This is the time of the season when the battle of the pre-race shows really begins. ESPN and SPEED will both be offering hours of pre-race TV programming for the remaining seventeen Sprint Cup Series weekends.
Allen Bestwick is first with NASCAR Now at 10AM. Originating from the ESPN Infield Pit Studio, Bestwick has all the ESPN resources at his disposal. Joining Bestwick in the infield will be Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace. Mike Massaro, Nicole Manske and Marty Smith are the reporters.
RaceDay is up next and presents the exact opposite way of covering the sport on TV. Instead of three formally dressed men in a silent air conditioned studio, SPEED offers Kenny Wallace dancing on his desk in front of thousands of fans on an outdoor stage. Jimmy Spencer and John Roberts round-out the trio.
Instead of the tie and jacket on Smith and Massaro, RaceDay offers casually attired Hermie Sadler and Rutledge Wood. Sadler provides the interviews while Rutledge continues to be cast as the class clown. While Nicole Manske cruises the garage with her open-wheel background, SPEED's Wendy Venturini is on-hand with her well-known smile and lifelong experience in the stock car world.
RaceDay has two hours at Indy and plans to interview as many drivers, owners and news makers as possible. Just like ESPN, SPEED is going to feature Jeff Gordon as the Real Deal this week. This show should be the first good indication of the crowd at Indy and their mood after the Goodyear tire disaster of 2008.
ESPN has a double-whammy planned as the network has hand-crafted a ninety minute pre-race show that will overlap RaceDay by thirty minutes and start at 12:30PM. Plenty of pre-produced features have been done for this special show and they include an E:60-style announcer roundtable previewing the race. Some celebrities will be along as well and some of the surprises should be fun to watch.
This post will serve to host your comments about the pre-race programming from Indy. 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. TDP will be live blogging the Brickyard 400 beginning at 2PM. Green flag is 2:19PM.
96 comments:
Good Morning JD and everyone! :)
Looking forward to a great race later this afternoon. I'd love to see Smoke kiss the bricks in his backyard as a team owner :). Of course if Ryan does it it would also be great!
Hey Gymmie.
I hope Mark "the kid" Martin tells RD to stop calling him that.
Hi all! I'd love to see TS do well, too and Smoke em.
Too much hype and pre race. Will check TWITTER to see if Kenny Wallace Tweets during the show.
OT kind of :FYI SPEED is now on Twitter. Please follow them and tell them to give us more RACING shows, more WIND TUNNEL & TWIN. They are responsive to individual requests, I sent one comment and got an immediate reply (course they only had 47 followers few days ago)
But I also told them to stop ssending spam messages with 100 FOLLOWERS A DAY and they thanked me for that this morning (Those Follow deals are hijacking people's accounts and the only way to stop them is to change your password) THey Tweet in YOUR NAME w/o your knowing it.
I do not join that stuff but googled it and helped a pharmacist and career Employer person to eliminate that rubbish.
ANYWAY Mikey said he wanted to Tweet during Twin but I said we need to know WHEN they tape the race.
So today it will be too much prerace for me but I will turn on RDay for background as I throw food in crockpot.
I will look for AFTER RACE shows.
Sorry I missed Nas Perf tho.
Thanks for the schedule on the blog JD.
Mucho appreciated. Catch y'all later
Regarding Kenny Wallace "that boy just aint right. Race day needs an overhaul.
Frank in Sebring
NASCAR Now is great, but Rusty just can't stop talking about himself. Is he doing a perpetual Darrell Waltrip imitation?
Listening to Jimmy Spenser and Kenny Wallace is a high price to pay to see Wendy and Hermie.
Frank in Sebring
Jimmy Spencer needs a new do. The bangs do nothing for him.
Is BSPN going to show new stuff today? They kept rerunning segments yesterday. I don't mind the DJ reruns though.
Hi Dot!
LOL! I know it's one of those it was *cute* in the beginning but not so much anymore.
@Sophia--yes I sent them a message about that. I hope they'll at least entertain it if enough of us do. Who knows! :/
Robin Miller takes the cake!!! Those shorts were really something I like him a lot. I have to turn down RD because of the two windbags and those awful screaming in the background and those awful signs (I've said this a lot before). Hope the race is a good one and my fav wins.
They are different... and WAY too long still!
Not watching either (or ESPN's race coverage too). Just the same old talk. I'll only watch a segment if it's my driver.
Great Rick Mast story. I love when they do these.
