Saturday, August 9, 2008

In-Progress At The Glen: Nationwide Race (ABC 2:30 PM ET)


THERE IS A NEW POST UP FOR YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS RACE. REFRESH YOUR BROWSER OR CLICK ON THE LOGO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

Saturday is a very busy day for Dr. Jerry Punch and the entire NASCAR on ESPN team. That will continue at 2:30PM ET when coverage of the Nationwide Series will switch over to the ABC Television Network.

Allen Bestwick will begin the telecast by hosting NASCAR Countdown. This pre-race show will feature Bestwick in the Infield Pit Studio with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. The program is scheduled for thirty minutes in length.

Next-up will be Punch along with his "booth team" of Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. By the time 3PM rolls around, Punch and company will have already done three hours of live NASCAR TV on Saturday. Now, it will be time to call the full Nationwide Series race.

Shannon Spake, Mike Massaro, Jamie Little and Dave Burns will join this telecast as pit reporters. Once again, this type of road course racing is very different and pit road is no exception. Pit strategy should be interesting to follow during the race.

Last week in Montreal, eleven cars were out of the race with less than 20 laps gone in the event. It should be interesting to watch the ESPN graphic ticker and follow the attrition in the rear of the field.

Also like Montreal, this Nationwide field consists of Sprint Cup cross-over drivers, road course specialists and a tattered field of Nationwide regulars. The on-track dynamic once the race begins should be fun to watch.

This post will serve to host your comments about the Nationwide Series race on ABC Sports. To add your TV-related opinion, 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. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

238 comments:

  1. I am absolutely beside myself with anger - the local ABC channel is showing the BBC World News (their default broadcast) just because someone is too lazy to press the right button to give us the race.

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  2. mary,

    Where do you live and what ABC station do you watch?

    JD

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  3. NASCAR Countdown - NOT seen in Seattle & Portland ...

    For the 4th time this year ...


    Because Fisher Broadcasting is too LAME & lazy to move their kiddies programming to 30 minutes earlier in the morning because they don't want to cut 30 minutes off their Saturday morning local news ...

    Instead of "NASCAR Countdown" ... We "treated" to an ep of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" ...

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  4. Still? Wow, after all the hassle they got earlier, I can't believe they did not shift things earlier.

    We even proved their line about needing an FCC exception was incorrect.

    So, fans in the Northwest join the fans in Canada with NASCAR trouble this week.

    JD

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  5. It's even worse for people like me who are Canadian and Left Coasters.

    --KarenB

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  6. Slightly off-topic

    About the Nationwide ad with the gentleman using a toilet plunger to remove a dent in a car door, the one where the entire door pulls off the car. I don't want Nationwide insurance, but I'd really like to know where I can get one of those hellacious plungers.

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  7. Problems here on Cox in Vegas, tons of screen freeze, and lips are moving about 4 seconds ahead of audio.

    Now getting lots of "white noise" look to the picture even in commercial.

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  8. JD - Unless you go talk to Jim Clayton the head of Fisher Broadcasting - Seattle, they're not gonna care ...

    This is the same company's whose "mouthpiece" from the news dept caused an evacuation / police situation at the Dept of Corrections last year when he sent them a bobblehead in a box w/o a return address ...

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  9. Palmetto that is too funny

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  10. This is the second season of selected NASCAR Nationwide Series races on ESPN.

    Amazing that the ESPN vs. ABC station problem has not been straightened out.

    JD

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  11. JD

    I'm in Bermuda in the middle of the Atlantic and its a local station that broadcasts ABC I've no idea where they get it from.

    Mary

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  12. mary,

    Even people in shorts have a clue!

    Drop them an email on the website.

    JD

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  13. I doubt anyone would read it today I tried calling but its just machines. They will be getting a blast from me (and no doubt others) on Monday but this sort of thing happens all the time if the owner decides he doesn't want to show something he won't.

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  14. I might be nitpicking, but one of the most annoying things JP does is say "How about...?" in the form of a question nearly everytime he wants to mention a new driver/team/etc. I'm keeping a count today as long as I can because it is definitely one of the most annoying things he does, other than go to commercial or promos with great excitement in his voice (but doesn't do it for the actual racing).

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  15. His catch phrases are tough, especially when he is tired.

