They may be the smallest player in the NASCAR TV scenario, but TNT started the network's six race run with a bang. The philosophy was simple, try to give NASCAR fans everything they wanted. What a novel idea.
Fans who wanted to concentrate on the TV coverage found a responsive and fun group presenting 90 minutes of pre-race coverage. Marc Fein anchored a panel that included Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds. These three talked through a wide variety of NASCAR topics and presented several quality features.
Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach used the final 30 minutes to talk about race topics and offer a look at the new Wally's World feature. The famous TNT cocktail table is back, but the pre-race shows were well-constructed and set a very different table for TV viewers than the previous efforts of Fox.
During this time, fans who were also on Twitter discovered something brand new. Petty was actually taking pictures and texting with fans while he was on the pre-race show. Amazingly, this continued throughout the race and ushered in a new level of direct contact between NASCAR fans and the TV booth.
Bill Weber was sporting a new light blue blazer, but his presence in the booth was anything but obtrusive. He did a great job of directing traffic between his three analysts and four very busy pit reporters. Weber's calm and organized manner on the air let Petty and Dallenbach take center stage.
Petty is the star of this show and he proved to be a responsive and interesting presence during the telecast. Once the race began, Petty repeatedly directly asked questions on the air that fans were sending to him via Twitter and RaceBuddy. Issues like caution flags, pit road reports and even the location of the debris on the track were brought up for all to hear.
Many fans fired up the computer and opened the free RaceBuddy application offered by NASCAR.com. Four additional camera angles, a designated pit reporter, texts from pit road and the ability to chat and message made for a great added value. RaceBuddy can be plugged directly into HDTV's, giving NASCAR on TV a whole new look.
Larry McReynolds once again provided the strategy and the cutaway car demos from the infield. His presence really rounds-out a solid broadcast team. Ralph Sheheen, Lindsay Czarniak and Marty Snider have not been on the NASCAR TV beat this season, but worked pit road without missing a story.
The TNT production team offers wider views of the track and lots of recaps of the field as the race progresses. On the restarts, the cameras focus on the two and three-wide action regardless of how far back in the pack it is happening.
Pocono has not been known to produce the most exciting races, but Petty kept viewers interested with his commitment to bring-up any topic and demand the kind of on-track accountability that was not present earlier this season. Rarely has the Lead Analyst been on the air asking his Producer to show the debris on the track that brought out the caution flag.
TNT waited out a rain delay and then wrapped-up the race with a good explanation of the gas mileage strategy that won the race. TNT has to consider eliminating the fake pylons and other electronically inserted objects left over from their older coverage.
In addition, the split-screen frequently used may have looked good when it was composed, but the rolling checkered flag effect behind it is tremendously distracting, especially in HD. The boxes also have thick gray and black edges that do not fit in with the graphics package being used.
The TNT coverage also did not commit to letting the lead-lap cars cross the start-finish line and missed both Jimmie Johnson running out of gas and Kasey Kahne spinning in the final corner. At a huge track like Pocono, fans deserved to see the cars race to the finish.
All in all, this was a solid effort by TNT that resulted in a very watchable telecast. Adding the Twitter and RaceBuddy features let fans get much more interactive than ever before. Having a designated pit road reporter only for the online users was also a clear winner.
Note: We will get the details of why TNT left the air and moved the post-race show online to NASCAR.com before the scheduled off time shortly. Being told right now it was a call made in Atlanta. Missed some good interviews on the TV side.
What did you think of the TNT efforts at Pocono? TDP welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the comments button below to add your comment on this topic. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.
106 comments:
This is how a race should be done. Other than the little hiccup at the end and not showing the action going on behind the winner, TNT should be proud. Fox and ESPN can take a page out of this book and learn how it can be done. But, what's with cutting out 15 minutes early? Can anyone explain that one?
I was looking forward to the inteviews with the MWR guys. Third and sixth! Oops. What happened to that last 15 minutes of the show?
I think they ran out of things to talk about at the end. They interviewed almost all of the top finishers....showed the running order, points standings. Wasn't a whole lot more they could say.
TNT did a great job overall first time out this year. Petty bringing up the issues of the mystery debris cautions and the lack of an update on Ryan Newman were great. That is exactly what we need.
Race Buddy is a great and the upgrades from last year are very welcome. The dedicated pit road reporter presented his report while the main broadcast was in commercial, which kept the fans intouch with what as going on at the track at all times.
Besides now showing all the cars crossing the line (how do networks not realize this is what people want) the single most glaring omission from this broadcast was a lack of an interview of David Reutimann (Unless I zoned out for a a minute).
I am curious as well, the race broadcast in the scheduling guide had be scheduled up until 6:30 EST. However, they ducked out early to show a movie and moved all post race content online. I believe this was an issue last year with this crew and I just don't understand it.
Then again, I guess I don't understand 2+ hours of pre race coverage and just a few minutes post race...
They moved the post-race to NASCAR.com for this season, depending on the time scheduled.
I am also still getting used to it, as the post-race location requires users to close RaceBuddy and open a new application.
Things I enjoyed today about the race coverage. When rain was close it was mentioned, of course Jack from PA told us first. Pit reporter coverage was good, seemed like there was more than in other broadcasts.
Kyle on twitter during the race and with pictures no less. Guess Dale Jarrett will have to start using his account.
No Kyle B lovefest. We had a thruough the field and even got an update from 20th to 31st. The overhead view of the cars entering and leaving the pits was good. Oh, and JD saying he was enjoying the race lol.
I did not watch any prerace. Overall I thought the coverage was a breath of fresh air compared to what we have been watching earlier this season. Thanks TNT gang for an overall good presentation of the race for us
Being told the move to leave NASCAR and start the movie early was a call made by TNT in Atlanta.
Will get the details and then report back shortly.
You wanted a old school directors cut of the race with minimal bumper cams, wide camera angles, and easy to watch coverage. Well, that's what you got.
If you go back and look at all of those races on ESPN classic you see the same thing as today, even at the end. Checkers, crew reaction, car slowing down, commercial. You're not going teach an old dog new tricks so you'll have to put up with the finish to get all of the other great coverage.
Great job TNT. Congratulation Tony!
Yeah, what darbar said.
