From the first race in Daytona we have now arrived at the final Sprint Cup Series race before the playoffs begin. This is a huge night for the NASCAR on ESPN production team. The tension in the TV compound, pictured above, is big.
Allen Bestwick will set the tone with the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show. There is a live college football game on ABC prior to the NASCAR telecast. Hopefully, things will happen as scheduled, but Bestwick is the best at dealing with live sports TV in a NASCAR setting.
This week it will be only Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty joining Bestwick in the Infield Pit Studio. Wallace continues to be outspoken and opinionated, while Daugherty has been put into the role of cheerleader and nothing more. The infield team is always good for a quick shot of enthusiasm during the event, but the three announcers upstairs are the ones really feeling the pressure.
There are going to be a lot of eyes on Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Friday night, Jarrett appeared to be tired during the Nationwide Series race after a long day on the air. It was Petree who stepped up and took the lead during the telecast.
On this night, the atmosphere is going to be electric. Translating that level of excitement to the millions of TV viewers is the challenge for ESPN. Jerry Punch is the person who has been chosen to do just that and it is his third season in the play-by-play position. This telecast needs to work, it's that simple.
Jarrett has been the anchor in the booth for two "Backseat Driver" telecasts of Nationwide Series races that had no play-by-play announcer. While this concept was interesting, it has also resulted in Jarrett becoming unclear on his role. Sometimes, he jumps in and supplies the excitement when Punch has faded. On other races, he waits until he is asked a question to respond. Hopefully, both Petree and Jarrett will step-up and lead the way during this telecast.
On pit road will be Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch. This group is going to be dealing with some emotional drivers and crew chiefs during the race. It should be interesting to watch this dynamic unfold.
On TV, Richmond is a challenge. Cutting cameras to stay ahead of the cars and let them race toward the camera makes all the difference. Getting behind leaves viewers watching cars racing away from them all night long. This is easy to do as the laps grind by. Richmond features great aerial shots, a super low camera on the backstretch and great pictures of glowing brake rotors.
The graphics tonight are either going to be informative or simply drive viewers crazy. Everyone knows the Chase is going to be set by this race, so the ESPN team has the challenge of deciding how many times that is going to be mentioned in the race.
Throw in a little rain delay and some extended caution flags and it could be a very long night.
This post is going to serve to host your comments about the Sprint Cup Series race from Richmond on ABC. 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 again for dropping by tonight.
702 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 601 – 702 of 702Karen
DUH. THANKS! I had the right media player after all.
JD
I LOVE this blog..without it, I would be so clueless..need to bookmark that radio site :)
Sidenote: #87 Joe Nemechek suprisingly still in the race and was not a S&P tonight! I guess that sponsor chipped in enough money for tires.
Jerry Punch is basically a studio host in the booth...recap, few tid bits, silence, throw it to commerical...repeat again.
Southside Speedway! I have not thought of that in years. Whew...
Is Allen doing PXP?
WTF?... More commercials?...
We wish, Dot.
Your boy Marcos is in the lucky dog position. C'mon caution!
--KarenB
LOL Karen <3
Brad goes to send it to JP by saying, "Johnson's team does well in the 2nd half of the season, don't they Doc?" .....silence...."yes....Johnson has won 3 consecutive championships".
25 to go. Kyle's spotter is hoping for a caution due to the '09 blowing up. may be a desperate ploy to keep kyle pushing. sounds deflated. couldn't happen to a pricklier punk.
Evidently, they had 1 local break to get in before the checkered flag.
@ KarenB, It sure sounded like it. Thanks for the info on Marcos. Got Twitter up again. Keeping track there. You wouldn't even know he's in the race.
caution
Caution
09 blew up
MA the LD. YAY!!!!
Whew, 09 gave us a shot. need the 83 to mess up and 18 crew to knock one out!
Fuel mileage yesterday & engine failures today, at Richmond?
Southside Speedway is still there ...Denny had a celebrity fundraiser there prior to last race
Yay Dot! Marcos and Mad Max are my next favourite drivers after Carl.
--KarenB
wow, that was a scary moment there for that pit crewman. hope he's ok.
everyone is being conservative buschseries...
man, this is going to be a pressure packed 15 laps
There ya go David.
if they want to give something useful, how about how many spots kyle needs to finish in front of vickers at this point... i.e. if he keeps within 2 spots he is okay..
