plague. Only the Chase drivers and Dale Jr. matter. Ward Burton, Jeremy Mayfield, Brian Vickers, A.J. Allmendinger, Kevin Lepage, Joe Nemechek, David Reutimann, John Andretti, even ESPN's own Dale Jarrett - the guys Fridays are all about - don't exist according to ESPN, as always. We did see Michael Waltrip, but that was only because he crashed. No follow-up. The last thing ESPN said was "maybe they're fixing the car or maybe they're going to a back-up".
"maybe they're fixing the car or maybe they're going to a back-up"
Wow, that's pretty bold! Talk about an announcer going out on a limb!
HA!!!!!!!!
ESPN finally showed practice speeds at 4:30, but only a graphic of where the Chase drivers ended up in practice. This is completely ridiculous. THERE ARE MORE DRIVERS OUT THERE THAN JUST THE CHASE DRIVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about a graphic showing where the go-or-go homers practiced and who would miss the field if qualifying mirrored practice? Hell, how about an old fashioned "top 10 fastest speeds in practice" graphic.
ESPN is already making me sick. Is anyone else offended by this or am I on an island by myself?
stricklinfan82 - Just saw that graphic with the Chase guys speeds. No mention of the other drivers, especially the go or go homers. Compare that to the SPEED coverage today where they were't allowed to show coverage, but still let us know the top ten speeds, that Mikey had damage, the Biffle-Busch issue, and scheduling updates. And I believe they still did a go or go home show.
Okay, I went to Jayski to find out what happened in the practice ESPN televised 5 minutes of and never followed up on:
Michael Waltrip's team repaired their primary car.
Jeff Gordon was fastest in practice, followed by Andretti, Raines, Jeff Burton, Green, and Ward Burton. Now I see why ESPN didn't show us the overall practice speeds - way too many non-Chasers in that group.
Based on practice speeds the go-or-go-homers that would make the field would be the 49, 4, 00, 84, 10, 36, 06, and 21 (champion's provisional). Missing the field would be the 83, 78, 44, 55, and 37.
ESPN's been on the air with 69 minutes of rain fill / practice coverage and mentioned none of the above information.
Again, I feel for people that rely on ESPN's TV broadcast for any real information. Maybe when Michael Waltrip makes his run, they'll come back from the commercial that skipped his run and let the rest of the nation know he repaired his primary car.
Truck Series practice completed as of 4:18 p.m. (per truckseries.com, and Sprague was the fastest)
No, Stricklinfan, you aren't "on an island by yourself". My driver is a GOGHer and I have to go to internet sites to have any idea what's going on with him. It's time they figure out that the Chasers (and Jr.) aren't the only reason fans watch Nascar! Thank goodness I have Trackpass, otherwise I'd never know what was going on with my driver when he makes the race. At least I can listen to his scanner and I know what problems he's having!
The current ESPN schedule has NASCAR Now following qualifying, followed by a qualifying re-air. There is no excuse for not using the TiVo style format. Go figure... the first car is rolling (a go-or-go homer nonetheless) and the whole screen is filled up with Greg Biffle talking to Mike Massaro.
Go figure. Nothing but NASCAR Now and a qualifying re-air following this broadcast, yet ESPN's still not using the TiVo style format. Thanks!!!!!!
At least they skipped Sauter instead of Riggs, which was the right decision if one of the two HAD TO be skipped. Riggs is a go-or-go homer and Sauter is not.
Did I just hear Mike Massaro mention that the trucks were also at Martinsville this week. Looks like he didn't get the memo that if you work for ESPN you're supposed to ignore things that air on other networks.
Okay, I take that back. It's looks like they are using the TiVo style format and just decided to skip both of Johnny Sauter's laps like they did last week at Charlotte anyway. What does ESPN have against Johnny?
They also skipped Elliott Sadler's first lap. It would be nice to see them clean up the TiVo style a little bit more to allow us to see BOTH of EVERY driver's laps.