I'm so fizzed up right now. My boy moved up in points. I lost a quarter to Dan by betting him that Marcos would stay in 20th. But I happily paid him. I'm walking on air.
Great job by TNT & Race Buddy. I wish they would have interviewed more drivers since they had 15 mins left. Still better coverage than FOX. Will David Hill still have his job in Feb? I hope today's ratings went through the roof.
Request from a computer-challenged race fan. I cannot find on TNT web sites where to send them a positive note on their coverage.
Help would be appreciated.
Makiki
Hawaii
Disappointed. Weber is terrible. Everytime he sqwauks "Matt", I cringe.
Missing the finish of everyone but the leader was bush league.
Kyle Petty though, is great!
I have to echo darbar, "this is how a race should be done."
The 2 glaring, in-your-face errors were the lack of coverage of the field finishing and leaving the air 15 minutes early. I would liked to have heard from some drivers.
I can't go 2 thumbs up, but TNT certainly gets 1.
Makiki, nice to hear from you. Try NASCAR.com and follow the links.
If you are on Twitter, send a message to @kylepetty or @NASCAR_TNT directly.
JD
What I caught of the broadcast was great. I was following with too many other things. I played around with Race Buddy before the race, but didn't see how to get to the pit reporter. I had issued with the post-race on NASCAR.com. It kept freezing. Plus it seemed that once the post-race went on, access to the post-race news conferences was taken off.
I like TNT a lot.
Pros:
+ The broadcast crew. Wally is funny and makes some witty observations. And of course, Kyle Petty being Kyle Petty. He talks about the issues and has no problem being brutally honest.
+ Racebuddy. For FREE might I add. Four different cameras and, new this year, a dedicated pit road commentator filing the fans in. Very much appreciated!
+ Presentation. It's slick; from the ticker the on-screen graphics. All of it is a nice addition.
+ Introducing newer fans to older drivers who made the sport what is in the pre-race show.
+ No digger being shoved down our throats. Okay, that one's more of a personal feeling.
Cons:
- A two hour pre-race show? That's a bit much for anyone's taste.
- Bill Webber's incoherent rambling that sometimes happens while he's attempting to explain something. That's a minor issue, though.
Overall, I love TNT and it was a much needed change from FOX. I love DW, but I can only take him for so long.
All was fine untill the finish.The time interval up all day thats something new.They went thru the field.All was good.Then the finish and we get the "spaceman" shot.They couldn't hold the camera at the line for 30 seconds?Then no results crawl at the top of the screen.I guess they let the B team handle the last lap.
While I cannot say this was a race straight from ESPN in the late '90s, it was darn close to that, with the addition of new 21st century technology.
First let's compare TNT with FOX.
Fox has the annoying and class clown Chris Myers. TNT has Marc Fein who, although many don't see much of him, is involved with NASCAR.com and appears to have much more knowledge of the sport than Myers, who is more about stick-and-ball sports.
The main thing FOX promotes is Digger, cameras placed at the bottom of the track to give fans a totally different view of a race. This was good for awhile, and I enjoyed it before they made a 5-minute cartoon, it is now the glaring eye-sore in FOX's coverage, IMO.
Fox's pre-race show features the three guys in the Hollywood Hotel (Myers, Jeff Hammond, and Darrell Waltrip) joking around most of the time. TNT has intellectual conversation between Fein, Larry Mac, and Kyle Petty, which also incorporates booth announcers Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach.
At this point I'm getting disgusted already. Let me go to the big stuff.
TNT just plain uses their resources more. With RaceBuddy, most of us have the ability to see five camera angles at once. The TV broadcast, followed by the mosaic view which has a camera of pit road, a "battle cam," an in-car voted by the fans, and a track cam. FOX simply has camera views that show too many in-car cameras and have graphics with sponsors who take up most of the screen, not to mention the animated Digger shots for most races.
The chemistry in the booth is awesome. Bill Weber has come a long way, simply put. He is no longer a "nuisance," but rather a very professional announcer who rarely interjects into Wally and Kyle's conversation. He has kept his corny jokes to a minimum and lets the pictures tell the story. The FOX crew has IMO the most classy announcer ever in Mike Joy, but I believe Mr. Hill and his boys are using the three in the booth as puppets to sell Digger and whatever other sponsors they have.
The pit reporters were incorporated beautifully and were used more in this one broadcast than the entire 13-race FOX package.
The pictures were awesome, and the only hiccup I saw was the lack of a steady camera shot of the checkered flag, and no follow up on Kahne's spin. Also, I would have liked to have heard more interviews from feel good stories like David Reutimann (who is no longer starting to be a feel good story, but a top contender) and Marcos Ambrose.
All in all, ESPN (and FOX for next season) better be taking notes, or I'll just listen to the races on the radio. The coverage was awesome today, and used every possible resource available. The chemistry between the nine on-air talents is very visible and is nice to watch. While Pocono isn't always the best race, TNT certainly pumped some drama into this race. Also, congrats to Smoke on his first Cup (point) win as a car owner. Also, as a native of northeastern PA who will be attending the August PA 500, I was very impressed with the crowd. It was not a sellout, but how many races this year were? Great crowd, good race, awesome coverage.
Can't wait for Michigan.
"little hiccup at the end"???
I'd rather watch 3 solid hours of digger than witness an atrocity like this.
While most of the race coverage was somewhat decent, the last few laps were as bad as I've ever seen. No racing shown at all, other than a couple seconds of Johnson and Edwards. What happened to Kahne? What happened to Allmendinger? How did Gordon and bowyer pick up so many spots at the end? Obviously there was some racing going on while we were being 'treated' to those beautiful shots of the inside of Stewart's car.
Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. If anyone wonders why NASCAR's TV ratings are down, look first to TV coverage like this. I'm very, very close to leaving NASCAR and sticking to watching whatever racing is on Speed or Vs.
Except for the fact I do NOT live iN PENN, I second Jack from PA's ENTIRE post.
Tx, save my fingers. :)
Anon, 6:46,
I have to disagree. I found the coverage to be a great change of pace from FOX's 3-hour Digger commercial. Sure, they botched the finish. But still the other 190-something laps were so much better than FOX.
