This is the second season of the new NASCAR TV contract and it continues to be a moving target for many fans. This Friday from Talladega, the action shifts from ESPN2 back to SPEED for the full day.
The Craftsman Truck Series takes to the track at Noon Eastern Time for live qualifying action. This is a tough season for the series, with only 28 viable trucks on the Talladega entry list. There are four additional trucks that will try to qualify for the event, but they are battling with the minimum lap time and not for pole position. Driver Richard Johns in his Chevy is the slowest, almost nine full seconds off the practice speed of Todd Bodine. Nine seconds...per lap.
Rick Allen and Phil Parsons will call this session with Michael Waltrip as the third analyst in the booth. Down on pit road will be Adam Alexander and Ray Dunlap. It should be noted that Dunlap is also the media guest on Tradin' Paint this week. Fans may have some memories of his last appearance on that program which earned him a "time-out" from his employer.
Once the trucks get sorted-out, the Sprint Cup Series takes to the track for two practice sessions beginning at 2PM ET. Steve Byrnes will host with Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond in the broadcast booth. Down in the garage area will be Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini.
SPEED has become a favorite for this coverage because of the network's willingness to simply cover practice. Action on the track is featured, the reporters follow-up on stories and McReynolds is wonderful at telling viewers what different teams are doing and why. Dillner and Venturini move seamlessly through the garage area as if they are team members.
In between sessions, John Roberts will host a quick version of NASCAR Live. Randy Pemberton and Hermie Sadler will give the other TV crew a break while they talk to teams about what went right and what went wrong in the early session. This same team will return after practice to host a thirty minute edition of NASCAR Live at 4:30PM. This should wrap-up the NASCAR day and prep SPEED viewers for the upcoming ARCA event.
Race coverage for the ARCA Series begins at 5PM with Allen and Parsons back on the call. Venturini will be joined by Jim Tretow to handle the reporting from pit road. Lots of NASCAR eyes will be on this race, as ARCA has quickly become one of the main training grounds for future Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series drivers.
Mike's daughter Chrissy Wallace will be in the event as will Joey Logano and his JGR teammate Marc Davis. "Mr. Red Bull" Scott Speed will be racing as will former AMA champ Ricky Carmichael in a Kevin Harvick Inc. machine.
One driver to keep an eye on is 23-year old Gabi DiCarlo who is the only full time female driver in the ARCA Series. She is pictured at the top of the page. Her sponsor is Great Clips and that company has already committed to another full ARCA schedule in 2009 with DiCarlo. She is driving the car of a teammate that won the opening ARCA event in Daytona back in February.
While the ARCA race is underway on SPEED, ESPN2 will air NASCAR Now at 5PM. Nicole Manske will host the show, recap Sprint Cup Series practice and preview the Sunday race. The Nationwide Series that normally races on ESPN2 is idle this week.
SPEED is topping-off Friday with a blockbuster of a show. In what may be the ultimate fan recipe for Talladega, it will be Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon who appear as the guests on the rowdy Trackside show at 7:30PM. This show is on after the ARCA race, so viewers who are recording should add some extra time on the DVR, VCR or TiVo.
Byrnes hosts this show with Hammond and McReynolds. Elliott Sadler is the fourth panelist during this stretch of the season. Needless to say, the combination of Junior, Gordon and the Talladega crowd should be interesting to watch.
Please feel free to offer your TV-related comments on the topics above. This post will also host the in-progress comments on these SPEED programs on Friday. Let us know how you think SPEED is presenting the activities from Talladega by clicking on the COMMENTS button below.
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78 comments:
9 seconds off? Maybe I should try qualifying for the truck series. I drive a 1992, but it's probably fast enough.
On Friday and Saturday we get blessed with the perfect NASCAR TV schedule - Speed, Speed, and nothing but Speed.
No gimmicks. No gadgets. No Tech Centers. No Draft Tracks and the accompanying made-up terms like 'Draft Lock'. No Chase Chase Chase Chase and nothing but the Chase talk. No college football overruns to worry about, and no video packages filling the screen while the green flag is out.
Just constant video of vehicles on the track accompanied by the joy of listening to Steve Byrnes, Larry Mac, Jeff Hammond, Rick Allen, Phil Parsons, Wendy Venturini, and company all day long.
I sure do miss the years immediately preceding 2007 when this was the TV schedule pattern on every Friday and Saturday. In my opinion these Speed-only weekends are far too infrequent any more thanks to this new but certainly not improved TV contract.