If not for Rick, how many more drivers would be sick?
wow...what a great follow up on Rick Mast...well done, SPEED. I knew the story, but it was good to hear him say how he's handled it the last few years....
I turned on RD after watering feed the birds in the yard just to see the end of the Robin Miller piece darn it!!! How long did it last? I only saw 30 seconds..making fun of Tony's weight gain and the anti wrinkle cream joke.
LOVE ROBIN MILLER...wish I could fine that segment on line...problem with RD too long..had I KNOWN RM was on it would've taped it
Risk Mast can be heard regularly on the Rowdy.com podcasts. He is working with Bass and Buck to help develop that product. Big things in the future from that group.
Hey Darlington Chick, nice to have you here today.
Kenny and Jimmie are starting to get on my nerves, I'm thinking Raceday needs decrease their exposure. Perhaps have them work with the crowd at the track and give us at home more Wendy and Hermie.
I am having all kinds of problems today. Started out with no internet. Booting, rebooting, moving stuff, calling Comcast. Then made the mistake of not explaining to the son that I meant move the cable modem and hook it up to his TV, not disconnect the DVR and the HD TV and hook the modem directly to the cable coming into the house. It cut out right as they began to interview JJ. Argggg. I'm hoping I didn't miss real deal. Please tell me it's in the later part of the show.
Hope this isn't the sign of rest of my day.
Watch for F1 Spoilers.
After I mention SPEEDtv is on Twitter they just SPOILED the F1 race by announcing the winner.
I guess since it's on FOX they do not care but let them know.
What a Maroon. :(
that Rick Mast piece was sweet.
@ Nrf, Real Deal was just on. Sorry.
Wendy seems to have done a very good job of recovering from her illness for today.
I am pretty sure I missed the Rick Mast piece. What's the story anyone?
Just a recap of his illness and what he is doing now. This is SPEED reacting to TNT's Pride of NASCAR features.
Nevermind I just saw a preview for it. Thanks Dot if it was JUST on I'm OK cause I had him fix it as soon as I knew and I am just wayyyyy behind. Perhaps my day it's going to be that bad after all
I've given up on Race Day until they make some major changes. Too much fluff and both Spencer and Wallace need to move on.
I listen to the Sirius Pre-Race Show instead. They had an interview with Geoff Smith from Roush and he said it's down to the 17 and 26 to see who sticks with them. Whoever is the odd man out will go to another Ford team. Pretty much depends on sponsorship.
@ Nrf, talked about winning the pole, leading the first lap at Indy. His illness. Happy to spend time with his kids.
Someone needs to compile these segments and do a show. I know I would watch.
@Sophia- Thankfully today is the last F1 race on Fox. Watched it this morning on a Chinese feed on the internet with the BBC audio on Sirius :)
Bevo, I agree about KW and JS I think it's just overload, RD should be 90 minutes not 2 hours IMO. OT interesting info on the 17, Kenseth to Yates? Wow
ESPN is showing same footage they showed on NN this morn...ugh.
@Vicky D--yes I love Robin's segments! He's great even though he "hates" NA$CAR *giggle*
@Sophia--yes always tape the Indy one because he's on every year!
I enjoyed the segment on Rick Mast, good to know he's not "forgotten" :)
Maybe ESPN has done this, though I doubt it . . . should call on Jack Arute to voiceover the inevitable Indianapolis history piece. We know he's in the neighborhood from ORP, and if it was pre-produced, Bristol isn't far from Stafford Motor Speedway (a great little track).
Bevo
Chinese feed with English audio?? WOW...I wonder where y'all find these secret links.
Some Justin links given here I tried were suspended due to violations of the site...
I agree RD is just TOO MUCH TWO HOURS. But I am mad I missed Robin Miller..shoulda figured he would be on since it's Indy race..but Robin is probably in Edmonton at the race.
As I sad elsewhere, I'd love a LONG post race interview today which I know we will not get.
And NO ESPN NEWS does not count..they will cut off mid sentence with no warning, very bad
I wish we saw more of Jack, but once ESPN put the whammy on the IRL TV contract, he was the odd man out.
Great guy with a lot of diverse business interests.
NRFan
90 minutes RD? I say 60.
@Gymmie
I am kicking myself for not taping RD...sigh.
Hey, just let me remind everyone. NASCAR.com's Raceview Trackpass is free today. Just stop by.
Robin Pemberton on ESPN with the Goodyear story.
About the third or fourth time ESPN replayed that Indy tire piece.