And guys, I could have written so much more about this coverage. I was just thinking off the top of my head. I was impressed with the Through the Field, which is a step up from FOX, but then they went a step further and showed 21st through 30th. Next would be to interview the S&P's (which you won't see, but that shows how high they've set the bar).
Only bad thing about this is there's only five more races on TNT.
Just to add, while I thought the pre-race coverage was a bit long, some of the stories were quite well done. I loved the Dave Marcis piece and the tie in with him being the last of the great independent drivers was very well done. Too bad the sport can't have racers like Dave Marcis anymore. I would like it if the networks showed more of Nascar's history just like this story.
I enjoyed the coverage featuring so many cars in the field.
I was quite disappointed that two of my favorite drivers, David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose, were ignored in the post race so that they could spend an extended period of time talking to Jimmy Johnson as the first interview.
I'm less upset about Ambrose than Reutimann. Top 3 (and when you have the time they did, Top 5) finishers need to be interviewed in post-race. Reutimann was the only top-5 guy not featured post-race before they left the air.
As a NASCAR fan who endured week after week of the debacle that was NASCAR on Fox I went into this race broadcast hoping for a much-needed breath of fresh air. For most of the day the TNT crew provided that, but at the end of the day they delivered a swift punch to my gut, and the air had once again left my body.
TNT started with the best pre-race show of the season, far surpassing anything Fox had done before them this year. The nonstop barrage of awful jokes, the children's cartoons, the games of dress-up, the non-NASCAR related studio guests that were only there to sell products, and the complete avoidance of any semblance of reality that Fox provided were all gone. In their place TNT provided a serious, 90-minute show with great NASCAR-related features, NASCAR-related interviews and studio guests, and analysts that weren't afraid to comment on the serious NASCAR-related issues of the day.
TNT was solid for most of the race as well. Bill Weber started with a completely honest weather forecast - 30% chance of rain at 5:00, a far cry from the nonstop "Don't worry we'll get this race in" BS Fox spewed for hours during the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday rainout. The racing cars no longer had to share the screen with screaming cartoon characters. The nonsensical and completely wasteful approach of covering up the racing cars with commercial bumpers of Fox logos on fire and drivers playing drums / screaming into megaphones was mercifully gone. There were no more "halftime shows" (Fox Race Breaks) covering up the live racing while the event was still in progress and the Fox nonstop barrage of in-race full-screen sponsored content was lowered to a mere 2 this weekend.
When the field pitted under yellow we were finally able to see entire pit stops and an overall pit road shot simultaneously - what an amazing feat! Bill Weber was providing nonstop information on things like Lucky Dogs and pit road penalties, and Kyle Petty was immediately there to prompt his teammates to fill in the blanks that their earlier coverage had left.
Then the bottom fell out and the swift punch the gut was landed. At the finish line nothing mattered but the winner. 3 Top 15 cars ran out of gas (Johnson, Labonte, Allmendinger)... TNT didn't notice, an in-car camera shot of the winner was the only thing that mattered to them. The fastest car on the track who got shuffled back by pitting late, Kasey Kahne, crashed coming to the finish line racing for a top 10 finishing position. TNT didn't notice... while Bill Weber was calling the incident, the TNT production truck was shoving a celebrating pit crew down the TV viewers' throats.
Having just shook off that thunderous blow I began to relax when I looked at the clock. There was plenty of time before the old movie on TNT was set to start at 6:30. We were finally going to get the extensive post-race show we've been clamoring for all year.... Then, inexplicably, despite the fact that almost none of the movie anticipating audience were watching (they were, logically, waiting until the 6:30 start time to roll around to turn on TNT) the network immediately rushed off the air at Pocono and started the movie 16 minutes early. The NASCAR audience was now seeing an old movie instead of post-race interviews and analysis, and the movie viewers were still 16 minutes away from angrily discovering that they missed the first 16 minutes of their program, because TNT started it early, completely unadvertised. This decision made all of TNT’s TV viewers losers – both the NASCAR fans and the movie fans.
What a colossal disappointment it was to see such a great day of work by everyone on the TNT crew have such a disastrous ending. Here's hoping that they can finish the deal at Michigan.
I completely agree with Darbar & others who give TNT high marks. I posted very little during the race because I was watching it. I put the monitor next to the TV & had 5 views & all the info I needed.
No MRN, no Fox trax, just watched a race on TV.
Thank you TNT those we see & those we don't.
It was awesome to have thru the fields, and even the S&P's were announced as they left the track usually.
The hiccup at the end, hey no one is perfect. I have the belief that since TNT is this responsive to fans we will get better next race.
Other things I didn't miss this week were rodents on screen ( loved the pop up @NASCAR.com of diggers hole being sealed), weather hysteria hyper-ventilations,& boogity.
Thanks TNT - now next week I'll have to have tweet deck up - if I remember - for Kyles in race tweets.
Thanks for a good race shown on TV the right way & for the honesty.
Could TNT stay till seasons end?
Oh I forgot in my original post Thank you for 1 narrow ticker on top with the times. And no bottom ticker.
I second that on the ticker...was on almost all the time *with* the times (at Pocono, very important).
Overall, I found it very good and even Weber isn't getting on my nerves like he used to.
Watching the race was a joy. I stay with the TV coverage only...I don't want to have to go online and juggle 3 or 4 sources to see the race. TNT came through big time! Even though most of the 'action' was on restarts, TNT managed to find something interesting ON THE TRACK to cover or discuss. The broadcast was about the race on the track, not about those in the booth. Kyle and Wally were on top of everything, and the cameras quickly found what they were talking about for those of us at home. Bill Weber was a pleasant surprise. Much less pontificating than before, and he directed traffic effortlessly. And managed to give us a gentle reminder about missing BP. I thought the piece on Dave Marcis was wonderful. Having watched him compete for many years it's nice to see he's not forgotten.
All in all, I thought this was a wonderful contrast to the 'show' race fans have been subjected to for the first half of the season. I can only hope that ESPN is taking copious notes on how to present a race competently.
