There are few NASCAR TV telecasts more anticipated than the summer Sprint Cup Series Daytona race on TNT. That is the rock group Buckcherry above, who will be performing a number during the TNT pre-race show.
This is the only time of the entire year where NASCAR TV coverage takes on the format used in the IRL for years. While TNT calls it Wide Open, what they are doing is blending the TV commercials into the telecast while continuing to show the racing action. In return for agreeing to this format, the sponsors get additional logos on the screen and some additional mentions by the announcers.
Last year was perhaps the best telecast, where fans missed almost no laps on the track during the entire race. The only commercials aired full-screen are the ones inserted by the local cable TV companies. All of the national ads from TNT are presented with the action continuing on the screen.
TNT has ninety minutes of pre-race programming. Marc Fein will host with Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds opening the telecast from the TNT infield stage. Tony Stewart is the guest and TNT is taking your questions for Stewart at the NASCAR.com website.
Wally Dallenbach will join Fein for the Countdown to Green show and focus on setting up the race. Once the race coverage gets underway, Dallenbach will be joined by Petty and Ralph Sheheen. This is the second TNT race for Sheheen in the play-by-play position. He will also call the final TNT event in Chicago.
Down on pit road will be Marty Snider, Lindsay Czarniak, Matt Yocum and SPEED's Adam Alexander. This is a big opportunity for Alexander, but many NASCAR fans thought that TNT would bring in veteran Wendy Venturini for that open slot.
With the double-file restarts, look for TV director Mike Wells to keep the cameras wide and watch for the racing action throughout the field. This has become a TNT trademark for the TV coverage and the reaction from fans has been very positive.
TNT also originates great triple-splits on the caution flag pit stops and has been super at tracking the cars as they race off pit road. That is certainly going to be an interesting part of the telecast as strategies unfold with the new restart rules.
RaceBuddy is again in operation for broadband computer users through the NASCAR.com website free of charge. This feature has four additional cameras, team scanner audio and even a designated pit reporter. It also allows for messaging across several different services like Facebook and Twitter.
Speaking of Twitter, both Petty and Fein will continue to use this service during the race to interact with fans. TNT has really been pushing the new media technology this season and it has been working well.
This post will serve to host your comments about the TNT coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Daytona. To add your TV-related opinion, 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.
621 comments:
1 – 200 of 621 Newer› Newest»Hi folks, here we go.
Can somebody buy Jeff Gordon a shirt that fits?
Can someone cover all that gross guys tats??? ugh...
Better if Buck Cherry would have played a more popular song.
I'd rather see some interviews with drivers than this band....
I don't think I'm that old, but I don't think this is music.
Is there a tougher venue to play than Daytona in July with NASCAR fans staring at you?
Maybe opening for the Stones?
I confess, ive never heard of this band before..was Brian Johnson busy this week?
Which gross guy? Must be a requirement to be in the band to have an armful.
The TNT theme song band gets a song on the show every year. Will be over soon...hopefully.
Why not have the guys do the show in shirt sleeves.
Um this is not music. Yes you can have too many tats,
@Jane
I was thinking the very same..couldnt they get a less obscure band?
Thinking Toby Keith would bring down the house...
At first, I thought the lead guy was going to be so hot in that long shirt. Duh!!
Is it my DirecTV is or the audio off of the video by just a tick?
Yikes!! These tattoo freaks are TERRIBLE. I didn't like this junk when I was younger but would not pick it for a NASCAR venue.
Marc says "Definitely a TREAT for us"
lmwao
is my satellite feed or are the video and audio ever so slightly off??
The audio is off just a smidge. Bet there are some guys racing to fix that right now. Began with the playback of the pit reproters.
They look so uncomfortable in those corny firesuits..but YAY for Double A
reporters....
I think it's a little early for the pit road reporters to suit up, especially in that heat.
JD, spelling is a minor detail :P just get the first and last letters right lol
Thank You TNT, Larry McReynolds , & KyleP - for stating the facts, adding in the fact that this sport involves vehicles, not a bat or ball. And for not burying it somewhere in the middle & topping it with fluff.