Blessed with nothing but SPEED coverage....how nice, but look closely at the SPEED qualifying broadcast schedule and you will notice the "fine print" TAPE DELAYED"...it is indeed hard to believe in this era of instant communications, the internet and MRN radio, we are still tolerating STUNTS like SPEED Channel manipulating the broadcast scheduled to bring us CUP qualifying at the world's fastest track....on TAPE DELAY....do you suppose they think we will/would not notice, or as Forrest Gump would say..."Stupid Is As Stupid Does."
I'll be watching SPEED this weekend. These are the people who know how to broadcast race coverage.
They "get it," unlike ESPN, which seems to have spent a boatload of money on something they don't actually want to show on TV.
Her Crew Chief is NASCAR veteran Barry Dotson
JD,
Has something changed with Barry? A few weeks ago he was fired from this position and was trying to get a job with a test team. He was crew chiefing two cars at a time for low-end "qualifying teams" in the Nationwide series.
Then again, maybe they rehired him for this week. Who knows the way people change jobs in racing these days.
RE: SPEED has become a favorite for this coverage because of the network's willingness to simply cover practice.
It is a shame they don't have the same willingness to televise CUP quals LIVE....tape delay, give me a break, how disappointing.
To all those complaining about tape delay - when Speed shows every car in a qualifying session those are tape delayed also!!! They may start on time but then everything gets time shifted so the session ends before the TV coverage ends. Also, Speed is tape delaying by an hour qualifying because of American Le Mans Series coverage. The qualifying sessions were added after the season started so really Speed is doing ESPN a favor. My question is would you rather have tape delayed qualifying coverage or no coverage of qualifying?
I am happy to see that the practice and qualifying will be on the Speed channel instead of the four letter network. I love the way that thye not only entertain us, but give us reall racing information and that is what I am looking for as a fan.
In the real world, quals on SPEED, one hour (or one day) delayed, in reality does not exist...due to the internet and MRN Radio. Why would anyone watch tape-delayed coverage when you know the results are over and have been posted. And...I wait with bated breath to learn the outcome of the American Lemans Series, I notice numerous absences here at work this Friday afternoon as many of my fellow workers have departed, no doubt, to watch the outcome of the American LeMans Series....go go rah rah for "whatever" his name is.
ritchie,
Thanks for that info. Checking on that now and will update shortly.
JD
My question is would you rather have tape delayed qualifying coverage or no coverage of qualifying?
I'd rather have live coverage.
I am proud of Speed for delaying qualifying for LIVE racing action. I thought that is what we wanted Speed to do...show live RACING!
I want NASCAR racing specifically, but for the good of racing on Speed as a whole, I want actual racing live over live qualifying. Hopefully Speed will eventually ditch the lifestlye shows and show more LIVE RACING.
Whether it is wheel barrows or soap boxes, put it on tv.
Excellent practice coverage so far by Speed. Some intense racing out there, and the 88 has already blown up
Boy the difference between practice coverage on ESPN and Speed is already glaring. What a joy to see cars rolling off the track the second they came on the air, and 8 minutes in the cameras haven't left the track yet. Even when the pit reporters filed reports they were audio only.
Had this been an ESPN production we probably wouldn't have seen the track yet. We'd likely still be somewhere in the sequence of One Race Ago, fancy open animation, Weekend ESPN Schedule, full-screen scripted 'opens' from each pit reporter, full-screen head shots of the announcers in the studio, and the first commercial break.
Thanks Speed. I think we've already seen more Friday practice in 8 minutes today than we have the last several weeks combined on ESPN.
Don't forget, if this were ESPN, we'd see the 88 in the garage, where a reporter would be telling us what happened--we wouldn't have watched it.
Some people involved with NASCAR, especially the teams, might have off-track distractions this weekend since Charlotte, NC is the home for Wachovia Bank, which apparently is now involved in a brawl with Citicorp and Wells Fargo. Wachovia is either the 1st or 2nd largest employer in Charlotte, and actually has a bigger presence in Charlotte than Bank of America which is also headquartered in Charlotte.
Nice to see some cars and some coverage focusing on the track activity.
JD
Poor Jr. :(...that car is dead :( that was something else with that right rear going like that! And the earlier concern
Junior's tire exploding took out the in-car camera!!!
That is most likely the most damage I have ever seen from a tire blowing.
JD is there a reason why SPEED hasn't aired a replay of the incident to start NASCAR Live?
I missed the whole wreck and haven't seen a replay since. Just wondering why they have held off on replays or was it replayed enough times that they don't feel the need to show it?
They have played the replays in NASCAR Live - it was during the Kasey Kahne interview.