Thank you TNT.
okay, this is the first race this yr that I didn't listen to the radio, except for commls! Coverage was terrific until the end-boo to the director for missing wrecks that Webber was talking about. But....moving the post-race to Nascar.com is UNACCEPTABLE!! I understand that alot of fans got to enjoy RaceBuddy. I'm happy for you, but I live in the boonies & have dial-up. I can't watch post-race unless it's on TV. If you could access it later, okay. But it disappears after it's over. Doesn't work for some of us.
I really enjoyed watching the race this afternoon onTNT. The team really clicked well together and you could tell that they were just ahving fun and the racing wasn't bad too.
I am definitely looking forward to watching the next five races and really wish that these guys had the entire package of the entire year.
That was refreshing. Racing on the tube right up until cutting to commercial; no phony studio shots of drivers repeating cheesy lines. Racing immediately on camera when returning from commercial; no dancing animals or network promos. No ground-level shots or loud engine segments that detract from the story telling instead of enhancing it. No unnecessary "hosts". '3D' computerized effects used only when replay footage wasn't available, and effectively used in that case (Waltrip's spin). No obsession with Dale Jr. Well-designed Internet support. Coverage of every car in the field, although the reports of cars going to the garage could have been more timely. All in all, it reminded me a lot of the old TNN coverage of the early '90's: simple coverage of what's happening on the track.
Was it me, or were the commercial breaks shorter? And how does TNT avoid having the billboards Fox runs when returning from commercial? Do they pay NASCAR less for their portion of the season? Are they willing to settle for less income? I didn't miss all the self-serving 'Buy Digger Crap' ads, or the sponsored segments pretending to be race coverage (the Home Depot Logano sound bites, the plethora of Ask.com questions, etc.) I recall a single mention of the AT&T pit crew poll, and that was it.
Good stuff.
Palmetto-good post!!!
I thought the pre-race was too long, but at least they were serious & not ignoring important topics, unlike FAUX. They were good until a few yrs ago, they have sunk to being shills for their sponsers. Very sad....
PammH, I have a deal with my spouse. I can watch all the racing I want as long as I don't watch pre-race shows. (We have the same deal during football season.) I can't comment on the length or quality of pre-race because I'm listening to MRN / PRN until the anthem is over.
Some have pointed out TNT botched the last couple of laps. Personally, I can live with three weakly covered laps out of 200, even the last three. Heck, Fox lost more than that each week to staged commercial bumpers and Digger ads. Also, I'm willing to cut each of the networks a little slack on their first broadcast of the season. They didn't have the Bud Shootout to use to knock off the rust.
Even with the issues at the end still blows Espn and Fox out of the water. More along the lines of truck racing.
Useful gimmicks (racebuddy), great announcing, no agenddwas, here's the race and here you go.
Petty was on top of everything. If it seemed people had a question about anything he tracked down the answer. Pitroad was decent.
I would love to see a comparison of TNT ad time (inrace and commercials) vs fox. It was actually commercial breaks from racing not racing breaks from commercials.
Still would like to see what the accident was at the end and the whole pit magic. But a great effort for #1 of the year.
not bad for the 1st week. at least we didnt here dw cheerleading for johnson as he come back up.if dw was on,all we would have heard johnson goin win.tks tnt
TNT does a professional broadcast from top to finish. Fox, unfortunately, has yet to grasp that you cannot cover auto racing the same way you cover the NFL or MLB. The hokey driver promos, obsession with certain drivers, and constant "building of excitement" just doesn't work. The product is on the track not on the TV.
Enjoyed it just fine. The only thing that absolutely irritates me is the virtual stuff they do like the pit out marker. We don't need that. If you want to highlight it, use a yellow stripe or something unobtrusive. Actually, it's probably not even needed since a replay of the race off pitroad is always shown.
The only corny comment Weber used from the last years was "You don't have to look it up b/c we already did." I used to dread Weber as much as Punch. Not any more. I also liked Wally's World. No trying to fool us race fans this year. I swear I didn't even notice the green pylon for restarts or the line out of pit road. Pocono has always been a snoozer for me and I often would be watching the clock thinking will this race ever end. Not so today, but also maybe double file restarts helped that.
I give TNT a thumb's up except for not even replaying the end. Never did see KK spin.
I was impressed. Simple and told the story of the race. Didn't notice them not showing the field finish because I was screaming my head off with Smoke winning.
I'm really looking forward to seeing if TNT can build on today's success over the next five weeks.
Maybe E$PN can learn a thing or two from today's broadcast.
I'm surprised that people here are surprised they cut to the movie. This is nothing new for TNT, the race broadcast ends when they're ready to go off the air, and not earlier or later. They did the same thing last year and the year before.
They didn't show KKs spin on VL either unless I missed it.
I think Hill is the one who has foxed up FOXs race coverage. After reading his interview, he seems like the type of guy who says, "it's my way, or the highway". Maybe after reading our comments about what a great job TNT did, someone will tell Emperor Hill to get over himself. There has been a recent shake up over there.
You know if NASCAR has finally listened to the fans (allegedly) about DFRs, maybe, just maybe there's hope for us in 2010 with FOX.
If it meant purchasing RB to keep TNT on all year, I'd sell body parts to do so. One thing about RB. When the "track" view was on, the camera was wildly panning all over the place sometimes. There's probably a term for it but, I don't know what it's called. That's my only issue with it.
Since I was generally happy with TNTs coverage, I won't bag on them.
One more thing, they sure know how to get excited in the booth. JP, take notes.
I didn't comment on here during the race because, can you believe it, I could watch racing, not the SDDD JR and Gopher show. On a scale of 1-100 I give TNT a 90. They bothced the last lap, but so did fox and they told us to "get over it". Although it didn't bother be this race I deducted for not using split windows for green flag pit-stops. I say it didn't bother me this week because we weren't missing any racing, but assuming Michigan isn't a snoozer that needs to change.
One through the field top 20 was awesome. when they did the 2nd one 20 through 31 I was shocked (in a good way) When they did a 3rd one my jaw was on the floor. The best part was the timing of the through the fields. They were all exactly when I thought they should have been.
I would imagine fox will cry about TNT getting the double file restart, but that didn't have an affect on me watching it... the coverage was GREAT! Keep it up TNT. I really want the TNT NBC combo back!