NASCAR and TNT need their heads examined. If I were CEO, the first order of business would have been to fire the dolt that booked that band. It was a mismatch of galactic proportions.
Anon 6:49PM, so you are not going to buy the CD?
Make it stop...
ugh. my ears are going to bleed.
Black at Daytona is hot...no matter how cool you are.
hey gang! will join you once the race starts! i just loaded racebuddy and discovered the pre-race concert being shown -- is that done each week that RB is avaiable? i rarely get RB started too far ahead of the actual green flag soi'm just wonderin'.
thanks for all the comments on the n'wide race. i'm feeling better about my decision to sit out n'wide coverage until there's a booth change -- or two.
How's about loosening up the dress code in this heat and dewpoints near 80! Poor guys
See I knew being behind would pay off. FF that wonderful band ;)
Hey, a Hut Stricklan sighting on TNT! Where is stricklanfan?
@Anon said... "It was a mismatch of galactic proportions."
LOL, you nailed it!
Major thank you to the TNT pre-race crew for not burying their heads in the sands on the Mayfield issue. That sure was a stark contrast to Fox's handling of the intital breaking of the story on the Darlington pre-race show wasn't it? (Chris Myers quickly reading a one sentence NASCAR statement and immediately brushing that news to the side and moving on to the "mystique of the Lady in Black" while DW and Jeff Hammond sat on their hands in complete silence.)
More old timer history. Gotta love it.
strick, did you see Hut in the Junie pics?
Could they not get him some STP logos for his firesuit?
Marc Fein has come a long way....he is really solid.
3 1/2 hours of pre race. Wonder how much time will be given to post race.
Junie Donlavey is my new hero! What a truly awesome man he is.
I love these interviews with the NASCAR oldtimers. There's so much about the early years I don't know about. I wish SPEED would do some features they could show instead of "Pinks" or "Wrecked".
Maybe with the opening of the Hall of Fame, more features about the early years will be produced if for no other reason that they'll need some sort of archival material for the displays.
--KarenB
@ Charlie, 3 1/2 minutes.
@Charlie
i'll bet the farm on 20 minutes, if that
I love Winston! I miss him from when he use to report for the old NA$CAR This Morning show. He was always great! I'm glad they picked him to help do the HOF.
AFAIK this is the real Blake Shelton but the poor man is confuzzled...LOL! No Digger until February unless you go to Hulu
For God sake..... Why the hell do they tell me the race is coming on and then show me an hour's worth of highlights and digger... Just race!
Sure did JD. And it is Stricklin, not Stricklan. Can't let ya get that wrong ya know, LOL :)
I still absolutely love the Pride of NASCAR Series. There is no better way to distinguish the NASCAR philosophies of Fox and TNT then by comparing their pre-race cornerstones. TNT gives us a weekly look at a legendary figure in NASCAR history while Fox gives us a weekly children's cartoon that has absolutely nothing to do with NASCAR.
And just for the record Hut did give Junie his last top 10 in Cup history at Michigan in 2001, I'm just sorry that footage barely missed the cut and got left on the cutting room floor :)
Weather forecast looks great, no rain in forecast
Mark Fein is the human equivalent of Ambien CR. On the bright side, the blond pit reporter is a breath of fresh air.
As always, Wally is fantastic. Kyle is almost as good.
@ Ryan, you're unemployed tonight. TNT refuses to say DFR SOS.
Back in those days he was just Huuuuuuuut to us. What a character.
Isn't Hut's real name Waymon, or something like that?
Dot, funny, I am looking forward to watching this race w/o a pen and paper
....or am I confusing him with someone else?
What's with the loud music over the talking during the Stewart interview? Why do the producers think that crap is necessary?
--KarenB
@Dot
yes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_Stricklin
Waymond Lane Stricklin Jr. to be exact Dot :) Not gonna digress too much from the Daytona coverage to explain that one but Mike Joy told the whole story during the '91 Daytona 500 if that race ever makes it back to ESPN Classic any time soon. Who knows, selfishly speaking that could make for a great Pride of NASCAR segment in 2010 if anyone from Turner is listening :)
@ wickdj, thanks. Now we don't have to look it up......
