Sunday, May 24, 2009

Race On Hold Due To Rain: Live Blogging The Sprint Cup Series From LMS On Fox


7PM - The race is on hold due to rain and Fox has returned to regular programming. TDP will update you on the progress of drying the track.

This is a huge telecast for the NASCAR on Fox gang. There is only one more race for this TV team after today. It has been a very long season for Fox filled with all kinds of issues both on and off the track.

At 5PM it will be Chris Myers leading Fox onto the air from the Hollywood Hotel. He will be joined by Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. These two will have an hour to fill before the green flag comes at 6:05PM. That may be delayed even further if the pesky rain showers that have been falling on LMS all day continue.

Mike Joy is the leader of the Fox team and he should be in all his glory at LMS. Larry McReynolds and Waltrip will join him in the booth for the call of this very long race. Down on pit road will be Steve Byrnes, Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum and Krista Voda.

This race has a ton of great story lines and there will be plenty to talk about even if the rain delays the start. From Mark Martin and his resurgence to the success of Tony Stewart the on-track stories are good. Away from the track, Jeremy Mayfield's drug suspension and the Tuesday driver meeting called by NASCAR are certainly interesting.

Look for Digger to make his presence known as Fox only has two more race days to sell merchandise. How much of the animation and graphics will be used should be interesting to watch. No word on whether another cartoon will be inserted in the pre-race show.

Fox continues to struggle in the pits and has used all different kinds of triple and quad splits. LMS pit road is straight, so we may see the old quad box back again. At least the graphics for the race off have been good recently.

One new wrinkle in the Fox coverage has been side-by-side video boxes at the finish. One shows the winner slowing down while the other shows a wideshot of the rest of the field finishing. It was an improvement over not showing any car but the winner finishing the race, but does not work very well. Both ESPN and SPEED simply use a wideshot and let the lead lap cars or trucks race to the stripe.

No doubt Kyle Busch will be on Waltrip's mind at this track. It should be fun to listen to the commentary as things sort-out on the track. Busch is often spectacular at this track, but this race is the longest on the circuit.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Sprint Cup Series race from LMS on Fox. To add your TV-related comments, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by on this holiday weekend.

309 comments:

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Jack from PA said...

Are they seriously showing American Dad???

How about the last segment of the All-Star race? Or last year's 600?

snlfan3 said...

American dad on FOX according to radar another batch will go in around 8:00 pm

Daly Planet Editor said...

we will use Twitter to keep things up to date on the rain.

I cannot believe they did not use Behind the Headsets or another NMG program to fill.

This show is driving viewers away.

Weird...

JD

Dot said...

@ Charlie, isn't it though?

Mike said...

American dad is better than Digger.

Mike said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Glenn said...

See you folks in a while. Fox just got me to turn the channel
And they're going to show a program that's not so good for kids.

Anonymous said...

If they call the race, do they race Monday or is it simply cancelled?

Anonymous said...

@nrf--I shoulda refreshed before posting :p. This is one time we need access to a Dr. Jerry to 'splain to us what's going on with Vitor :(

@Pamm--I didn't get that either? From what I understand it takes 2 hours to get the track dry enough to even think about racing and that would be about 8:30 at the earliest and that's provided no more rain. And as you said it looks like another cell is on it's way. Geeze!

Anonymous said...

I'm certainly not going to watch that trash on Fox. Ugly trashy show instead of racing or racing news.

Anonymous said...

Why not stay on the air and just keep interviewing drivers? It was refreshing to see Ambrose and other names you don't see as often on the air -- and with the extra time each interview seemed to include a couple questions that were more casual and got some interesting responses. They have time - why not give guys like Truex, Vickers, Reuitmann, McMurray, Sadler, and others who never get on FOX some reasonable airtime. They have fans, too!

Jack from PA said...

Well I got my signal back from my affiliate, heard Chris Myers say that they are "optimistic" they will race tonight (which is so PC), then go back to American Dad.

Has this ever happened before, where a rain delayed broadcast was filled with totally different and irrelevant programming other than NASCAR?

Anonymous said...

On the West Coast, FOX is running an infomercial for a hokey backpain relief cure hosted by Jane Pauley. I think Jeff Gordon might be the only person interested in this snoozer. It is so low-budget that anyone flipping by might think the FOX affiliate is off the air.

Mike said...

I get worried about getting the race in when they start going to alternate programming. I say they give it until 8 to 8:30p.m. before they pull the plug.

Jack from PA said...

Why not interview Kenny Wallace??? He'd kill an hour!