My grade for TNT's coverage is an A-. The positives were that the prerace coverage was informative, the "Through the Field" segments were informative, I did not watch Johnson, Edwards, and Stewart by themselves all day, and no cartoons interrupted the telecast. There was also a nice 15 minutes of post race coverage.
I said in an earlier post that if Weber didn't broadcast well and if TNT's endless commercials plagued the race, we'd be in trouble. Well, Weber did a nice job today. He's no Mike Joy, but he did a great job with Petty and Wally. The commercial load wasn't too bad, either. There weren't many sponsored segments or endless show promos, either. That was nice!
All in all, a great race from Pocono. What a great telecast to have from TNT coming off of a great last race for FOX. By far, this was the best start-to-finish race broadcast of the year.
David Hill, I hope you're paying attention.
I think as somebody (Dot maybe?) or others pointed out, David Hill has ruined "Fix" sports. He fixes it for HIS agenda/digger/script. And if we dont' like it, we heard him loud and clear. "Tough."
The Fix guys in the booth who I love (except when DW gets on a bromance kick) are choked with speaking of promos, movies and GKnows What else.
Note how the TNT booth informed us today, was fun and KEPT the energy up to the end. No easy feat for Pocono.
Yes the last few laps stank (and I LOVE Tony) and I hope that's resolved. Wally was screaming of stuff going on so the BOOTH was paying attention... But the rest was great.
Already dreading BSPN and the crickets in the booth. Those guys are all very nice people they just don't do it for me. They don't have "it". Kyle & Wally are a blast. I liked the look on Bill Weber's face when he said something about "Didn't think we were going to go without a Benny mention, did you" or something...sweet without being overly sentimental.
LOVE RB but feel for those who do not want to multi task or only have dialup.
Indeed, when I am watching TV dont TELL ME TO GO TO THE INTERNET. that's why I am watching YOU. :)
This race deserved much more post race and REPLAYS of cars across the finish line. Heck so MANY ran ouf of gasoline..sheesh. Will we see it on TWIN?
Hope so.
Today's race coverage was the best so far this season! It was great seeing so many different drivers on the track, so much side by side racing, and hearing a field rundown frequently.
TNT knows how to show a race! Yes, they muffed the last lap a bit, but that was only seconds - we saw hours of good racing prior to that.
The commercial breaks didn't seem as frequent as those on FOX & ESPN and they were definitely not as aggravating as the Digger stuff. It was also great not to be following Shrub at each turn - granted, I thought they were going to shove Johnson down our throats for awhile, but it didn't last. The announcers didn't sound like they had favorites and each of them seemed to know who was in each car - something sadly lacking in the ESPN Nationwide coverage.
So at least for the next 5 Cup races, we can enjoy SEEING the race, watching the drivers compete with each other no matter where they are on the track or who they are, and following all the drivers, not just those in the Chase or close to it.
Thank you, TNT!
And to FOX & ESPN, I say "you're never too old to learn unless, of course, you continue with your old ways".
I have been waiting for TNT's coverage since the drop of the green flag at Daytona.
I'm a big fan of Wally and Kyle in the booth and have been since I first heard them. They actually sound like they are real race fans and are actually excited about what is going on. I'm not as excited about the whole Twitter and whatnot thing as some people are, but that's because I'm a jaded internet worker who deals with this sort of stuff all day long 24/7. I just want to watch a good race. But I respect that guys like Kyle are trying for something new and testing out ways for better fan interaction. I don't mind Weber myself, but I can see why some people might have in the past. However, I think he's reached a level of activity on the telecasts that is much more useful than it is frustrating for anyone.
RaceBuddy is better than last year, if possible. Last year it seemed like there were more problems and hiccups. It could have been my connection, but more likely it's that the world of web-streaming improves quickly over the course of 12 months and the TNT guys learned a lot. NASCAR should pay attention to this sort of thing. I won't pay for the crappy "pit command/raceview" cartoons that they want to sell me. But I sure would pay for this the rest of the year if I had to. Even smarter would be to do it the IRL way and just have it there for the fans.
I watched the TV and the internet with equal interest this race. NASCAR had two different forms of media getting my full attention. I wanted to watch RaceBuddy so I made the effort to be in front of the TV at racetime. That means I wasn't recording and watching later, skipping over all the commercials.
Fox and ESPN/ABC could learn something from the TNT crew. Both have the parts and pieces to make the same sort of excellent race broadcast that scrappy TNT does with their 6 races. Of course, they won't learn. Digger hates change.
Oh well, at least I can look forward to a great 6 race stretch every year. Heck, I might even watch the Bill Engvall show once or twice just as a small way of saying "thanks".
Forgot a couple of things:
1. Yeah, the end was cut too short. There should have been another 15 minutes or so of driver interviews and stories followed up on. But then again, at least they had the internet to go to. If it was Fox or ESPN cutting to a stick/ball game, we would be out of luck until we could catch the highlights on nascar.com or read about it on the racing blogs.
2. Man have I missed "through the field" even when they only go back to 20th, it's still enough to get a lot of stories that you'd miss on the other stations.
3. No favorites from the announcers! Well, at least none that we heard about over and over and over and over. Hooray for not having to hear about Kyle Busch (or in previous years, Jr) from DW every other lap. Those guys need t be covered, but as we've always said here, there are 43 guys on that track and every one of them is somebody's favorite.
4. Nothing is perfect. Sure they missed some on track action and stories. But that is bound to happen. I'm not looking to rake anyone over the coals for a few misses (unless it's a huge mistake affecting who wins or something). I'm looking for a general sense of "was this a well done broadcast?". TNT got a big YES in that regard from me.
Missed some pit stops, RaceBuddy or not, its not acceptable to miss a good chunk of lead lap cars in the midst of green flag stops. That bump in the road needs to be smoothed out for the next 4 commercial races.
My other gripe is about their use of split screen which has far too much "empty space" with graphics and taking away from full use of the screen given.
The pluses were obvious.
A split screen showing the finish as other guys crossed would have been a plus as well, not to mention showing Kahne spin out.
Was the Denny Hamlin story fully followed up on, did not hear exactly what their issue was...SIRIUS had mentioned it but I only caught the 2nd half of the report.
Also AJ Allmendinger lost a lap at the end, I assume ran out but didn't hear or missed the report on that.
