Friday, November 7, 2008

In-Progress From Phoenix: Craftsman Trucks on SPEED


It looks like a nice night in Phoenix, but the stands are very empty. Perhaps, they will fill up a bit for the Craftsman Truck Series race.

Krista Voda will kick things off tonight at 7:30PM on SPEED with The Set-Up. She was originally going to have the CEO of Camping World, but NASCAR decided to push the unveiling of the new Truck Series logo back one week to Homestead.

Rick Allen will be along with Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons to call the race at 8PM live. Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander will cover pit road.

This should be a great race on a fun track for the trucks. Look for the continued theme of the evening being the fight between Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Benson for the season championship. Hornaday has something to prove after dealing with a media-driven "steroid" scandal this season. Benson has just announced that he will not be back with Bill Davis Racing next season and might retire. There is a whole lot on the line tonight for both of these drivers.

In the meantime, there are a lot of Cup drivers crossing-over to race in the Truck Series from Phoenix. This should add some great spice to the race as they mix it up with the series regulars. SPEED puts on a good telecast with the focus on the racing and the night sky in Phoenix and the lights at the track should make it quite an evening.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Craftsman Truck Series race on SPEED. 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. Thanks again for stopping by. Only one race left after tonight!

57 comments:

Daly Planet Editor said...

Wow! Awesome shot from the hill.

Matt said...

Incredible view from the hill.

Nan S said...

I will tell you why Krista is great. Because she is a knowledgeable professional the fans trust and support her. That being said, she is able to get away with "girly" stuff like showing the shoes she hoped to wear. If you had one of the "air heads" that runs around asking drivers how they "feel" in interviews, I would throw them under a bus if they showed me their shoes.

Anonymous said...

Boy they really like to do things right on The Set Up and SPEED this week the view!

Daly Planet Editor said...

I think the good old flying monkey producer Keith hit it out of the park again this week with the pre-race show.

Lou said...

Good pre race show. Just goes to show you, sometimes less is more. That was a great view.

Anonymous said...

Man too man empty seats. I completely agree, another excellent Set Up.

Charlie said...

Before the start of the truck race when the guys in the booth were talking they had background music playing and the music is way to loud.

Anonymous said...

damn these trucks know how to put on a show !!!

LOVE IT !!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Well, that was a tremendous let-down. Exactly what the series did not need right now. Bummer...

Newracefan said...

While I agree it impacts the race to the championship I really want JB to win. I don't believe he has a truck championship yet and he deserves one especially with next year up in the air.

Wow look at all the angles Speed is giving us of the wreck, have they even gone to commercial yet?

Anonymous said...

AGREED!

Matt said...

Agree with nrf.. JB has always been one of my favorites, and I pretty much jumped up and down when the wreck happened.

Newracefan said...

OK enough already with the Direct TV Clark Griswald commercial they must show it 15 times a race and at least 3-5 times with everything else Nascar, I over it already

Daly Planet Editor said...

I got a bunch of emails about the fact that there was no crowd tonight at PIR.

Daly Planet Editor said...

nrf,

DirectTV has PO'ed more people with that ad than any before. No clue why it is being run so much.

Anonymous said...

Darnells team helping Old Ron, a U.S. auto alliance?

Newracefan said...

Did they really say that there were Roush guys helping with the Hornaday truck. So Ford is helping Chevy to keep Toyota from winning a championship. I guess Jack still hasn't gotten over it yet. This might deserve a follow up

Unknown said...

Amazing. The "storyline" changed, at least for now, and the guys were able to find something else to talk about. I know that they will keep updating us on the points as they run now, but they are talking about what else is going on on the track.

Anonymous said...

does anyone know of a site where one can keep track of the lap times during the truck race? what i'm looking for is something similiar to fox trax for trucks.

Newracefan said...

Red there isn't one, sad don't you think!

Anonymous said...

nrf: yep, very sad. i was just hoping that somewhere, someone might have stumbled across one. guess trucks aren't part of nascar.com's universe . . .

Anonymous said...

nrf the showed a couple of the northern crew at Hornadays truck at the front end of the truck.

Anonymous said...

Don't know if it has anything to do with it but a few years ago Harvick gave up the #6 truck number so Mark Martin could race it in the trucks.

Anonymous said...

while we're watching some great racing and a terrific broadcast, i have 3 questions about PIR:
1. have the walls always been petty blue?
2. are those inner walls safer barriers? they don't look like it to me.
3. i thought tracks were going to work to get rid of gaps in the inner walls after jeff gordon's wreck. anyone know what PIR has in the plans for that?

Newracefan said...

Trucks don't pick pits based on qualifying results? Never realized that, that's how new fans learn things not the casual fan info that we get in cup races

Newracefan said...

