This is a huge race for ESPN. The first night race at Atlanta for the Sprint Cup Series is going to be key determining the line-up for this season's Chase for the Championship.
ESPN made a radical change on Saturday night with coverage of the Nationwide Series race. Gone were the endless in-car cameras and extremely tight close-ups of single cars. Gone were the bumper-cam shots that made no sense and the singular focus on the leaders of the race. The ESPN Director who provided the pictures changed the entire feel of the telecast for the home viewer. It was great.
Now, the question is will that return to the focus on racing continue or end? These seventeen Sprint Cup races are the only ones on ESPN and the pressure is tremendous on the entire ESPN production team.
In the past, this week has meant an endless pounding on the TV viewers about the Chase for the Championship. "Points right now" are words that ESPN's NASCAR viewers have learned to hate. Who cares? NASCAR fans understand the racing, they know the drivers and have been watching this series for seven months. They have a clue.
Saturday's Nationwide Series telecast also confirmed Allen Bestwick as the true leader of this TV team. Bestwick again controlled the "Backseat Drivers" and showed fans again that his ability to direct traffic on the air is just what ESPN needs to right this NASCAR ship.
Atlanta has a new tire from Goodyear and the race may well be dominated by tire strategy. ESPN's pit reporters are going to have to keep up with these stories all night long.
The starting line-up for tonight is Allen Bestwick in the Infield Pit Studio as the show host. Joining Bestwick will be Brad Daugherty, Ray Evernham and Rusty Wallace as his expert panel. Tim Brewer will be in the Tech Garage.
Up in the broadcast booth will be Jerry Punch along with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Punch will be calling on Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Dave Burns to cover the action on pit road.
This post will serve to host your comments on the TV coverage of this race on ESPN. 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 some time out of your holiday weekend to join us.
642 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 601 – 642 of 642MV - interesting, since Max Jones said the reason for Darnell was Northern Tool's $.
so now that harvick's got the lead, can we watch vickers and kenseth for a while? they're battling for the final chase spot and they're running 8th and 9th.
Rats. Caution will give Kyle his lap back.
well this is a major mess for harvick. his car doesn't come in quickly.
The irony.....Harvick's teammate causes the caution.
So, big time pit stop coverage up next and then a huge restart!
Dale Jarrett & Andy Petree: play-by-play, analysts & keeping up the energy. Dr. Jerry Punch: just there...and reading stats.
I really like the feel of the infield studio. Ray Evernham has been used really well the past few laps.
Tim Brewer should get a head start to Bristol.
Nice call by Ray. That was cool.
You hit the nail on the head, Buschseries.....in the last 20% of a race, DJ becomes the PBP guy, Petree the analyst, and JP the statistician.
But I will say I love the banter in the closing laps between DJ and Petree....and I also like the banter that takes place in the infield studio during these closing laps.
Hope they don't cut away from VL for the Sports Center deal.
Funny, ESPN cut to Bob Ley at SportsCentre, but TSN in Canada stayed with the race and was silent.
Telling JPM to watch out for the 00 - he's been wild
hey a long shot ...head lights not tail lights ...oh, yea, it's caution ...an aerial shot, oh, yea, it's still caution
Finally, they show the 2001 KH victory! WE were right!
Looks like #21, #44 and #19 are wave-around cars.
They just correctly showed 2001 as the year Harvick won here.
Hear the excitement from JP over those highlights? Let's see if he can match that if we have a nailbiter of a finish.
good to see #9 out front ...don't forget racing is Ganassi's business ...his primary source of income is from his race teams ...I'm still liking those double-file restarts
ESPN is holding NASCAR Now until the race is over on ESPN2.
Why is Jr going backwards?
Folks, before you leave tonight please go back to the main page and leave a race wrap up comment on the ESPN TV coverage please.
These comments have proven to be well read and show what the fans have on their minds.
Thanks for taking a moment to do that.
JD
That caution may have saved Shrub's chase chances. Kenseth isn't going to add too much more to his advantage over Shrub in the points.
tracy,
won't turn
PRN was losing a lung on the drive home, now back to ESPN zzzzzz
@tracy: may be a bad set of tires for the 88.
seems to be a common thread tonight, enough so that the booth has even mentioned the effect of inconsistent tires tonight.
Kahne is becoming the king of Labor Day racing, having won California a couple of years ago.
Thought the 9 was going to hit the wall on the last lap!
oh, no - flying heads again ...obviously, they don't have to watch their own handiwork
Congrats to BLabonte for a top 20 finish.
They held the shot! They held the shot!!!
They held the shot! They held the shot!!!
and the #71 finishes one spot ahead of the #21 and 12 ahead of #96 (2 laps down).
Congratulations Kasey!
Great job Bobby!
Night all. Been fun.
JD, and posters, thank you, very much.
Andrew, if they would do that same shot with the drop down scoreboard they use for caution flag pit stops it would be great.
Ha! JPM didn't even act happy to talk to Jamie from ESPN lol..just walked away to check his standings!
:)
congrats KK !!!
Thanks everyone, please leave us a comment on the main page on the way out the door.
Have a great Monday, only TWIN tomorrow at 8PM. NN is on the late shift because of tennis.
NASCAR Now is up shortly on ESPN2 once ESPN is off the air. One hour version with Nicole Manske.
So.... what's up with the solid red... no-logo hat on Kasey?
Nice to see Happy happy again, too.
JD, I agree but I think holding the shot is a step in the right direction.
Fun night. Thanks Planeteers & JD.
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