This is the tenth season for the NASCAR on Fox gang. They are well known to fans. Many on the TV team have extended their careers to other programs and networks using NASCAR as a launching pad. From the colorful network president David Hill to the good ole boy personality of Darrell Waltrip, Fox is NASCAR's "TV franchise."
When things go bad, it's Darrell Waltrip who shows up to discuss the situation on other TV programs. Mike Joy is widely regarded as the best motorsports TV play-by-play announcer currently on the air. No one works harder on the NASCAR TV trail than Larry McReynolds.
Last season, the Chase ended with a thud. The ESPN production team had decided that Jimmie Johnson was going to get the kind of hyper-coverage the network has provided for Brett Favre and others. It was overboard, misguided and backfired with the fan base.
NASCAR has its own personality. It simply cannot be compared to stick-and-ball sports where TV production is concerned. For a network that has developed an entire culture wrapped around exactly that, NASCAR has proven to be a challenge. ESPN limped away from 2009, but the damage had been done.
While some support programming has originated this week on SPEED, it was the Saturday coverage on Fox that was going to be the focus of the new season. In the past, Fox has struggled with hype and over-promotion of topics from Kyle Busch to Digger. Fortunately, Fox saw the ESPN chaos and made the right decision.
NASCAR on Fox debuted with Daytona 500 qualifying and used the opportunity to draw fans back into the sport. They simply served up an entire day of comfort food. Nothing fancy was unveiled. The formula was made simple from the start. Let the fans reconnect with the drivers and get out of the way.
The familiar interview, qualify and then interview again cycle played out as usual. Chris Myers hosted Robin Pemberton in the Hollywood Hotel to explain changes to the COT for 2010. The segment covered the live qualifying of two cars and reinforced that there was still a star system in place for who gets time on live TV.
Fortunately, the three men in the announce booth told the story of the changes in drivers, teams and owners throughout the session. The veteran pit reporters never missed a beat and let the drivers relay their thoughts to the fans. From the enthusiasm of eventual pole winner Mark Martin to the deliberate focus of Dale Earnhardt Jr., the personalities came through clearly.
After a break for the chaos of the ARCA race on SPEED, the NASCAR on Fox team returned for the Bud Shootout. All it took was cars at speed in Daytona to begin erasing the memories of 2009. Jimmie Johnson was rarely mentioned. Hendrick Motorsports was not hyped as the second coming.
Fox walked exactly the right path in pointing the cameras at the cars and just calling the action. Digger maintained a much lower profile and was not the object of forced announcer voice-overs and bad jokes. The gopher graphic never interfered with the telecast. What a nice change of pace.
Every network has issues and Fox continues to insert the in-car camera shots at strange times. Location of the cars on the track and which cars are being shown is always interesting. Nothing breaks up the momentum of a great lap like a random in-car shot that takes time to identify. Who is that and where is he on the track?
Luckily, the racing cooperated with no big wrecks mixed in with the normal pushing and shoving. Cameras captured the incidents and replays worked well to explain what happened. The cars provided enough excitement as everyone just seemed happy to get back on the track and racing.
While there are various opinions on the finish, one thing was clear. After the final accident, Mike Joy quickly said the race was over and the flagman displayed the caution and then the checkers. Earlier in the day, SPEED had mentioned that the Shoot Out could not end under caution. Race winner Kevin Harvick backed up that point in his post-race appearance on TV.
Even with that final glitch, NASCAR and Fox both breathed a big sigh of relief once the day was over. Saturday was meant simply to set the table for the Daytona 500 and that was done. Cars were back on track, personalities were on display and NASCAR was back on national TV.
If you watched these programs, how about sharing with us your impressions of the return of the NASCAR on Fox team. To add your opinion on this topic, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting your comments. Thanks for dropping by The Daly Planet.
47 comments:
Hmmm....Hype and over-promotion...can we say,Danica??? There were six women in that race and all we heard about all week was Danica. Don't get me wrong, I want her to succeed. But I want Alli Owens and Jill George and most of the others to succeed, too. And I want to HEAR ABOUT THOSE OTHER LADIES!!!!