OT QUICK
Massa to be in induced coma another 48 hrs to help with recovery. From some F1 links.
Back to NASCAR pre race hype.
JD - and how many times are we going to see the replay from last year of Matt Kenseth's tire blow and his spotter screaming "the whole side of Matt's car is gone"!
@nrf- be a big story if it's Kenseth. Smith was as candid as I've ever heard someone in his position be about driver movement.
@Sophia- Try as he might Bernie can't shut down F1 feeds every weekend :) All I know is they don't get the ratings from my Tivo with the Fox broadcast.
Flippin' back & forth between RD & BSPN-the black & white has been played before also. Also heard the new RD theme song...it was okay.
@ JD, when did BSPN's pre race start? Guide is showing 10am. Baseball Tonight was on guide for 9:30. And, no I didn't check your line up.
Sophia. That crash of Massa's was eerily similar to the incident that killed Henry Surtees at Brands Hatch last weekend. I was at Brands, and am still in shock. I hope Massa is ok ultimately.
Oh baby are fans upset that many channel guides did not update NASCAR Countdown.
Aw, man, they just started the ESPN pre-race show and they kick off with the Stewart/Foyt footage that's been airing all week. I mean, they got some great quotes with the two of them -- but WE'VE SEEN IT ALREADY.
The boredom created by re-airing old footage before the race is just to prime you for sleep. Then Dr. Jerry Punch will come in and finish the job.
@ JD, should I have emailed you about that?
Why would they overlap pre race coverage? Oh yeah, because they can.
Since BSPN reran their stuff, I'm sure we didn't miss much.
@bevo - the current #98 of Menard is sitting 33rd in points. So, if Bobby were to leave, there might be a great business incentive to move Kenseth over to the Yates side of the street - namely, his past champion's provisional
sorry but they didnt just start it - its been on for 30+ minutes - since 12:30 ET
Another big item out of F1 - Alonso banned from next race at Valencia after race incident today. Cue rioting Spaniards :)
Bestwick looks like a million bucks on the air right now. He knows when it's time to really make the donuts. This is a huge telecast for ESPN this season.
Guess the rain delay had BSPN use all their clips yesterday. I'm not gonna bother w/NN after today. They show it all on pre-race anyway.
Great piece w/Tony & AJ tho!!
Kenny & Jimmy...gotta go. Give one slot to Hermie. I would love to see Wendy also, but she is so good with the walk around and interview.
Yes...Rick Mast piece...told husband they heard us about how much we enjoyed the TNT pieces. Let's see if it is ongoing.
It's Robin Miller! It's Robin Miller! (If you watch Wind Tunnel, you get it). Under utilized. If he liked NASCAR more I would put him on the Home Depot Desk!!
to be honest, I don't get home from work in time to catch NN, and don't usually bother to record, so these pieces were all new to me...
:)
But I undertand it being annoying if you have seen it. Surely they could actually try and find some people we don't know so much about and interview them instead. I think we've all seen the overkill on Montoya and Busch, particularly. And the required Indy mention of Jeff, Tony & Ryan.
JD-
Talk about corporate synergy . . .
What are the odds Jeff might actually take Regis's gig when he retires from driving the car?
Ella is sooo cute. This segment is worth sitting through another per race.
After a six week break with Raceview to follow RaceBuddy (which will be surely missed), here's hoping Raceview acstually works today. Last several races before TNT, I couldn't get it to load past 2%... and now it's free, which probably won't help things, most likely not renewing next year, it's a dysfunctional joke (unless they improved it since my last attempted use as FOX ended their coverage)
Should be interesting to see what Gordon does, but don't forget his back is really bothering him right now. It might be the reason he ultimately leaves.
Is Raceview that cartoony thing?
Corporate Synergy - Corporate Shrinergy
How is this different from the Bill Engvall cut-away car on TNT or Kiefer Sutherland on FOX.
THEY ALL DO SYNERGY.
That was a great piece.
All networks also repeat segments over and over cause they know very few watch other than Sunday race.
Its in the playbook.
Dot: yes it's cartoonish, and amazing they charge you for that while RaceBuddy's free, but it's still a nice way to follow your driver/on track action during the usual endless commercial breaks of FOX/ESPN/ABC, which leave not alternative like racebuddy to follow the action
More "What does it mean?" Seventeen more races of this burning question.