    How about....young man...sailed it into the corner...one guy actually made a YouTube video about it last season.

    JD

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  16. 4 laps and commercial. C'mon!!!!!

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  17. ESPN not showing any racing so far, from 10-20 positions. Punch is sounding tired already and disjointed

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  18. I've noticed JP has been saying "by the way" a lot lately.

    And yea JD, that youtube video is hilarious.

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  19. I can already tell that we will not see many of the Nationwide regulars on the telecast today. Too bad! DJ & AP seem on top of the race instead of the PXP guy.

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  20. Terrible coverage so far, we still haven't seen anyone but the leaders yet, JD

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  21. I understand it's great to have Cup drivers going down to the lower series, but do we need to spend so much time focused on a big name driver like the 48 and then barely mention guys who start every race in the Nationwide Series. I say this as a Johnson fan myself, but this isn't his series and shouldn't be his spotlight.

    Again, I know it's only a quick on-screen video of him during green flag racing, but I just felt like it was unnecessary.

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  22. I'd like to see someone ask the owners of the 90-91 team if it's actually profitable to pay legitimate drivers like Todd Bodine, Terry Cook, and now Cup driver Michael McDowell to start-and-park their cars. You'd think drivers of that caliber wouldn't lower themselves to do that unless they got paid quite well.

    I think it would be interesting to get more insight into the world of start-and-park... maybe an ESPN Outside the Lines piece or something that could tie in the sponsorship woes and costs to compete that cause this to occur. It was only 9 years ago that they used to get 60+ Busch cars to show up for each and every Cup companion race.

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  23. Hey, JP just mentioned a couple of cars out of the race. Wow.

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  24. JD, the crew is already running out of things to talk about and we're 12 laps in

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  25. They would have plenty to talk about if they would move down some spots and stop telling us about the former Indy 500 winner, we know give us something else.

    SLF I was wondering about McD too.

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  26. The booth sounds like it didn't even care that there was damage to two cars and an incident between Boys and Burton. That was a MAJOR part of the race and Punch sounds like he just woke up in the morning and he is ordering breakfast.

    Even forgetting the fact that it was "Jeff Burton" and not just some small-time N'wide driver that the booth seems to never really pay attention to, but ESPN doesn't show that they care about the fact that the 29 car will be severely hurt by this in their chance to catch up to Bowyer, Edwards, and Kesolowski in the Manufacturer's Standings. That's actually pretty important.

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  27. Just going to check and see who is left on the ticker after this pit stop.

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  28. That's a great point Anon 3:43

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  29. stricklinfan82

    I agree it is a shameful thing to have start and parkers. But the TV contract says 43 cars, so why would TV make a fuss over the fact that they are the ones making the start and parkers.

    Start and park has been part of NASCAR for along long time. Heck the first Daytona 500 France went around paying $1000 for people to cut their roofs off to be in the convertible class to fill out the field. $1000 50 years ago, was ALOT of money.

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  30. "How about Denny Hamlin?" That's the third mention so far.

    The booth (and no offense to Jarrett and Petree, because maybe they would be better with a different play-by-play guy) sounds like they are just talking during a race...and I don't mean that in a good way, like we have mentioned earlier in the year about Petty and Dallenbach or maybe Waltrip and Larry Mac. They sound like they have something better to do and are simply going through the motions to call this race.

    Maybe that is the result of knowing they will also call the higher-profile race tomorrow so they don't have as much interest or excitement in calling this lower-level series.

    This should definitely show that they need a different crew of guys to call the Nationwide Series each week that could focus on the N'wide drivers and not just the Cup guys.

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  31. There was a giant bug on my screen! lol.

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  32. Hey guys, lets give Punch a break here. He did manage to call the green flag while the cars were still in the first lap! :)

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  33. My goodness can they focus on Cup drivers any more than this? If I have to hear anymore about Denny Hamlin's "bootie" instead of about how Jason Leffler is up to second, a Cup guy like Harvick wants to "dump" Kesolowski who is trying to catch up to Bowyer and win the series, or about any other Nationwide driver I might cry.

    I'm very surprised they haven't been all over Dale Jr being in this race. I'm sure that's coming soon.

