The Nationwide Series rolls into Chicagoland with Allen Bestwick beginning the day on NASCAR Countdown at 7:30PM. Bestwick will be joined by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty from the infield pit center.
Wallace will then move up into the booth and join Jerry Punch and Andy Petree for the race telecast. Down on pit road will be Mike Massaro, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Dave Burns.
ESPN will move Marty Reid into the play-by-play roll shortly, leaving Punch to handle only the ESPN Sprint Cup Series telecasts. Dale Jarrett is off, so Wallace will be doing double-duty for the series that includes his own race team.
Tim Brewer will be in the Tech Garage and Bestwick will continue to keep the infield studio open with Daugherty alongside.
This post will serve to host your comments about tonight's Nationwide Series telecast on ESPN. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind while posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
177 comments:
Hi everyone, wild couple of days here at TDP. Whew...
Lets see how long Bires goes.
Jayski said the car was sponsorless. NASCAR.com says the car has Construction Jobs.com on it. 7th in quals, hope he makes a run of it but seems unlikely.
Yep, the Nascar Countdown starts on ESPN for the Nationwide race and the first driver they interview is a cup guy.
Is there some reason DJ has all this time off?
Looking forward to commenting.
@ Vicky D, why would they talk to a NW regular in the NW series?
@ JD did you read Bob Pockrass' tweet about watching practice on TV & feeling lost? Hope he's been warned about tonight! Heres hoping no crickets ;)
Does Rusty have a volume control?
JD, you here? Can you turn off word verif?
No its just the 5 hour energy - which he should give to DJP imho
Thanks for reminding me, I hate that thing but you have to leave it on. Spambots and such.
@ JD, thanks.
@ Jo, funny.
Is Dave Burns standing on a box??? I'm mean I know. Yes, Rusty - please give JP some of that energy drink. But please turn down Rusty's mic.
hi everyone :)
@Jojaye--I've been wondering why no one has slipped DJP some 5 hour energy all season (well the last 3 years really)
Yes DJ has a ton of vaycay time, DJP should be on vaycay for that long.
@ Gymmie, ditto about JP and vacay.
Is the cattle prod in the booth?
Interesting about RCR...wish they would get more on RCR about their cup performance too.
Carl turning into a mini Mikey
Brad is upfront about his car being a S&P tonight! WOW thats honesty. A upfront discussion of S&P
Wow, discussed S&P. Brad's car is one of them.
dang. i feel bad for kelly. kid is getting a raw deal and i hope someone takes notice of his abilities soon and puts him in a car full-time
@ David, agreed. If he has a sponsor, why is he not running the whole race?
Kelly's not the only one out there in a subpar ride just to get seat time and keep his name / face on the minds of owners ...
I don't think he has a sponsor. NASCAR.com must have just thrown something on the line. Or they did what some teams have done before, throw a name on the car, call em up after qualifying and say "Hey, wanna fund us this race since we are starting up front?"
I wish Terry Cook would run a whole race. Heck of a driver and its a shame to see him S&P'ing
And we get a Mom sighting too tonight>
Good anthem, nothing too over the top.
So glad there is no rain...
There - I put the paper strip over the bottom of the Tv screen. I don't really care about other sports updates while I watch the race.
I keep losing ESPN on this digital box!^$#&@*! Screen going black and "please wait" text.
sigh...funny, I thought this only happened to SATELLITE folks but TW digital box does same thing..so I missed the anthem except for a couple of notes...trying to see if rebooting helps but it doesn't really fix this issue..just happening ALOT tonight...5 losses in 10 minutes.. "software issue" and very complicated..I think it's moreso since the digital changeover but who knows.
Might yank Digital out of my room and just have on in LR.since it's ESPN not gonna get that upset..they don't show that MUCH of the race anyway. Meow Hiss!
:0
Kevin gets the curse tonight.
Kudos to ESPN for being completely open and honest about Brad's car doing a start-and-park tonight.
I feel bad for Brad and that whole team, they're not breaking any rules, and admitedly I'd probably do the exact same thing in that spot with a guaranteed starting spot for the rest of the year hanging in the balance, but I think it's a complete embarrassment that NASCAR allows teams to do this.
Can you imagine the outrage and consequences if other sports had teams that intentionally "threw games" in this day and age? Someone in Vegas could really stand to make a lot of money on NASCAR prop bets if they knew the right people in that garage area and 'kindly suggested' a completely NASCAR-legal start-and-park, so I'm stunned that the credibility of the competition in this sport isn't held to the same standard as the other major sports.
