Saturday at 4PM Allen Bestwick will kick-off ESPN2's coverage of the Nationwide Series race from Las Vegas with the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show.
TV viewers should be on their toes, because there is a live college basketball game directly before this show, beginning at 2PM. Although nothing is official, we have seen NASCAR Countdown begin on the ESPN Classic Network if a live event was still in-progress on ESPN2.
Bestwick will be joined by Dale Jarrett and Brad Daugherty in the ESPN Infield Pit Center for the program. Immediately following this thirty minute show, Jerry Punch will host the ESPN2 race coverage, with Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside. On pit road will be Mike Massaro, Dave Burns, Shannon Spake and Jamie Little.
This race is scheduled to air in a three hour timeslot, ending at 7:30PM. Hopefully, that will allow some time for a solid post-race show.
This page will serve to host your comments about the Nationwide Series race from Las Vegas on ESPN2. To add your comment, simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are on the right side of the main page. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
96 comments:
Nice piece by Brad D. At least ESPN is letting him out of the studio to do some more features.
I really wondered about somebody THAT tall fitting into a race car but they pulled it off and had fun doing it. A very entertaining segment.
Broadcast looks good so far. I heard dust storms are possible today though. Could they have an impact on the race and the broadcast?
Carl doing the ride along with Brad was pretty funny, especially Carl saying don't tell Jack
I still don't really like the inrace reporter feature but it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon.
I wish they would talk more about the Nationwide only drivers. About the only time they get coverage is when they are having trouble or involved in a wreck.
My God..How much more carnage until NASCAR says enough for the 66? A name does not make you a race car driver
Another Nationwide wreckfest but at least the coverage is good
I don't know about ya'll, but I'm loving ESPN NASCAR coverage this season so far.
I know the season is still young, but they've made so many GREAT improvements, I'm one happy camper so far.
I love this new booth crew. Much more comfortable, much better flow. DJ is a superstar for a rookie.
Anonymous said...
My God..How much more carnage until NASCAR says enough for the 66? A name does not make you a race car driver
March 1, 2008 5:36 PM
Please do not comment if it is not remotely related to the TV coverage itself.
I like the new "trackbar adjustment" graphic. It can be really helpful to new fans when used at the right time and not overused.
Jamie certainly has a way about her. I kind of wish it was a bit more informed.
What a stupid question. I guess they'll say anything to try and get a reaction.
Boo on Jamie, she needs to know when to stop. GREAT JOB KYLE. VERY PROFESSIONAL
Glenn
Yeah, That was awkward.
Well thing were going OK then we had video replays of Tony winning the past 2 weeks during green flag runs and I won't even go into Jamie's Kyle interview and good for Kyle he didn't take the bait
someone needs to tell whats her face we DO NOT DO GOTTCHA INERVIEWS IN NASCAR. That was unfair to put KB in that possition.
Also, Larry Mac and co. are not supposed to be journalists and I don't think we can hold them to the same standards,
Sorry, I do NOT care for Jamie L and her pushy questioning to Kyle brought back visions of ESPN from last season! cheap shot and good for Kyle for not giving her a comment that could've come back to get him.
I get the feeling Jamie was being goaded in her earpiece to get KB to say something.
BillWebz
Blogger is killing me here - these word verifications keep failing
Jamie went over the line with Kyle Busch's interview. Broadcast is going fine and I really enjoyed the ridealong with Brad & Carl. Much better than last year but I wish they would show the Nationwide series only drivers more how can they get sponsors when they aren't shown on tv??? Of course Tony is leading he's a former cup champion.
I think Producer Neil Goldberg is having one of the worst races I've seen him produce at ESPN this yr.
He missed a restart, then went to a taped interview of kyle busch and cut away while was passing Steve Wallace, putting it in a small box.
Throw in that it took five laps to see the buffeting hood of Kyle Busch. May be he was gambling too much in the casino, but there sure are a lot of mistakes. Then they showed us three bad replays before going to the incar shot of Bobby Labonte losing it.
A big tip of the hat to Mike Masarro and Dave Burns for their professionalism on pit road. Same goes for DJ and Alan Bestwick.
