Saturday, June 7, 2008

In-Progress From Nashville: Nationwide Series Race on ESPN2


Rusty Wallace is center stage once again as the Nationwide Series takes to the Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night.

Wallace will begin the night down in the Infield Pit Studio seated alongside host Allen Bestwick at 7PM. Brad Daugherty will join that duo for NASCAR Countdown, ESPN's thirty minute pre-race show.

This is a stand-alone Nationwide Series race, but several of the Sprint Cup drivers have made the trip from Pocono and will be looking to upstage the Nationwide "regulars" once again.

Needless to say, Kyle Busch is currently one of the highest-profile Cup guys who will be racing at Nashville. Several others include Carl Edwards and David Reutimann.

Once the pre-race show is over, Wallace will move-up to the broadcast booth and provide the race analysis with Andy Petree. Calling the action as usual will be Dr. Jerry Punch. Dale Jarrett will not return to the ESPN broadcasts until the series heads for New Hamsphire. This was pre-planned by Jarrett and ESPN. Once he returns, Jarrett will remain as the Lead Analyst for all of the races through the end of the season.

Supporting Punch and company will be Tim Brewer in the ESPN Tech Center. That unit is on-scene in Nashville. Down on pit road will be Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro. In this race, Nationwide Series regular Mike Bliss will be the in-race reporter talking to Wallace during the event.

Rusty Wallace has been making the most of this final stretch of being in the broadcast booth. He has been enthusiastic and informative in his commentary. This season, Wallace is often eager to ask Petree for his opinion, and sometimes speaks directly to the pit road reporters in asking about on-going stories.

Punch is still deciding if he will continue to be a reporter who watches the action in silence and then reports, or if he will become a true play-by-play announcer and involve the viewers with his active commentary on events as they unfold.

Tim Brewer seems to have finally found his on-air groove recently. This may have come as a result of being allowed to contribute more frequently to the daily NASCAR Now show on ESPN2. Brewer has figured out where to look, how to move the camera to the area he wants to highlight and most importantly how to talk to the viewers.

With the build-up of frustration by Kyle Busch following a second place finish in the Friday night Truck Series race and a crash in Cup practice, Busch is going to be the story of the night. Since high-profile rookie Joey Logano is on the pole and going very fast, the clash of these two seems to be very possible.

There are a lot of good stories in this field, and it should be interesting to watch ESPN try to continue multiple storylines throughout the race. Bestwick is often inserted during the event to do recaps and field updates. The balance between Punch in the booth and Bestwick in the infield is going to be the key to the telecast.

This post will serve to host your TV-related comments about the Nationwide Series telecast from Nashville on ESPN2. To add your opinion, just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. Thank you again for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

128 comments:

  1. "Brewer has figured out where to look, how to move the camera to the area he wants to highlight and most importantly how to talk to the viewers."

    Not in the first tech center spot. Paraphrase: 'We'll turn this wrench clockwise to give the car more grip'

    Viewers: 'How?' Why not just turn the screw 'til it stops, then there will be all the grip in the world. What does that screw move? How does it affect the geometry?

    All we see is a shaft through a hole in the window. I know how it works and I know what it does to gain grip and so forth, but the purpose of the tech center is to englighten those who might not know what these adjustments are for.

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  2. What is with the oversaturation of coverage on JGR and their teams??

    Is Toyota paying for it or Gibbs??

    It's beyond annoying ... and overkill ... There are other drivers & teams in all 3 races that really deserve more coverage, esp the ones searching for sponsorship ...

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  3. I'm sure it will be like this all year long with JGR, just like Roush in 2005 and Hendrick in 2006-2007.

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  4. When (or better why)does or should TV help teams get sponsors? That is baloney. TV is there to cover the races - last year it was Hendrick and people complained-this year JGR and people complain. If Ford wins they get t5he coverage- it goes with winning.

    Get over it already.

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  5. Anon,

    It used to be complaints about JR Motorsports, maybe that group ran out of spare change.

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  6. If and when Jr moves his NNS to NSC cause of the Nationwide-Car of whenever starts and he gets all the attention there will be gripes.

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  7. Rusty Wallace seems much more relaxed and comfortable in the booth this year. Either the pressure is off cause of Jarrett or he had first year jitters last year.

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  8. It's good to see ESPN2 choose an In-Car Reporter who is actually an only Nationwide series driver. And I don't know a lot about the makeup of the racecars so the explanation of tigthening a car by Tim Brewer was confusing.

