Once again SPEED gets to have fun on a Friday by covering all the on-track action from Fontana. ESPN is producing only the races, so SPEED steps-in with wall-to-wall NASCAR coverage.
John Roberts is going to anchor NASCAR Live to start the day. Hermie Sadler and Randy Pemberton are his reporters from the garage area. This trio has proven to be very effective at getting the interviews needed to set-the-table for the day. This first edition of NASCAR Live hits the air at 2:30PM Eastern Time.
One of the hardest working trios in NASCAR is up next, as Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds begin a very long day with Sprint Cup practice at 3PM. Helping with this live telecast will be reporters Wendy Venturini and Bob Dillner.
At 4:30PM, Roberts and crew return with another NASCAR Live to track-down any stories from the first session. This show is a flexible bridge to the next on-track activity and has been very good in wrapping-up loose ends.
The Nationwide Series cars take to the track for practice at 5PM and once again Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds will be on-hand. After a brief break, so will Dillner and Venturini.
Even though there are only 44 cars trying for 43 slots, Sprint Cup qualifying always has its share of drama. This session should start at 6:30PM and feature some interesting names like Mike Skinner and Johnny Sauter. Byrnes and company will stay on-the-air and work this telecast.
Bob Dillner get a change-of-scenery next as he is hosting the Nationwide Series live practice session. Dillner will be joined by Hermie Sadler and Phil Parsons. Randy Pemberton will move-over to patrol the garage with Wendy Venturini. This one hour session will start at 8:30PM.
The evening ends with a bang as SPEED's three amigos host Trackside along with Elliott Sadler. Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds welcome Brian Vickers and David Ragan as guests to this 9:30PM program.
For West Coast viewers, stay tuned. All the sessions will be repeated again once Trackside is over. Friday features eight hours of NASCAR programming on SPEED and should serve quite well to set-up both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races to come on Saturday and Sunday.
This post will serve to host your comments about SPEED's coverage of Friday at Fontana. To add your comment, 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 again for taking the time out of your day to stop by The Daly Planet.
44 comments:
Trackside - Vickers & Ragan ?!?!
Count me out on this one ... I don't like either of those guys ... And have a hard time understanding them when they talk ...
Why don't they get some of the crew chiefs or owners or Nationwide / Truck Series drivers (when they're at the same track) ?? Mix it up some ... The same old Cup drivers all of the time gets to be quite boring ...
I'm with you, but I think at this time of the year the Cup stories are just going to dominate.
I really hope SPEED can put together a Trackside show with Krista Voda and the gang for next season strictly for the Trucks.
Lots of good stories and experience with that bunch.
JD
That would be awesome! I'd love to see a Pick 'em Ups Trackside :). It would be great to be able to see some of the new faces like young Tayler from the other week. He's a local kid for one of my friends so she sent me some background on him :).
Oh boy!!! Hours of Hammond and McReynolds again . A dream come true . My mute button will be in constant use again today .
I agree. Hammond doesn't have 'the touch' for shows like these. Plus, you have to deal with his ego!
Ohhh, anon can't understand a southern accent, poor baby.
Sorry that I won't be able to watch until late afternoon.
Also sorry to hear that Dillner will be in the booth-too much Dillner. He was not enjoyable on the ARCA races he called.
Thank you SPEED crew for carrying the practice and qualifying for us!
Wow. I always thought that Vickers and Ragan were a couple of the best spoken driver's out there.
Now, have Hermie interview Ward Burton, that would be fun.
I really like this crew and am looking forward to Speed's coverage this afternoon. I have stated here several times that it is a real shame that Speed cannot cover the races like they do qualifying and practice because they really give us our money's worth unlike what we have been given lately from ESPN.
I think Vickers & Ragan will add a lot to the broadcast, I like both of them and I think they are well spoken. But I'm not home til late today so probably will miss them anyway.
Anon - pretty cool that you agree with yourself!
SPEED is the ONLY way to go!
I'd watch it all if I could!
ESPN, TNT, ABC, can't come close to the talent and coverage that SPEED gives us
(in my best Paul Harvey & Fred Flintstone voices): It's Friday! Yaba Daba Doo!