I have a regular size TV. With all the graphics on the screen, and the car in the small box, I have a close-up view of a car. I can't get a good prospective of the car on the track. I just have a close-up view of a car with no sense of speed or ability to compare lines with previous cars.
I can feel my hair turning gray as I type. ESPN, I'm not having fun here.
Based on Dr Punch's comments in regards to Bobby Labonte / The King / 43 car ... It's quite evident that he DOES read this site ...
I told people last year to NOT get overly excited about ESPN coming back to NASCAR as they'd only be setting themselves up for disappointment ... Guess what?? They did NOT listen to me and now they're complaining ... I warned them ... Based on the treatment that ESPN did to the Craftsman Truck Series, I knew they'd screw up back at Daytona and from the gate they proved me right ...
At least "the girls" aren't at the track today ... They give me a headache ...
I just had to laugh as Rusty referred to Jimmy Fennig as Jimmy Finnegan.
There was an old man named Jimmy Finnegan, he had whiskers on his chinnegan
Ok, they've finally figured out the TiVo style. They come back and show Casey Mears's entire run starting from the time he rolled off pit road.
As awful as their rain fill coverage was, they've actually done a very good job once qualifying started. If they could have cleaned up missing both of Sauter's laps and the first lap of Elliott Sadler the broadcast would have perfect to this point. They're focusing on the drivers on the track and we've seen the entire runs of almost every driver thanks to the TiVo style format.
Yes I complain a lot when it's justified but I'm also not afraid to give credit where credit is due, as evidenced by this post.
Too funny ... They go to commercial when Jeffy's on track ... LOL ... And he takes the pole temporarily ...
And then they Tivo'd it to annoy some of us ...
That's what the TiVo style format is - they "freeze" the feed to take a commercial and pick back up right where they left off when the commercial ends. No need to spoil things for those of us not watching live online scoring... ESPN will show it eventually, just on a slight delay :)
The TiVo style format isn't a good thing, it's a GREAT thing!
Anonymous said...
Too funny ... They go to commercial when Jeffy's on track ... LOL ... And he takes the pole temporarily ...
My station did not go to commercial during JG's run. Wonder why yours did? Still hasn't after Hornish's run.
stricklinfan82 - That's why some of us go to RacingOne to fill in the blanks that ESPN is chainsawing through their coverage ...
Note to Sam - STOP getting interviewed on tv prior to qualifying ... They're working their evil voodoo on you ...
karen - The commercial aired on ESPN prior to them actually showing Jeffy's run ... They're using the Tivo method of qualifying, where they tape it & then show it after a commercial ...
Right now - Blaney's just finished his run ...
Fantastic job of ESPN following the go-or-go-home situation throughout the qualifying session. It looks like someone is listening to our criticisms and adjusting accordingly.
Blaney, Harvick, Stermme - all have made their runs
Right now - Blaney's just finished his run ...
As I post this, Blaney is running. 3-4 minutes behind, are we?
Jimmie's finished his run ...
So are you guys actually criticizing the TiVo style coverage? I personally love being able to see every car run, even if TV ends up 10 or 15 minutes behind live time.
Raines just finished his run ...
About a 4-5 minute "delay" ...
So are you guys actually criticizing the TiVo style coverage? I personally love being able to see every car run, even if TV ends up 10 or 15 minutes behind live time.
Oh, absolutely not criticizing the TiVo coverage. Just wondering. The trio in the booth kind of sound like they're enjoying themselves today. I like Petree's personality a lot.
If not for the "TiVo" style, we'd probably miss most of he non-top-35 drivers' attempts!
All they have to do is be HONEST with us ... Tell us that you're gonna show us all of the drivers, even IF it means doing the ol' TIVO routine ... DON'T try to play it off as it being completely "live" ...
Vickers done
Problems with Yeley?? Did he have issues in practice and get an "excused" from his scheduled qualifying position??
Kurt done ...