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  9. All I know about an adjustment is what I learned playing video game. Righty-Tighty - Lefty-Loosie

    I am not making this up - its in the instructions.

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  10. Did Petree just disagree with something that Brewer said? Believe Andy said that air doesnt come from the front of the car - strange.

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  11. Going into that last break, you could hear Jerry yelling "Trouble!" just before the broadcast faded out, but we still had to wait until after the break to see the coverage of the wreck.

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  12. Anon @ 7:34 PM - I wasn't saying that the tv coverage should go & get sponsors for teams ... I was saying that tv needs to stop focusing on one company as there are a lot of other teams out there that get little to no coverage ...

    The tv coverage helps teams that have been involved in accidents see "where" the damage is ... How's that any different than sharing a little airtime with teams they don't cover??

    There's more to NASCAR than JGR / HMS / DEI / RCR / RFR / Ganassi ...

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  13. once the producer starts a commercial break there's no turning back. If you listen at the track producer counts down til commercial starts. Even worse in cable.

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  14. Rusty and Andy certainly have a very different TV approach this season. They talk right around Jerry, and both of them even talk directly to the pit reporters.

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  15. They made such a big deal out of M Ambrose leading even though they knew he would pit eventually.

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  16. Anon at 7:58 PM I agree with you. It seems like the broadcast folks decide on who they think will win the race before it begins, and highlight them too much and neglect others. Glad the National Anthem was better today too.

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  17. Well Ambrose STILL having a tough time as they went to commercial....geez

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  18. Ambrose's day goes from bad to worse! I thought when they were showing the pitstop it seemed they never tightened that back wheel.

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  19. If I understand correctly, on a cable broadcast the commercials are timed to the second. Once a producer calls for one, there is no turning back.

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  20. Coulda sworn I heard a voice in the background yell "boogity, boogity, boogity"

    :-) And it was NOT DW

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  21. would it not be the job of the announcers and producer to highlight the drivers most likely to win? Its not they're highlighting Burney Lamar or Morgan Shepherd or Derrick Cope?

    With so many cars already out or many laps down its hard to pursue the argument that the big teams and owners are the ones that the networks highlight.

    85 laps in - only 18 cars on lead lap - hmmmm

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  22. ESPN commercials can be the WORST here due to TWarner or somebody...don't even get me started..cut off folks in mid sentence all the time.

    >:-[

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  23. You really could have heard that, Sophia. Sometimes on the restarts, the director calls for the mics near the grandstands to be turned up just a little

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  24. I just cannot listen to Rusty "I'll tell ya what guys" Wallace.

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  25. thanks, Anon

    that's for sure what I heard. :-)

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  26. And I think that's a missed restart too.

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  27. had to be two weeks ago in Charlotte I heard the same thing on ESPN- right before green flag a boogity-boogity-boogity - and I remember commenting that the production truck is laughing big time on that one. And now again?

    Maybe a boogity conspiracy?

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  28. Biffle should be asked about that one on TWIN Monday.

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  29. Sophia,

    I don't care what JD says about you, you were not hearing things. I heard it, too.

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  30. anon 8.51 and Karen

    :-)

    Biff getting an attitude?!...then again he didn't get the nik name Sniffles for nothing....and I do like the guy but...;-)

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  31. JD, TWIN might not have time to discuss with Biffle because they'll be too busy talking about next week's race!

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  32. When Tim Brewer isn't forced into talking about anything, he's about as interesting a personality as anyone.

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  33. Biffle's a really nice guy ... with a wicked sense of humor ...

    But, he was definitely NOT happy being the meat in a JGR sandwich ...

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  34. Hey Tim what's the black box on KB's windshield?

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  35. You know, it just might be time to get AB up in the broadcast booth. Know what I mean?

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  36. ummm, JD-this should have happened a VERY long time ago!! It's painful, that's for sure...:(

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  37. I had to make a quick cheesecake...I agree about AB back in the booth..the couple minutes of he and Brad can be fun!

    Other guys are ok..was making noise in the kitchen...still

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  38. OT, but when did Nascar decide to throw the caution the instant a car gets sideways?

    Burney Lamar spins out, has very little damage, doesn't leave any debris or oil on the track, and immediately drives off.

    No reason for caution laps just for that.

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  39. I may just be tired, but this race and/or broadcast is puttin' me to sleep

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  40. your not tired and it's not the race

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  41. Two things tonight:

    ESPN went back to promoting its own motorsports, and not the Sunday NASCAR race.

