Three races to go and this may be the one that confirms Jimmie Johnson as the 2008 champ. The ESPN on ABC bunch is going to be facing a very high-speed track with multiple grooves and lots of fast-paced racing.
Allen Bestwick will start the show at 3PM ET with NASCAR Countdown. Bestwick will be joined by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. There have already been two races at TMS this weekend so it will be interesting to see if Countdown chooses to show Nationwide and Truck Series highlights.
The knock on the ESPN production team is that this stretch has been "all Chasers all the time" since the final ten races began. Today may be the litmus test of that theory as Johnson is in position to lock things up with a strong performance. Keep an eye on the topics discussed in the pre-race show and which drivers and personalities are interviewed or profiled.
Once the race coverage begins at 3:30PM, Dr. Jerry Punch will have 17 minutes before the teams take the green flag. Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will join Punch to call the event. On Saturday afternoon, this trio handled the Nationwide Series race and ran out of gas long before the cars on the track.
This is the second season of NASCAR on ESPN and the network is looking like a group of outsiders. Racing action on the track is now pushed aside for Chase-driven coverage. Interviews and features are all about Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. Perhaps, there might be a Jeff Gordon soundbite thrown-in for old times sake.
It seems as if the reality of this bad coverage has put the ESPN group into some kind of denial. Unfortunately, anger is not going to solve the problem of never telling the story of what is happening on the track beyond the first five cars and the Chasers.
Even in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, the ESPN crew could never pull-off a full field rundown and struggled to keep viewers understanding who was where and why. Today, with the double agenda of the racers and the Chasers running side-by-side that challenge will only be much more difficult.
Jarrett and Petree are again going to be asked to carry a significant portion of the play-by-play load as Punch has relegated himself to repeating car numbers, driver names and the most basic of information. It is only when he is sending the network to commercial break or reading a scripted promo that Punch regains the excitement that fans used to know from his NASCAR days in the 1980's and 90's.
The ESPN pit reporters are going to have to be ready to deal with a wide variety of issues. This is the time of the season where the casual words and happy chats are over. Tight tempers and drivers fighting for jobs will dominate the agenda in Texas. One too many questions from a pit reporter may result in some rough answers.
With only Phoenix and Homestead left to go, this Texas race is going to be the last truly high-speed and fast-paced live TV race for the NASCAR on ESPN team. A good broadcast will go a long way toward putting things right for next July when the group again takes over the Sprint Cup Series coverage.
This post will serve to host your TV-related comments about NASCAR Countdown and the Sprint Cup Series race from Texas on ABC. To add your 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 for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
447 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 447 of 447DG just gave his usual I lost it its not my fault the other driver started it - spiel I hope he is out for the rest of the year. He has been in to many questionable "accidents"
what a waste of the booth. why would brad's comments help my viewing? rusty? please. what a joke espn is.
I'm with JD.
If your employer says that you have the credentials to take that interview, you have to have the credentials to call out the BS.
I work in the news business - same rule needs to apply over here.
AB and Andy.. a preview for next year? I hope
im tired of nascar becoming the way it is..what happen to the tough southern guys??
Well, let's see, the one you mentioned was killed on the track.
I'd rather not see anyone else die in a race car, thanks.
I think Gilliland blew his cover when he began his explanation by noting that Juan Pablo "jacked him up" not once, but twice immediately before that. Somehow "he made me bad and hit me twice for no reason, then I happened to misjudge and accidentally retaliate" isn't that believable I'm sorry, LOL.
hahahaha i love the pit reporter saying edwards can make it all the way. what an idiot. the booth says uhhh no NO NOOOOOO. we havent seen anyone approach that. espn a joke
Pretty sad that JPM is 43rd and DG is 41st. To be fair, NASCAR should move DG to last.
If your employer says that you have the credentials to take that interview, you have to have the credentials to call out the BS.
But you know she doesn't.
She can't do anything but ask the standard canned question.
jasnnn
your comparing different eras here. If Earnhardt would have pulled a stunt like DG did towards the end of his career he would have gotten some penalty too.
NASCAR has had to adjust with the times just like any other sport has too. What ever happened to spearing a guy in football, etc?
Just because someone did it before and it was an accepted practice then, doesn't mean it was right.
I don't recall, other than the DW wreck, Earnhardt hooking a guy off a corner and putting him square in the fence.
Also, Richmond is just a wee bit slower racetrack than Texas. 100 MPH is a whole world different than 160 MPH.
In my opinion it would have been very inappropriate for Shannon to "call BS" on Gilliland on live TV. I'm fine with how she handled that.