I'm a member of the NASCAR Fan Council and sent them a message this evening letting them know that they are making a mistake by not sending out stories about all six of those ladies, not only Danica.
Do not like the fact that DW spent so much time in the ARCA race saying Danica was "afraid" to bump Jon Wes Townley. Danica isn't afraid of anything on the race track.
DUDE ok i was blasted for this earlier but COME ON Danica is big for this sport what do you expect???? i never once heard of any of the other girl drivers except Milka and why cause she had a fight with DANICA!! seriously Danica is expected to get the coverage. if you can please get over it if not its cool but seriously shes going to be the face of the sport for a while now and thats a great thing. Nascar will be back on the map in a BIG WAY!!! the sport we love so much wasnt looking so good last year and this will change things. people please try and understand your going to get danica just like you got all Brett Favre with the NFL. whats the beef w danica I dont get it. Just like last year in the chase I knew and all of you knew it was going to be all JJ and it was. Why is this a surprise to everyone?????
I agree, as do most here I know, that the sudden switch to an in car cam always seems bizzare. You're watching a pack of cars and suddenly your face is two inches from the hood of a car and its a bit disorienting.
Other than that it was nice to have racing back and to hear the Fox crew.
I have to give Fox credit...they did a much better job of covering more than just the 'stars' they usually decide the fans should see. It was a solid telecast, and the pit reporters did an outstanding job. We got the relevant information in a concise fashion. I think DW must be exhausted after each race, as he spends so much of his time telling each driver exactly how they should drive their car, and what moves they should make. But, it wa a hopeful sign for the upcoming year that it was much more coherent than ESPN managed to be to end last season. More wide shots of the field helps keep the racing in context, and I hope they continue to keep up the good work. I hope it wasn't just because there were only 24 cars in the field.
Actually hit the "mute" button on coverage after 7 1/2 minutes. Thought enough time had passed to be over my aversion to the Fox team and their blathering. But apparently not. As RvNGRammy stated, their were six women out there and certainly the doctor who crashed was equally attractive. Silly me I still want to watch racing and not the "Danica" or whatever story of the week the team dreams up.
same old fox,same old DW,same old car. 10 years of sad coverage from a has been old racecar driver. I won't believe anything has changed untill I see it. SAME OL SAME OL
I thought the Arca race with all Danica all the time was bad broadcasting that I didn't enjoy. There were other women racing that did an excellent job with much less support that should have been given some attention.
I thought the Bud Shootout was well done and I hope it will be a trend for the upcoming season. DW was calm (for him) and the broadcast team didn't seem to be pushing a particular driver of team.
The coverage of the ARCA 200 should've been called the Danica 200. We were lucky to see or hear about the other drivers on the track unless there was an accident or they happened to be in close proximity to NASCAR's newest savior of the sport. Based on the hype, Danica should've had the entire field lapped a dozen times. But reality set in and she didn't.She didn't even have the lead or win the race. Other than Alli Ownes, we didn't hear much about any of the other female drivers and were lucky to hear about the race leader and eventual winner Bobby Gerheart.
The Shootout coverage could've been improved had they had Mike Joy do the broadcast by himself.The other two occupants in the booth and the infield studio were a major distraction. And while we didn't have to suffer through the indignity of a full-blown varmint cartoon, it still was there to help promote merchandise sales.
Yes, Fox did serve some MUCH needed comfort food after that ARCA race on Speed. I like Speed, but I was very disappointed at their coverage. I share the exact same sentiments of the 1st poster. There were 5 other ladies racing & please forgive any mispellings-Leilani Munter, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Jill Jones, Milka Duno, & Alli Owens & all they showed was Danica. That's not fair, & I too will be contacting Speed, etc. & let them know that as a person who wants to see a more diverse racing field, I do not appreciate the focus being on 1 overly hyped driver. She did good, yes, but that was just 1 race, hello?? The editor here need to pass along to Danica's handlers or whoever, to ease up on all the PR because imo, it's not helping. I personally don't care how good or bad she drives, if your attitude stinks, then there's no amount of PR, spin, hype, etc. that can help that. I'm not drinking the kool aid & hopefully Fox will keep serving the comfort food. Speed should serve some too to redeem themselves. In the meantime, I chose to support the other female drivers. :)
I also was upset that they forgot the other 5 women.DW is that kind of announcer he gets fixated on a certain driver & runs w/ it till we hate them.1st it was JR then Kyle Busch & it looks like its Danica this year..Guess what DW, we already didn't care much for Danica without you helping it along.