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Inglorious Bastards looks great, love Tarantino
This ad is a little off-base for me, maybe I am getting older.
"The more you know..."
yep.....hehe....
Anyone want to pick a winner for the race tonight, besides the fans getting to watch Wide Open Coverage??
Ryan, that is not really our thing here.
Let's see if Marc or Ralph does the Countdown show.
Daytona Motor Speedway??
Lindsey C on that climbing wall was not necessary, but appreciated.
Not crazy about Ralph's tie.
Sounds like im missing stuff, im flipping back and forth between TruTV's Worlds Dumbest...
oops.....
I figured that JD, No Worries, just throwin it out there for discussion, figured the crowd in here would be a little smaller since its a holiday
Ryan, there is simply no bigger winner tonight than the TV viewers. I know it might not be a perfect comparison but do you remember all the lead changes / incidents / crashes we've been able to see live in this race the past 2 years while picture-in-picture commercials were taking place? Under the archaic full-screen commercial format we would have missed all those incidents live, all else being equal commercial timing-wise. I would imagine we'll see more of the same tonight.
I love Lindsay's pre-race segments as well. I just wish they were longer so we could see more. Boy these TNT pre-race shows sure fly by fast. What a breath of fresh air compared to what Fox gave us for pre-race shows from Daytona through Dover.
Stuff on Twitter just cracks me up sometimes. TJ Majors (Junior's spotter) says he's remaking the rap song "Blame it on the alcohol". Instead, he will sing "blame it on the 18".
--KarenB
@KB
Lol, i agree. i just recently found Twitter (im anti-hip) but now im following Daly Planet, Mikey, Kyle P, Herman and like a dozen other drivers/writers
Karen did you see Kenny Wallace's last post.
Cousin Carl's singin'!!! wow...
I am looking at the Twitter live stream chat for these discussions so we do not have to keep hitting the refresh button thousands of times a night.
Looking pretty good right now, will keep you posted.
JD, im a Twitter noob, how do you do that?
Unless they picked up last-minute sponsors, the S&P are expected to be #36, #66, #71 and #87.
#37 Tony Raines has sponsorship from Gander Mountain and Remington (good to see them back on a car) so should run the full distance.
@PammH - I agree, it aggravates me when the announcers don't know their International vs. Motor and Raceway vs. Speedway when naming tracks and Motorsports vs. Racing when naming teams.
Twitter is working on a live chat that you do not have to refresh.
I did the demo a couple of times.
Going to wait for a big because I am taking over for Jay at Yahoo.com to handle the Marbles blog while he is on vaca shortly.
When he is back, maybe we will change. Twitter is pretty good these days for NASCAR stuff.
87 may run the whole day. its a plate track and joe will probably go for it like he did in the 500 and at dega
You think Raines is going to go the distance?
oops...for a bit.
Did I mention I hate my laptop??
@wickedj
There are only a few drivers I'm interested in following (Mikey and Kenny W. are *not* two of them). Max Papis is awesome.
I mostly follow the reporters. There are a boatload of them on Twitter. Here's a great reference for race-related Twitter stuff:
http://twittermotorsports.com/wiki/Main_Page
Twitter is so immediate that you learn a lot of stuff way before it hits the airwaves or websites. And most of the reporters have a great sense of humour. It's actually fun following them.
--KarenB
MA sick again :(. A good finish should make him feel better.
@JD, yeah, go fresh not refresh :).
@David - Joe missed the 500 (Daytona 500, I assume) and had a sponsor at Talladega (Maui Shower).
Raines is fully backed. I would be shocked if they parked early.
Good job on the Wally's World segment.
I'm still stunned that exhibit B (Keselowski-Edwards) is the NASCAR-approved method of doing things. It sure sends a dangerous message and puts the drivers in an impossible situation when Brad got the trophy and Regan got a one-lap penalty when you compare those two videos TNT just showed don't you think?