Dot said...

Since most of us watched Indy, why didn't they show segments from Raceday? I still haven't seen the Shawn Johnson story. Mark Martin would've been good to rerun. Or, will we see these during the green flag?

Unknown said...

JD are these races allotted a certain amount of satelitte uplonk time abd if they stay on the air during the rain delay and then show the race it costs more?

Bill H

Anonymous said...

This race isn't happening tonight. It'll be called and they'll do it noon tomorrow. IF it does happen tonight, I'll be shocked.

As soon as they rain started, I switched over to another channel that's been running shows about these guys who fish for crab up in the Bering Sea. :-)

Anonymous said...

anon @ 7:12 PM,
that is not completely accurate. Some stations on the west coast are showing the American Dad programing.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Bill, the "off time" is just extended and the network is charged by the hour.

I am no prude, but I had to turn the sound off on this Family Guy show, is it aimed at teens?

SonicAD said...

Looking at the radar the next cell just might sneak off to the east, it looks about 50/50 either way right now. Probably still 45 minutes to an hour away from it getting there.

Anonymous said...

West coast: Chris Myers just said they just said they hope to race "within the hour."

Newracefan said...

If the dew point it too high they might not be able to dry the track even if it doesn't rain again

Mike said...

For fill material on Sirius NASCAR, they're interviewing Humpy. It's live because he's talking about his experience at the Indy 500 earlier. Rather interesting. Really put the gauntlet down on Bruton. LOL

Daly Planet Editor said...

I am not into the entertainment TV scene, but I firmly believe the content of this show is totally wrong for the NASCAR viewers who wanted to watch racing.

Charlie said...

I wonder what fine show they will Pick to run in the next half hour.

Dot said...

Did FOX think that because American Dad has American in the title, it would be appropriate for the Memorial Day connection? This is bad.

Anonymous said...

@anon 7:08--agreed. I wish I had kept it but back in 2K2 at the Texas race they were on the air for like 4 hours under rain delay. It was HILARIOUS! Yum Yum and Happy got into all sorts of trouble!

Mike said...

This is one of the shows they usually run on Sunday night, This is probably an attempt to keep the audience that usually watches this time slot.

Tricia said...

Family Guy is not so much a "Family Guy."At 8pm Speed channel will have The Speed Report. Think I know what I will be watching until/if the race starts.

SonicAD said...

Dot I would presume the reasoning for them showing this is that it's one of the shows they'd show in this timeslot on a normal Sunday. I wouldn't be surprised if a King of the Hill or The Simpsons rerun was next. However, I have to agree with everyone that this doesn't really gel with the all-ages NASCAR audience, and one of the shows I just mentioned would've been better to put in this slot.

The J said...

ah good, a watchable show in king of the hill. but i would still want some interviews!

Mike said...

PRN is supposed to come back on the air at 8p.m. Eastern. I believe that's when Fox will go back to the track as well, and I wouldn't doubt that's when we'll get a definitive word on what takes place for the balance of the night.

Dot said...

@ SonicAd, How did you know KOTH would be on next. do do do do. do do do do.

PammH said...

Jeff Gluck tweeted that the track isn't even attempting to dry the racing surface because of more cells coming. I'm guessing at 8 we will be told to tune in Monday.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Anyone hear the Monday scenario? 10AM or noon?

Karen said...

Weather.com says it's wet the next two days.

Anonymous said...

from nascar.com : Track drying efforts continue and officials hope to have the Coca-Cola 600 started before 8 p.m. ET. More storms are in the area though that could hamper their efforts.

Jack from PA said...

Well this surely doesn't help the TV ratings at all. The second "crown jewel" events to be affected by rain.

Anonymous said...

NWS reports 70% rain tomorrow and tuesday, and still 40% wednesday, I'm thinking nascar will be pretty desparate and pretty late in attempting to get this thing in tonight, even if another shower hits

SonicAD said...

Dot: I looked at the tv guide to see what FOX would normally show at 7PM on Sunday >_>

John: I recall NASCAR Now saying 11AM tomorrow.

The J said...

if it happened to rain and push the race to wednesday, would they still race then because their race shops are right down the street and they dont have much travel time? or would it not matter

Mike said...

This is somewhat unchartered territory. I can't remember the last time either the Memorial Day weekend or Labor Day weekend NASCAR race got postponed.

Anonymous said...

JD, some west coast stations like KSWB in San Diego are sticking too the NASCAR on FOX cartoon programing.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Several writers are saying it is raining once again at the track, we will hang until they postpone it and then open up tomorrow to try again.