    Punch is just gone for me. I listen to Wallace and Petree talk among themselves and ask things of the pit reporters and Tim Brewer.

    Frankly, I am starting to feel sorry for Punch. Same thing I felt last season. This is just not his thing.

    JD

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  42. JD

    any idea what will happen to IRL due to come on in 14 minutes? Old Boxing on Classic...sigh

    same old ESPN issues...

    I feel the same way about the doc, too.

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  43. And that comment about the 38 to 1 longshot winning the horse race today when Leffler was having issues was a real stretch!

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  44. IRL is tape delayed anyway.

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  45. In a perfect world they would show the IRL race tape delayed by half an hour or so, and start that broadcast when this race is over.

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  46. after tonight JP has seven weeks til ESPN does Sprint Cup races.

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  47. IRL is at TMS and started about one hour ago.

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  48. Bowyer's crew chief is Dan Deeringhoff (sp?) - ok then why did Dr Punch call him Dan Dierdorf earlier - as in the football player/announcer.

    I don't feel sorry for JP -

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  49. I figured IRL was tape delayed though my stupid new cable NAVIGATOR guide gives LESS information on a show than PASSPORT did a couple days ago....

    Hope they just show it tape delayed...be stupid to jump around stations

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  50. I think I might have to switch to the ARCA race in a minute.
    There is just something about this crew that doesn't make the race fun.
    GRADE-B

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  51. KB 2 laps down - only 2 cars 1 lap down but lucky dog is all but impossible - Jerry P is dreaming.

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  52. IRL can be seen on 360

    BOGUS to make us miss any of it since it's TD??????????????

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  53. IRL did not even get ESPN Classic....wow.

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  54. Sophia, this is live but the Pocono ARCA race on SPEED is TD.

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  55. They are doing a memorial deal on McKay on Classic I think

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  56. IRL was tape delayed anyway! they will just delay it some more...no issues....nothing missed.

    calm down.

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  57. thanks JD...somebody posted the IRL was tape delayed and started 1 hr ago...

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  58. Indy Race site says they are on lap 50..so they are streaming a small box free online

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  59. listening on internet to IRL race - they are just short of 50 laps. Deuce wasnt going there live when NNS ends anyway so you will not miss anything.

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  60. Dave should get his facts right before opening mouth. MWR- 2 cup teams?
    Where is a commercial when I need one?

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  61. that is right. the indy race is live online for free at the IRL website. But I believe ESPN will air the race in its entirety after the Nationwide race.

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  62. I am sorry I am losing interest in this race...could be the heat or the cheesecake waiting for me...I wanted to save it for the IRL race.

    another cautions....sigh.....

    ZZ zzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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  63. ams that might be true - if Nationwide series goes to car of tomorrow a lot of NNS teams may just built Cup cars instead and leave NNS series altogether. The story has been on SPEED possibly TWIN?. Maybe get the facts first.

    The idea is that if they have to build many new cars anyway why not just build cars for a series that pays much better. JR Motorsports may do the same thing.

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  64. Do they always offer a free IrL online video or only when tape delayed?

    Nice to know they do that if one is not interested in NASCAR race

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  65. So I wonder how impartial Rusty will be towards the end, with Stremme inside the Top 5.

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  66. If they go COT with NW the only good racing left will be the trucks :( though I am not a fan of this track

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  67. ok...I am so bored I tuned in to see Cincy Ken Griffey Jr try to hit a homerun :)

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  68. If Tim Brewer is going to talk about fuel pickup, he should have mentioned how Denny Hamlin has lost 2 wins because of a bad pickup. Sometimes it helps to give a recent example like that to relate it to this situation.

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  69. zowee..these guys are getting aggressive

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  70. come on Brad...let a NW guy win

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  71. I must have misunderstood Dave. My bad. I thought he said MWR has 2 cup teams. We know he has 3. Sorry Dave.

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  72. going back to Nationwide Car of tomorrow - it WAS on TWIN - Waltrip said that Reutiman drives in NNS series for no money (effectively) and only does it to get laps - he likes to drive and Aarons gets mucho publicity.

    So Burns story was true.

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  73. He did say MWR has two cup teams.

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  74. Wow...getting a good lead.

    Come on BK.

    He is booking!

    YAY...glad he got the win under his best after being dissed a few weeks ago...but a CUP driver

    THANKS for the great race finish with the camera ESPN!