I sure hope we don't see a replay of Talladega's last lap tonight with this ridiculous yellow line rule (or God forbid an even worse and more tragic outcome).
I wish they used real fans in those promos instead of actors.
MV they were blank last night and went the distance. Its a plate track, less demanding on the car, they already got the equipment. I think they will go for it since its a wild card race and hanging with the pack is not as difficult as it is at other tracks
@JD - I think Tony will not S&P, if I was Gander Mountain, I'd be very disappointed if he did. I guess we'll see.
@David - I'm betting on Joe parking early, say 40-45 laps in.
From Ryan McGee at ESPN:
"Thinks that real old school longtime NASCAR fans should be insulted at how Mayfield continues to underestimate their intelligence."
That is a bigtime statement from the guy who changed the drug policy with his Aaron Fike interview.
You think Mark Martin was listening to a Sony Walkman while working out?
Believe it or not, he said Eminem was a fav of his on the iPod.
Is that how you spell it?
Funny bit w/Wally!!!
Ready to join yall now that all of the pre-race is done.
There was a tidbit Marc let slip. Kyle is giving the command tonite!!
Hook Em!!
Hey Bevo, I still miss Hot Pass, how bout you?
Those of you watching Racebuddy, is everything working OK?
NASCAR.com wants to get it right.
My RB still has that little Buddy dude on it. Does anyone have something else like the track?
RE: RaceBuddy
Everything works except the Live Leaderboard. Maybe a FF issue, but hasn't worked since RB's week 1.
patrick you have to refresh after the green flag, then the live leaderboard works just fine
RB doing good here was watching Kyle getting ready for the command and taking pictures I'm waiting for it to show up on Twitter
RaceBuddy working good here.
They did not sell backstretch seats, so don't freak out when you see the superstretch empty.
Im confused JD
does Ryan McGee mean he thinks Mayfield was using meth?
I have a hard time believing JM is a meth head, and I think it is plausable that an adult ADD drug would test posative in combo with other things to produce a false posative. The drug for ADD is an amphetamine to begin with, so unless we all have degrees in pharmocology, maybe we should hold off on thinking the worst.
Just IMHO don't mean to PO anyone here.
RB cameras appear to all be working, maybe live leaderboard will work when the race starts
Marc Fein continues to bore me.
Kyle Busch looks like a dork with the dolphins (although he appears to have gotten the girl in the deal).
@PammmmmmmmmH--I saw that about Kyle posted on the Speed Boards :)
If you are using Firefox and have adblock on it blocks the leader board and just says loading. Turn ad-block off, hit refresh and it will start working.
Finally a well sung anthem! Thank you!
Hey, it's thre real anthem!
That's the way to do it!!!
RB working just fine for me.
way to go, 82nd airborne! that national anthem choked me up.
that was great!
No clue on McGee, that was out of the blue.
I'm liking this site more and more every week! It never disappoints.
@ri88girL; if you haven't had a chance to do so, please check out stock car science site in re: explanation. ain't no way it happened that way.
Charlie nailed it. Went into AdBlock and allowed the javavscript to run without having to completely disable the whole add-on. Thanks a bunch Charlie.
Makes me so proud to be an American. Great anthem and terrific flyover.
Nice.
Hope everyone is fed, watered, and pitted. Limited commercials to handle those issues.
Oh Lord Red and what commercial do we get the White Trash canoe trips
will the twitter chat have a character limit?
Wow! An anthem that was respectful..and on the 4th of July too-gave me chills.
What an opportunity for Adam.
@rich- I'm still not used to watching a race without it. Really miss Allen, Pemberton and all the others calling the races.
Glad to help Patrick!!
nrf: yeah. i almost lost my "adult beverage" on THAT one! sometimes, i'm so embarrassed to be from philly.
as a side note: since this is "all out coverage", i'm guessing i'll need to make a frig run during cautions only, eh?
Hey folks.
Going to try and stay away from the blog DURING the race and ENJOY TNT's wide open coverage.