Red PIR may be small enough that inner walls are not something that is needed. Corners are safer barriers. Can't help with the blue but I like it.

Anonymous said...

thanks, nrf. i keep seeing that gap between the walls on the inside (coming around that pitroad corner) and it makes me uncomfortable. especially since a couple of trucks have smacked those inner walls.

wonder if the blue actually IS petty blue?

Sophia said...

This DIRECT TV commercial is way overdone. STOP THE INSANITY. :)

I Missed the wreck at the beginning as I have misplaced things all day...maddening...sorry to see that happen to Hornaday...and so many empty seats.

My brother and his wife are there..and traveled a good bit to get there...from Seattle.

Anonymous said...

And there goes JB . This is interesting now.

Anonymous said...

see, there's the excitement in the PxP guy that we need in cup broadcasts. i was surfing another site and the change in the audio forced me to look up. superb job by the speed guys!

Newracefan said...

OK this is a mess now

Anonymous said...

newracefan said...
"OK this is a mess now"

but it is SOOOO interesting! puts the cup races to shame -- again.

Anonymous said...

red I think they have been Blue a while, I can kind of remember seeing white and blue but my memory ain,t what it used to be.

Anonymous said...

thanks, 3bud. i don't remember them being so blue in the past but, then again, they may have just painted them for this last weekend of their season.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone say HOMESTEAD! Man this fun now.

Anonymous said...

damn these trucks know how to put on a show !!

and it ain't over yet !!!

Anonymous said...

Message to Michael Waltrip :

You're talking to US.... the viewers.... NOT Phil Parsons.

Would someone give Waltrip a little HINT !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Once again the best racing PERIOD!The best broadcast production PERIOD!

Anonymous said...

3bud: amen and amen!!
many thanks to the entire speed gang! you folks are the best, hands down.

Daly Planet Editor said...

What a wild night in Truck land...

alex said...

There might not be many people at PIR, but at least SPEED isn't arrogant enough to pretend it isn't there by covering it up with camera shots.

After the first lap of this race, I would have never guessed the points interval would be even tighter after the race. This will make Homestead much more exciting. I just hope they'll settle it on the track, and not in the garage.

Anonymous said...

I would prefer a full page Top Ten graphic going to break - rather than a pre-packaged video bumper telling us nothing with 25 laps to go.

Daly Planet Editor said...

ken, you're talking TV talk there dude!

Charlie said...

Enjoyable race to watch. All kinds of things going on. The booth and the pit guys keep telling you things to keep you thinking.

Anonymous said...

And they did it again JD ...

12 laps to go and they didnt give us any kind of Running Order graphic.

awesome coverage tonight SPEED !

I really appreciate how they incorporate split screens under green.

great job !!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Looooong post-race coming up...

Anonymous said...

I said it on Lap One -

The Trucks sure know how to put on a show.

The other series should take notice and the fans should buy more tickets to these Truck races.

SPEED really makes a TV broadcast look easy. They dont miss a beat.
If there is a story, they follow it. If they need replays, they have plenty to show us and what impresses me is HOW FAST they turn these replays around to show them to us.

This crew that SPEED really gets their game face on and they dont take a breath til its over.

It really reflects the lazy-ness of the other networks.

GREAT JOB to the men and women at SPEED !!

Glenn said...

Well folks,
other than being there,
it don't get better than this!

Thanks Speed.

majorshouse said...

What a great race I just watched and the truck regulars did not diappoint and it will come down tot he last lap next week in Homestead.

Newracefan said...

It's after 10 here and I am usually half asleep by now, Speed and the Trucks are too exciting to be half asleep. Great job Speed and great racing guys.

majorshouse said...

Speed definitely knows how to put on a show with less is more and great angles and story lines when things happen on track. I just wish that the Cup and Nationwide series could be broadcasted theretoo.

Anonymous said...

Thanks again to the whole SPEED crew,excellent job as always.And thanks JD for a place to let the SPEED guys and gal know how much their great work is apperciated. Next week should be something.

Lou said...

Great production. Thanks to all the folks at SPEED.

Anonymous said...

such a wonderful, informative, professional broadcast from start to finish. speed has once again proven that, for my money, THEY are the leader in all things racing!

and once again: the trucks provide THE very best racing out there! if only nascar would promote the series to the same level it does cup or even n'wide so that fans could become as addicted to trucks as i am!

great job by everyone involved! thanks for a terrific friday night of racing.

Anonymous said...

Harvick on the phone: Homestead: Newman out, I'm in?

Daly Planet Editor said...

There is a new post up about the Truck Series race from Phoenix for your comments.

Thanks,

JD