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  34. Big accident in turn 1 and Doc doesn't even raise his voice. One of the the contender too, in Hamlin

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  35. Yeah, I'd say that call of the 01's crash left a lot to be desired. The breakfast analogy was a good one, anon. "There's the 01 car...... (long silence)."

    It's an absolute shame that post-2000 NASCAR fans have no idea how great of a broadcaster Dr. Punch really is when he's put in a role that actually suits him. I'm sure a lot of newer fans will think NASCAR is completely nuts when they induct Dr. Punch into the broadcaster's wing of the NASCAR Hall of Fame sometime in the near future, and that's certainly a terrible disappointment because his induction will certainly be deserved.

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  36. Again, the cameras brush over the fact that Bliss and Coleman just had some damage on the restart and kept the cameras on Denny Hamlin who went off the racetrack.

    It took them so long to get to the highlight of this incident. Every other network that covers racing finds the incidents ASAP, but not ESPN.

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  37. One more thing on the S&P guys.

    As of now there are 7 cars out of the race. Heck the 90 car didn't even make a lap of the race.

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  38. Even Jamie has been off-base today. She has been trying to invent things and create storylines and gets shut-down all the time by drivers.

    Now, she gets shut-down by Petree.

    Hope the TV karma gets better here soon.

    JD

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  39. I agree Anon 3:48, it just seems like they're going through the motions. I do not sense any excitement at all coming from the booth to call this race

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  40. "One of the 9 car's spotters was responsible him getting run over (literally) from behind on the restart". Yikes!... That wasn't exactly Kevin Lepage at Talladega, LOL.

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  41. sean,

    This is their third broadcast of the day. The first one started at 10AM, which meant they were wired-up by 9AM.

    Now, its after 4 and they have a long way to go. Should be interesting.

    JD

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  42. Is it too early for mgaritas? This is just bad. How about turing off JP's mike except for commercial bumpers and let DJ and AP talk, of course we will still need help from the guy directing the camera shots we are watching

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  43. No I haven't started already I just can't help the typos

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  44. JD

    I have a question I think you would know the answer to. Is there someone in the truck watching several different cameras during the race and how fast can they switch the camera from one to another during a race?

    I ask because it seems like ESPN is so slow to switch and don't really show many incidents "as they happen", while the other networks are able to switch cameras right away to at least catch any other drivers that might get caught up in the incident. It seems like it's taking ESPN 30 seconds to get to the other camera angle as if they don't have anyone watching the cameras.

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  45. OK today I would be happy if JP would just STOP talking altogether. I like Kyle but ENOUGH

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  46. Is there a reason we a watching a full screen of KB pit stop during green flag racing.

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  47. Anyone else not getting an HD feed?

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  48. Anon 4:02PM,

    Every hear the "too many cooks" line? There are LOTS of people in the TV truck watching the cameras.

    I am sure they are all adding their 2 cents as well.

    JD

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  49. They showed Kyle Busch's ENTIRE trip down pit road, his entire pit stop, and missed out on 30 full seconds of racing. This is so awful.

    In one full minute, we saw Kyle Busch, Steven Wallace after he spun then him by himself driving, then a highlight of how it happened.

    We have now missed over one full minute of racing!

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  50. Over 20 laps in , and we still haven't seen any racing from 10-25th on back.

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  51. A split-screen would certainly be a nice thing when showing green flag pit stops and green flag replays. That was one of the few things the Fox production truck actually did right, and it's a shame TNT and ESPN have resisted to follow their lead.

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  52. Cars are spinning and wrecking early in this race and I haven't heard one shred of excitement from the booth.

    I can't imagine what the radio announcers sound like calling this race. Probably like hearing a different race.

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  53. so many crashes...so little excitement and is it me of bad camera work.


    Also, DUMB QUESTION:

    WHen the race began, it looked like the cars were running clockwise or were the fan stands INSIDE the track? I know they pit on the right side but did not know if it was due to clockwise racing or diff side exit off track.

    Could somebody please unconfuse me?


    THEY DO NEED to get a new group for the NW races. These guys are tired and running out of things to say.

    Too much focus on the CUP drivers...goodness.

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  54. WHO IS DRIVING the car that just got penalized. NUMBERS alone do not help me. 8something.

    HEllo, is the booth awake? Know it's a long day but sheesh.

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  55. @ Jessica

    HD is working fine for me, both the Seattle and Detroit feeds.