To bad they couldn't pick a in-car driver from the Nationwide series.
ESPN please take off the bottomline....i know its nice that they updated their bottomline but its needs to come off during the race. Who cares about other sports....This is NASCAR!!!!
Buiers? Did his name change?
Stricklin, its a shame thats for sure.
Braun has been doing the same thing with the #10 though.
Focusing on the good though, Bayne gets a great shot to showcase himself with Cup guys in the field. Glad Mikey stepped out of the car for this race considering his season in that #99
Charlie, I'm with you however at least Kevin drives for his own team, and they use only NW crew chief, and pit crew etc. I'll give Kevin a pass at least.
At lap 4 already for S&Ps.
@ Vicky D, ditto.
I missed Brad saying they were S&Ping as I was washing up some dishes but did see the tweet from the 47 team about him spilling the beans.
Let's hope we are spared of Sportscenter updates this week. This was the exact point of the first instance of ignore-the-race for stick-and-ball highlights last week.
NASCAR on ESPN replays under green with a long dose of garage shots.
Good grief
I wish NASCAR broadcasts would all use the skinny pointy thing to use for a replay so I KNOW WHICH CAR to watch.
Helpful for those of us with TV's smaller than a Honda. :)
MUST we hear Kyle B whine? That boy has PMS =Perpetually Moping Syndrome.
And he lies a lot on radio to fake out others.
\sarcasm
Nice wide shots that document the action here.
\sarcasm off
We are not going to document the race here in the truck, we are auditioning for another, better job.
This lack of intervals on the scoring crawl is absolutely embarrassing. What is ESPN thinking?
Stevie Wonder...paging Stevie Wonder.
You are needed to help direct BSPN P U cameras for the racing.
ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . . .
OK ESPN B-I-G box for race in progress under green small box for Tim, interviews
@ dear Sophia, funny. Just think, the best is yet to come on 7/26/9. BSPN all the rest of the season.
WOW, only one car is racing.
Is this qualifying or an actual racing broadcast??????
Can we get a better close-up of the nose of that single car. Where are they at, Talledega?
Through the field is just a filler in my opinion the way Espn uses it.
Do any of you guys remember that episode of SEINFELD where Kramer held a camera in movie theaters to make bootleg movies?
If somebody did that from the track and posted it online somewhere, I would watch THAT over this network. But FOX's camera director didn't know beans from apple butter either...just to be fair.
I think a google earth perspective would be more informative than these pictures.
Gasp. 1/5 of the way into the race and we finally get a glimpse of the "whole picture" with intervals on the scoring crawl. Wonder if they'll get yanked away for the rest of the night in another 5 minutes like they were last week.
Anonymous said...
"Can we get a better close-up of the nose of that single car. Where are they at, Talledega?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Could be Dega, could be Chicago, could be Prague.
I really need to run to the store...but it's getting kind of late for a grocery run.
But there's hardly any chocolate in the house and I only had a grilled cheese for dinner. And only half a glass of wine in the house.
But I can tell I am full of WHINE tonight. Sorry, I will stop.
@ Anon 8:42, don't give them any ideas.
On a more positive note, at least we don't miss as much racing during commercials:-)
@ dear Sophia, go to the store. Nothing to see here. We'll catch you up with our comments. Maybe wine will help. And chocolate.
We need to be able to tweeter or twittle or whatever to the producer and director in the truck.
More incar! More incar! Less perspective!
It looks like 9 cars are off the track already.
The KB pitstop should be in a small window inset in a wide shot of the track.
Is there a race on the track?
Too much trouble to document the action on the track, let's just broadcast an entertainment program about racing.
Charlie - I don't know! Does ESPN?
It looks like my guess of 5 minutes of intervals on the scoring crawl was spot on.
JD, have they coincidentally had the exact same technical glitch two weeks in a row or is this a new coverage style to leave the viewers at home completely clueless by taking away one of the most fundamental and essential parts of the broadcast?
Anon 8:55PM,
It only takes a minute to get a bluc nick from Google. That way your comments can be attributed to you. All Anons look alike.
JD
oops....blue
Did I mention I hate my laptop?
Only 10 cars on lead lap
strick,
Still trying to figure if it is a NASCAR favor or not. Lots of eyes on the back of the field and the disparity in performance between the big teams and the real Nationwide teams.