Totally blown last pit stop. No graphics, no results of the race off pit road. Nothing.
maybe if the 55 didn't pit so cock-eyed in his pit all night, that might have been avoided.
have they set the order yet? Unreal!@
Now is when they need to be updating on the points. They're making it sound like because Kyle is in front of Vickers in the running order that he's got the last chase spot.
kyle needs 13 more points
Kyle ahead of Brian by 1 point.
#2 showing pop in that new Dodge engine #9 doesn't have, making Kahne's run last week even more impressive
Behind by 4 again...
COME ON HARVICK!
they are focusing on the wrong car. dammit.
someone needs to tell the spotters don't pass vicker and kyle is out they all hate him
Kyle's spotter has been trying to make deals for him.
--KarenB
Vickers is in with the pass on Hornish.
Home race track. UGH.
well congrats to vickers' team. kyle just didn't do enough over the 26 races to get in. Vickers did. great win for Hamlin
Right on Vickers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vickers makes it!!
I thought Denny won in his Hometown before?
confusion. . .
Wonder if Kyle will be interviewed tonight?
Just a reminder, there is a new post up for your comments on this telecast.
Please take a moment before you leave to go to the main page and leave a comment on your opinion of this telecast.
Lots of folks read what you say, so please tell it like it is.
JD
Soph NW I think
Who drew the short straw for the Weed interview?
i hate kyle, but will say this: he was gracious to his crew for their flawless work these last few weeks. i'm sure that class will disappear by the time the cameras show up, though.
kyle - how about those times when you got pissed off and gave up...
At the start of the Green Flag to lap 100 the word "Chase" was said 20 times.
From lap 100 to 200 it was said 16 times.
From lap 200 to 300 it was said 30 times.
From lap 300 to the Checkered Flag it was said 18 times
Total - 84 times.
These numbers are close.
This is just when the word "Chase" is said, not when they show the standing, etc.
Maybe they will send the pregnant lady, figuring she will be safer than anyone else?
well, the sheriff sure pulled out his guns right there! way to go, BV and congrats to the entire 83 team!!
Think Weed will talk to anybody?
sniff, snifff. MOMMY!!
Congrats Vickers!!!!!!!! :)
What?? They cut from Vickers to Kyle????????????
This bromance is too much
Ouch. I can't image interviewing Busch. He's showing a lot of composure, though. I'm kind of impressed.
--KarenB
Here's my prediction. Weed wins five or more races during the chase.
Good interview by Kyle
I wanted to see if KB talked but not before Vickers??
Oh, well...who WON this race?
oh yea...Denny..lol
What do you bet the coach was in Kyle's ear the minute they knew he wasn't in, telling him to be cool?
think espn is disappointed that young mr busch didn't throw a tantrum right then?
can't wait for BV's interview now.
I know I'm disappointed, red. :-)
--KarenB
sally,
coach wasn't on his radio. he just thanked the crew and that was it for conversation.
The coach was standing right next to him during the interview.
bv won it last week when they changed the axle on pit road staying on the lead lap
sally he was not. i was on kyle's radio all night long. kyle asked where he was, his spotter and addington told him but jd and joe weren't on the radio at all. kyle gave it a fight, they chased the car all night long. had the last 120 laps went green it would have been a much different picture i thought. cautions just killed the 18 since it was a long run car.
Actually, it was the pit stop last week where they changed an axle without losing a lap that got Vickers into the Chase.
--KarenB
very nice interview with Kyle and look Coach is right there instead of VL, perhaps the boy is growing up a little
no one said anything to kyle on the radio in fact, kyle was thanking the crew for the great job
Get out of my head, bozo! :-)
--KarenB
it is what it is...goodbye Kyle! (sorry David...but the kid makes his own karma...)
glad Brian is in, sorry Matt is out but he already has a championship. overall I thought TV did okay near the end. I had MRN on sound though....lol
yes that WAS amazing the axle change last week w/o losing a lap!
um, cough, I wanted to see weed throw a tantrum too...but...I am sure he was "coached" how to react for media.
Sorry David. Who's your backup driver for the Chase?
Those were just three suck interviews that never even referenced what actually happened to thost three teams.
What the hell is going on?
ok..when is VLane on??I have two tvs on now, MRN and a laptop...this is too much for a 52 year old...not a good multi tasker...more a zen one at a time dame.