    --KarenB

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  56. again...more energy by Punch throwing it to commercial.

    I give up.

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  57. Surprising that they haven't mentioned Joey Logano or Dale Earnardt Jr yet. Oh wait I know why because, they're hanging around 15th-20th and ESPN doesn't care about racing back there

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  58. I wish Disney would can Jamie, Shannon & Brad ... They are horrifically horrible ...

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  59. PJ Jones in the 81. He is 6 laps behind according to foxtrax. Isn'tthat something that the booth should have mentioned Steven Wallace is on the lead lap. And here I was blaming SW

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  60. Attention announcers:

    I can guess what happend to cars after they wreck. You're being paid a substantial salary to be able to TELL me what happened, not to guess or say you "think."

    Also, you shouldn't need to wait until there's a replay showing on the screen to know something has happened on the track.

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  61. Sophia - ALL road course races are run clockwise ... Has to do with the way they run them in Europe ...

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  62. They really need to reset the field and stop this nonsense.

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  63. Thanks, it may just be comcast in minneapolis with no HD.

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  64. MRN's got one of their lead guys that thinks Kasey Kahne is in the 9 car today ... LOL

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  65. I would think about cutting the booth slack because there are 20 guys driving tomorrow.

    However, you would think that would give them a chance to focus even MORE on the Nationwide regulars but they refuse to do so.

    They only mention Kesolowski because he was dealing with Harvick and his temper. They mentioned Logano once to mention that he got instruction from Waltrip and Stewart and that's about it.

    I guess being in the Top 20 isn't good enough for Mike Wallace or Landon Cassill to get mentioned or even shown during the race.

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  66. This most recent caution involving the 65 Silva,Jr car....

    They barely even mentioned his name. Gave us zero information on who he is or where he's from.

    If he is a NASCAR "weekly track" competitor, we need to know that. Is he a road race competitor from another series?? we need to know that.

    Just a LITTLE bit of homework on some of these "infrequent" drivers would be nice. If the announcers dont have the information, the producers should make some effort to get the viewers some bio information.

    LAZY show / race prep.

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  67. Anonymous said...
    Also, you shouldn't need to wait until there's a replay showing on the screen to know something has happened on the track.


    Thats a little forgivable on a road course, they have a real limited view of the track.

    But agree, it is their job to tell us what is going on at the track, not glossing over something because they have no clue what is going on.

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  68. This kinda stinks that guys like Ryan Newman are just "practicing" for tomorrow and guys that are regulars in the series don't get a chance to race this week.

    I miss seeing guys like David Stremme and Scott Wimmer get to compete and try to win instead of Cup drivers getting some practice in.

    It's kinda funny they haven't mentioned Bowyer or Edwards today even though they are #1 and #2 in the Series standings and have been right around tenth today.

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  69. stricklinfan82 said...

    I'd like to see someone ask the owners of the 90-91 team if it's actually profitable to pay legitimate drivers like Todd Bodine, Terry Cook, and now Cup driver Michael McDowell to start-and-park their cars. You'd think drivers of that caliber wouldn't lower themselves to do that unless they got paid quite well.

    I think it would be interesting to get more insight into the world of start-and-park... maybe an ESPN Outside the Lines piece or something that could tie in the sponsorship woes and costs to compete that cause this to occur. It was only 9 years ago that they used to get 60+ Busch cars to show up for each and every Cup companion race.

    --


    Do you know who the 90-91 ownership is? I actually looked it up, and it might explain why credible drivers from the Truck series have been willing to jump in.

    One of the team principals in MSRP Motorsports is our friend Phil Parsons from Craftsman Trucks on Speed. This makes me think this must make a profitable venture, somehow.

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  70. thank you anon about ALL ROAD courses...I knew they did that in Europe..glad I asked.

    :)

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  71. Ken- Michigan

    Silva Jr. is a Camping World West driver. Think this is his second nationwide start.

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  72. OK I live mabye an hour to Bristol Ct. If I leave now, I can start my hunger strike before the end of the race.

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  73. Anon @ 4:21 PM - Stremme is running in the Truck race tonight ...

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  74. KYLE -

    Thanks for the info.

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  75. Just turned the tv on, I was driving around running errands and listening to MRN. Sounds like a bit of a mess so far.