JD
Ok..this almost makes me cry that we only have ONE MORE RACE TO WATCH ON TNT!!
I am short on cash or would run to Kroger...don't want to write a check just for few items..too tired to do major shopping spree.
You people with the 60 inch tvs? Are you seeing MORE than 1,2 or 3 cars on your screens?
Oh, yes, MORE IN CAR CAMS PLEASE(Sarcasm director, sarcasm)
???
Charlie....exactly!
Soph, tough week there my friend?
This race is a third in and only 10 cars on lead lap. I guess that's good news for Doc since he can take a little snooze and no one would know the difference.
Guess Waltrip got some heat for his TWIN Tweet huh? He actually deleted it after your comments.
Wild day in NASCAR online land.
ok, now lets go to commercial then do a short through the field, the commercial, then pit stops.
So glad I am watching this is FF mode. I miss DJ
JD
yes it has been a tough week or so...but too sad to bring up here.
:( a huge loss.
Just wish this race were a distraction but it is not.
I'm taking a break. Lucky you
Vick, it's all names and numbers tonight from Punch. At least Rusty is fired up.
In response to TNT's Wide Open Coverage, ESPN is debuting "Eyes Wide Shut" tonight in anticipation of another season of outstanding Sprint Cup Series coverage.
\sarcasm off
Think Rusty and Andy would be better served with Marty Reid.
Punch is used to letting DJ handle so much of the PXP he struggles when he is without him.
@ VicD, we can take a snooze too. Not much happening.
Good old Bob Pockrass brings up a good point on Twiter:
"With Keselowski and Newman having fuel-mileage issues tonight, does that mean issues for Hendrick cars tomorrow?"
Nice of ESPN to have the race in an inset while they demonstate the excellent work of their graphics arts major interns.
Vickers' radio was all scrambled I could barely hear a thing!
JD,
First of all if NASCAR is perfectly okay with the start-and-park there should be no "favor" needed, they're getting exactly what they promote. Secondly, this supposed "favor" is completely ruining this broadcast. Looking up at the scoring and just knowing who's laps down and who's off/out has been a standard part of NASCAR TV since 1992!, long before real-time lead lap car intervals were ever even thought of.
I read that JD I'm thinking Chad is all over this one, he said on TWIN that he watches the NW and truck races for info like this.
Historic occasion JP? What is he talking about?
Wasn't that "debris" caution about 45 laps too late?
I ran to get dinner. Have they shown a SC?
@ VicD, JP keeps mentioning historical stuff. Longest w/o caution and something else. There's only been what, 7 races there?
For me, it is really hard to have two information streams on my screen continuously that go at different speeds. Having one offer info like pitching match-ups and such is just icing on the cake.
One Twitter guy suggested that caution was called when Tim Brewer tossed his water bottle out of the cutaway car....
What kind of double file restart is that again?
@ JD, that Twitter guy fits right in here. Too funny.
SOS. Didn't JP get the memo?
So I got a call from sister in law - she has cancer surgery is Monday. I thought I may have missed some "race coverage" - but I see you saw as much as I did.
sarcasm on/
Thanks for the intervals of the tour de france espn that really is very helpful during this N'wide race
sarcasm off/
Zoom out a little on most of these camera shots would help alot.
How do these random in car shots help our understanding of the progression of the race or the racer's battles for position. Isn't that the joy of witnessing a motor race?
@ Village, BSPN sucks the joy out of watching a race.
Jason Keller car 27 started 35 is now in 15th place one lap down. If he can pass Ryan Newman he will get the lucky dog.
Are the Cardinals and the Cubs entered in tomorrow's race:-)
Brewer and Vickers in car. Does it get any better than this?
We are getting good close-up shots of single cars.
I can tell if the font on the vinyl wraps have a serif or not.
The return of the completely arbitrary and numberless fuel level bar graph. Really?
@ Charlie, there you go. Ryan LD if a caution comes out.
Think Steve W still has a chance to win?
Oh! I get it now! The producer and director are striving for the POV of a gamer on an EA Sports NASCAR PS2 or 3 game.
Hey, we're missing the action on the track. This is bad.
After tomorrow we will have Espn do all Nationwide and Sprint races until then end of November.
Won't that be super neat oh.
My fav is using music as a bumper to commercial when you have the engine sounds under green flag.
Charlie, the only thing to look forward to is that this year Marty Reid will come over and call ALL the rest of the Nationwide races.
