Look for a blur somewhere on the highways between Martinsville, VA and Charlotte, NC on Monday afternoon. Michael Waltrip will be trying to do a TV "double dip" that may prove to be very interesting to watch.
The Camping World Truck Series race was moved to Monday by rain. This shifted the coverage from Fox to SPEED and also changed the announce team. Rick Allen and Phil Parsons will be joined by Waltrip to call the race. Once the checkered flag falls, Waltrip will be heading for the parking lot at a high rate of speed.
As most fans know, Waltrip is the only remaining member of the Monday TV franchise on SPEED now called This Week in NASCAR. It has been more than a decade since then Speedvision Executive Producer Bob Scanlon first launched Inside Winston/NEXTEL/Sprint Cup Racing.
The CWTS race begins at noon ET and should wrap-up about 2 hours later. Waltrip will then drive the one hundred or so miles between the Martinsville track and the SPEED TV studios near the Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Concord, NC area. Add some HD make-up, a fresh shirt and Waltrip will join Steve Byrnes and Greg Biffle for an hour of This Week in NASCAR.
Monday nights on SPEED are hard to avoid. Byrnes has worked hard to make this program fun and has succeeded. After some early struggles in 2008, this year TWIN has become a show that offers inside information and honest emotion. While Biffle and Waltrip are fun to watch, the new all-star on the program is Chad Knaus.
Waltrip, Knaus and Byrnes have summoned the old spirit of Allen Bestwick, Kenny Schrader and Johnny Benson. The SPEED programming execs have also allowed The NASCAR Media Group that produces the show to re-organize the program and capitalize on the momentum of the weekend. It has made all the difference.
So, this week's show should have some fun stories to tell from the Waltrip and Biffle experiences at Martinsville to the post-truck race dash through traffic. The program airs at 8PM Monday night on both SPEED and SPEED-HD.
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21 comments:
Too bad the Biff sold that helicopter but I'm glad Mickey is going to try and do the double he should be all jacked up by the time he gets to the TWIN set hope the Biff can handle it.
Mikey doesn't have to do the show Rick & Phil can carry on and do a great race broadcast. I always thought they taped the show around 11 anyway.
Just a quick comment before I go to the store.
It ought to be interesting on TWIN since Mikey finished ahead of Biff in the race. And he's ahead in points too. Woulda thought?
To echo VickyD, I thought they taped at 10ish.
They are going to wait until Waltrip shows up. Couple of red flags or a shower and it could get interesting.
The way Michael drove today, he'll be fine on the drive back.
Great job today by MW and crew.
Right on Anon 7:14.
JD
When I first read your comment about about red flags and a shower, I thought "I know Mikey is tall but how much time does he need to take a shower?"
Then I realized you meant a rain shower on the track.
Duh. Blond moment.
:)
I don't see any issues arising. If the truck race is green by 12:15, it should be over by 2:30 - even with a 100 caution laps like they've had in the past.
The worst that could happen is that the show is live, but even that isn't THAT big of an issue.
@ dear Sophia, use less foil next time, lol.
I'm watching VL. I noticed gaps in the stands. I don't believe the crowd was mentioned during the race.
I have an idea to make the stands appear fuller. The track personnel should tell the fans, that once the race starts and it looks like your seatmates aren't coming, spread out. It would look better for TV.
LOL! Sophia!
Vicky & Dot--they use to tape at 10ish but on one of the shows back in 2K3 they made mention that they were taping at noon. I *think* it was about the time that Mikey found out about the Monday Morning Meeting which started at 9 am. Because if I'm thinking of the right show, Mikey mentioned that he doesn't have to rush out of the MMM to get to the studio and it makes lunch plans easier since he doesn't have to wait for folks to get there at lunch time. So unless they've changed, I think they still tape at noon.
Dot seats are so close together they don't have to tell you to spread out you just do it to be more comfortable plus the lower the seats less you see so they'll move up as far as they can
@ nrf, true. It just looked funny to see 10 people at one end of the row.
Can it be that Mr. Waltrip has no friends that would do him the favor of flying him the relatively short distance back to Charlotte? That sure is surprising to me.
I am certainly not a fan of Waltrip's TV persona. But, he is a part of a pretty tight community of the racing "brotherhood". I would think that someone liked him enough to help him out.
Makes one think hmmmmm, doesn't it?
I'm with you Rockin Rich. There are a lot of people still in Mville for the race. I'm sure he can hitch a ride.
Mikey really doesn't have his own helicopter?? This is suprising to me....seriously! And being that I AM a huge fan of his on the track and tv I am personally looking forward to a GREAT day of Speed Channel viewing today! I would be disappointed if they filmed TWIN without him, if I tune in and see his seat empty I turn it off normally.
I too think that the Speed crew could do the telecast without Mikey and that would not necessarily hurt my feelings too, even though it might make TWIN interesting tonight.
Sorry, but no Mikey...no TWIN! I just delete it from the DVR.
There isn't alot of money to be made in the truck series so it isn't likely that any of the drivers other than Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have helicopters, so Mikey would need to ask one of those guys for a ride. But all Mikey has to do is get a police escot out of the track and then he can be at the Speed studios in less than three hours, more likely two.
I'm watching SPEED. Looks like it will be a good race. Here comes ROWDY
It's Monday 2:28PM & the race to Charlotte is on !!!!
Block all entrances & exits to I85 !!!
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