I like Hammond & Dill Pickle :)...
@vicky--Trackside doesn't come on until 9:30 eastern and then there's an 11 am replay tomorrow :)
@haus20--*giggle*
Is that sweat on Hermie like that? I hope they find him a new shirt :).
YAY Marcos!
After Logano interview, after, he then put his sunglasses on.
Good for him.
Oh yes...I see the beads of sweat on him now...
I wonder if we got some sort of a petition drive up if NASCAR would listen to the real race fans and get Speed to cover it all. I realize that I might be out in left fiedl, but it is a real thought.
SPEED is going to continue to be on scene even after ESPN takes back qualifying with coverage of the practice sessions through the end of the season.
JD
I'd LOVE it majors! if we could make it happen I'd do it! Not sure what would work but whatever that magic method would be, I'd love to do it!
So where are all the usual suspects?
Has Clint been on camera yet? Tony Stewart? Ryan Newman? Schrader?
I just got home & trying to figure out whether to watch from beginning.
Very enjoyable Cup practice coverage. It was great to have Speed cover the on-track action again. Had this been an ESPN production we would have been stuck with numerous highlight packages of the Busch-Edwards incidents and comments at Bristol, the Bowyer-Waltrip "drama", Jimmie Johnson winning here last year, Michael Waltrip's fire last year, Carl Edwards's win in the spring, Brad Keselowski's Nationwide crash here last year, etc. etc.
It's just a terrible shame that we have to go back to ESPN for the preliminary sessions next week. Tape-delays, joined-in-progress, true-live qualifying "coverage", and treating the on-track action as background noise will once again mar the most important part of the year.
majors,
I'm with you on the petition idea. KEEP PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING ON SPEED ALL YEAR!
Still at work but looking forward to that DVR, I like BV but he has been everywhere lately (guess that's what happens when when you do better than everyone expected, which also applies to DR).
Well, anon is back and I'm shocked that he doesn't like Larry Mac! :)
I am really enjoying SPEED coverage.
Thanks again SPEED crew!
I agree!! Let's get that petition going!! Speed is awesome and should have ALL the nascar shows and get rid of ESPN, ABC, etc.
Does anyone know why they are showing Qualifying on a delayed basis?
@nan,
SPEED uses this delayed style of qualifying to give every car a chance to be seen. Maybe not their entire laps, but at least everyone gets on screen.
Why skip qualifying runs? There is now 45 mintues left of broadcast, and 13 cars left, and they are still skipping Qualifying runs. If they are doing tivo style of coverage, there is no excuse. Again, they skipped someone (Blaney) who is not one of the chose few.
I hate this tape delayed qualifying. Live is far better. Pull up Nascar.com to get better stats than speed gives us and I see Jimmie on the pole, with AJ just missing it, and Tony Raines going home. Speed needs to look at TNT as an example of a network that understands people can be on the Internet and watch TV at the same time. Speed just doesn't get it and should embrace the internet like TNT.
Anon 8:01PM,
TNT does not participate in televising practice of qualifying.
SPEED had been the consistent TV network where these sessions are concerned.
If you are talking about the TNT RaceBuddy concept that was possible because the TNT sister company NASCAR.com owns the online video rights to all NASCAR action.
Not quite sure about the purpose of your comment.
JD
oops, sorry. Practice or qualifying.
Wow!!
I can't believe that Dilner & Parsons acknowledged that Kevin Hamlin (of Snohomish, WA) is basically getting screwed and that it's great that DJ Kennington is giving Kevin the opportunity to race the Mahindra car this week ...
This is what I still don't understand about the tv contract ...
WHY did Disney bid on/bought the practice & qualifying sessions when they knew darn well that stick & ball (& etc) would interfere with them??
On the previous contract, when NBC & TNT gave up coverage of the practice & qualifying sessions ... Their actual race coverage improved dramatically ...
Just let SPEED & Fox have it as they're old pros at it ... Plus, SPEED has the most flexible schedule and they don't really have any other scheduling conflicts with the NASCAR coverage ...