SonicAD said...

Taking a guess from the radar, it's going to rain for about a half-hour, but it looks like they may have a window to at least get the race started after that. There are small pockets of rain trailing, which may grow larger on the way there, but they may be able to get started. I wouldn't expect the track to be dry until 10 or 11 though, so they may well decide it's better to postpone it by then anyway.

Anonymous said...

JD this actually looks like a quick passing cloud and then a HUGE rain free hole in the radar will be next, I think they can get it in today.

Mike said...

If rains too far into the week, there's a couple of weekends open this Summer....the week between Chicagoland & the Brickyard....and there's a week off between Bristol & Atlanta in August. If that were to be the case, I wonder how that would affect television? Considering this is a Fox race, but those 2 weekends in the summer wouldn't be during Fox's part of the schedule.

Mike said...

That explains why they are not showing the track during commercials anymore.

Anonymous said...

I've never seen American Dad but just saw an email from a friend in one of my Yahoo groups. He won't watch it with his 8 year old in the room. And they felt it was OK to put on at 7 pm? YIKES! I have the Justin feed w/A.D. on mute and am watching the news on another feed.

darbar said...

Has anyone said how long they can hang on before postponing until tomorrow?

BTW, who in the world watches American Dad? It must get decent ratings in order for it to be on so long. But to me, it's nothing more than mindless drivel that attracts the lowest common denominator.

Mike said...

We should get some sort of update here at the top of the hour.

Anonymous said...

still optimistic for a start today.

Karen said...

Well, that update was sure worth the wait.

Anonymous said...

that was a pretty useless update...

PammH said...

Nascar.com is reporting some crews are taking down their pit boxes, but nothing official yet.

snlfan3 said...

Update was nascar is still optimistic the race will go on The Simpson's are on Fox, looks like they are going to their regular Sunday lineup

Anonymous said...

PRN 8pm update sounds pretty bad, much different than the blue skies shown on FOX, I'm confused

bevo said...

Well THE headline tomorrow will be Humpy unloading on Bruton Smith just now on Sirius.

Wow!

SonicAD said...

PRN says it's still raining, but they'll be back at 8:30 to update.

Charlie said...

The FOX channel I am watching cut in to the Hollywood hotel already in progress so it took a little bit to figure out what they were talking about then they say - now the Simpsons.

Mike said...

I'm surprised. I thought we'd be told during that update that the race had been called. They must think they can still get this in, but the window is shrinking. They can't have much more than 30 or so minutes to work with as a drop-dead time for the rain to stop.

The Loose Wheel said...

You have lights, tomorrow is a holiday. They can drag this out to at least 10 pm if they wanted to...

Palmetto said...

Excellent rain delay! It gave me a chance to watch last night's Nationwide race on the DVR. How 'bout the pit strategy by the Micosukee team?

Say, wasn't there supposed to be a Cup race tonight?

Unknown said...

Pamm - they took that (pit crews taking down pit boxes) down off nascar.com - guess it was detrimental to stock car racing

Bill H

Mike said...

Yes....Bevo, that was a great interview. Humpy said if Bruton is able to get a Cup date at Kentucky, that he'll gladly eat turn 1 with a spoon.

A very candid interview!

Anonymous said...

hammond just tweeted that racing will start shortly. Is he lying or stupid?

Mike said...

Mike Mulhern sitting to the side of Claire B. Lang as she conducted the interview with Humpy. Be watching for an article about this on Mulhern's website. Mulhern is typing the article as we speak.

darbar said...

My friend who lives about 10 minutes from Lowes Speedway said it's raining like crazy at her house and their radar looks like solid green for about another 2 hours.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Not so sure that is Hammond at the keyboard.

Anonymous said...

Pockrass just tweeted me 9 or 9:30 sigh...I hope *everyone* is napped up and off tomorrow if so

darbar said...

Do we have a conspiracy going on here? Like the Cubs have the curse of the goat, maybe Lowes will have the Curse of the Humpy. Don't mess with Humpy, guys.

Sophia said...

Bevo

What the heck did Humpy say about Bruton? darn it..I wanna know.

PammH said...

Wow!! Thanks Bill H...I'm sorry, but w/writers & fans tweeting from the track about the conditions, how silly is that??? Loved your reasoning too..;)

Anonymous said...

Fox nees to get off their lazy butts and give us some decent coverage. There are plenty of stories to be told, but they decide to show us cartoons. That is unacceptable.

Anonymous said...