I saw a simular tire explosion at Atlanta in 2005 with Kyle Busch. Took out the whole right side of the car. Jr.'s looked worse, it took out the entire back of the car.
Speed did a great job capturing it on camera. LIVE!
Schrader is the third man in the booth for the ARCA race.
Yeah, I think Schrader broadcasted this race last year too
If you want to see replays of the tire explosion, watch Nascar Now. Marty Smith has some interesting information on the blow up on that show.
SPEED had HORRIBLE camera work on the ARCA race wreck at Dega. You saw a bunch of cars wrecking and then SWITCHED to a cam way down the other part of a BLANK TRACK.
That's disappointing...wonder who the heck is directing this...unusual for SPEED to SWTICH cams mid wreck? Gee whiz. Had to see a replay to see the entire deal.
Nasty crash on lap 12 of the Arca race. Lots of cars taken out. But I gotta say, these announcers are really good. Why do they put the decent announcers on races where not too many people watch?
Crash caused by a blown tire. UMMM, tire issues all weekend for everyone? Second major crash caused by tire problems. Hope we won't have another Brickyard Tire Blowing 400.
I am not happy hearing about tire issues either..I missed the stuff with Jr's car but saw the replay.
Yes these guys are good in the booth and LOVE hearing Schrader.
This is not the COT so what is it with intermittent tire issues? I don't remember so many in a season..but my memory is not that good.
:)
These are Hoosier Tires, I think, and not the lovely Goodyear's from Sprint. So, maybe track issues rather than tire problems?
Goodyear took the blown tire from Jr's car and are checking it out. Jr said he didn't think anything from his car broke to cause the blow out.
Arca runs Hoosier tires, not Goodyear. if tire problem, its not the same company.
bh
Definitely happy with SPEEDs TRUE coverage all day! They covered the action and not the screen with useless mess!
@ritchie--I didn't realize that about Buttercup :(. I know he was working with Rusty for many years and had been very upset when Rusty promised us he would still do NA$CAR This Morning but when they came back Buttercup wasn't there :(.
I'm enjoying Schrader in the booth too! I hadn't heard of who the 3rd man would be but had been hoping he was there so was happy when I heard him :).
@darbar--I definitely hope we don't have a repeat of Indy as well. Will be interesting to see what Jr. says on Trackside as well as any other information the boyz give us over the weekend.
thanks for the Hoosier tire info...I had no idea talladega was such a rough track? Should be interesting with the Trucks and cup race. I love the way this track looks on tv. seems late for a race with no lights. this must be tape delayed?
Enjoyable Happy Hour broadcast by the Speed gang as well. With the incident that took place it was extra gratifying that Speed, and not ESPN, was handling the television coverage.
First of all we would have probably missed the crash live because ESPN would have been busy airing a video of highlights of a Talladega race from 10 years or airing a generic video about one of the drivers' heroes, favorite foods, favorite football teams, or favorite flavors of ice cream at the time.
Secondly, with Speed we got well-balanced coverage of all the drivers involved in the incident. Had that been an ESPN production, based solely on prior history, I imagine we would have heard from Chaser Dale Jr. and about Chaser Tony Stewart and that's it. Based on recent history, the non-Chasers involved (Gilliland, Reutimann, Kahne) would have never been interviewed and would have been totally blown off. ESPN would have likely filled the rest of the down-time after documenting the Junior and Stewart stories by interviewing some Chase crew chiefs and airing videos of non-related incidents that Chasers Junior and Stewart have had in recent races leading in to this one. They probably would have found a way to tie-in a "Kyle Busch's bad luck in the Chase video" as well.
Thanks for being there for us today Speed. I just wish they could be there every week so we wouldn't have to deal with ESPN's 'ignore the track' junk anymore.
When will the ARCA race be televised?
They do seem to be using a TON of bumber and car cams, while great 3 wide racing is going on.
Soph,
I understand your frustration in the moment with the camera work during the big wreck in the ARCA race, but the Speed truck is usually solid and I think it's more than reasonable to assume that their intention was not to cut to the camera that was staring at empty space. I'm sure it was an honest mistake, so I'll give them a pass.
I do very much enjoy the fact that Speed is covering this ARCA race. I just wish either they or someone else like Versus would step up and televise the entire schedule. It just seems unthinkable to me that a major auto racing touring series like ARCA has such limited TV coverage in the year 2008.
The Arca Race started at 5pm on Speed
strick fan
TRUE about the ARCA races needing more coverage...and yes the SPEED team is usually on the ball and were for the next car flip. Just odd that in the middle of a stretch they went to blank part of a track, you must admit. If it were ESPN I would give the same gripe at such a hiccup. :) But at least they showed lots of replays when we knew all was well.
i was thrilled to find out WE ARE GETTING Versus on our digital line up soon!! YAY...so I can keep up with IRL next season.