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  75. well - it IS Dave Burns

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  76. Ok..this is a fun split screen...his mom was REALLY excited.

    STOP TALKING ABOUT THE HORSE RACE...

    we saw the cars finish AND the emotion.

    SEE FOX, it CAN BE DONE.

    THANKS ESPN PRoducer/director, camera folks and all the others!

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  77. Nice finish. Good pictures.

    Venturini on RaceDay has the owners of Pocono. Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch are guests.

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  78. I DIDN'T GET TO SEE THE END !!

    DirecTV went to blank screen --- just music playing. All other channels are fine --- just that one.

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  79. TRLady

    THAT STINKS for you...I wonder if other satellite folks had that issue!!

    !@

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  80. That's the least crowded victory lane I've ever seen at a major race. (top 3 series)

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  81. Watch that guitar!! hope that's a replica and not the real deal!!

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  82. Is Wendy going to ask if Pocono is for sale? - they have been denying it but I think Bruton Smith may offer a lot of money.

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  83. I know what you mean Texasracelady,
    10 to go, and all I see is a DirecTv logo, oh I see they decided to come back for post-race, wish I could have seen a Nationwide regular get a win.

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  84. that poor boy looks hot and tired! It's very hot and muggy here...way to go kid...give hime some FLUIDS!!!!

    Dehydrated

    Stop asking convoluted questions when the boy is so exhausted...sheesh

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  85. He is asking for a drink the POOR KID!! I hope he doesn't faint....somebody shoulda been there with gatorade

    Congrates brad...

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  86. So the IRL race has current audio and tape-delayed video. What a mess. They're talking about pit stops???

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  87. OMG!! look at the indy race! how funny....they have the LIVE audio...but the recorded pre-race show. weird. someone messed up bad...

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  88. The video is the pre-race and the audio stream is the race in progress....wow.

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  89. Ok...they are talking of the race being FIFTY laps in but the VIDEO DOES NOT MATCH

    HELLO...espn wake up...fix things...sheesh
    !#(!^#*!(#^!*#^!

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  90. Well....someone has some explaining to do huh?

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  91. OK back to normal audio....JD what could have caused that problem? could it have been a server error and not human?

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  92. I love how the finish looked! Nice wide shot and the little "heads" piling in as they crossed the finish line......well, it was, like, CUTE! I liked it.

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  93. Good for Brad what a thrill for him and his family. Boy this is going to be long racing night!

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  94. I am glad we did not hear anything to screw up the race...

    VERY UNPROFESSIONAL wasn't it jd?


    Cripes...who's fault was that?

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  95. People people, a human is not always at the helm controlling the programing...it could have been the computer. And when a human noticed, they ran in the master control room to fix it. That is one possibility.

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  96. Just a note to Shannon the pit reporter. Twice you said that car 20 Logano had checked out when he was leading. Being checked out means to be ahead of the pack by quite a lot. When you said it car 20 was only a half to one car length ahead of the 2nd place car both times.

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  97. back to NASCAR

    That was sweet seeing his mom happen to be there working the pits for him.

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  98. Well, i am glad ESPN FIXED IT...wonder how far the person had to go that noticed the problem to fix it...down a hall?

    Nice to see McKay mentioned at the Indy race...did they mention him on the NASCAR race?

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  99. Its just a routing error inside the plant in Bristol. Usually a whole lot is going on there about this time of night.

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  100. I got to see the last 2 minutes of Brad in Victory Lane.

    What the hell was going on with ESPN2.

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  101. Addendum--- on the phone to my girl-friend in Montana, her cable didn't miss a beat. No problem at all.

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  102. i'm on directv just ouside of dallas and didn't miss anything...

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  103. Well no one 'missed' anything.

    But if you listened closely, ESPN had the wrong audio turned on for the beginning of the IRL tape-delayed broadcast. You probably just missed it.

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  104. I realized how odd my last comment sounded....oh well


    what I mean is you probably didn't 'notice' the audio difference.

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  105. Oh shoot, does this mean I missed the end of the race on my recording? I switched my recording away from ESPN2HD (which was fine on DirecTV) to regular ESPN2 because I had to record something else on my HD receiver.

    I better go check on that.

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  106. I'm in Chicago and saw nothing but the Direect tv logo for about 6 laps with music. Thank goodness they had the race on video stream online.