As much as I want to watch them talk to the chasers I have got to go to bed, been up since 330 this morning. I'll have to check the DVR when I get home. By all your all the reason I'm still awake in the first place
glen, kyle didn't do enough all season. Texas, Talladega, Daytona, Chicago, Martinsville were all examples of bad cars or bad judgement by Kyle costing the team.
Hopefully this really does something for them next year though. Look at Tony Stewart from 2008 to this year.
Gotta feel for Matt though, you knew he was junk in the pre-race.
JD what do you mean....I just turned to MRN after KB & Vickers interview...who was sucky?
Dot, Smoke. He really is my A guy but Kyle is oh so close.
Pulling for Tony, Denny or Montoya in this Chase.
@ dear Sophia, turn on SPEED. Pre VL on I guess.
Sophia, as soon as ABC is off the air, VL should be on.
Sophia, Victory Lane is on now.
--KarenB
JD, all that matters now is announcing who made...THE CHASE! The race doesn't count, just the crapshoot.
same here sophia...multitasking like never before for a race...
Not only did WDAY in Fargo, ND show local news rather than the pre-race show, they left the post-race show to show the local news. HELLO! Who the heck makes these ridiculous decisions?
well, for all the hype that led to this race, that was a pathetic set of post-race interviews. all 3 got the sponsors listed but there none of them was asked to talk about what happened on the track tonight.
i'm psyched for the sheriff and his team but the rest of this broadcast was abysmal -- as has become the pattern.
jd, what else can i possibly say in the "your turn" column that hasn't been said already? what good will it do to spend time giving espn more concrete information and examples of how big the FAIL has been? i'm not interested in spinning my wheels for this broadcast team.
ok SPEED guys on for folks with access to SPEED
what do I do...turn off what?? MRN?
ESPN? we starve for race shows during the week and on the weekends it's too many.
Ok, this Hammond Hairy face has to go.
sorry..it's just not working for tv...a local sports caster grew a goat tee on his vacation..after a month he finally shaved it...or get fired he joked on radio interview...but hair on face only works for certain guys in person and tv.
It's like seeing a bad plastic surgery face...only thankfully, hair can be removed. :)
@JD
what do you expect from (how do you feel about that)Vince Welch?....
JD--unforced errors, lack of coherence in the visual and newsgathering processes, and just laziness in relying on gadgets rather than instincts--that's what's going on. And the Planeteers deserve better.
Roush should be ewmbarassed at the finish of his cars. That was a story they didnt really cover (that I heard.)
SPEED is on the air right now doing their own interviews.
Psyched that JPM is in...
Dillner doing a great interview with Kyle...
Well, don't forget to go back to the main page and leave a comment on the Your Turn post.
Lots of folks in the media and in NASCAR read your comments.
And they can't get made because they are not mine!
I like this Victory Lane with Larry Mac and Hammond. No Kenny or Spence telling me what to think, or kissing NASCAR's butt.
Very refreshing change! I vote for this format for the rest of the year!
--KarenB
KVIA in el paso ended the NASCAR coverage early just so they could show "The Insider"....now im watching SPEED
how does it feel interviews....sigh
glad I kept ESPN on though...JPM interview...Tony & Ryan & Sweet Kasey
JD, just go cut-and-paste last week's comments. It'll save everyone lots of time. :-)
--KarenB
I'm writing WDAY an email right now telling them how appalled I am with them. I can understand doing some local news, but they threw the switch to NASCAR halfway through the opening prayer and we missed practically all the pre-race. (Good thing the start was delayed, or my race coverage would probably have started at lap 5.) Then at the end I didn't have the sense that the post-race on ABC was done yet, but after the Hamlin interview and the commercial break they threw to local news again.
@Patrick ... I called WDAY to get their explanation. I was told that since the winner was declared, they could leave for the local news. Needless to say, I still sent them an email complaining. Their broadcast decisions tonight were completely unacceptable.
Thanks again for stopping by everyone, let me know what happens with that Fargo station.
Please leave us a comment on the main page.
JD
Speaking of emailing TV stations, I just went to SPEED and sent them some feedback on the different Victory Lane broadcasters. I love it! No buffoonery!
--KarenB
I thought the JR, JS & KW were doing VL. I like this version so much better.
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