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  76. ri88,

    This is the first road course for the crew that does the Sprint Cup coverage. Last week at Montreal was the "B team."

    Clearly, these guys are just thrown for a loop. Without a confident and almost forceful announcer anchoring the coverage, this is the feeling viewers get.

    Just some excitement about the racing would be great.

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  77. Bevo- keep on MRN you'll know more

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  78. They didn't show Sammy when he was dirt trackin' courtesy of Dario ... from when they were on commercial ...

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  79. And the stands showing behind AB, RW & BD looks pretty empty to me.

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  80. I miss Larry Mac (or anyone) with a fuel mileage calculator. Maybe that's what Brewer should be up to. I'm not clear yet which pit strategy is most likely to work.

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  81. JD,
    Those excuse would have flown with me last year, but not the second season, sorry, loading up the car now;)

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  82. If this were sunday, I swear i would sit in the car and LISTEN to MRN (cooler weather, nice day)

    I really hate to say this but:

    It's like today is the first time EVER ESPN and this gang covered NASCAR road courses.

    Kinda sad and at this time it's No Excuses time in my book.

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  83. Nothing ike a "through the field" that only goes to the car in 10th position...then picks back up three cars further back, because that's where Kyle Busch is.

    Remember when NBC would do "Through the Field?" They managed to cover every single car on the track. Near as I can tell, the fields haven't gotten any lsrger since then.

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  84. nrf-

    Good idea!

    As far as graphics go - get rid of the course diagram and driver pic during the rundown.

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  85. So now that ESPN is back from the break are we going to hear how the 15th-41st cars are doing or are there only 14 cars in the race.

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  86. is this not the THIRD time Marcos Ambrose has caused an accident today?

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  87. I am getting upset with the broadcast crew. Do they realize there are more than 10 cars in the race? And that some of those drivers are not cup racers?

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  88. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  89. If you think about it, take the start-and-park cars and then some of the lapped or wrecked cars and a through-the-field would probably only take about 30-33 drivers. It would be even easier than normal.

    Hornish, a guy who was running in 6th, spun and wrecked (possibly by Ambrose) and very little coverage by the ESPN booth. Did Ambrose get him or not? Hard to tell. But they just move on from an important incident and move on.

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  90. No Triple pit for NW or not on this track?

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  91. Just a reminder for you PIP fans, the ARCA race is Nashville is about to get underway on SPEED.

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  92. Sammy DID get dumped by Marcos ...

    Let's see - Marcos got Burton & Sammy ... and someone else ...

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  93. It feels to me like AB has been unusually quiet and absent today. In fact, the whole infield has been a ghost. Is it just me? What gives?

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  94. ok...so is Ambrose a dirty driver? He acts so nice but I have read snarky comments in the past and wonder if there is something to them after today...from what I can see.

    Disappointing info being given...hornish horrible spin..he has had such bad luck but looks like he felt horrible about what happened.

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  95. Ok, interesting situation. If a handful of cars stayed out to get to the front, and some of the fastest cars are lined up between 11-20, will ESPN now actual cover the entire field instead of the Top 10?

    Or will they just cover 11-20 and not talk much about the guys who moved up with their fuel strategy?

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  96. Well, lets see how ESPN responds to the Jimmie Johnson penalty.

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  97. I'm going to the ACRA race. Can not stand the lack of information from ESPN.

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  98. Yeah, Marcos did it. However, it looked like Sam would've been fine if he would've not moved and Antonio was paying attention.

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  99. Daly Planet Editor said...
    Well, lets see how ESPN responds to the Jimmie Johnson penalty.

    August 9, 2008 4:44 PM

    Oh they will be sure to update that because he is one of their "star" drivers that they have been on all day. Meanwhile Landon was running in the Top 20 and suddenly went to the garage with no explanation.

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  100. Oooh, Johnson and Busch now at the back. Guarantee they now show everyone in the Top 30. Or maybe skip the ones in between and show the guys in 1-5 and 29 and 30.

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  101. of course we heard about JJ, JD.

    But what about all the others?!

    Just when you think you can't be surprised about the bad coverage is. . .

    I don't get it.

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  102. Wow, that was the first I heard of Cassill, a regular, is in the garage. And I heard it from The Daly Planet and not from ESPN. That's sad but awesome for this site.