However, Jaime Little was trying to stir up trouble by badgering Kyle Busch about the tire. He had already answered the question. Jeeeeeez. Thankfully he took the high road and didn't tear her head off. And as far as Shannon Spake is concerned, I cringe everytime she opens her microphone.
Same old ESPN the way it looks to me.
Wow, I thought the Keebler Elf was the weak link in the interview...
The way Jamie asked that question, it was as if she'd heard him tell a crew member exactly what he thought had happened before she interviewed him, and was like, 'Come on Kyle, you know what happened'...
IMO Kyle was the rude one in that exchange...
When you wreck two great race cars in one day you probably tend to be a bit grumpy though... lol...
Wow, I thought the Keebler Elf was the weak link in the interview...
The way Jamie asked that question, it was as if she'd heard him tell a crew member exactly what he thought had happened before she interviewed him, and was like, 'Come on Kyle, you know what happened'...
IMO Kyle was the rude one in that exchange...
When you wreck two great race cars in one day you probably tend to be a bit grumpy though... lol...
Good coverage so far, imo. DJ is a real plus in the booth! This race may go long, with all the cautions. Should be interesting to see how the post race goes..
Jamie's interview tactics were totally uncalled for and ESPN needs to put a leash on her NOW before she totally destroys the few good things that ESPN has done to redeem itself this season -- maybe a six race suspension is in order!!!!
I think it's too bad Jamie L (thanks for the name Soph)is a good pit reporter actually. She talks fast enough to get all the info in and she seems able to repeat what the crew chief has told her. I am not sure if she has the real knowlage about wrenching. If she doesn't she would be better served in her career asperations by learning the ins and outs about the actual nuts and bolts and not try to pin her success on 'news making' interviews. I may be being harsh, but I would hate to see her NOT work on her very real skills as a good pit reporter. I think she could be as good as Wendy if she really worked at it.
I do have to say again that the ESPN crew (even Jerry) has done an outstanding job so far this year and many thanks.
major difficulty's with posting today JD...
WTF? They announce that they are about to go green. You see the pace car with its lights off and they go to commercial!!!
I'nm having the same issues Billy. It is very slow to refresh the page and sometimes even get an error on the word verification image.
No excitement from the booth again today. Jerry Punch acts like he's watching golf the whole race. It's putting me to sleep.
Bill
Regarding Word Veri, they have gotten LONGer lately (I rarely get the 5 letter ones and the 8 letter ones can look very long with the fancy script some have)
Also what was a BLogger error is now coming up a GOOGLE ERROR that says try again in 30 seconds...I had that a couple times earlier here and at my little blog and another blog I read.
I wonder if the maintenance isn't affecting word veri for some of us...I had problems the other day.
AND SOMEBODY please tell the VOICE ACTIVATED word veri to lose the background chatter that sounds bizarre..hard to hear the letters that nice voice is telling us to type. :-0
Definately maintenance going on around the Internet...on a plethora of sites. I made cookies during the race in the kitchen with the tv with BOTTOM TICKER ERASED :-) so haven't been paying strict attention to the coverage.
so far, haven't seen much intrusive SPORTS UPDATE junk. That's always a good thing.
The big thing will be the camera work across the finish line...
OH MY!! Reut and Stewart wreck! YIKES...that stinks for both drivers.
Hope TONY does not get mad at Reut. I hate when the wrecks look like syncronized swimming.
did Tony get loose or take a swipe at David?? Or just a racin' deal...but is it every a racin' deal with Tony..and I ask that as a Tony fan.
Guys,
Google had a big meltdown of the blogspot server yesterday. They are trying to put it back together, but things are still a bit slow.
I am working on the website, but it is a whole new world of a lot of legal things and lawyers and money. If I can pull it off, we should see it in a couple of weeks.
JD
OK, Jamie is officially having a tough day. Tony cut her some big time slack, that could have been UGLY...
Well Jamie did fine that time. Tony was the jerk.
Glenn
jamie little has been driving some of us nuts on IRL races for years so she is NOT LEARNING how to ask driver questions imho.
;-)
What was with Tony when Jamie asked what happened "We wrecked Jamie"...duh....I must come to jamie's defense there but I do wonder what the drivers real opinions are of her there when they make comment on the air..much like they have made comments to Shannon Spake on the air.