Solid broadcast though.
Jimmie mentioned, and they showed the red light at pit entry and it was not the light I was accustomed to seeing, the Wheelen "UFO" light was by far the best for the job in this case and am curious asto what happened to it and why we had such a poor light at Pocono.
The Tnt guys in the booth need to crisp things up. Twice they got so long-winded that they forgot what brought the caution out and what Newman's problem was.Kyle says "you drive with your whole body"??? What's irritating is how both Networks beat things to death..."Its not a roadcourse,its not an oval,its a Roval!" This thing went almost four hours. The tracker showed 2-3 second gaps between the cars in the top 10. Very little coverage of Junior's 27th place finish. Obviously, its the crew chief's fault. Had to be a long drive home for a lot of folks.
I watched the race on RaceBuddy and really enjoyed having a four camera view. I remember when the races were on NBC and thought it was awful. Weber was hogging the airtime and it seemed like he and Wally Dallenbach could not stand each other. Weber is so much better now, he allows the other broadcast members to do their jobs. He and Wally seem to not be continually snipping at each other. Kyle Petty can sometimes get a little bit over the top, but that's just Kyle. I used to think that FOX had the superior broadcast. After today I would say that TNT has surpassed them, not that it was perfect. I thought it was excellent that they did a run through of lead lap cars outside of the top Ten. At the end of the race On RaceBuddy I did see Jimmie Johnson run out of gas and Kasey Kahne spin out. They also continued with top finishers being interviewed after the race was over,don't know what happened with TNT. Overall a B+ broadcast.
Its very simple
Hire the best motorsports director in the business and set him free.
Don't try to put a "stick and ball" director in the chair and expect great coverage.
Ahem......ESPN??? FOX?? are youlistening??
Pretty good coverage, the race could have gotten boring. I have a BIG problem though with the post race show, THERE WAS NONE and to miss interviewing some guys who finished in the top ten, no excuses for that. I did switch to the computer but there were so many people trying to access it I had trouble getting on and when I did I missed the interview with the MWR guys. Loved the job Kyle did though.
A good TV broadcast should not require RB. In fact there is no doubt that most fans did not simultaneously watch RB. Without RB the coverage was lacking.
Of course while a great idea, RB itself left a lot to be desired. Pictures which were very low resolution compared to HD. Camera angles which added nothing, endless roof cam of a car with no one in front of it. Track cam which seemed to be randomly switched, certainly not watchable. Lack of any sort of synch with the TV action, many times it was before or after the TV coverage, very confusing and if you watched with the commentators in the audio mix. From an audio perspective, unlistenable. Which audio should I give up the one synched the HD picture or the one with the fuzzy pictures.
The story that was obvious from the start which was almost completely ignored was about Stewart. Points leader, pole position in qualifying, a recent win in All-Star, and then a crash in practice. Who really thought he would not make a charge to the front. The producer was derelict in ignoring a driver who passed all 42 other cars, even when it was obvious in the early going that he was charging thru the field. Maybe there were 2 or 3 brief mentions before they "realized" he was a contender. Shame. This is the real no hype drama which would bring TV audience on a track where for the most part it was single file racing. Maybe we could have given up a little of the thru the field where for some drivers they mentioned only starting position and manufacturer, to follow drivers who were actually moving through the field.
Kyle is a loose cannon and that is fun sometimes. But he showed his lack of preparation and his disrespect for the producer. At one point he wondered out loud what the cars were running for RPM's. He explained he didn't know because he wasn't racing this year. For an expert that was embarrassing but at least he let us all know he hadn't spent much time preparing. Incidentally he could have found out by watching some of the graphics which showed the RPM's on air.
He also "wondered" what had brought out a yellow during the race. Was his point to embarrass TNT or NASCAR or the producer? We were also wondering why there was a yellow but he's part of the team and he should have found out off air and told us.
Going off the air early certainly could not have pleased the people who tuned into the movie at the advertised time. It certainly didn't help NASCAR fans. Not following up on stories which changed dramatically on the last lap for contenders in the top 10 is inexcusable. Missing an interview with a 3rd place finsher was a mistake. Maybe the producer and director were in such a hurry to leave the truck in order to beat the traffic. Again if you leave out storyline, especially at Pocono you are left with single file racing.
Having to go to NASCAR.com or RaceBuddy should not be required when you watch a TV show. Judging from the reactions on this board, most were happy. But it is not this fanatical audience that TV needs to please. It is a much broader audience. That is where the high ratings come from.
Wow, I felt like I actually watched a race/sporting event instead of the reality televion show/carnival that Fox presented.
The bufoonery was kept to a minimum. I felt like drivers other than the leaders were covered. Maybe it's just the fact that it's a change from Fox so the jury is still out but my first impression of TNT is that they have actually been reading the fans' comments on websites such at this regarding the tvb broadcasts.
TNT's coverage was an improvement over Fox, but the decision NOT to show all the cars crossing the finish line at the end was a dumb move and took the shine off the day for me. I didn't watch any of the pre-race stuff -- sorry, all of the networks have lost me for that -- too much talk before the race and not enough after.
Thanks for the info, JD, that you have to SHUT racebuddy and open an new application for the post-race. That wasn't clear and so although I tried a couple of times to access it, I didn't see what was going on, so since TNT had signed off the air for whatever the movie was, I signed off of their coverage, too.
I thought Kyle, Wally and Larry did a good job. Sorry, I still don't like Weber - probably never will. The twitter deal is interesting and does allow real interaction -- very nice.
All in all, they did a nice job -- better than Fox's coverage IMO.
ROFLMAO at Anonymous from 18:33 yesterday!!! I can't stand hearing Weber say "Matt" either. And he doesn't know when to shut up. Loved Kyle and Wally though.
Mary
Richmond, VA
Great job from the booth and pit
road and NO Cryle and Digger. The
crew jumping up and down is and
will always be anticlimatic. Save
it for post race and show the
FINISH of the race. Do you know
how many more commercials TNT can
squeeze into a movie by abandoning
Na$car?
TNT's coverage was excellent. I would like to see them get more races when the next TV contract is due. While I like the down-home type comments you get from Fox's team, I did not miss them trying to sell me something.
