After a lot of talking, some animation domination and perhaps some half-truths, the Coca-Cola 600 has been postponed by rain.
The race will now be telecast on Fox at 12PM ET on Monday with a special edition of RaceDay airing at 11AM on SPEED as the pre-race show. Cars should be on the track and rolling for a 12:05PM start.
After some rain fill by the Fox team, many NASCAR fans then had the pleasure of watching some cartoons that were perhaps surprising in their content to some. That was a shame, because Mike Joy and Chris Myers had led the Fox team through some great discussion about NASCAR topics in the news. The NASCAR on Fox pit reporters also offered some great interviews and updates during the rain delay portion of the show.
West Coast viewers were reporting to TDP that some Fox stations were actually showing infomercials that were grabbed at the last moment no doubt. Instead of live NASCAR coverage from the home of the sport, TV viewers were being asked to buy exercise equipment and increase their earning potential by unlocking the secrets of the Internet.
Jeff Hammond and Myers were playing the half-truth game with TV viewers and those fans using Twitter. Both first maintained that the race would start on time, then repeated over-and-over that the rain had stopped and the track was being dried.
The final NASCAR on Fox Twitter message read: "Sorry folks. Things change fast. As you probably know by now, race postponed to tomorrow at noon on FOX. Good night." That is what is known in the TV business as a fast getaway.
Hopefully, the race will start on time Monday and run the full distance. This post will host your comments about the rain delay coverage. Just click on the comments button to add your TV-related comments on this topic.
TDP will live blog the race coverage beginning at 12PM ET on Fox. Please join us.
43 comments:
I've just about had it. Fox has absolutely ZERO respect for their viewers and NASCAR fans. Their constant lies just to string viewers along was very self serving. Now throw in the digger mess, and the pompous, non-stop self promotion by some in the broast booth, Fox should never be allowed to show another race again.
Will all Fox affiliates be required to carry the race or is it up to local stations? Should I call my local station in case I must come up with a Plan B to see the race?
I am told it is a "must carry" for all Fox affiliates.
Does anyone else think they should run the race at the same start time Monday -- the teams have spent weeks preparing to run/win at night, and now they are going to run midday? If no one knows what if their set-up will work, it's kinda shuffling the field in an unfair way.
PS I love the Family Guy
JD,
The Humpy story is up on Mike Mulhern's site
I'm questioning FOX's mindset on showing the cartoons. Like you JD, I am not a prude (big South Park fan), but really? FOX could've at least shown reruns of COPS.
Like I said in the race delay post, they could've shown parts from Raceday. A perfect opportunity for them since we were watching Indy.
JD or Planeteer, what happened with the Shawn Johnson story? Was that on RD? I wish now that I would have taped it. But noooo, I thought we were going racing.
It may be a "must carry", though I'm guessing the station managers at at all the local affiliates will be taking the day off tomorrow. You'll be left to the judgement of whomever got stuck working the holiday.
Plus, I've seen first hand must carry gets translated to carrying the race on a sister station that does not air the race in HD.
Dot, Shawn Johnson segment was around 4:45 on RDay.
@ Karen, thank you. At least it was on.
JD, what happens to TWIN? Just when Marcos is on...
Wish they would have run some "Back in the Day" shows with Dale Jr
Dot considering that TWIN is taped in Charlotte, so long as the race isn't still in a rain delay I would be surprised if they don't have it.
I am so sorry that I missed SJ on Raceday, but I just had to watch the end of the Indy 500 w/my man Helio leading...would have loved to hear her comments. Fox could have done that, but NO-we get crappy cartoons. Makes me sick...
Still waiting to see what ESPN will do with NASCAR Now and SPEED will do with TWIN.
Dave D said TWIN will run tomorrow night at normal time.
ESPN has their revamped live SportsCenter and ESPN2 First Take weekday mornings. Doubt we'll see Nascar coverage, other than some cut ins.
If FOX shows any RD coverage tomorrow during the race........
Good read on Mulhern's site.
Welp. I can't stay tuned to SC for 2 minutes of Nascar news. I don't give a crap about any other sport except Nascar, so it won't work for me!
@Dot--since they're in the CLT and the weather cooperates hopefully they can get it recorded or a special LIVE show. Those were always fun back in the day with IWC. If you thought it was fun watching Allen trying to rein in Mikey with the pre-recorded shows, it was fun when they were Live and in Person. One show Mikey didn't think he'd make it because his sister was throwing a Daytona 500 winning party. But he left it to do the show and they finished the party when he was done.
@PammH--I know. I've never seen A.D. but from the comments from friends who like the South Park/Simpsons type shows and won't watch A.D. and would not let their children watch I won't. One fella changed the channel once it came on and the other watched some of it but was disgusted early on but his daughter wasn't home tonight. Chris said that even some of the "jokes" go over his head.