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  103. AB is more excited about the strategies than everybody in the booth

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  104. Love Brad's line "lets just sit back and see how things play out"
    That is exactly what ESPN does. They never plan out the broadcast.

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  105. Ambrose seems to get alot of "FREE PASSES" on the air from ESPN.

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  106. Nice. Right now they leave the racing action to show Johnson running around by himself at the back.

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  107. And here we go. The focus is now on the car in 32nd place! Unreal. ESPN needs a complete restructuring of their coverage.

    If they hired you to take over JD would you do it? :)

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  108. Are you kidding me? They take a 15 second shot of Jimmie Johnson, who has no cars around him? Give me a break

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  109. The funny part is we saw 20 cars going through the interloop all racing each other tightly, and they skip over all of them to a lonely 48 car

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  110. Usually its a Kyle love fest - today its Denny - why focus on a Cuppers green flag stop & Ignore the race?

    Coverage has been really bad today.

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  111. JJ fan here and still totally confussed on why we needed to see that, not to mention we had to wait for him, so who was the car missing most of the front end?

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  112. Now they are showing EVERYONE that is in the back of the field and not showing ANY racing at all.

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  113. Sometimes I think there's a chicken with its head cut off in the control booth ...

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  114. This is a lovefest for the cup guys.

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  115. WTH? Green flag racing going on & we get pit stops?

    Now Boris causes a caution w/debris & we get a replay of it, then a fast wide shot & tighten in on the 99? What is going on?

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  116. Anyone know of a place that broadcasts the race radio over the internet?

    My local MRN PRN station only covers the cup races.

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  117. This is certainly a confusing day. Notice none of the pit reporters, Tim Brewer or Rusty Wallace is helping with any strategy issues.

    This telecast needs Larry McReynolds....badly.

    JD

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  118. They need to use a different font for the ticker ...

    The letters / numbers don't get clear until they've scrolled practically all the way off the screen ...

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  119. I guess its a good thing that Punch and Jarrett took all that vacation time earlier in the season.

    Maybe they need a few more weeks off.

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  120. The other evening as I was going through channels, I happened upon an old black and white movie featuring the young stars of the day. The plot was "let's get together and put on a show in the barn".

    Why does that movie keep popping in my mind today while trying to follow the ESPN coverage???
    :)

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  121. Sounds like Vickers is in the MRN booth ... But, I'm having a hard time understanding him ...

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  122. I think we need Allen & Randy instead of this current crew doing the Nationwide races. Maybe they could spotlight more of the NW regulars during the NATIONWIDE races.

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  123. Right now, I still have no idea of what will happen in this race. Larry Mac would be perfect for this one. Race Buddy would also be great.

    Instead we get Brad D. telling us that ESPN is going to sit back and see what happens instead of providing analysis.

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  124. It's BV in the MRN booth, I resorted to streaming MRN off trackpass

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  125. I'm a Johnson fan but in most of these races and including this one, I'm rooting so much for a Nationwide regular to win to shut the booth and their lovefest for Cup drivers for awhile.

    Do these announcers basically just not know about about n'wide drivers to commentate on them?

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  126. Rusty's back on his game today, good to see.

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  127. JD, Right now I'd rather listen to the guys in the infield studio than the tired Doc, AP, and DJ

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  128. @ Lisa,
    It had to be a Mickey Rooney movie or the original Little Rascals.

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  129. So, if it "appears" he is making a four tire change and the crew is actaully doing a four tire change why not just say they are taking four tires? Does ESPN not want to be wrong in their reporting?
    I say let AB do the broadcasts by himself and it would be so much better.

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  130. sean,

    Earlier this season, we suggested that perhaps for just one Nationwide race AB and Punch switch places just to see if the chemistry was better.

    Um, that did not go over well.

    JD

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  131. JD - Did ESPN ever figure out who hit whom last week to bring out that last caution ??

    MRN knew right away that it was Jacques into Hornaday as well as Logano into Garcia ...


    Every article that I've seen about the race had all of the writers confused ...

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  132. Love love love how they are thanking Goodyear for the air coverage, ummm that shot was so obviously from a helicopter it aint funny.