After 3 months or so of Fox, I was very impressed with TNT. Rather than impose their will on the viewer they seemed to show what people actually wanted to watch. Next week I'll watch the prerace coverage as well. Well done TNT!!
Somewhere about lap 100, I caught myself saying "awesome" out loud. Somebody must have mentioned in a production meeting that what is being covered is a RACE.
Good race, bad race, indifferent race... that's something the broadcast team can't control.
What they CAN control is how they present whatever is happening on the track. And I give a huge hat-tip to the folks at TNT.
Just what the TV *audience* ordered. Hopefully, they'll realize they're doing it right and next weekend will be more of the same.
OUTSTANDING! Other than two complaints: Missing the end of the race with ALL cars coming across the start/finish line, and Bill Weber's use of "Tony Stort" instead of Stewart, the coverage was great. I actually was excited by the time the green flag flew! I have been a fan for over 40 years, and I started losing interest the last two. I liken the coverage today as that of an old short track mantra:
"When the green flag drops, the B***S*** stops."
I love Kyle Petty. His commentary is so fresh and interesting.
I was annoyed like everyone else though about the post race show ending early, but other than that, TNT rocks. Fox seems so stuffy compared to them.
Not perfect, but what first show ever is? I loved that they covered it as an athletic competition, not a sitcom/variety show. No bumpers, no cartoons (except for the animations on restarts), relatively few promotion intrusions. They screwed up the finish by not catching the spins, the run-outs, or the finishing order, and I still don't understand why they cut away at 6:15, but overall I felt much more respected as a viewer than I did when watching Fox. Hope it continues.
Not only did TNT knock it out of the park...they hit a Grand Slam. Who knew Pocono could be so much fun! Can't thank these guys and gals enough! Truly enjoyable broadcast!
Anyone remember last season? TNT was great coming out of the box. Then they went to the totally "Fall Line-up" coverage where racing was of second importance to the New Fall Line-up.I hope they prove me wrong but leopards don't change their spots. the only chnage I'd make right now would be replacing Weber with Eli Gold.
Anonymous 7:50 -
It was my thought that Kyle was using self deprecating humor to get some of the Twitter/RB/etc questions from fans onto the air. I seriously doubt that he doesn't have an idea of what the car RPMs are at or that he couldn't have switched off the mic for a second and asked the "voices in his ear"' what the caution was for.
I like all of the TNT folks including Weber. I've only been a fan since 2007 and I get the feeling that alot of what people dislike about Weber is from the past. It's kind of like Evernham. I like him too but maybe that's because I wasn't around when the bad things happened.
Anyway, loved the broadcast except of course a few issues at the end of the race. It's just so awesome to not get a million sponsored segments in the middle of the race, ask.com questions, etc. And NO GOPHER! Honestly, does David Hill really really believe his race broadcasts are superior? I wonder what Mike Joy would say if he could truly speak his mind.
Kudos TNT.
I really dread having ESPN take charge later. Ugh.
Great job by TNT. I hope the Fox guys were paying attention. It made their season look pathetic.
Dodge Boy from canada
To the one Anon
I also would love to know what Mike Joy and EVERYBODY ELSE in the booth and on SPEED would say if not forced to endure promos.
We must remember, they all travel a lot in their jobs as they love the sport. But they have suits that "run the show" and lately that's RUINING the show and muzzling the booth.
If they said whatever they wanted and stopped the promos, they would all be out of a job.
But yea, I was mad no finish but Indy 500 was same way. SURE it's nice you saw it on RB but we should NOT have to go to computer to see the finish. Maybe that was some communication hiccup I HOPE and next week the end will BE ON TNT.
I also agree I did not even THINK of getting out the radio because I felt the folks on the race INFORMED US.
Don't leave me out! I missed the audio- since, as the TDP-ers know, I was watching the race from the sky. Southwest Air had WiFi..and I was so excited to be able to watch the race via RaceBuddy. I only had no audio due to my lack of a headset.
The coverage was amazing from my very new way of watching a race. Thank you SO MUCH, TNT for RaceBuddy. With the four cameras and the leaderboard, I knew what was happening, who it was happening it to, as it happened. I wouldn't have bothered if I was just stuck watching the little dots go around the track on TrackPass.
Like I said, I can't comment on the pre or post race coverage, but I really wanted to leave my huge Thumbs up for TNT's efforts to make race fans happy.
I thought the race coverage was really good! Love Kyle and Wally. The best part was through the field and NO digger!
Looking forward to next weeks race.
Excellent job, this is the first race this year that I really enjoyed. It may not have been the most exciting, but the whole TNT coverage hit the mark for my taste so I enjoyed watching it. They really tried very hard to keep up with most cars in the race and did a very good job.I did not use the mute button once as I usually have had to do. Small things like a network promoting it's shows,having to see all the cars cross the finish line, or not seeing my favorite driver interviewed are to me nit picking, things that really don't matter. What matters to me is the very big difference in how TNT and FOX do races, I hope FOX takes notice.
Instead of my usual waiting an hour or two into the race to skip commercials, I watched live so I could try out RaceBuddy.
I wish there was a way to synch my Racebuddy audio/video to the action on my TV. Racebuddy was 5-10 seconds ahead of my TV. I also wish there were more audio controls on Racebuddy, so I could filter out the audio that was already on my TV. I would have liked to just pick up the comments from the pits. The out of synch broadcast was frustrating and I muted the audio on Racebuddy. After an hour, I just closed it down. It has potential, but I won't use it until it fits into how I want to use it to augment the race.
I enjoyed the TNT broadcast coverage. The team made what is usually a boring race enjoyable. I liked that Kyle punted the question about why the #48 is choosing the first pit box and Larry Mac did a superb job of fielding the question.
Overall, much better than Fox.
I think that this was NASCAR for adults. Not NASCAR by Sesame Street we have been watching on Fox. The last minute was kind of hacked up but, the other 169 minutes were excellent.
Frank in Sebring
Thanks JD, for this Blog. Did you realize that you are responsible for spawning more TV critics than anyone in the history of broadcasting.
Frank in Sebring
Frank, NASCAR fans are like no other fan group. There are no home teams, no local games and the season is ten months long.