The In-car shot needs improvement gained from driving video games. When viewing an in-car camera, the production truck knows exactly who it is and the NASCAR electronic devices know where it is on the track. Just like in video games, in this view there should ALWAYS be a little image of the track, and a little number (car number) showing where that car is (and who they are), Simple. It should be there for every second of every in-car shot.
It was great to leave the horrible reality known as ESPN and return to the boys & girls of Fox.
The ARCA broadcast on Speed was disappointing. It was a breath of fresh air to watch the Bud Shootout on FOX.
-The focus of the broadcast was the race.
-There were no fabricated storylines. ESPN strggled last season with pre-planned storylines as the center of the broadcast and the actual race in the background. FOX let the action on track speak for itself.
-There were a few random in-car cameras that were not necessary, but the broadcast booth made up for it.
- Digger was not in the way. The Digger jokes and animated graphics during green flag racing was gone.
- Mike Joy provided great play-by-play, Larry Mac was a good analyst. The pit reporters were as strong as usual. No dumb questions were asked. They did not create false controversy like the ESPN reporters. Chris Myers was less annoying than usual.
**** 1/2 / ***** (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Less Digger was good but sometimes it seemed like DW was watching a different race than I saw. Taking air off a spoiler is not the same as running into the back end.
I was generally pleased with the toned-down Fox coverage of the Shootout. However, there was, at times, hideous camera work and the announcing crew completely missed commenting on many things happening on the track that were making me loudly apply divinity to waste material (such as one time when McMurray was darn near sideways). However, I see that as no different as watching how bad preseason NFL telecasts are. Just like anybody, I'm sure the whole crew was shaking off the rust. If the same overall outlook is taken throughout all of Fox's portion of the contract this year, we could be in for a great season.
As a fan , when cars are on the track,I WANT TO WATCH THE CARS ON THE TRACK,not the talkin heads ! At the very least give the on track 3/4 screen , the "other" 1/4 screen. I'm takling practice ,qualifing , racing .We tune in to watch the cars. When will the tv people get it??
ron
JD, nice words in your column this morning but what in the world are you doing up at 1AM? You need your beauty sleep my friend.
Anyway, yes the coverage was great last night and Mike Joy can always carry a broadcast team to make all shine.
But let's give some credit where credit is really do and that is in the trucks.
The production team with Fox is always dialed in to what they need to do in order to make the show stand out. Great graphics, innovative shots and top shelf production.
The real credit goes to:
Producer Barry Landis
Director Artie Kempner
Pit Producer Pam Miller
These are three of the many very talented people that make those announcers look so good on television.
That group combined with all the on air talent in studios or in the pits make Fox stand out as the leader in NASCAR broadcasts.
Some things just never change, on Fox. I got a big kick out of ol' JAWS, when, guess who, caused the first caution of the Shoot-Out.
"That car [#51] just stepped side-ways, all by itself!" states an embarrassed JAWS, as Mikey goes for one of his familiar...."spinners"!
See what I mean?
Glad to see Fox back to broadcasting the races. I cannot understand why they let Larry Mac repeat what Mike Joy says just seconds after he says it. Other than that, I liked the coverage. Can we start a counter for how many time Larry Mac says "on the High side" during each race?
It sure would have been nice to hear a little more about one of the other female drivers, who finished much better [on lead-lap] than either Owens or Duno, Jennifer Jo Cobb. Jennifer ended-up at P-17 and on the lead-lap, surviving all of the wrecks. Besides, that car had local-connections, being entered through Todd Bowsher Racing and used their #21, made famous by SW Ohio driver, the late Jack Bowsher.
All JAWS could talk about was.....Danica!
Come on, there were other females driving in the race and actually finishing on the lead-lap!
Same old DW, same old lame jokes and silly puns. The Fox broadcasts are geared toward teenagers and not the old gaurd fans or real on track action. Personalities and storylines are first on Fox, with racing a distant second.
