Krista Voda starts the show as the Camping World Truck Series gets to run under the lights at Chicagoland Speedway.
In this version of The Setup, Voda will look back at the Bristol race and also dig up two old truck races from Chicagoland. Her featured interview is with driver Terry Cook and reporter Ray Dunlap goes wakeboarding with driver TJ Bell.
Once the action gets underway, it will be Rick Allen on the play-by-play. Allen began the day with CWTS qualifying and then called the ARCA/REMAX race. He winds up the evening with the trucks.
Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip are the analysts for SPEED. Parsons supplies the knowledge, Waltrip supplies the enthusiasm. Fans are divided on Waltrip's presence in the booth, but there is no doubt the overall energy level is higher with Waltrip on the TV team.
Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander are handling the big pit road. This should be quite a night for them with lots of potential stories to update on and off pit road. There may be quite a bit of "starting and parking," so look for Allen to make a choice whether or not to deal with this issue.
The biggest shame of the truck series is that after the pre-race, Voda is not added to the pit road team. This would give SPEED a third pit road presence and the direct effect of that would be an increased flow of information to the viewers.
Right now, the CWTS is struggling to generate any excitement except for the top few trucks. The old days of groups of trucks fanning out and racing are mostly gone. The haves and the have-nots are easy to see on the track as the top teams usually start to lap trucks early in the race.
While Chicagoland is a nice facility, NASCAR is going to be rethinking why the CWTS is here. This series was born on the bullrings and may well serve the sport better on shorter and more directly competitive tracks. Should the Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday's of the world pull away and make the show a two truck TV event, things may well change down the road.
SPEED's presentation of this series has no cutaway truck, no infield pit center and only two pit reporters. The focus is on the racing and the emphasis is on the teams. Hopefully, there will be enough competitive trucks tonight to keep everyone entertained.
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209 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 209 of 209As a Shrub fan, he did get a bit of an early start on that last restart. Kinda surprised more wasn't made out of that.
JD, maybe in the offseason they will situate that. Maybe. Wishful thinking probably.
Well, it wasn't a bad race. More typical for a 1.5 mile track with this aero package. Solid broadcast though.
Any thread for the grand am race tomorrow?
Hey, that was fun folks! We will be back on Sunday for the Nationwide Series race in the afternoon.
Don't forget SPEED Report and Wind Tunnel are still on Sunday.
Thanks again, have a great Saturday!
JD
Nope, NASCAR only for me with an Indy 500 special.
See ya!
The following is just mean sprited, but how I feel.
Daly Planet Editor said...
David, the worst mistake ESPN has ever made was choosing not to throw up a studio on main street in Mooresville
There is so much synergy in that town for them, it would have paid off in spades.
Why would that be? Is that the "Peyton Place", "Wisteria Lane", "Knots Landing", "Dallas", etc. of NASCAR?
That would be the only reason for ESPN to be there. Gotta find dirt, who's doin' what they're not supposed to, who's cheating who, and on and on.
That's all ESPN seems good for. If you can say that's doing good.
Why would ESPN do something good for it's viewers?
Glen, the reality is that TV shifts when management changes. This is a phase and it will be gone soon.
I had hoped ESPN would assign beat writers specifically to the area and a TV reporter, but that is not the dynamic they are using.
Things change, just stay patient.
Have a good night.
JD
TY...for..hosting..again..JD...:)
<3
Glenn I threw that out there when JD said they should be out there because thats what ESPN has turned into as of late. Look at how they run with the Favre drama and Marshall stuff in the NFL. It was some sense of sarcasm on my behalf though like JD the fact they aren't in the area is VERY disappointing.
Even MRN moved to NC to be closer to what they are covering. ESPN just has such a clear disconnect from the sport its sickening. Hopefully the phase passes quickly.
Goodnight all. See you all Sunday.
Dot, hope your boy Ambrose gets it done tomorrow!
Well, with Brian Scott crashing and David Starr getting 2 laps down then hitting the wall, it wasn't a great night for us. Also, Houston's Rolex team, Krohn Racing, has withdrawn from the Rolex race, it's a decidedly dismal racing day for us. Have fun this weekend all.
GLEN 11:23 said most of it for me.
I got home late and caught the last 35 laps. What a refreshing antidote to the maroons producing & directing @ The Four Letter.
I remain adamant that even on big tracks, the trucks still give the best bang for the buck in NASCAR TV. I fervently hope that they can keep it going so we can get JB back in a seat and stir the pot some more.
Following the battles for lower positions is what CUP used to be like on TV. Who'd a thunk I'd be wishing Ken Squire were back.
And for the Mikey critics: his contributions in this race didn't sound any different from any other truck race I can recall. Maybe we're all just more grateful to have a broadcast like this rather than the junk we've been getting from some of the "biggies".
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