Give us some MEN IN THE PITS with a VOICE THAT CARRIES!!
femalechauvinistSophia
;-)
I'm starting to think it is more her...than the people talking in her ear.
Twice now I've heard Jerry give incorrect information about on track things and he refered to KB's crash as HARD when KB had just said it was an easy ride along the wall. Was Dr.Jerry not listening? He just did a small bit about Stanton Barrett and it was great because it was REPORTING not calling live action. Is it really such a HUGE step down for him to go to the INFIELD studio and let AB call the race?
I am afraid that girl is going to get punched in the mouth soon. asking after his health really didn't help her all that much did it?
You know Tony will be an ass in the interview anytime it's his fault..still had to get the jab in on the 99
Yeah that could have been a nightmare there between Jamie and Tony....
mercy!!
You have to admit though, neither Tony or Kyle are very pleasant when they wreck and are out of races....
I for one would not want to approach Tony with a mic after a wreck of his doing when he had the best car out there and took another guy out also. Can you say Yikes!
Good luck on the web site roll out if you can pull it off JD!
I'm rooting for ya big time (as I'm sure all the other regulars are also).
Keep on Keepin on JD..
Were here for ya!
I am curious, I know TS is one moody guy but I still say he is more moody than usual, hasn't anybody noticed?..and has been since pre season...maybe he just needs to stay away from the media for about 30 minutes....as long as we know drivers are ok..we need not hear from them IMMEDIATELY.
I am going to be afraid to wear his shirts and hat if he keeps this up! Thankfully I have Schrader and Labonte shirts, too.
but I DO wonder about the girls on ESPN they are more annoying to us and the drivers it would appear.
Not a personal attack, just lots of observation.
Lot's of cuppers out, but the top 5 still all Cup drivers. Really can't blame them for the light coverage on NW drivers, they and their teams need to step it up and contend!!
I didn't realize that Jamie Little had worked IRL that is not incouraging for improvemet is it? Where is Krista? She and Wendy are the gold standared for women on NASCAR IMHO. I thought ESPN got that last week.
Thanks for the update JD I was about to reboot the laptop and good luck with the wedsite we can't wait. What exactly did Tony say about the 99 I missed it. Have they given us an update on Reut I though they could fix it in the pits but obviously not. Now that Fox Speed and Espn are playing nice Jamie need to talk to Wendy and Krista and ask for help.
Well I have to say I am bummed at all the cuppers in the top 10 in "Tcup" series. I mean come on, it's tough to compete as a little guy against the best and the biggest.
Though I know there are varying views on the subject. I just feel bad for the little guys.
I'm sorry for the delayed comments, I've been watching on the DVR....
Here are my critiques of the coverage so far:
- 2 missed restarts, not good
- I still don't like the pre-taped interviews and video packages, even if they are split-screened with the live action.
- Jamie Little is really rubbing me the wrong way today. First, she doesn't seem to listen to what the drivers say. She followed up Kyle Busch saying "I don't know what happened to the tire" by asking "what happened to the tire?" and then Tony Stewart saying "I banged up my foot but other than that I'm okay" by asking "are you okay?". And then there's the very rude prodding she did with Kyle Busch. Kyle said he had no opinion on the tire situation (which most people should be able to read between lines on) and Jamie's response was "Yes you do Kyle". WOW, very very uncomfortable moment there.
- The in-race reporter is still a pointless gimmick in my opinion. The only time you can use it is during a caution flag, when the network should be using up their commercial break responsibilities so we can see more green flag racing later.
- I like the fact that the Infield Studio isn't distracting from the live racing. I love this new format of not using them for full-screen race recaps.
- I like the fact that Draft Tracks has not been used.
- Good job by all the other pit reporters.
- The chemistry in the broadcast booth is definitely better than it was last year.
Looks like ESPN wants to give Jammie L. a chance. She has been doing all the driver interview by the medical center. I think this is good for her as she is getting more practice. I think she is getting better with each interview.
more problems with boggler here.
It seems I can comment, but I can't get to the main page.