Fox has ruined Nascar as much as Brain Frances inept time at the helm. I predict a Danica bump in the Nationwide ratings, but an overall decline in total ratings this year.I simply cannot listen to DW and crew for any extended amount of time.
Watching NASCAR on ESPN is like having a temp in the office for a day; they don't understand the environment and tend to create tension.
Watching NASCAR on FOX is like having your regular crew on the job.
Maybe ESPN is still fresh in my mind, but the truth now is more powerful than ever: FOX is the best broadcaster of NASCAR, and the runner up (TNT) is a distant second.
I always hate to do it, but I just went to my MRN coverage on Sirius, I just can't listen to Olll Dw prattle on and on, infinitum about whatever enters his mind. Larry I can kind of live with,Chris Myers, for ten years Ive tried to understand what in the world is he doing on any show, let alone one I care about as much as racing. The worst thing is, I have to miss Mike Joy, who I've enjoyed since the old days at Stafford, he is the real deal,always has been, and you feel his love for the sport all the time. I also miss Dick Berggren,so if I see him on the screen, or if they run a scroll saying he's talking, I'll unmute the tv. I was a little concerned when they showed the rat three times in the warmup laps, but thank God, for at least this broadcast,Fox didn't over do it. Anyway it's great to hear and see racing again. HOORAY
ENOUGH DANICA!! Season just started ....I agree there were 6 women in the race...COVERAGE should be equal for ALL drivers in the races...this goes for Nationwide and Cup series TOO
Speed definitely failed in that ARCA race, but we shouldn't expect too much better from Danica's Nationwide debut.
The Shootout was a nice improvement. To add to JD's point on the toning down of Digger, he did not appear on the pre-race show, but he could always come back. After all, the Shootout has the shortest pre-race show out of all of FOX's races. However, the cartoon before the race is just another way to meaninglessly skew the ratings in the favor of people who only tune in for one thing, and that's not the race.
FOX is still not 100% fixed yet. The last lingering problems are the replays: cutting into full-screen replays whenever they feel like (which does not mean it's the right time) and the design of their split-screen replays. The live race and the replay window used to be side-by-side, not with the replay getting the larger window. Once that is fixed, FOX will rise in status.
However, there's no beating TNT. In 2004 they tried to go a full segment of the Shootout with no commercials, then they had the recent implementation of break-free Wide Open Coverage. No other network could care that much.
But, the widest-open coverage is actually going to the race, which I will be doing this July, at the 400.
GAWD! What a RELIEF! After the debacle that was ESPN this (the Shootout)was soooo comforting.
Of course I can do without FOX's hyping of their own shows, silly animations and distracting sound effects, but these are all secondary. I've been saying for years that the entire FOX team is head and shoulders above any of other Cup partners, especially since BP is gone. Come July I will grit my teeth in anticipation of the awful job done by ESPN last year.
I was able to watch the Shootout live in HD from a bit before the halfway mark. WOW, was that exciting! The camera angles, the mix of different views, and the superb stereo sound were just what I needed after a hectic 6-day work week. Great job, everyone.
Now, for one BIG negative: a LONG commercial break WITH 20 TO GO???
Somebody needs a boot in a strategically painful location.
For most part event coverage was much improved with exception of ARCA race. Phil and DW: Danica, Danica, Danica blah, blah had me grinding my teeth, so I recorded it after lap 5. I watched all of the remaining green flag laps in 20 minutes while muting the Danica ad nauseum. What the heck is wrong with the folks ine truck. Are thay all from TMZ? Do these fools know anything about racing?
Spider--not sure exactly when JD wrote it, but you can "save" posts & tell it to post at a future date/time :). Same w/twitter. You can type tweets & use programs to send them at other times. Some who seem to live on Twitter do that :).
Didn't get to watch but hope everyone stays calm & let the race tell the story. Don't need one or two guys overhyped & when that guy is not a fan favorite it makes for a long season!
It was good to have the A-Team back. There is simply no comparison between the last 17 races of '09 and the first one of '10. Just think, we watched a race without having to go to the Dish Tech Center or having to be informed of the score of the Cav's game during green flag racing. Amazing! They were even able to reset the field and tell us who had what pit strategy. It is going to be a good first half of the season with FOX & TNT running the show!