I kind of feel like this is one of the last races for me and then next week. But I refuse to sit thru the NONSENSICAL camera work on ESPN.
Life is too short to be aggravated as I have learned this past week.
I love these guys and they are having a good time. I will catch up on the comments later unless something big happens or if I need a question answered.
Soph
p.s. Karen
I am glad somebody ELSE was annoyed with the loud music during the Stewart interview. I miss quiet tv interviews without music and sound effects. The DING on the JPM interview with Lindsay drove me nuts, too.
Later peeps
JD AA in the pits and Krista in the HW hotel, works for me. Are you listening Fox
Haus, right now same 140 as twitter.
Awright Kyle! w00t!
nice one, kyle! i wasn't even offended by the sponsor plug! sweeeeet.
nice job kyle.
Re: RBuddy
We notice more adds. EVERYTIME we change views a commercial comes on..so if watching the grid and change to see one screen..commercial comes up.
Less commercials before.
yes we refreshed and every time we refresh, we get ANOTHER commercial. :)
Would have liked to see Wendy get a shot in he pits, but Adam is a nice guy.
Still waiting for Wendy to host the SPEED Report. Time to spread those TV wings.
Daly Planet Editor said...
Haus, right now same 140 as twitter.
uh oh. that could be a serious impediment to some of us, jd!
I'm good with Wendy in the pits too
They told me that they cut back on the commercials, but that is how they are paying for Racebuddy.
i was thinking the same thing, but then again, it may be a blessing in disguise - it will keep us from rambling as we so often do.
Sophia, if you refresh after viewing a different camera view, the ads will stop.
red, if it scrolled in real time, it might make up for it. Just dish it out three sentences at a time...
I've been dreading it, let's hope Wide Open Coverage is not a disaster on TSN...
Evidently Vince Carter having a little trouble shifting, Jimmie is cracking up
Sophia, hope we don't loose u after next wk. I know you have M/PRN problems in your area. Can you get justintv? You would be missed...
Daly Planet Editor said...
red, if it scrolled in real time, it might make up for it. Just dish it out three sentences at a time...
hmmm. i've been here more than a while, jd: do you seriously believe i have that in me?!? : ) guess i need to work on my haiku versions . . . .
This is always the race I dread on TNT. TSN, who broadcasts the race in Canada (we don't get TNT up here in the Great White North) just plugs in regular commercials instead of the wide-open coverage commercials.
It's a mess.
--KarenB
Did those sponsors Ralph name have their logo on-screen? I just saw a black bar with a grey NASCAR logo in the background. Let's hope TSN is doing it right this year.
Red we may be hampered but Strick would be toast :)
did wally really just say "i'll tell you what . . ."? is he channeling rusty tonight?
Great seeing the King on the track even for the little bit we did get to see.
I really hope this makes up for last night. That was horrible.
@kbaskins - I'm keeping my fingers crossed with you for a good viewing experience.
nrf: so, so true! (and that would be a very bad thing in my world.)
I think I'm going to have a difficult time keeping up in this blog. I'm in a convergence overload: RaceView, PitCommand, Live Leaderboard, RaceBuddy, Tweetdeck on iPhone 3GS, and oh yea! TV tuned to TNT.
@ nrf, I thought the same thing. I love Strick's comments.
@spohia: whatever's going on in your world right now, please know i'm thinking of you and hoping it all gets better soon. your e-friends care, dear sophia.
We're opening up the bag of Kingsford Charcoal with the 47 car on it and firing up the grill. Steaks, potatoes ,corn and homemade cheesecake!
Go Ambrose.
Somebody owes Talladega Nights a royalty payment
okay, that Coke Zero comml w/the drivers made me LOL!!
Nan I'll take a piece of cheese cake already did the burger thing
@Martin
I'm not holding my breath. It's TSN, after all. In other words, it's ESPN North, and we all know what *that* means. :-)
--KarenB
Thanks to all those sponsors who are supporting the Wide Open Coverage as well. As a fan this will be the first and only time I will watch commercials during a race this year. What a great opportunity for advertisers' messages to finally reach the eyeballs of NASCAR TV viewers for the first time this season. That's a much better idea than flushing advertising dollars down the tiolet by running full-screen commercials to an empty TV audience while all the NASCAR fans are changing channels, leaving the room, or fast-forwarding their DVR's.