Oh please someone shut Jamie Little up. She asked obivious question to Kyle B., Kyle K and to Tony. "What happened?" Well Jamie, they wrecked! And what was that insult to Jeff Burton?? After he explains what happened to his car she says, "For a better explanation let's go to Tim Brewer." I'm sure Jeff appreciated it THAT>
I still don't like the bar graph Fuel Window graphic. Martin and Biffle are in red and Keselowski is at the very bottom of the yellow color. I ask again, what does that mean? Is that color difference a 5 lap difference, a 20 lap difference, a 40 lap difference?
As I said last week I would appreciate being able to see numbers somewhere on that graphic so the colors would have some meaning.
did i miss it or did they never say why it was a caution?
I have to say the National Guard pit crew uniforms look like PJ's with those plaid like white line
It was a debris caution. They showed a piece of metal on the track.
well, yes they did and I know television is a visual medium but it would have been nice if someone in the booth articulated that fact.
So there.
i think i'm having an identity crisis
I don't recall hearing them say it was a caution for debris either.
It would have been nice if they had (if they didn't, that is).
Oh my I actually yelled out loud for that one. OOPs Mark poor Brad
OMG poor Mark. Carl has been a jerk all day. I hate it for Jr
light contact..Andy??? You can hear him lift carl's wheels off the ground!!!
Well that wreck STANK!!
&^%$#@!^%!
Suddenly, I feel like Tony Stewart.
WTH?
:) :) :)
It would have been nice to hear some kind of emotion from the booth. The two leaders just crashed with 5 laps to go! That should elicit some kind of excitement from the booth shouldn't it?
Can you imagin having Mark Martin wreck your driver? while he's driving for you? I think if Jr didn't have bad luck he would have no luck. Sorry I know this is off topic.
Anonymous said...
light contact..Andy??? You can hear him lift carl's wheels off the ground!!!
March 1, 2008 7:30 PM
I did not hear that. It did not look too hard.
stricklinfan82 said...
It would have been nice to hear some kind of emotion from the booth. The two leaders just crashed with 5 laps to go! That should elicit some kind of excitement from the booth shouldn't it?
March 1, 2008 7:31 PM
I think they were too shocked to say what had just happened for many reasons.
Mike you do not interview a crew chief when he is trying to fix a car which is about to come back to the pits
sometimes I don't like Carl and I really used, too....I keep trying to but something about him...and the CUP guys are so taking over the middle series and act like they own the joint.
:(
Ok, I HAVE NO WORD veri and when you refruesh, there goes all my words...sign.I forgot to highlight to cut and paste
They are out of sync in the booth on the laps to go - just went7, 5, 4 3 and now they say green white checker - I would think that the number of laps is a feed from Nascar and not them typing it in.
BillWebz
Well since the 20 and the 18 are out, I was rooting for the 88... I am 0-3...Oh boy, more Jamie Little interviews...this has not been a good day for her.
Why are they saying GWN in ticker with 3 laps to go???
BillWebz
great job showing the start finish line...impressive
Certainly is interesting that the "are you OK" question is popular this season.
I like the horizontal results coming across the top better than the vertical ones that used to come across the side.
I agree...massaro had not business bothering that crew chief..is there a different director for this race? or producer...not as smooth as last week as far as pit reporters.
I agree, Jr's bad luck is still following him. See another CUP guy wins.....and a little to quick cut away from the end.
Fantastic showing the final lap, a little high but if it was my driver I'd know what the car looked like from that distance. Unfortunately Reut finished 25th 50 laps down
Nice to make the time to talk and get post-race comments. The scheduled off time was 7:30PM
Absolutely fantastic job with the last lap camera shot of the finish line! I still think a vertical finishing results graphic would be better than the horizontal display that can only display 3 names at a time. The 7th, 8th, 9th place finishers didn't show up on the display until long after they crossed the line because of the lag of switching between each set of 3 drivers on the graphic. A vertical graphic could show 20 names and show the finishing order as the cars trip the line in real time.
Mark is such a class act
WOW...ESPN really wants Jammie to get some big practice and make up for what happened earlier. She has done all the big interview. She may be getting better.
Nice of Mark to apologize first thing
For those with SPEED NASCAR Perf is on and then Tradin' Paint with Jenna Fryer. Isn't she the one that almost left last season because Kyle was so hateful:
Hope to see more nationwide guys win and get notice as the season goes on.
stricklinfan,
Exactly right. That shot was made for the drop-down graphic that reveals the finishers as they cross the line. The cameraman even framed for it.