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  107. More importantly what the freak happened to the last 6 laps of this race. Seriously, this already starting to be a repeat of last year. No ticker saying race will be moved nothing. This is why SPEED needs to have this series as well as trucks. I have nothing against Sliced Bread (in fact impressed with what he has shown) but if I sit through hours of over hyping I want to see the end. As it would be the driver I have been pulling for won his first race and I got nothing. Has to go to espn.com to see who won. Only to get an even crappier news article. This to me is not looking good as a preview of what is going to happen when they get their hands on the cup series. Sorry to rant. But I do have a point and legit concerns about this.
    Kendria

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  108. not that this is related, but it looks as if ESPN2 is showing the IRL race tape delayed.

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  109. i meant that i didn't miss the end of the nationwide race on directv. my wifes fave driver is stremme and she would have ripped the dish off the house if that had happened here...

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  110. I saw the last few laps of the race on TW in Ohio but I SURE FEEL for you guys that got screwed out of the race. I still remember ESPN losing the last 3 laps at Bristol last year.

    Also the beginning of the Indy race was ludicrous with the audio on lap fifty and video of BEFORE the race...hope that router issue does not happen again. On another note, IRL needs to do a GWC..two weeks in a row of race finishing under caution...STINKS...bad crash but this is ludicrous.

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  111. I didn't get to watch the race since I was at the IRL race tonight but when I got home I fired up the old Tivo to watch NHRA qualifying. I have DirecTV and the sound on ESPN2 went out at 5:38 (central) for 10 minutes then no picture for 3 more minutes. A message on the screen said:

    No need to call us
    We are aware this TV station is temporarily unavailable.
    We'll have this channel back as soon as possible.
    Sorry for the interruption.

    It came back on with one minute left of the qualifying show. So the problem with the end of the Nationwide race reared it's head earlier.

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  112. I know this isn't NASCAR related, but what a horrible decision to have both races back to back. Someone should have known that the first race had the likelihood of going over.

    JD, you always complain about how NASCAR coverage gets pre-empted and the fans have to wait a long time to see it when there's a lot going on the network at once. I had to wait until almost 1AM to see the end of the IndyCar race, on tape delay and with a myriad of problems at that. How are the Indy fans (and the new ones they're supposed to try and get) supposed to feel in that situation when even they can't see a RACE live? The race broadcast ended one hour after the actual event was already over, and because it was on tape delay, side-by-side couldn't be used.

    Now I realize that they were doing a lot of stuff with getting as much race coverage as possible in (using Tivo-style delay when in commercials at times), but damn that was frustrating as a race fan.

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  113. IRL race, tape delayed, on ESPN2 was horrible. IRL is not NASCAR, and yet ESPN2 would leave for commercials every 5 minutes. After about a half hour of this I gave up and turned the TV off. I've come to expect more commercials than racing with NASCAR given that the myopic baby Brian Nascar cares more about $$ than the fans, but not from IRL too.

    Given that IRL races these days are so much more exciting/competitive than Nascrap, seems IRL would opt for a TV contract that has more racing, fewer commercials, at least while trying to build its fan base.

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  114. Alex-

    Do a Google search for the Indianapolis Business Journal article about the IRL starting negotiations for tv rights after next season. NBC or Turner are possibilities.

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  115. Boy it sure would have nice to see the end of the Nationwide race but thanks to the idiots at DirecTV the last 9 laps of the race were replaced with a DirecTV logo and music. What a joke.

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  116. JD
    The ESPN on-air performance for the conclusion of Nationwide race and the start of IndyCar was embarrassing. How in this day and age do you sign on a recorded event and air the first segment of it with incorrect audio without someone noticing?
    Good Lord!

    Bray Kroter

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  117. I read a quote from Brad in an article, that he understood that Dale Jr lost the picture, too.

    I did see the end of the race --- I stayed up to watch the replay. Sure wish TPTB would re-run during the week.

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  118. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  119. I'm actually starting to like Rusty this season. He's doing much better communicating with Andy Petree, and they're doing great.

    JD, I 100% agree with you on Punch, the guy just can not communicate with anyone in the booth. He justs ask questions, or brings up a topic the analysts can discuss. Mike Joy does the opposite of this with great success. He also has no excitement during the race! He talks slow, and says the same phrases over and over. The Doc is a great guy, and he could be used perfectly in the pit studio or on pit road. If Allen Bestwick went to the booth, ESPN would have a very formidable team

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  120. Just a late addendum but I did lose the Direct tv satelite feed for the last 10 laps of the race in Spokane also.

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