I'll check Mike's column on Humpy I bet it's a great read :)
At NASCAR Victory Lane's scheduled time, they confirmed Victory Lane after the race tomorrow, TWIN at 8.
Could be a long day tomoorow, with this hourly Monday forecast:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=28025&hourly=1&yday=144&weekday=Monday
Me question is - as Fox has posted on their Twitter account - what happens if the forecast is correct and that it's going to rain all day? Because of its proximity to the teams' headquarters, would they be able to run a Tuesday race? Would it be postponed to the week before the Brickyard?
Technically this race, since it's in Charlotte, can even be run on a Tues before the July Daytona race or even before the 1st Pocono race if it can't be run this wk. Of course, if it is run after FOX "ends" their season, who covers it?
It was certainly interesting to hear Chris Myers tell us that it had stopped raining as the tv screen was filled with a camera shot of puddles on pit lane with rain drops still hitting them.
Just a thought, but it would be kind of nice to see the 600 be scheduled to run on Memorial Day every year.
How anyone who likes South Park can find American Dad offensive is beyond me. The only Fox cartoon that is borderline a kids show is Simpsons. 7 or 8 PM Sunday is the normal run time for these shows. Were there really that many children sitting still watching a rain delay?
What was wrong with this Americna Dad episode? In any case, the parents who didn't want their kids to watch it and turned it off were doing their jobs.
More importantly, does anyone think the race is going to be run tomorrow? Maybe they should have set the green for 0900, then they could run segments all day when it wasn't raining, sort of like an all day All Star race...
When was the last 600 run on Memorial Day? I know they used to do it wayyy back in the day but just curious. I actually think its kinda cool that the 50th 600 is being run in the day time on Memorial Day too.
FOX just flat dropped the ball when it came to the weather, honestly it was Chris Meyers who led the fray in that department. Mike Joy and company did their best to not mislead or lie to us and actually shined in the brief time they were on camera.
The race should be a straightforward streamlined broadcast which should be a plus.
Honestly if NASCAR wanted to, the teams being so close to the track could run Wed. if they NEEDED to. It would be a hectic week for TV but it could be done since Dover is a 1 day drive.
I was in the Charlotte area during that rain mess and it was definitely a good thing that they did not run the race because they would have never gotten it in. I personally am getting sick and tired of the hype and crap on the Fox broadcasts especially the yping of Kyle Bush and Digger by a certain analyst that had his own problems back int eh day. It would ahve been nice if they had offered some alternative programming, and we will have to see what happens today because theya re calling for a pretty good chance of it again today.
FOX realy screwed the fans yesterday, and should be very embarrassed. NASCAR needs a TV host that respects their fans.
That said, noon on Memorial Day is a better time to run the race anyway.
for anyone that didn't know special edition of nascar raceday at 11am per speed's website, weather so far in charlotte looks pretty good this morning, word on twitter is pre-race ceremonies on speed, and a 12:01pm green flag right as FOX goes live to beat more showers later in the day. This has all the looks of the coca-cola 300
heh, at this rate, the big tuesday drivers meeting may be off, as they may be racing at that time
David - The 600 has never been run on Memorial Day, the only time it's not been run on its scheduled day before was the original race, when it had to be moved back 3 weeks because track construction was delayed by 3 weeks.
Hey...just leaving Indy this AM. Came to TDP first to see if there will be a race today. Trying to decide if we should stop or just keep driving.
Enjoyed your Indy 500 comments. We enjoyed the race and especially Helio winning. So much more a "spectacle" than Daytona 500, which we also love. Our seats were across from Vitor's pits and we could see his crash in turn 1...both scary!
Re: racing in the rain. F1 at Indy was a road course with only turn 12(1 in INDY & NASCAR) and straight away used. Flat and boring, but the best engine noise, whether flat out or shifting.
Oh, one more thing. Someone on the Indy blog mentioned rooting for Sarah, especially since it's so hard for her to "find" a ride. She owns her own team, so no problem finding a ride...just sponsors :-)
If there is a race and we don't stop, I'll definitely follow along here. This site is the best! Thks.
We're watching Carl Edwards interviewed under an umbrella and it starts pouring down and they say we'll get this race started shortly. I knew that wasn't the case from experience up at Texas Motorspeedway and the rain. Anyone know what the weather forecast is for today? We had bad rain come through here in Houston yesterday so hope it doesn't head for Charlotte area.
Right now the forecast looks a little better; there are scattered showers in the area which could still hit but they have a window in which they might be able to get the race at least halfway before the big stuff hits later in the afternoon.
Why are they not starting the race earlier so there is a better chance of finishing it before the heavy rain comes?! .....
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