Looks like ARCA is going to have a new winner this week.
@sophia--I hope VS. does the IRL justice so that maybe they can get folks to tune in other times than just Indy :(. I'm nervous about Helio as well :(
@JD--yes indeed! This is definitely some exciting racing today! Several huge wrecks, a car darn near flipping completely over.
How nice of tony to get down and dirty to help Ricky & the 99 team out :)
I would like to see Joey win it. Don't know why so many people dislike the kid, seems like a good guy
Gymmie
According to Robin Miller versus is going to have shows about IRL besides the racing (much like the extraneous shows on SPEED about NASCAR)
I hope so.
Wow this ARCA race has been something else...I seem to remember last year being good at dega as well...Course there was that very scary wreck at Pocono where a bunch of cars came to a sudden stop that was very odd...hope this has a good safe finish.
Funny seeing all these old Cup car running around Talladega on TV.
I think everything that could happen in a race and then some has happened today!
Another tire came off??
I love it..things stay GREEN!!
ARCA deserves more TV TIME. What a race
WOWEE!!! Congrats Justin.
Shazaam!!!!!!! :)
Alright Mr. Alligator! Finally got his Superspeedway win! That was an exciting last few laps! A lot of them may still be learning, but they can put on a show as well if not better than the "big boyz" :)
Great finish! Good move by Allgaier by laying back on Logano and getting around him
Now its time for Junior and Jeff together, that should be fun to watch.
JD
It should be 'fun' provided the rowdy crowd at Dega doesn't scream so loud you can't hear the gang on the air you know?
Sometimes the live, distracting crowds can kill this show. I hope not as I want to see Jr but I know he has many fans there...so. . .
Stay tuned! :)
I'm talking to them about it. Expect some change for next season.
Thanks for the heads up JD.
So far the sound is more distant...but jr is not on stage yet, just Jeff Gordon.
Well not "Just" but well, you know.
That's great news JD! I look forward to seeing what changes they make :)
@Sophia--yes I heard about the shows planned for the IRL...can't wait!
Wow, what a race. And that was just the start of what should be a fantastic weekend of racing. We know the trucks always put on a great show here, and based on what we saw in the little bit of mass Cup drafting practice today, Sunday should be the best race of them all.
I have no doubts based on past history that Speed will do a great job during the Truck race. I'm just praying ESPN puts away the bells and whistles and just covers the on-track action in the Cup race on Sunday.
Fox did the near-impossible earlier this year by ruining a Talladega race broadcast with their ridiculous amount of gimmick camera overkill. And ESPN... well, they've ruined just about every Cup broadcast they've done to this point this year. And if you remember, this was the race last year where ESPN missed the winning LAST LAP pass because they were drooling over a zoomed-in shot of two cars bump-drafting deep in the pack.
I know the show on the track on Sunday will be great. I'm just worried that based what I saw at Talladega in the spring and what I've seen from ESPN's Cup coverage as a whole I'm in for a huge letdown. I sure hope I'm wrong but ESPN has done absolutely nothing to earn even the slightest benefit of the doubt.
The ARCA cars put on a great show and there was some real racing going on. The tire issues were horrible today. The pit reporters were solid as usual and gave us some real information, unlike the other network we have to watch Sunday. Ken Schrader and Phil Parsons worked well in the booth and Rick Allen made the last few laps very exciting, something ESPN just can't do. My only negative comment was Rick had a lot of trouble with names today and seemed out of his comfort zone (truck racing). Just one of the many things he said is Talladega has lights in case the race goes long (nope, no lights Rick). Also, when he said the wheel came off the 48, Phil had to quickly correct, saying only the exterior fell off. Rick did gather it back together the last 10 laps.
Great comments. I would just add that the Director of this broadcast got fooled badly several times during accidents.
I know this is a produced package from a private company that airs on SPEED, but he should have known better.
It was only the replays that made things work for the TV viewers on the first big accident and then one during the event.
ARCA is on a fine line where TV is concerned and hopefully they will continue to define themselves while NASCAR twists toward COT's in both top series.
JD
thanks for explaining the director getting confused on the race JD. I certainly noticed it IMMEDIATELY on that first big wreck.
I also remember the OVERUSE of IN car/bumper cam and digger on FOX..so much so that I did not recognize Dega on my tv...no sense of perspective and super tight shots do NOT WORK on racing...Especially superspeedways!