I remember NASCAR/FOX waiting until 1:30ET/10:30 local to call the California race last year, so if the situation warrants they can go that late, and with a > 50% chance of rain through wednesday, I'd say this situation is as good an excuse as any

darbar said...

Well, since we have time on our hands, and I wasn't near a computer for the 500, I had a few observations.

They sure know how to do a pre-race for the Indy 500. They don't dump on their history but celebrate it.

Really good race coverage. Can we get these guys to cover Nascar in a few weeks?

The Danica commercials were awful. The pit crew in drag was really, really disgusting and the Go Daddy stuff is just old and becoming tired.

Hotaru1787 said...

The Orlando-Cleveland game is getting ready to start soon. My 'window' is getting smaller.

Newracefan said...

Lowes has a 1am curfew, I'm thinking it's toast for tonight

Anonymous said...

LOL! darbar I was thinking that earlier....Mother Nature does have a way of displaying her displeasure. A few years ago when NBC was still in the picture they thought they were being funny and were going to tape delay the October Busch race so that TNT could show Law and Order reruns for the umpteenth time. Well it rained so it turned into a Saturday double header with both races. It was back when 2 or 3 Cup guys were running vs. half the field so it only affected a few guys. IIRC it was 2K3 and Mr. Roush said MattMatt couldn't run it because of the Cup championship being more important so Jeff Burton ran the race.

Daly Planet Editor said...

hot, did you hear the Cavs are selling out to a Chinese ownership group? No kidding...

Anonymous said...

NASCAR needs a curfew. 1 AM local time should be as long as they should keep people up. If the average race length + 30 minutes exceeds 1 AM, then they should call the race.

Anonymous said...

When coverage first stopped, FOX in Seattle went to America's Funniest Home Videos - with Bob Saggett! Obviously had to dust that one off before showing it...

From there, they went to Washington's Most Wanted... And now they're showing Chop, Rebuild... Isn't that a SPEED channel program?

There is a banner at the bottom of the page indicating a rain delay. Guess I'd best not complain. At least it's not cartoons here! Of course, it's also only 5:23 p.m....

Hotaru1787 said...

This 'special racing night' has begun to look like every average Sunday night.

Hotaru1787 said...

Did not.

Go Magic!!!

bevo said...

@Sophia- I imagine Mike Mulhern will have it up on his site pretty soon. Humpy just called in and talked for 25 minutes. He wasn't invited to the track for the anniversary today and was at Indy instead.

This is going to be huge news.

Daly Planet Editor said...

hot, look it up!

Hotaru1787 said...

AFHV with Bob Sagget? Wow, that makes me feel old.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Possibly the best feature...ever...on The SPEED Report. Wow...

Charlie said...

If the race does start I wonder if they will just set the race at 200 laps instead of the full 400.

darbar said...

JD where did you read they were selling the Cavs? That stinks.

Sophia said...

Wasn't that SWEET, JD with that Make A Wish boy. :)

Good job

Mike said...

About time for the bottom of the hour update.

bevo said...

Good Night Folks!

Dot said...

Race on tomorrow @ 9am/12pm.

SonicAD said...

Race postponed to Noon tomorrow, see ya'll then!

Daly Planet Editor said...

OK, race is officially postponed but will be at noon on Monday.

Have a great night all, see you tomorrow. What a weird TV evening.

JD

Anonymous said...

per nascar radio, 12, noon tomorrow

Mike said...

Until tomorrow, everyone have a great night!

Anonymous said...

well that was fun

Sophia said...

Bevo, will look for mike's column.

Geez, I had a feeling things were more vitriolic between those two than we were told last year.

Sophia said...

Mulhern just tweeted race postponed until Noon Monday.

So those reports on nascar.com were true, about pit boxes being torn down.

Anonymous said...

I'll be my house my local fox affiliate will NOT show the race They haven't in the past. They bump it to a UHF station they own.

Hotaru1787 said...

Off to watch the game, see you tomorrow (allergies permitting)

Dot said...

One last comment, at least the race will start at an early time for us PDTers. I'm happy about that.

Thanks JD and the Planeteers. XOXO

Anonymous said...

@JD--I agree! That segment was the best.thing.evah! I remember seeing a bit on him but it was great to see more of his time! I wonder if he met up with Ford Martin and exchanged some tips :).

SonicAD said...

Also John will you try to find out if they're going to have RaceDay and/or Victory Lane on SPEED tomorrow?

Sophia said...

SR just said special edition of RDay at 11pm EST

Martin Vincent said...

@Sophia - Shouldn't that read 11:00am instead of 11:00pm?

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