Give them credit, it was half right.
They could run a vertical graffic of just the car numbers it would not take up much space at the finish
stricklinfan82,
"I still think a vertical finishing results graphic would be better than the horizontal display that can only display 3 names at a time. "
You have to look at it this way: horizontal at the top allows for much much more screen space then the vertical one would. I think I would prefer a slight delay if it meant more screen space.
Why no gushing soda pop all over Jamie's locks in Victory lane????
Aside from too much Jamie L for my taste, better camera work at the end of the race than FOX!
There, I said it again.
THANKS ESPN for listening to the fans and improving things for the most part.
Who ever said that Jamie was getting better with each interview was right. The last two with Mr. Hendrick and Mark were very good and solid not just puff or antagonism.
They Really Needed a Post race show today. Getting thrown to the sports center gave me a stiff neck. Over all it was a good day for ESPN but I must say yet again Jerry Punch does not have the mental or verbal dexterity to call a race. It requiers a level of multi-tasking he can not do. This is nothing against him personally, there are very few people who do that well. IE Mike Joy and AB, Ken Squire and even Jackie Stewart did a good job with it. It is not a skill you can develop like color analysis. Rusty got better, DJ is getting better. He needs to work on finding a graceful way to stop talking when he realizes he is being too long winded. I'm sure he will do it before mid season, he has done a good job getting the Ummms down to a minimum. It becomes more obvious each week that Jerry is the week link in the booth. Send him to the pits, and get rid of Shannon. Thats my wish for changes before they take over from FOX
"and get rid of Shannon. "
why? she never hurt nobody, or did anything wrong.
Hey did anybody hear the guys in the booth explain why they were using police cars (or at least cars that looked like police cars) for the pace car? I heard them say the pace car was a police car, but they never explained why? Some kinda promo or what?
Yes it was very nice to finally see the top 20 or so finishers cross the finish line. Keep it up ESPN.
I apologize, I don't mean 'get rid of Sharon' like she's a barnical, what I ment was she is the weakest of the pit reporters and might be better suited to another series like IRL. I didn't mean to be nasty, sorry if I sounded like that.
Yes you can definitely notice a major change in ESPN's race coverage. I am very pleasantly surprised that they appear to be listening to the fans. They've gotten rid of a lot of the unnecessary elements - race recaps instead of green flag racing, draft tracks, Aerosmith. They did a fantastic job with the finish of the race after the Daytona debacle. The booth is much better than last year, but I would still like to see some kind of excitement from the booth when something major happens. That crash with the leaders with 5 to go reminded me of the call of the finish of the Talladega Busch race last year. A totally monotone and emotionless desciption of what they were seeing happening in front of them.
I'm very disappointed that they managed to miss two restarts, but other than that there were no major problems outside of Jamie Little today. Very good job ESPN, people are noticing. And if Fox screws us AGAIN tomorrow by not showing all the cars finish I may officially move ESPN to the top of my "preferred NASCAR TV network" list and begin counting down the days until Fox leaves and the better NASCAR TV network returns.
Now if we can just get ESPN to allow ALL Cup practice sessions to return to LIVE television when they start covering the series I'd really be thrilled.
Stricklfan
OMG! about the end of the race on FOX tomorrow, I am ready to go with ESPN as well.
After last season that is REALLY saying something for me...(and you! ) and the full moon was last week, LOL.
but, hey, some of us call them as we see them, I love Mike Joy and the guys but hey, if that arrogant director/producer wants to make up his own WWF finish to be an infamous legend in his own mind, than I will NOT PRAISE FOX.
not to mention the slingshot cam (called that by me because it makes me wish I had one to aim at the tv when it comes on! :-) )
Ok, watching trading paint and suddenly the audio does not match the talking...sigh..this happens a lot with SPEED here on TW.
Anyway, I DO appreciate ALL the work that guys do at both networks to bring the pictures as they fly through the air (As the late Tom Snyder used to say) but I have to give kudos to ESPN for their improvements as of this writing, 8.12pm.
I NEVER would've thought I would've been praising them this year.
