Call in sick to work. Use a vacation day. Maybe even do the infamous "work from home." There are only two racing weekends left in the entire 2008 season and Friday's NASCAR TV is an all-day affair.
From 11AM straight through until 11:30PM, NASCAR fans can get non-stop coverage on ESPN2 and SPEED of what should be a very interesting day from the Phoenix International Raceway.
SPEED's John Roberts will preview the entire day's activities on NASCAR Live to start the coverage. Hermie Sadler and Randy Pemberton will join Roberts as reporters. This show will give fans a glimpse of how things are going at PIR on day number one of a very big weekend.
Steve Byrnes and his team of Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds are stepping-in this weekend to handle Nationwide Series practice and qualifying. SPEED will have the practice sessions at 11:30AM and 3:30PM. Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini will be reporting from the garage area.
Sprint Cup Series practice pops-up on ESPN2 at 2PM hosted by Dr. Jerry Punch. He will be joined by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the Infield Pit Studio. Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro will handle the reporting duties.
The real action begins at 4:30PM when Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip host Craftsman Truck Series qualifying on SPEED. There is an incredibly tight championship points race in this series and many of the drivers are experienced flat track specialists. It should be interesting to see who winds-up on the pole in this session. As usual, Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander will be handle the reporting duties.
The "big boys" come back at 5:30PM on ESPN2 when Punch and company host Sprint Cup Series qualifying. With only two races to go, some teams will be trying to start up front with an eye toward the final top ten while others are clinging to their top thirty-five spot in points. Some teams have absolutely nothing to lose by trying for the pole.
Updated: After the Halloween fun of last week, Krista Voda returns without the green make-up to host The Set-Up at 7:30PM on SPEED. This show previews the Truck Series race. Voda was originally going to have Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis on to unveil the new Camping World Truck Series logo. That has now been pushed back to next week at Homestead.
All three of those folks will have to clear the grid at 8PM as the trucks get ready to rumble. This series is on a roll, with ratings for last week up almost 40% over last year. Allen, Parsons and Waltrip should have their share of excitement as this is a great track for the trucks. Dunlap and Alexander will patrol pit road, but this time neither one of them will be in a dress.
The long day of NASCAR will be topped-off by Trackside at 10:30PM. The fun bunch of Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds will be joined by Elliott Sadler for this hour. The program has two guests who remain on the set and join-in the conversation. This week Greg Biffle and Marcos Ambrose will stop by.
Over twelve hours of NASCAR to digest on Friday alone with a big menu of programming still to come on Saturday and Sunday. Program those DVR's, fire-up the TiVo's or better yet take a mental health day. Only Homestead is left on the NASCAR menu, but as veteran fans know, a lot of things happen in Phoenix that always add new twists to the final race of the season.
Please use this post to offer your TV-related opinions about the daytime coverage of NASCAR on both ESPN2 and SPEED. To add your comments to this post, 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.
20 comments:
Any word if Speed will be televising the unveiling of the new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series logo?
Busy...busy...busy :)
I didn't see this on your list so I was curious...does everyone have after the race a "special" listing of a post-race show for Sunday? I was wondering if we're special here in DFW or what since JD didn't list it :)
kyle,
The logo will be officially unveiled right before the Truck Series pre-race show on SPEED to the NASCAR reporters in the Media Center.
Then, Marcus Lemonis from Camping World and Steve Phelps from NASCAR will get with Krista on The Set-Up, show SPEED viewers the logo and talk about some new things Camping World will be doing for 2009.
gymmie,
There is no special on the national list, so it may be your local station. Let us know what you find out.
JD
I look forward to seeing the new logo :)
I will JD :)
Dang it, I have to work all day tomorrow. I'll be cheating by reading the comments here, though. Shhhh.
Off topic, but a nice article about Humpy winning two awards, at jayski,com.
bryabh
JD I greatly appreciate you giving us the television line up for today. I will make sure to watch some of it.
Do you think Speed will address the issues with BDR? Reading all the reports (and between the lines) their future is very cloudy…and they could be the championship team.
Thanks for all your work with the TV listings, JD.
Got the dvr all set up.
Scott Speed demonstrated in his pre-qualifying interview with Ray Dunlap that he's got a long way to go in his media relations.
Scott, when someone gives you free national airtime to promote your latest project, don't be a jerk.
@anon 4:46--agreed! It doesn't matter if Ray was in the front row asking every last question! He was giving Scott an opportunity to pimp his charity and he was being smart about it! Hey Scott...FYI! The fans weren't there! If you want our support *we* need to know what the heck you're doing!
Anon 446
Scott Speed can't help it. He is what he is. His owners need to get him some media/ press/ pr classes. He thinks its trendy/cool. Ummm not.
I have a different opinion of the Scott Speed interview. He seemed to deliberately be teasing Ray. I thought it was funny.
I'm just catching up with qualifing, but I'm actually seeing cars going around the track. I also noticed no firesuits for the pit reporters.
I hear all the same voices and my tv is on ESPN2, but this is actual coverage.
Did they borrow some behind the scene people from Speed.
First time in awhile I'm able to catch qualifying, seems as if it is actual qualifying cars on the track and all.
ESPN is doing very well with this qualifying session, I'm impressed. DJ and AP are doing the most talking and it's about the cars.
Yes, it's great we are actually seeing the cars around I mean even the last go or go homers. Good work by AP & DJ.
Hey everyone,
There is a new post up for the Craftsman Truck Series race on SPEED from PIR at 7:30PM ET.
Thanks,
JD
I can't believe that Punch and company did not have the guts and common sense to mention that the Truck Series race was coming up even as the trucks were being pushed behind AJ Allmendinger on-camera.
baby steps JD, at least the Tivo'd and actually gave us the cars on the track and most importantly talked about the cars on the track
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