Shannon should have pressed a little, at least. To just accept his answer without a followup is just lazy.
gordon's not a lap down idiot!!!!
TWIN should have Schrader and JPM on tomorrow night.
Im with you stricklin.
Someone should call him out on it, but this was neither the time nor place.
By doing so it would have put ESPN in the position where they were seeking drama and borderline slanderous news for the sake of doing so.
Someone on SPEED before the race at PHX should find out what DG was thinking, then again i doubt he'll admit he took him out on purpose
stricklinfan82 said...
In my opinion it would have been very inappropriate for Shannon to "call BS" on Gilliland on live TV. I'm fine with how she handled that.
I would've pressed on the point that NASCAR saw fit to PARK him, meaning someone in an official capacity thought his explanation was bogus.
Shannon should've asked a follow up to DG..."how did you *feel* causing such a hard crash on purpose"
And one more thing, my last DG comment
When was the last time we had an old-fashioned disqualification.
No money, no points
Spencer and KWallace are going to be interesting to hear on VL tonight.
At least we didn't hear Shannon asking DG how did you feel when you saw JPM crash into pit wall.
Whoever said JPM and Schraer on TWIN - YES. That would be a really interesting show.
need a caution or 99 run out of gas lol. pleeaaase.
Maybe Nascar will throw a caution for debris!
RATS@@@ JR BAD LUCK*!^&!^#!*#*^
Quick, let's cover half the screen with guys standing around watching the race!!!
LOVE THAT CALL BY THE 99!!!
Alright Cousin Carl!
Amazing call..
But damnnnnnn ittttt I wanted the 26 to win so bad.
Damn, why weren't we looking at the finish line ! !
ok..too soon to the winning cc and 99 car....sign of the rest of the season...ugh...
they never showed more than 3 cars over the f line????????????? WTF
snooze !!!!!!!!!!ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Congrats! To all Carls fans!
You know, Punch actually sounded excited at the finish. They really did a pretty decent job setting up the strategy and run to the finish. Nice.
Good call by Osborne. Congrats to Carl maybe he'll be the guest on TWIN tomorrow.
And after the 2nd place finisher crossed the line no one else mattered. Hugs and fist pumping were far more important in ESPN's mind than the 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. place finishers. Another awful ESPN production. If their motivation is truly to get themselves "fired" by NASCAR they certainly did another masterful job today.
Thanks for stopping by everyone, the Victory Lane show should be interesting.
Don't forget Dave Despain has the Robin Miller and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ride-a-long at Lowe's.
There will be a new column up for your comments about the ABC telecast in a couple of minutes.
JD
JJ needs to have the wife wax those eyebrows, its distracting to look at lol.
Lisa JJ needs to go to the same person that took care of Jeff Gordon's several years ago.
@ David wherever you are. Someone made a script revision.
I have to say, the end of the race made up for the boring 320 earlier laps. Except for the JPM, Gilliland mess.
so now that edwards is a narrow 106 behind, can we stop the reporters from complaining about the chase?
johnson only ahead by over 100 with two races left. he must feel the pressure!
haha Dot...at least JJ didn't have a miracle day.
Should be interesting, Phoenix is going to be critical. JJ won it on fuel the first time around, Carl gets around there pretty good...
Biffle is still hunting if both of them mess up big.
if the atlanta winner was gonna win Texas, well, we knew that. johnson's mulligan...a 15th so far.
Wonder if Roush still wants his plan. Johnson could throw out his 15th place and stick with his Top 10 streak. Bet Roush doesnt talk about that this week.
Well, he did enough interviews for ESPN I bet he talked about it just in case for this race.
this isnt good. a mere 106 point lead with two races left. here comes the talk of Edwards winning all week.
DJ - good mention of BK finishing 19th in first cup race.
I had football on PIP--I'm a McMurray fan--did ESPN ever even *ask* to interview Larry Carter while he was in front? All I saw was people talking about the Chasers, ignoring guys like Jamie & David Reutimann (except for the occasional 'he's having a great run today'.)
*Other* than that (and that's important in my book) I thought coverage was better than usual (which isn't to say 'great'). At least no one asked Carl how he was 'feeling' about winning.
There is now a new post up for your comments on the ESPN on ABC race coverage from Texas.
Thanks,
JD
DG admitted he tried to get JPM "Loose" but not wreck him...wow..he underestimated his speed and car wreck.
Funny how his story changed when it was brought up on SPEED REPORT.
I am still mad about that wreck but cant wait to hear what VL has to say. Don't forget WT with Jr and Robin Miller
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