And yes, I knew FOX had their downside but they are really approaching the ski ramp. :-)
P.S. And also, PLEASE SPEED and ESPN please...continue to play well and get along with others and ALLOW FANS to SEE the practice and quals on FRIDAY. If ESPN is too busy with other stuff, allow SPEED show it.
I was still upset with the decision by ESPN to use the four-split pit coverage that Fox uses. When ESPN secured sponsorship for the "Castrol GTX Triple Pits," I figured we would see that every week, but today, they switched it to the "Castrol GTX Quad Pits."
What they need to understand is that the "quad pits" prevent us from seeing the context of the pit stops; we don't get to see the cars in relation to each other, and we usually miss the race off pit road. ESPN, if you're listening, the fans want the "triple pits" back! Seeing one extra pit stop isn't worth missing everything else!
Vince,
The Cup race today is the UAW Dodge 400. Dodge has a major program supplying law enforcement agencies with specially equipped Chargers. That is the 'promotion' they are doing with the Dodge Charger pace cars made up to look like police cruisers.
First of all let me say it overall it was very, very good coverage by ESPN. In my opinion they are very close to outstanding coverage. Now... let me jump to three criticisms.
#1 - ESPN did a great job of not overusing the in-car cameras today. Unfortunately they also missed one the races signature moments because of using the in-car camera. When Tony Stewart was part of an 8-car pack (4 rows side-by-side) why would you ever go to an in-car camera? Think about it... a nice wide-angle shot let's the fans of 8 different drivers see their cars and how the battle is playing out. Instead... we go to an in-car camera where we can only see 2 cars and we are left having to wiat for a replay to see what happened. Once again... in-car cameras are GREAT FOR REPLAYS but not live action. Overall this was much better this week but still needs to be improved.
#2 -- The booth needs to learn that racing is exciting. Three times there were race changing incidents (K. Busch, T. Swewart, and Edwards/Keslowski) and all three times the booth showed no excitement at all in their announcing. I really like Dr. Jerry Punch as a pit reporter but I am not sure he is a play-by-play man. I hope it gets better.
#3 - Certainly not a signature moment in the race but what was the producer thinking around lap 105 when he broke away from a great 6-car battle for 3rd to hsow us Mark Martin riding all by himslef and Dale jr. sitting on the pit box? By time we got back to the battle for third the battle had ended and the cars were single file.
Overall... ESPN's coverage is much, much better than last year.
Sorry to be so late to comment, but I don't surf the web during the actual races.
I was absolutely raving when I saw that stupid 4-way split for pitstops! Does Neil Goldberg have a clue how totally useless that thing is in following all the cars in relationship to each other on pit road? I'm assuming he was part of it's development at Fox and just can't resist usiing at ESPN as well. What a horrible decision!
We were listening to a lot of PRN on Trackpass during the race. Thankfully, since ESPN missed one restart by almost an entire lap (and another by two turns) In a race with so many cautions, how they can miss restarts is beyond me. PRN had inteviews with "the lessor" drivers involved in wrecks and got a lot more candid comments than ESPN did. Such as Jason Leffler after he was taken out by the Kryeloff. He pretty much blasted him. Why would ESPN choose to inteview the one who caused the wreck. If they were looking for controversy, they really should've talked to Leffler.
We just missed what Stephen Wallace said after his self-induced wreck, but it must've been a doozy, by how Doug Rice and Mark Garrow reacted. By the time TV got to Wallace, it was clear his PR people had coached him to take responsibility.
Jamie Little's badgering of Kyle Busch really bordered on tabloid "journalism" if you ask me. It was clear if she was being coached by the truck or not, but I'm wouldn't doubt it. I really have a problem with TV folks trying to create news by pushing the drivers until they react. Thankfully, Kyle didn't take the bait.
When the wreck happened near the end, ESPN never even mentioned that Busch regular Jason Keller (who was running in the top 10) got swept up into it. If they aren't Buschwhackers, they obviously don't care about the drivers, no matter how much they claim.
This broadcast had a lot of problems, but it's still better than listening to DW, Larry and Meyers on Fox. I know we'll be listening to scanners or PRN a lot more today during the Cup race to avoid them.
Thanks for the info Chuck!
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