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  133. blimp is a real blimp

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  134. Kyle & Kennseth battle for 2nd - no show from ESPN

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  135. Ok, Edwards is probably done competing - SO SHOW THE REST OF THE RACING! THIS IS AWFUL COVERAGE.

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  136. I wish Rusty got lost getting to this track. Really disappointed with the tv crew. Logano must be talking about the broadcast huh?

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  137. I gave up on ESPN alone and added MRN 1/2 thru the race

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  138. Now they're showing the replay of Milwaukee with Edwards/Bowyer during green flag racing. Incredible

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  139. Oh my...they updated the point standings as they run now. This gets worse and worse.

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  140. Morgan Shepherd sure deserves some attention - especially since he's even older than last week's rain tires, and all the announcers.

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  141. WOW. Can we please get a split-screen if we're going to show multiple replays and flashbacks from races that happened months ago during green flag racing?

    I guess last week's good coverage of the Pocono race was mirage, eh?

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  142. Kyle & Burton just a a rubbin is racin moment according to MRN we saw Carl thanks ESPN

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  143. Stricklin - sadly I think you are right

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  144. Did they seriously just leave the race between Burton and Busch for 1st to show Bowyer by himself back in 30th?

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  145. WOW..so much happening...so little excitement.

    I am not mentioning any names but somebody in the booth reminds me of one of my fave Groucho Marx lines:

    "Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped."

    oh, and the chicken in the control room comment earlier WAS FUNNY.

    are there ANY NW drivers in the race
    pitiful..

    Nice countryside around the track.

    Where's Race Buddy. Heck where is TNT and even Weber? Imagine the fun if Wally and Kyle P were in the booth...

    oh the memories.

    TNT, we hardly knew ye.
    :)

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  146. Ambrose is in a position battle and is ignored

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  147. What happened to Hamlin?

    --KarenB

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  148. Can someone update a few things while ESPN is gone to commercial? There seems like there are tons of cars racing for position right now and we are seeing none of it regardless of whether they are at commercial or showing the "race" anyways.

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  149. I don't understand how updating the points as they run is BAD. That is what each driver races for, a championship.

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  150. This has been awful. ESPN now on mute at all times and using MRN via Trackpass. Missing battles on the track, no true discussion of strategy and how it might work. I know AP knows what it is let him tell us (perhaps Daly planet readers need to send him a calculator and some tapes of Larry Mac). Ignoring 3/4 of the cars.

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  151. They never mention Steven Wallace and he is in 9th against all of these Cup drivers. Keso is in 7th and he's been talked about maybe twice. Even Kenny Wallace is 13th and you would barely even know he was in the race today.

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  152. glad to see others honked off as me about VIDEO over exciting green flag road race.

    I wish I could put my pepe Le Pew skunk cartoon here.

    It would be appropriate.

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  153. kbaskins
    Hamlin is 4 laps down in 33

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  154. I share your pain Sophia

    Not a Kyle fan - not a hater either ;)
    Yes Anon they left the battle to show #1 in points.

    This is awfuljust awful

    Leaders just locked up

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  155. Is there anyone on this site that does not feel this is a total TV disaster?

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  156. Kyle Busch is an idiot. Why are these announcers laughing instead of calling him out for this bad driving.

    Updating the points isn't necessarily a bad thing, however, when you update them when so many things can change it's rather annoying.

    Imagine if during a baseball game, every time a team took the lead on the other team, they showed the divisional standings and how they would change.

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  157. @ Kyle

    But why? I haven't heard anything on TV...

    --KarenB

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  158. O.K. Dot, which one in the booth is playing the Mickey Rooney part??

    This has been beyond horrible!

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  159. DANCING WITH THE STARS! OK, this is going to be a very good column.

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  160. how can they talk about dancing with the stars with a shot of burton coming after busch and mad?

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  161. JD - this is truly a disaster and I am dissatisfied with ABC showing the cup guys instead of all the racers in the race.

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  162. Dancing with the stars..... you have got to be kidding me. At least Dr. Jerry got excited about something.

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  163. KENNY WALLACE is in the race. Hell I missed that...for some reason the tv has very blurry ticker in this room today..

    JD if it were not for this site, I would no nothing!!

    THe savvy posters could do a race better than the folks on tv today. And JD you would be good director/producer. :)

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  164. JD- Can't be sure. I'm listening to an exciting race from somewhere in NY on MRN.