Kahne & Newman done
I don't think ESPN's being dishonest about this coverage being slightly delayed. Fox/Speed Channel invented the TiVo style format at Rockingham in 2001. They explained what this new format was and how it would work, and I don't think they've ever "promoted" or "hyped" it since. I think most fans watching understand what's going on and can quickly figured out whether what they are watching is live or TiVo'ed.
There's a difference between a slight TiVo style delay and the 2 hour tape-delayed coverage of practice that was implied to be live earlier today. I'm guessing that they decided to tape their rain fill show earlier in the day so Speed Channel's Truck Series wouldn't be practicing in the background if they went live at 3:30. That was being dishonest to the viewers, the TiVo style format of qualifying is not dishonesty in my opinion, because it is basically the "norm" in qualifying qualifying coverage, just new to ESPN.
Why are we listing who's done?
The Tivo format is great. This enables everyone to see all the cars take their laps. Sure, there is a slight delay this way, but well worth it to see all the cars qualify. JMO There is the option to follow one of the leaderboards if you really want the up to the minute live results.
So people can see how much of lag there is ...
The "lag" gets loner as the show progresses.
Why is this important all of a sudden?
Qualifying's been done this way on SPEED for years.
Anonymous said...
So people can see how much of lag there is ...
October 19, 2007 6:05 PM
We are aware that there is a lag. There almost always is, as the Tivo format is used often. Most of us don't mind.
There is lag... we get it, we don't need to be constantly updated. Longtime fans are used to the TiVo style qualifying format, and most of us (including myself) have been screaming for ESPN to follow the other networks' leads and adopt the same format themselves.
They have apparently listened and I am thrilled as a result!
Ugh.... How can you miss Bill Elliott's entire run with the TiVo style format in place???????? ESPN was doing so well up until now :(
You still have to pay attention, and ESPN's shown this season that--even with this delay-sytle format--they STILL miss runs.
Not a mention of why certain cars - Harvick - Yeley didnt go out on theire scged qualif spot.
The coverage improved. Glad they are trying. I've moved over to SPEED.
My Review of ESPN2's Friday Coverage at Martinsville:
Qualifying: B+
Praises
- used the TiVo style format
- good job following the go-or-go situation throughout the session (who was locked in, on the bubble, and bumped from the field after every go-or-go-home car ran)
- the announcers focused on the on-track action instead of joking around with their guests like it was an ESPN version of Trackside
Critiques
- the TiVo style is great, but ESPN still needs to clean it up a little bit. For the second week in a row we missed both of Johnny Sauter's laps. We also missed the entire run of Bill Elliott and Elliott Sadler's first lap. There is no excuse for this happening with the TiVo style format in place. We should see every driver's complete qualifying run, not 45 of the 48 drivers' runs. We also got a full-screen camera shot of Jeff Burton standing on pit road while Kasey Kahne was finishing his lap, which was a small blunder by the guys in the truck.
- When a go-or-go homer is on the track the announcer should tell us what position he needs to reach to either lock himself in or bump someone else out of the field. Too often we hear the ESPN announcers say something like "Driver X needs to run a 20.460 to make the race and bump driver Y out of the race". That information doesn't help us while we're watching the driver's run. All wee can see is his projected position upon concluding his lap, so why not give us the POSITION he needs to reach so we can follow the drama of whether or not the current driver will make it in? Speed uses the green line on the position slider, which is immensely helpful in situations like that.
Rain Fill / "Practice" coverage: F-
- this was apparently taped 2 or 3 hours before it aired but was presented as being live
- We saw like 5 minutes of on-track action before the session ended. Unless rain halted the session prematurely this was a joke to only show that much of the session and present it as "practice coverage from Martinsville".
- It took over an hour for ESPN to show us any speeds from the practice session they were supposedly on the air to cover. When they finally did show us the speeds, they only showed us where the Chasers ended up in practice. They completely ignored the go-or-go situation, as well as every other non-Chaser in the field.