Punch will do the last seventeen Cup races. ESPN has not yet told me who will call the practice and qualifying sessions.
Bestwick is staying in the infield studio...however.
Why do we have bumpers into and out of commercials? Is that for the convenience of the DVRers?
THANK YOU DP...I took my time getting the kids to bed, watched "Phineas and Ferb", let the dog out, and got a drink before turning on the race....will not be rewinding the DVR.
1 1/2 hours of my life saved..you guys are the best!
I will at least give them credit for not showing the infield studio when they utilize them or showing the pit reporters when they are giving updates. So you get a close up of one car.
Maybe they like Mazdas Zoom Zoom Zoom
I'm using blue painters' tape to cover the lower ticker. The two different speeds were giving me a headache.
Makiki
Honolulu
villageidiotintern is really the headliner tonight. Nice shots about games gamers & dvrs
Excellent and creative graphic arts. My daughter is a BA in graphic design and is complimentary of the work of ESPN's graphics artists. The problem we have here is the broadcast should document the racing action on the track. That would be the one element we are missing here. However, as entertainment programming for non-racefans, well, the jury is out on that subject.
Still not understanding why we are not seeing the Junior and Brad Go Daddy commercials. Instead, we get the IRL commercials with Danica.
Sadler's spotter says watching the race on tv is brutal. He wanted to know if there were only 3 cars in the race.
Is it me or is this race bad? Is it the track? The coverage? I don't think TNT's coverage could make this better.
JD - yes I like those Go-Daddy commercials with Brad & Jr not the ones with Danica. There's not much racing on this race track tonight is there?
That was interesting, Joey and Steve wallace were side by side and they flick to the Joey interview and Joey is way ahead of steve wallace.
You mean that cars 2 laps down are actually racing each other? That can't be.
One good thing about GF pit stops....no DFR SOS.
Another nice Chicagoland sunset.
JP running out of gas.
Sometimes stockcar race fields get stretched out like open wheelers, especially on some of ISC's tracks. That in itself is not bad racing. But the close-up camera shots of individual cars does not reflect the progress of the race. The truck should not try to hide the actual race, but reflect it in its decisions. The wide shots that show the situation on the track is what needs to make the screen. There is drama there, althought not on the level of a Bristol, but is there and should be documented for the viewer. It is what it is. We ask to see it as it is.
Doc - it's 42 laps to go would be a nice time for a thru the field - maybe???
What the TV viewer at home should be watching the vast majority of the time is what the fan in the stands is also watching.
This fundamental issue is lost on ESPN completely.
But Vickers is almost 6 seconds behind the leader.
JP...it is Busch...twice he mispronounced in the last segment.
AB may need to bring it home.
Scarce folks in the seats - I thought the cup guys brought out the fans to watch the Nationwide races. Hmmmm.
Thanks for the update on Vickers and the tire situation.
But now let's get back to Joey.
This is like watching qualifying. One car at a time.
Just grabbed a sandwich and see things have NOT IMPROVED.
Thanks for the same feedback TDP folks.
BSPN will NEVER get "How to show a race".
Pitiful.
ENJOY the Cup race tomorrow!! last chance.
Just remember as you watch tonight, we will have this 'bonus coverage' for the CUP races, too.
I feel sorry for folks that don't have a large hd tv like I do because the over sized graphics around the video take up most of the screen on my 52". I could only imagine trying to watch on one smaller.I mean is that really necessary?
Team orders for Weed to move over?
About time for one of those"Mystery" cautions dontcha think?
Right on Mike.
Any bets on ESPN going to a commercial with 10 laps or less to go?
19..commercial
I had 16 in the pool..
They'll be 10 laps to go after these commls. Nevermind. There you go Mike.
Ah Ha...I new it!!! And during the caustion too!!! Then of couse, one of those DFR....what style?
Jeff Burton gets the lucky dog, 11 cars on lead lap.
This is probably a good race for the frontgate customer at the track. Strategery, drama, excitement. Not so much on TV. ESPN, whazzup?
DFR Start of Race Style
@ Mike, SOS! Listen to how JP will get all excited to say those words.
You imagine someone who doesn't follow NASCAR regularly just tuning in and hearing "Double File Restart--Shootout Style"? I bet some of them honestly ask, "what are the other styles of double file restarts do they have?"
Drive their brains out. Rustyisms, gotta love it.