JD-
Is anyone else seeing the stuttering in the video on the low angle camera in turns 3-4
I personally enjoy the Tivo style format that lets us see every qualifying run. It wasn't used perfectly today (missed a few drivers with plenty of time leftover) but I'm greatful that we didn't miss any go-or-go-homers this week. Especially now with NASCAR and Budweiser making the Pole Award pretty much meaningless with the new Shootout format, it makes the go-or-go home drama the only story of the session so I'm very glad Speed adjusted their "picking and choosing" accordingly and only skipped top-35 cars to reach their pre-calculated "must-skip quota of cars" to end the broadcast on time. I hate seeing anyone get skipped don't get me wrong, but when some cars "have to" be skipped they should come from the bottom part of top-35 group and not from the go-or-go-home group that is the story of the session, in my opinion.
It was great to see Johnny Sauter and the #08 team pull off the upset and make the field. I just hope they're not a start-and-park team. If that turns out to be the case I know that I, for one, will no longer be pulling for future "upsets" by this underdog team.
Thanks to Steve, Larry, Jeff, Wendy, Randy, and the gang for a great day of coverage on Speed. I'm just crushed that the tape-delayed / joined-in-progress /true-live qualifying / ignore the on-track action during practice and qualifying network (ESPN) will be returning next week.
Qualifying and practice should be on Speed, and Speed only, all year!
Anonymous @ 9:08 PM - It's windy at Fontana ... which is affecting the cameras and mics ...
I don't know what to think about Disney wanting to bid on the 2014 & 2016 Olympics ... especially after how they dropped the ice skating (which got ruined by NBC this year) ... Disney doesn't have enough channels for NASCAR / IRL / NHRA ... How would they handle the Olympics??? Put coverage on Toon Disney?? ABC Family?? Disney Channel??
Hey all,
Two issues. First, NASCAR wanted The Chase on a broadcast network. ABC did not have NFL football so when they added in the entire Nationwide Series it was a no brainer. There was no other choice.
NASCAR on the CW? Um....no.
Secondly, ESPN would utilize and create channels to distribute Olympic content just like NBC, but ESPN is trying to point something out.
NBC crafted their ratings by delaying and editing many East Coast primetime programs.
What ESPN is saying is that they would show everything live and let viewers decide, rather than having a main feed (NBC) where the excitement is fed on an editied basis.
Interesting thought.
Hey, SPEED guys said the wind was a real pain today. Hope it dies down for tomorrow.
Thanks again for all the great comments, there will be columns up shortly for the Saturday events.
JD
I'm watching Trackside right now. Apparently, they must have a bunch of time to kill because the content is a mile off-target. Viewers expect humorous diversions during this show - but this has been ridiculous.
-D
anon 9:19....ABC had the Olys for many years and while I may have had issues with things they did, they did a far better job than the 'Nothing But Crap' network. Deals can be made with other channels.
I assume you mean 'figure skating'--ABC has had good and bad coverage over the years, but dropped it more due to the demands of the USFSA, which is unrealistic about the sport's popularity (I am a fan.) Real fans are forced to pay for Ice Network (online only, and provided courtesy USFSA (naturally). They also censor objective opinions. As many have said, only a good knee whacking will fix this, apparently. But I do agree, NBC has been ugly.
Trackside did have a lot of time before their guests showed up. Unfortunately both the guests were in the Nationwide Final Practice and had to finish practice before heading to the stage. Sometimes that is the way things fall.
I would say this is probably not the place to put this post but on Espn this Friday evening at 8:00pm a college football game (with the new 40 second rule) had Southern Methodist at Rice. The game was not even close so there were no near the end of the game time outs, etc and the game ran 3 hours 37 minutes.
Saturday night we have Mississippi State vs. Louisiana Tech with a start time of 6:45pm. Using the time for the SMU vs Rice, the game of Mississippi game will end at 10:22pm. The Nationwide race is scheduled to start at 10:00pm. It will be interesting to see what happens.
charlie,
I ran a column a couple of days ago about that topic. Good luck with the new play clock.
We are thinking that ESPN Classic is going to see the green flag of the Saturday night race.
Thanks for the post.
JD
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