Friday In Texas A Little Light On TV

As they say, things are always a little bit bigger in Texas. Just like last season, the Texas Motor Speedway stretches out the weekend schedule and puts the Nationwide cars on the track all day Thursday. While that might be good for attendance, once again there was no TV coverage of Nationwide qualifying.

Since the Nationwide Series action is over, SPEED comes on the air Friday with a much lighter load than normal. Sprint Cup Series practice is at 1PM ET with the NASCAR on Fox announce team. Once that is over, SPEED has two hours to fill until Cup qualifying.

It will be Steve Byrnes hosting a one hour edition of NASCAR Live at 2:30PM with both Hermie Sadler and Bob Dillner on the SPEED Stage. Randy Pemberton and Rutledge Wood will provide the reporting for this show. Yes, you read that right.

To fill the final hour, SPEED has back-to-back repeat episodes of the gameshow called NASCAR Smarts. This program has struggled from the start. The format of matching a random NASCAR fan with either Kyle Petty or Rutledge Wood is just not working. Look for some renovations to this train wreck very soon.

Mike Joy leads the NASCAR on Fox team of Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip back onto SPEED at 4:30PM for live Cup qualifying.

Click here for the TDP column about the outstanding job this team did last season during the Michael McDowell qualifying crash. Talk about the right TV team for the moment. Thanks to Preston Fischer for the picture of the McDowell accident. Click on it to see it full size.

Waltrip and McReynolds join Byrnes and Jeff Hammond to end the day with Trackside at 7PM ET. This is always a fun show and this week it features Greg Biffle and David Gilliland as guests.

This post will host your comments about the Friday TV on SPEED. To add your 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 read The Daly Planet.

Weekend TV News And Notes

Pictured above is the 1991 Sports Emmy given to the old ESPN Speedworld gang for the track-level camera that has been recently revived by Fox for that network's Digger creation. Emmy awards and NASCAR go way back.

The new Sports Emmy nominations have just been released. Click here to view the Emmy homepage. Just use the drop-down menu in the upper right and click on sports. Here are the NASCAR-related nominations:

ESPN
Outstanding Technical Team Remote: ESPN NASCAR 2008
Outstanding Technical Team Studio: ESPN NASCAR 2008 (Pit studio and Tech Center)
Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound: ESPN NASCAR 2008
George Wensel Technical Achievement Award: Draft Track 2.0
Outstanding Open/Tease: 2008 Indianapolis 500: The Perfect Storm

NASCAR on Fox
Outstanding Technical Team Remote: 2008 NASCAR on Fox
Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound: 2008 NASCAR on Fox
Outstanding Live Sports Special: 2008 Daytona 500
Outstanding Live Sports Series: 2008 NASCAR on Fox
Outstanding Sports Promo Episodic: Engine City

TNT
Outstanding Live Sports Series: 2008 TNT Summer Series
Outstanding New Approaches Sports Event Coverage: Racebuddy

Voom
Outstanding Camera Work: Quest For The Cup (NASCAR Media Group) This is the old Beyond The Wheel series that used to be on SPEED. Anyone have Voom?

Andy Hillenburg continues his quest to get the Rockingham Speedway running as a successful stock car track. He is naming the Media Center after legendary racing journalist Chris Economaki. In addition, he is naming the turn four grandstands after veteran racer Kenny Schrader. ARCA and UARA cars run there in April. Rockinghamspeedway.com is the homepage.

Jeremy Mayfield has a lead role in the new music video by the rock group Saving Abel. Their new single, titled "Drowning Face Down," depicts Mayfield as a small town racing hero. Also appearing in the video are Brian Vickers, Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer. SavingAbel.com is the homepage.

The new season of the independent TV series 3 Wide Life starts this week on regional sports networks and local TV stations nationwide. Shane Hmiel returns and interviews Tony Stewart while Hmiel is on-scene racing in the Chili Bowl. Charlotte's Brittney Cason returns as host, Tony Rizzuti is back with his technical racing feature and this year Meghan Stanton will appear to update fans on the online options available with the series. 3widelife.com is the homepage and good luck to all involved.

TDP welcomes your comments on the topics mentioned above. Just click on the comments button to add your opinion. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.