Lessee, shoot-out style start, quasi-green-white-checker restart, Rusty's oh-so-relevant experiences, this may work out quite well in spite of every attempt to muck up the broadcast.
extended yellow for weather?
Like JP, I'm losing steam too. This race is making me nod off.
I wish Rusty could come up with quite a bit more words than he does!
I would spit out my drink if rusty would have messed up & used a term that starts with cluster...
18 car did not get new tires
Come on Joey.
That would be a good win for Joey if Brad K can't win.
Did the 18 get two tires? I must have missed that.
I'll wager that Kyly "Hang-Dog Daddy" Bisch doesn't like the outcome of this race, either.
WOOT!!!1Joeyyyyyyy!!!!!
I turned on the race at Lap 100 (I had forgotten the start time).
I am not kidding, as soon as I turned it on, Jerry Punch said - as the camera zoomed in to the new leader: "There's the 18-car Kyle Busch!"
Is this some sort of cruel hoax? Is Allen Funt going to come out any second and tell us we're on Candid Camera?
Why in the world does Jerry Punch subject us to this -- and why doesn't ANYONE have the courage to tell him, "Psst, Jerry, it's mid-July - they already know the 18 is Kyle Busch!"
horrible camera work that last lap. needed a wideshot though 3-4 since it looked like the 32 was trying to make a run on the 18
Well this was a snooze a rama
Congrats JoLo, enjoy the post race folks. I'm gonna watch Baseball
I bet it's killing Weed seeing Joey out front. I love it.
The most excitement all night.
Will they have 37 minutes of post race?
"David said...
horrible camera work that last lap. needed a wideshot though 3-4 since it looked like the 32 was trying to make a run on the 18."
Sigh...we know, we know.
And pathetic finish line camera work finishes off a completely regrettable broadcast.
If the powers-that-be at ESPN cared (which it's obvious they don't) they would be embarrassed by what their network presented tonight.
Mandatory "how do you feel" question from Shannon. Awesome...
Wonder how much KyB will still mentor Joey now?
Shrub's interview should be interesting. I know he hates finishing 2nd, but I think it really burns him to finish 2nd behind his teammate.
SDDD wasn't impressed by JLo, he was ticked off.
I thought Jerry Punch was fantastic!
And by "fantastic!" I mean "horrible!"
@ Karen, Weed doesn't mentor Joey. It's just all about him.
Ugh!
I keep thinking this is going to be the cup races in 2 weeks. Just shoot me now it will be less painful
Why is KB such a sourpuss whenever he doesn't win. The kid needs to grow up and start saying congradualtions to the winners and maybe he will earn some more respect. Another failure attempt at a race broadcast by ESPN tonight. Three years and they STILL DONT GET IT.
I will have a column up shortly on the ESPN TV coverage of this race.
I hope you can return and leave your comments. In the overall picture of the Nationwide Series on ESPN, this is a statement race.
Perhaps, most of you can guess what ESPN's statement is...
Thanks for stopping by the live blog, what a horrible night for NASCAR on TV.
Last TNT event tomorrow, should be a fun one.
See you then,
JD
@ nrf, I'm with you. Hopefully DJ will have all his time off out of his system. The other plus, no more Rusty in the booth talking his brains out.
"Dot said...
@ Karen, Weed doesn't mentor Joey. It's just all about him.
Ugh!"
Just like Rusty, Kilie seems to turn the most innocuous remark into a referendum on him personally. How can that be deemed to be good to his career?
Blogger Newracefan said...
" I keep thinking this is going to be the cup races in 2 weeks. Just shoot me now it will be less painful"
July 10, 2009 10:31 PM
Bang!!!
sigh...it's going to be MRN or listening online somewhere time.
BSPU is NOT the place to watch racing. And to think Mike Wells' great CAMERA WORK on TNT is not getting better ratings. THAT is the real shame his work is not being SEEN imo.
If I were ESPN, I would fire the on-air crew, pipe in the MRN audio, and try and find a director who could match the pictures fast enough to keep up with their calls. They could call it "cost-cutting" and still make things more enjoyable. Ugh.
The only time I notice Shrub is like this is when he finishes 2nd to Logano. For some reason, it seems like he holds some disdain for Logano. Maybe he feels Logano is getting preferential treatment from Gibbs?
Another quality broadcast. Bravo! Can't wait for the Cup races.
Erik,
Have you ever figured out what exactly you get out of that act?
I sure would love to have your real opinion sometime, you seem to be informed about the sport.
Jd
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