I Can't Drive 55.
what stricklinfan said! thanks to the sponsors for tonight!
I like the bottom ticker.
@kbaskins - I don't know, I didn't see the Coke commercial PammH mentioned and had no sound for about 30 seconds. I can live with that if I can still see the race. I think our prayers may have been answered after all.
Yeah JD, definitely count me as voting against the smaller character limit idea :)
I'm sorry to hurt your site traffic but I'm off to enjoy the Wide open Coverage. No time for blogging without commercials :)
Liking the audio mix. Pushing the nat sound from the track.
ummm-I only have a 25 inch screen-a 5th of it is gone! don't remember that, but I have brain fade..
Blaney, thanks Ralph.
Maybe the audio guys got all the bugs out of their system last week
@red,
I find nothing in the article that would conflict with my point of view, and in fact seem to support the possability of error. As the author points out more detail is needed and perhaps more extensive tests of the initial A and then B samples by another independent lab.
i'm liking shaheen's questions so far: he doesn't hesitate to ask, even if he knows kyle and wally will disagree.
Nascar should be afraid, very afraid. The empty stands at, of all places, Daytona, should be an indication that things are very wrong with the sport.
That leader popup above the lap count is very unnecessary. It adds to the clutter on the screen & it isn't hard to notice which car is in front.
TNT doesn't seem to have the "sliding" ticker to show position changes, I find it a little choppy and hard to follow compared to ESPN's.
Darbar, Daytona didn't sell any seats on the backstretch this time...tweeters say that front and infield are pretty full.
Gosh, wish I had a 52" screen.
How about that!... Commercials side-by-side on TSN, much better than what they were doing in previous years.
well the 66 is off
@ri88girl: to me, the key statement:
"Dr. Black said that there was “no way” the combination of the two over-the-counter medicines could have produced the result they saw is because they detected only the d- version of amphetamine molecules and the over-the-counter medications would have produced both l- and d- versions."
also, the b sample was tested by a separate lab: that info wasn't known at the time.
as you point out, however, we are still in the twilight, if not the actual dark, right now.
87 now a lap down, MV you may have me beat
Nemechek off
Shades of the 500. Poor Mark. Oops.
oh no Mark :(
Anon 8:27, so they didn't sell backstretch seats? But doesn't that still say something? If they knew they could sell out those tickets, they certainly would have, imho. But when you can't sell out a Daytona race, that's bad.
the july race NEVER sells out though
@David - I would have expected a fuel run for Joe, but I guess they (Joe and the others) don't want to take the risk of getting caught up in an early Big One and lose a car.
wow, matt got excited there!
interesting split: horizontal screens.
Hey I like the triple pits at the top, interesting
Dinger is tweeting while on track??? Yikes...
Matt sounded like an MRN turn reporter! Very emotional... (anti-ESPN)
Good coverage so far.
@ red, yeah he did. About fell out of my chair.
Does RB's battle cam look a little fast to anyone else?
Triple pits are good, but I'm watching TSN in normal definition and that cuts the left half of the left box and the right half of the right box. So I'm watching "one and two halves" pits while the HD crowd is seeing triple pits.
i am not impressed with the nascar.com office commercials
I kind of like that they acknowledge the pit crews by showing their names on the TV
To busy watching the race to be following this blog for right now. Good stuff so far. Lots of new things going on.
see, that kind of point that kyle made about the sign holder lifting the air hose out of the way of the #2 in that pit overrun is GREAT information!
kurt's sign guy got lucky, that wasnt planned at all
Couple of drivers have PR folks who pretend they are the driver during the race. Not very professional.
@Haus14:
I totally agree.
That was a great catch by Kyle about the sign guy and the hose during Kurt's pit stop. This is the reason TNT coverage is great.
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