Gordon might be a good replacement for Regis but he's just going strong and the show is more popular than ever. Jaime had a good interview with Bill Elliott too.
what glen said. I tape the Mon show & don't the rest of the wk. Get to see the last 10 mins, so I hadn't seen the TS/AJ piece.
JD, do you know if there's any realtime tech support from nascar.com for racebuddy, or just send an email, and get a templated response about your system specs sometime next week?
@anonymous 1:07- He insisted it would be another Ford team so that sounds logical. Going to be a lot of movement.
ESPN, looking good, sounding good. Good show so far.
Thanks Anon 1:21. I think I saw it once. Driver went through the grass and into a building, if I'm not mistaken.
What is up with ESPN? Change schedule and tell no one! I had a panic attack when I read here that it started earlier and they were running the Tony/AJ piece. (Behind as I am the DVR queen). Fortunately, didn't miss it.
Know it is a repeat. But I missed it first time and wanted to see it. My husband loves AJ (as do I) so glad we get to see it.
Interesting observation, although ESPN would never tell you, apparently this is still the AllState 400 @ the Brickyard, while I like they dropped the commercialism and went back to Brickyard 400, I wonder if this will leads to shades of NBC/TNT's early days, where if the event sponsor doesn't pay the network, the official race name is never used?
it's kinda funny listening to
IMS radio: "All State 400 @ the Brickyard"
vs TV: "Brickyard 400 presented by Golden Corral"
Is it too early to play the drinking game? "What's it mean" is the phrase.
Great broadcast so far, the problem is Doc's monotony will sadly overshadow all of it :(
WC Diane, how did ESPN change the schedule?
NASCAR.com has always been responsive to us on race days. Try it.
my cynical side agrees that its bspn playing the you didn't advertise so we delete the title sponsor.
seems to fit.
Bevo, Paul Menard seems to have become little more than what the F1 calls a "pay driver"
What a crazy question - Juan should of said No I don't want to win. If I am in first with one lap to go I will drop back and not win.
nice decision to cover full driver intros by ESPN...
awesome pictures too!
(whoa, Terry Labonte's in this?)
Who me? NASCAR.com showed a different ESPN schedule, or was your comment not directed at me?
A company has to buy TV ads for the sponsorship of the race to make it to TV.
It could be the Hardees 500 at the track and the McDonalds 500 on ESPN.
Got to pay to play. Let's see if there are any Allstate ads, then I will find out what is going on.
how many times will booth say
DOUBLE FILE RESTART - SHOOTOUT STYLE
remember NASCAR decreed that it be said that way. Well that is what Kenna Wallace twittered at Chicago or Daytona.
Seeing the drivers is COOL !!
WTG, ESPN.
JD- I assume Nationwide has a monopoly mentions on ESPN among insurance companies.
If I recall, the AFLAC duck doesn't make an appearance for a trivia question on ESPN.
Doing intros just like the 500
@anonymous 1:29- yep, but he comes with a lot of money :)
Why is everyone saying BSPN?
I watched most of all of the pre-race shows today and really enjoyed them. I can't believe ESPN actually showed driver intros. Did they do this last year? It'd be cool if they would show driver intros for all of the races. It really helps build the energy level for those of us watching from home.
Being a gracious loser goes a long way, too Kyle.
Thanks for your patience today. There is a new post up for our live bloggging of the Brickyard 400 on ESPN.
instead of Entertainment and Sports
its BS and the slang that it means
B=bull
comes from NASCAR on ESPN history past two years
Driver intros was great! But it looked like a few of the guys had no clue what was going on tho.
Great interview Marty!
@anon 1:28 - I use DVR. They started Countdown 30 minutes earlier. Directv only had the normal 1 hour, so missed first part. Don't care though, as long as I could see AJ/Tony piece.
Whatever gets rid of the monstrosity that is the Allstate 400, and returns us to the Brickyard 400 is fine by me.
J.D.,
Here are some sponsorship suggestions:
For Kyle Busch: Pro-Activ
For Jimmie Spencer: Hair Club For Men
For Tony Stewart: Jenny Craig.
West Coast Kenny (who will have to miss the second half of the race for work)
Alameda, California
Kenn, we have got to get you out of the house more! Hehe...
Race post is up folks, let's get it on at Indy.
Mr Editor -
Enjoyed Marty Smith's interview with Kyle Busch ...most relaxed I've ever seen Kyle ...respectful and insightful questions from Marty ...he deserves a tip-of-the-hat for bringing out Kyle's personality - serious, but focused and enjoying each race
Walter
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