Gymmie,
Just me at 1AM trying to get it done. Was a very long day.
Pay stayed the same....
Well, it was great to see cars on the race track again, but I, too, was disappointed in the ARCA coverage or rather crashfest. I hadn't planned to watch it at all because I figured it would be ALL danica ALL the time, but since it was snowing on the east coast and I was trapped all day and bored, so I turned it on. Yep, it was as bad as I thought -- like many others, I knew there were other female racers in that race and would have liked to have seen SPEED cover the race instead of hype the story. Why is this so difficult? Just cover the racing. If the cameras follow the action on the track and the announcers call what they see, rather than their opinion, then I'd be a happier fan.
Fox did a decent job of covering qualifying and the shootout. Mike Joy does such a great job and as long as I don't have to listen to Jaws all the time, I like Larry and Hammond, can still do without Myers, Fox does a much better job than ESPN. They still do weird camera shots that make me crazy, too much in car at odd times.
I didn't realize that the finish for the shootout was going to be different than a regular GWC and I had the scanner on for trackpass and it didn't sound to me like all the drivers knew any different either.
Danicapalooza aside, I found it totally inept of Speed to not try and get an interview with Jill George after a crash of that magnitude. She was obviously uninjured and there was more than enough time for Speed to have interviewed her after her check-over in the infield care center. I'm not a Jill George fan - I don't think she can drive a lick in anything - but I was definitely interested in her version of how the heck that happened. But in all honesty, I wasn't surprised that Speed couldn't be bothered to put her on the air.
I was just so damn happy to have racing back didn't think they could piss me off, but, way too much Danica in the ARCA race, but being the wreck fest it was, anyone who managed to finish should have had some coverage, but other than who finished 1st and 6th, can anyone mane them?
The Shootout was better, pretty good coverage, I can stomach DW as long as I don't have to lessen to Rusty
JD, we're grateful that you were willing to put in that long day for us and do it for such a pittance.
We sat 40 rows up at start finish. Had Fox on scanner with Danica on priorty scan and checked in with Allie Owens frequently.
I think there were a lot more people there than normally. Will be interesting to see TV ratings.
We watched the race after returning to our motorhome.
Yes, listening to Fox there was too much Danica, watching it was even worse.
Regarding other women. Yes, should get mentioned. Although Milka & Leilani were out at lap 6. Jill George at lap 25 (agreed, should have interviewed her after crash). I heard Allie's name more, not so much Jennifer.
I enjoyed watching Danica race, because she was racing. When people weren't crashing most of the drivers were staying pretty much put. I watched Allie, Nelson Piquet, Buescher besides Danica. It was pretty exciting and entertaining because Danica was doing some different things (probably would never get away with it in NW...LOL). It was fun listening to TJ & Kelly spot & Tony answering her questions. The crowd was into it. After her spin she got a standing ovation when she came around to pit. Also at the end of the race. Not sure if that was conveyed on the TV (we FF'd a lot so may have missed it).
Husband went to the john after the race...guys were all buzzing about how she could really drive. Wish I could have captured the looks on peoples faces when she saved it on the front stretch.
So...TV has to figure out how not to go overboard with her. But she brought excitement. We want drivers with some personality. She showed it. We go to Indy 500. The ARCA Danica wasn't the Indy Danica. If I didn't know better I would have thought it was 2 different people.
Now if she just had less R rated commercials it would be great! Glad my granddaughter is only 2...not sure how I would handle it with her if she were older!
Seems to me that Hunter Nickles (sp?) proved again why he needs more supervision - no SPEED Report.