I have ZERO faith in ESPN for anything.
I keep thinking they need to get kicked out of their "deal" with NASCAR.
Obviously Billy boy Brian has NEVER, EVER seen a race on tv ala the fans at home.
So far I can hear JG but I worry about the hysterian when Joonyer comes on...will have to switch to CC.
Ok they went to show Jr's wreck on trackside and I just saw a green blank space? anybody else/
sophia,
When the tire blew, it exploded the camera as well...
Sophia - that was the view from Dale's in car cam. It had the shot out the back and when the tire blew it took out the camera!!! The audio on that was awesome and the guys actually shut up so the fans could hear it.
Sophia--it was supposed to do that. They were playing the view while it lasted from his rear camera so when the back end literally blew up on the track so did the visual from the camera, so we were only left with audio. That's how it was when they replayed it during practice :)
oh, ok...got it.
My brain is like Swiss Cheese this week...I am just not absorbing words on tv and missed that.
I sure missed a heckuva day on SPEED darn it...forgot about the afternoon and tuned if after the Jr crash.
SPEED should get ALL FRIDAY prac/quals show..if NASCAR truly cared.
I will catch the replays tonight. :)
I thought that the ARCA coverage was average. There were long pauses in the booth. There were long pauses when throwing to the pit reporters or the pit reporters not even "showing up" to give their report.
Gymmie
I just remember to google Helio after you comment. WOW! had not heard aabout this. Will he go to prison?
Wow...I always really liked him...I hate if this is all true and he knew about it...his sister was involved. Man, I have been OUT of the racing news loop for days. Major bummer
:(
Great coverage on Speed today, but then that's the way they always do it. Just wish that they would have all practice and qualifying all the time.
Truck coverage is always good with Rick and Phil.It was good to have Schrader inwith them for the ARCA race.
Great work Speed!! Wish we could have you all the time.
That'll be the big story at the track this weekend - tire issues and that's all we'll hear about - well besides the chasers. Good broadcast on Speed of the Arca race and I sure did enjoy Schrader. It's a gimme that Rick Allen & Phil Parsons do a terrific job too. I haven't seen the replay of Jr's tire explosion but lots of folks have talked about it.
Pretty good Trackside, but Dale and Jeff are not exactly warm and fuzzy with each other.
They worked well during the alone segments, but it certainly was a very different vibe when they were on together.
JD
I have to say, Petty and Schrader in the booth would be gold. I would pay extra for that...really.
JD-I didn't pick up that vibe AT ALL! Interesting that you felt that..
JD, I'm with Pammh. I think the physical distance combined with the crowd vibe made it hard for them to interact. Jeff did say that Junior cracked him up and he was surprised at how funny he was. Sounds like they are ok...
ROFL - JD accuses ESPN of hyping stuff and finding stories where there are none and here he is doing the same thing.
anon@9:46
careful...your colors are showing.
@sophia--he could :(
Great coverage across the board today from SPEED. Wonderful practice coverage and a fantastic ARCA race too!
The only complaint for me today was the complicit acceptance by SPEED and ESPN (on NASCAR Now) of Casey Mears brining another child into this world out of wedlock - but I guess that's the way this country is these days...
I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of the weekend's racing!!!!
That was hyping stuff? Wow...sensitive crowd.
I had to work today and read what happened here. Yes, I cheated on my boss with TDP. I have been watching the repeats on SPEED.
Again, I don't watch live and exciting things happen. Glad no one was hurt. I wonder what ESPNs coverage would've been like. NASCAR should make ESPN give up the rights for practices and quals to SPEED.
BTW, Helio's indicted attorney is Jimmie Johnson's atty also.
I'm fortunate to be at Talladega this weekend. Just hope the Cup drivers put on as good a race (and not a parade)as the ARCA drivers did today. As a Californian, I was surprised a lot of the crowd was cheering for Scott Speed when I'm so accustomed to the booing for Jeff Gordon.
The ARCA race ended just as Trackside was starting so the show crowd was massive and LOUD at the Speed stage. It may have been the first time Jeff and Jr. were on Trackside together. Anyway, glad I set the DVR at home. I get the impression that Jr. and Jeff are OK together as teammates but outside of racing they don't hang out together--they're like polar opposites.
Immediately after Trackside finished and 30 minutes before Nascar Performance was to broadcast, track officials announced all fans needed to leave the area. I don't know what the criteria is, but I've been at tracks where fans can stay for filming Nascar Performance and other times it's a closed set. No doubt the crowd (not me :>) was way too rowdy today for a technical program to be produced.
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