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  165. Daly Planet Editor said...
    Is there anyone on this site that does not feel this is a total TV disaster?

    August 9, 2008 5:22 PM


    As if to answer you ESPN (on ABC) is loudly promoing Dancing with the stars or some such,
    does that answer you. Titanic was a damp picnic compared to todays coverage!

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  166. Anonymous said...
    I don't understand how updating the points as they run is BAD. That is what each driver races for, a championship.

    August 9, 2008 5:19 PM

    It is not bad. IT JUST DOES NOT MATTER while they are racing. It is a waste of time and I could care less.

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  167. Magarita time! If I drink fast I won't care that the TV coverage SUCKS!

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  168. Bad timing for a commercial we're gonna miss a big lead change

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  169. WORST time for a commercial I think I have ever seen during a race. Burton could be spinning Busch with Johnson and Ambrose right on them and we go to commercials after about 4 laps of racing.

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  170. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  171. It was a local TV break. They held it off as long as they could.

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  172. Why isn't the infield helping today? I swear there is some politicing going on at the track. Or is it some kind of silent revolt?

    And yes JD, this IS the worst broadcast this season, for what ever reason.

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  173. "We've got a real barn-burner here, folks..." ...so let's go to a break?!

    Good gosh, what a bad choice that was!

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  174. What the heck was that from Dave Burns ??

    Message to Burns :

    You are a "pit reporter" !!
    NOT a booth analyst.

    Try getting an interview with one of these crew chiefs.

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  175. Anonymous said...


    It is not bad. IT JUST DOES NOT MATTER while they are racing. It is a waste of time and I could care less.

    August 9, 2008 5:25 PM

    Thank you - it don't matter till the race is Over!

    Burton & Busch - Burton takes lead & we are in commercials

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  176. Lead change missed on commercial

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  177. Most of us call out TNT and Fox too when they screw up. Punch hasn't been excited all race until he read that promo during the race.

    Somehow it's now Burton then Johnson with Busch third. Who knows what happened?

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  178. Kyle just droped 2 places, while we are at break....

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  179. Burton and Johnson got Busch while we're at commercial.

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  180. Good gravy, this is just bad PbP.

    Come on, ESPN. Bestwick is so much better at this than Punch.

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  181. And why aren't the tv crew telling us who has to pit in order to make it to the finish?

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  182. Payback's a b**** Kyle. Busch, not fellow commenter.

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  183. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  184. dancing with the stars while leaving fans in the dark.
    :(

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  185. If there has been any positive about this coverage, I would like to hear someone try to explain it.

    The booth still doesn't have much of an idea of what will happen with 11 laps to go.

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  186. Daly Planet Editor said...
    Is there anyone on this site that does not feel this is a total TV disaster?

    August 9, 2008 5:22 PM

    Technical problems would make this broadcast much better.

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  187. Thank you ESPN for just utterly destroying this broadcast.

    Cant even read the screen right..... if they finish as they run hes 122 points back (thats straight from the NASCAR.com website live point standings)

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  188. 10 to AB PLEASE take us through the field and tee up the ending for us I'm SO confused

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  189. oh I forgot. The Daly Planet doesn't have a biast opinion against espn.....

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  190. our tv showed a track for 2 seconds without a car on it??!!

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  191. Anonymous,
    think this is bad, go back and read the comments from the FOX dega coverage.

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  192. Boris is in 16th after a pass thru speedin penalty.

    Not sure if leaders can make it w/o stopping?

    Help Racebuddy & TNT

    OMG the world IS ending!

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  193. JD--this is horrible and embarrassing! A few times in the past a few people decided to check out NA$CAR unfortunately for them it was rain races so they didn't get to experience a true event. But with this "crew" I wouldn't tell anyone to tune it. Tell them to wait for Fox to come back.

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  194. There are about 190 comments that have pointed out valid criticism about ESPN's coverage. Some have ditched the coverage and switched to MRN. Some might even have it on mute and watch the pictures.

    others have no idea what is happening even with the volume up. And we've missed most of the wrecks, most of the passes, and most of the racing.

    I'd say it hasn't been good coverage by ESPN myself.

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  195. Have they ever mentioned K Wallace today? He's in the top 20 c'mon ABC.

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