My hope was that this small effort would give voice to those who found themselves unable to be heard by NASCAR and its TV partners.
We just take it one day at a time.
JD
TNT absolutely rocked this telecast. RaceBuddy is my new BFF! I don't even mind Petty's gurgling voice at times. That's just Kyle.
I think that this was NASCAR for adults. Not NASCAR by Sesame Street we have been watching on Fox.
Frank in Sebring
---
That is the Absolute Best Description of it !!!
Thank you
Excellent coverage for NASCAR TNT, and no more rodents'! Kyle is a star and i really enjoy him and think he adds alot to the coverage. Luv 'through the field' and the wider camera angles. GREAT job TNT! can't wait till next week!
Kyle was "wondering" because explanations were not given on the air, like why the caution. Bill Weber has turned my stomach ever since he commented (heard on scanners by fans at the race) about a mentally disabled person involved in prerace ceremonies. I sure must be missing something, because I fail to see what is great about Race Buddy. Every time you change the view, you get a commercial. I'm looking forward to next Daytona. And I've worn a Digger tee at a track.
I was pleasantly surprised at the new and improved Wally's World. Thankfully they dropped that lame "Wayne's World"-type musical intro. Enjoyed the green screen work Wally did, I was impressed by that. Weber wasn't as annoying but his schtick "We looked it up so you don't have to" is going to be old very quickly. Race Buddy froze up a few times and I hated getting commercials whenever I went to a new screen. But I very much appreciated the extra views and the fact I could mute the audio so I could still hear my driver's radio over on Trackpass. Other than screwing up the post race I think they've set the bar pretty high. (Just someone keep Wally from groaning and making random "ooh" and "oh" utterances to the point he sounds like he's passing a kidney stone whenever he sees on track action that the cameras aren't showing yet.)
I was hard on TNT last year, and I thought this was an improved effort, but there are still problems:
1. Weber is only okay. He's not a lot better than Punch, and while I think he directs traffic in a very tough spot quite well, I feel like he's still a bit inadequate in this role.
Joy is still the best racing PBP guy around, and everyone else is fighting for second.
2. The coverage of the last 10 laps was a bit, um, awful. Too much focus on Stewart, as if they were afraid to talk about someone else in case the 14 ran out of gas. Unfortunately, we missed some good racing elsewhere even in the top 10 because of this.
3. The timing of the first postrace ad break couldn't have been any worse.
I didn't hate it at all. I actually enjoyed Wally and Kyle, something I didn't do much last year. Thought they used the pit reporters and Larry Mac brilliantly.
I'd say that they are at a place right now that I hope Versus is at in a year with their IRL coverage. The effort is there, but there are still bumps.
I was going to give TNT an "A" until they ignored the action that happened after Tony took the checkered flag.
Now they get a B- or maybe a C+.
As far as I saw, they didn't even go back and replay what we missed. Sloppy, sloppy work.
I am late to the discussion, but I loved how NASCAR.com put the TNT guy sealing shut the Digger hole right on their front page (seemed like a direct message to FOX from NASCAR), and I liked how non-pandering and non-kid oriented the broadcast was. I don't like Digger, but I haven;t really hated him like others do. But now that he is gone it is so refreshing I can't believe it.
Enjoyed the graphic that showed you who was fastest, second fastest, and third fastest as cars passed the start/finish line. That takes us back to the 1990s.
@Anon 6:38. One of the computer geniuses here said after pulling up RB, if you refresh the page, the ads every time you change windows will go away. It actually worked.
Just FYI.
I guess your right...No,not really. The talking head coverage was OK. How can the network explain the checker flag flub? I saw the top 4 finish at the line,then no info on the rest of the field until the end of the broadcast.
I never can find those Nascar.com interviews so missed out on all of them. That web page is not user-friendly and locating a specific item is often very difficult.
TNT coverage coupled with Tweets from Kyle Petty was fantastic. Welcome back to our living and family rooms. I even enjoyed some of Bill Webber's comments, though Wally and Kyle Petty are the best.
You can be all gushy over TNT if you want but I now have no way to watch na$car without having to pay for watching it.
I must disagree. Although Larry Mac is a bright spot, TNT is lackluster in every way. Fox has championship drivers and crew chiefs on every side while TNT has two drivers who never amounted to much. Bill Weber is the most annoying voice in NASCAR and half their pit reporters are clueless. Fox is the only true NASCAR broadcast. TNT should be left off the next contract. The verdict is still out on ESPN.
If the King, & his court of NA$CAR really wonder just why the TV ratings are down double digets. Maybe they should watch the broadcasts for a change. Then contrast the TNT coverage with Faux.
If the ratings are still down after the TNT coverage. Then they've got a HUGE problem!
dawg
TNT you rock!! I love the Race Buddy, the TNT team did a great job. I hope from next race they would announce that the Post Race Interview will be on NASCAR.com so everyone can catch it. I was lucky to flip around on NASCAR main page and saw it, just get to see the interview on time. Anyway, great job TNT.
Honestly, I wasn't thrilled with the coverage, initially. I thought the pre-race show was a little too long, but they did do a good job. This is Pocono, one of the most boring tracks on the circuit, and I think I just got too spoiled by the late 90's ESPN coverage. FOX, take note of all of these posts: rid of Chris Myers, he almost more of a cartoon than Digger. We all know you cannot afford to dump DW, but cut his mic. off when he starts to interrupt with his senseless babbling. Mike Joy is your best asset. TNT, Bill Weber is great. He has control of the booth, and he and Kyle work great together. Kyle is absolutely one of the most likeable guys in the sport. TNT got the job done, overall. Let's clean up the finish a little bit next time guys...looking forward to Michigan.
Thank you TNT for replacing Faux in race broadcasts. You put them to SHAME. I found I did'nt yell at the TV once during your race time. Keep up the good work, and your ratings will soar. By the way, how stupid does one have to be to blog something that gets cut out???
JD,
I'm wondering what the tv ratings were for the race. Do you have any information on them?
6.098 million people watched NASCAR on TNT at Pocono last year. (source: TNT)
5.5 million watched NASCAR on TNT at Pocono this year. (source: Mediaweek)
More or less a 10% decline in viewship.
No doubt it was either Obama or Digger who was responsible.
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