The day kicks-off with NASCAR Live at 3PM hosted by Steve Byrnes. Reporting from the pits and garage area will be Bob Dillner and John Roberts. This program reviews the NASCAR line-up for the day and the news.
ESPN2 is next at 4PM with Nationwide Series qualifying coverage. Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree will be in the announce booth. Dave Burns, Shannon Spake and Jamie Little will be covering the action from pit road.
Sprint Cup practice is on SPEED at 5PM. Steve Byrnes returns to host the practice session with Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond. It will be Lindsay Czarniak and Marty Snider handling the interviews and reporting from the garage.
Happy Hour coverage is next at 6PM with Byrnes and company in the booth. The reporters will change for this session and it will be Matt Yocum and Ralph Shaheen.
The Nationwide Series is on ESPN beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 7:30PM. Race coverage begins at 8PM with Jerry Punch and company. There will be a new post up for the race at 6:30PM.
Trackside comes along at 11PM with Byrnes, Hammond, McReynolds and Elliott Sadler. This week's featured guest will be Richard Petty who is celebrating his 50th anniversary in NASCAR. There should be some good conversation with the King from this panel.
This post will host your comments about everything on Friday except the Nationwide Series race, save those for the race post. To add your TV-related comments, just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. Thanks for stopping by.
Looks like we've got a bit of a "delay" on tv for the Nationwide qualifying ... Track time vs tv time ...
ReplyDeleteI got this from the Chicagoland website schedule ... Times in CDT ...
Friday, July 11th
2:35 PM - Nationwide Qualifying
4:00 - 4:45 PM Sprint Cup Practice
5:20 - 6:20 PM Sprint Cup Final Practice
So, Nationwide qualifying REALLY starts at 2:35pm cdt (3:35pm edt) ... But, because of Jamie Farr's golf tournament, The Deuce is tape delaying qualifying & having it start at 3pm cdt (4pm edt) ...
This is yet another time that Disney should've allowed News Corp to take control of the broadcast ...
I really wish that Time-Warner, News Corp & Disney would re-negotiate the tv contract for 2009 & beyond ... to where SPEED would pick up all of the practices & qualifying sessions for all 3 series ...
I HATE HATE HATE having to switch back & forth and back & forth between SPEED & The Deuce for coverage at the same track (like last weekend at Daytona which was bad because of a 3rd network thrown into the mix with TNT) ... If I'm not in the room at the time, sometimes the tv doesn't get switched to the other channel's coverage ... How many Nielsen Families have that problem too ??
Thanks for the update.
ReplyDeleteJD - I only found the problem with the "times" because I was looking at the grid on Zap2it.com to see when I should be up to see qualifying ... And the overlap of Nationwide qualifying to Sprint Cup practice set off the alarms ... as in "How are they gonna run qualifying & practice at the SAME time on the SAME track?!?!" LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks for the rundown, JD.
ReplyDeleteNeed to enjoy the gang from SPEED while it lasts... and seeing cars on the track, hopefully if weather is good.
At 5:07pm eastern time Espn2 was up to the 29th driver qualifying for the Nationwide Race (tape delay) and on Speed they told you who won the pole for this race.
ReplyDeleteI turned on SPEED.
ReplyDeleteCan't stand all the stuff on the screen on ESPN. Mercy! Need dramamine! ;-0
Going to miss these SPEED guys' and would rather listen to them. And wider car shots, too.
Speed could improve one thing with the practice coverage.They put up top speeds (mph) for each driver during practice.Lap time is so much easier to compare.Larrymac and Hammond seem to always refer to lap time,as most folks in racing do.Perhaps they should look at the broadcast and see what the audience gets stuck with.
ReplyDeleteI must say having one network provide tape delayed coverage of qualifying while another network is providing live coverage of practice from the same track kind of defeats the purpose of covering qualifying and practice.
ReplyDeleteESPN needs to add the "3" or give their practice and qualifying coverage rights up. It is the old 10 lbs. of stuf in the 5 lb bag. ESPN cannot provide adequate coverage for all of the sports that they now have broadcast rights to. It isn't fair to the consumers - whether it is NASCAR fans or those who watch tennis or golf...no matter how you look at it, ESPN is letting people down.
Maybe Speed will have the king play guitar hero for 20 minutes. This show has gone so far down hill lately it is not worth space on the DVR anymore.
ReplyDeleteI'll say it yet again. NASCAR, Speed, and ESPN need to get together and re-work their TV contract as it relates to practice and qualifying coverage.
ReplyDeleteESPN needs to turn to the TNT method of covering the races to get their big ratings numbers, and leaving the practice and qualifying shows to Speed Channel.
When Speed has the rights to Cup or Nationwide practice on a given weekend, we get EVERY practice session on TV and we get them LIVE, except in rare instances.
When ESPN has the rights to Cup or Nationwide practice on a given weekend we get a maximum of one practice session on TV for that series every week, and quite often that lone practice session that does air on TV will be tape-delayed, especially during college football season where last year we had to wait until as late as 2 AM one week for practice coverage.
When one network (Speed) has set a standard that every session will air on TV (and air live) it is just not acceptable for a new network (ESPN) to come into town and all of a sudden shove practice blackouts and tape-delays down our throats.
On top of all that is ESPN's continued lack of focus during the limited practice and qualifying shows they do. Full-screen video packages and other camera shots of everything but the cars on the track continue to rule the world at the four letter network. Today, with a full Tivo style format in place mind you, no fewer than 10 of the 49 cars had at least half of their fastest qualifying lap skipped because the producer/director was focused on something else - video packages, full screen interviews, Dish Tech Center, shots of Wrigley Field, etc. Included in that group was pole-sitter David Reutimann, who we only saw drive through turns 3-4 on his pole lap because ESPN decided a replay of the Mike Wallace - Steve Wallace crash at Daytona was more important to show the viewers at home.
And worst of all, ESPN not only tried to ignore the fact that this session was tape-delayed, they blatantly tried to deceive that fans by having Dr. Punch come right out and say something like "Welcome LIVE to Chicago for LIVE coverage of Nationwide qualifying." What an insult to the race fans this TAPE-DELAYED coverage of "qualifying" was.
I continue to applaud ESPN for the changes they have made to their Nationwide race broadcasts and hope those changes carry over to their Cup coverage. I also applaud their revamping of NASCAR Now after last year's disaster. However, their treatment of practice and qualifying is still a complete joke, that has not changed from last year.
ESPN, please stop covering practice and qualifying and let Speed have the rights to every qualifying and practice session like TNT does.
Kyle
ReplyDeleteoh, man..I forgot all about how they ruined the dario interview with that rubbish. Thanks for the reminder...I was gonna watch that show but may pass now.
Also if the crowds are rowdy, just not worth sitting through that either.
I like in studio interviews and talking so much better but I know I am not like most folks. Probably why I always liked INC so much or NNow on Mondays'.
Though I am enjoying the ODD COUPLE with Steve B on that Twin Twist show.... :-)
Or maybe I should call it Backspin Twin...or BackTwist Spin, lol.
Anyway, I might try a glimpse of the King after ESPN's debacle with inexperienced girl hosting...sigh.
The post for the Nationwide Series coverage on ESPN is now up. Sorry for the delay.
ReplyDeleteJD
stricklinfan82
ReplyDeleteI agree! NASCAR should rework the contract next time. If you are not going to show it live, give it to SPEED.
SophiaZ123
Backspin twin LOL
Stricklanfan
ReplyDeleteYou are correct sir.
Glad to give you a smile, Kyle!
:-) See ya on the race board I hope.