- They wasted our time with taped features like "the race to the Talladega airport" piece from NASCAR Now mixed in with a couple Chase driver interviews while providing us no news from the practice session. Who were the fastest cars in the session? Which go-or-go homers are in trouble / good shape based on practice speeds? Will Michael Waltrip have to go to a backup car? (ESPN mentioned that he might be going to a backup or his crew might be repairing his car, thanks for nothing!) I wish I had been home to watch Speed's NASCAR Live show. According to other posters they did a fantastic job of following all the stories in the garage area during and after the practice session. ESPN insisted on spending their time on the air talking about everything but the stuff going on at the track, which boggles my mind. Remember the rain delay coverage at the Kansas Cup race on ABC? We saw every taped video feature in ESPN's library - seven post shake rig, Clint Bowyer's dirt track days, "franchising", etc. while getting ZERO driver interviews and never showing the viewers the current running order that would have turned into the finishing results had the rain stayed at the track. This rain fill pretty much mirrored Kansas's rain fill, except today they managed to slip in some more "Chase hype" by interviewing a couple Chasers and showing us where THEY and only THEY finished in practice.
stricklinfan,
were ESPN and SPEED on-the-air live at the same time?
As I mentioned earlier I didn't see NASCAR Live because I wasn't home, but according to other posters NASCAR Live would have been going on at the same time the taped portion of ESPN's qualifying show was being taped. So both shows would have been recorded at the same time, with Speed's airing live and ESPN2's aired tape-delayed at 3:30. These users claimed truck practice was going on live while ESPN was on the air with their Cup practice coverage so most of their show was taped from earlier in the day.
You'll have to ask someone else for that confirmation but that's the way I understood it.
Thanks for the info. So this is why the NASCAR Now show is on late. It will be interesting to see what they show at 7PM.
Mr. Daly,
Here are the facts I've gathered:
- NASCAR Live aired at 2:30 (according to speedtv.com)
- Cup practice was supposed to run from 1-2:30 but was cut short by rain, Cup qualifying was moved from 3:30 to 4:40 (Jayski)
- Truck practice was scheduled from 2:40-4:00 and held close to schedule (Jayski), one user earlier said it ended at 4:18
- when ESPN2 came on the air at 3:30 the Cup cars were practicing (my DVR), so obviously they started taping it sometime between 1 and 2:30, probably closer to 2:30 since the session was nearly over. They must have also taped the rain fill portion of their broadcast earlier in the day, because the trucks practiced until 4:18 (according to one of the site's posters) and were never in the background of ESPN's rain fill show that aired from 3:30 - 4:40 or so.
stricklinfan,
thanks for the info. please call me JD.
Bristol is a prime example of TIVO style programming.
With it only taking 15 seconds to run a lap there, if they were live and went to commercial you would miss 5 or 6 cars before they came back live.
I always listen to TV coverage on my scanner while at Bristol. They will say, "we're going to commercial and will be right back", wait a few seconds and say "we're back" and continue with the car currently on the track. They actually never go to commercial they just 'act' like it to edit in the commercials as the qualifying airs. That's why on your TV the cars are behind compared to your computer.
Qualifying all the cars may only take 30-45 minutes but when they add in the commercials the show will last an hour or more.
Did I explain that right John?
steve,
great job. maybe we should have a contest soon to see if we can create a good name for that "style" other than TiVo.
In the old days, we used to call it "dip to black" coverage. We would finish a segment, throw to commercial, dip quickly to "black" to mark the tape, and then come back up and...cue the talent!
That is how we did a lot of the old tape delay races for ESPN back in the 1980's.
The Nascar Live scheduled for 6 eastern did not start until 6:30 when ESPN finished qualifying coverage. Steve Byrnes came on from the Speed Stage at 5 and let everyone know the change in schedule and announced what programming would fill the half hour.
Interesting that Speed TV is honest and plays well with other networks unlike ESPN which deceived us about the tape delayed practice session.
I do not believe Speed can contractually start NASCAR live show until qualifying ended.
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