Yes thank god Fox is back I was soooo stoked to actually be able to hear the cars go by and no announcers w crank it up. The other networks need to add this to there broadcast... Espn needs to drop the spotters and have sounds of the race or something.. 2 crank it ups last night!!! So sexy! I give the shootout 4 out 5 stars great broadcast. wish I could say the same for the Arca race. I dont mind the Danica hype..HECK if it wasnt for her im sure speedweeks wouldnt be sponsered by Hersheys.... if i can remember correctly last time they sponsered a daytona event was in 04 or 05 w the Nationwide race. Alot of sponsers will poor more money into the sport because of her. Anyways the Arca race was just sad w all the bad camera work even 10 to 15 sec after the annoncers saw something the camera wasnt on it. Oh well its early and expected i guess. Thursday here we come Duals baby woo
With the exception of a few too many tight shots and car camera views it was fantastic. I used commercials to try and catch up on TDP and Twitter, I actually watched and listened to the race. Speed on the other hand disappointed me, I was expecting truck series quality and I got ESPN. All Danica all the time is not the way to go. Lord help us when she runs NW we may never see any of the other drivers.
No change..to much hillbilly not enough professional announcing. I tried one last time. I give up.
I personally enjoyed the Danica coverage. I wouldnt have been watching a ARCA race if she wasnt in it, so I was pleased. I was really impressed with her ability and look forward to seeing her again. She brings back some personality (and ratings)to our sport that has been long overdue.
I only saw the Shootout coverage. It was good, but I'd prefer it if they weren't chattering all the time. Thirty seconds of just racing would be nice.
The lap shots were just a little too tight. Although they covered most cars, they only showed the tail end of the field when they shot them straight on. Then the cars were so far back that I couldn't identify them.
Despite these faults, I'd be satisfied as long as they confined the animation to the pre-show, and stopped covering the bottom of the screen with promos.
My worst fears were were realized while watching the ARCA race- WAY too much coverage of Danica. Old DW said something like...."I like the intensity in her eyes..." Pathetic. I hope that the announcers and the production crew replay the broadcast, listen to themselves and then ask if they're proud of their work.
I find it hard to believe that anyone could feel that FOX does a good job on their NASCAR broadcasts . Where ESPN relys on scripted coverage , the three " analysts " in the FOX booth do nothing more than promote themselves . Joy has to constantly impress the audience with his knowledge of the sport , of course often that knowledge is coming from a FOX statistics manager in Joys' earpierce . McReynolds repeats the very same insights , every race , every year . And i've noticed that every single insight DW has is proven to be incorrect later . And the Myers/Hammond portion of the broadcasts is still a complete mystery . What unique function do they serve ?
The FOX telecasts are all about the group in the booth .
Could Jeff Burton have made any bigger fool of himself after intentionally spinning out to cause a caution flag , yet not being capable of avoiding the apron , thereby damaging the splitter . Nice try Jeff .
Tim, I agree with you.I would not have been watching an Arca race unless Danica was in it. Sure there was too much Danica coverage but I think that Speed correctly gauged what and why the people were watching that race.
The Bud Shoot-Out was like a breath of fresh air for me. I truly became uninterested during the Espn stint at the end of last season.
I thought that the entire crew, on-air, pits and production, all got it right.
Can't wait for Thursday and Sunday.
I turned it away from the ARCA broadcast because it was Danica this and Danica that. I never knew who was leading the race at the point I watched it.
The Shootout coverage was very good. It was nice to have the announcers focus on what was going on and what could happen. And it was nice to have pit reporters that actually know something about the sport and have been apart of it for many years. This is the biggest area Fox has ESPN and even TNT beat. Looking forward to Sunday.
Fox...when will you learn? Not everyone who watches is an Earnhardt or Johnson fan. While the announcers did a better job of following the actual race and not just these two, the pre-race was the usual same old, same old. I realize that Johnson is the champion...anyone who watches racing knows that. It was pounded into our heads for weeks last year. And we all know who Earnhardt is. Do the broadcasters realize that not all of us are fans of these two? That on any given Sunday there are 41 other drivers on the track, and that some of those might be a fan's favorite? Come on guys! Give us a break! Try interviewing all of the drivers and not just two or three. Tell us why each car dropped out, not just force us to watch Johnson's car being repaired while there's a race on! If it's supposed to be "Our NASCAR", how about showing all of it, not just the "chosen" few!
Here are my 2 gripes about the FOX coverage.
1- Here in the Virginia/DC area, we had a major snowstorm that started on Friday morning and ending 3 feet later Saturday night.
The FOX affiliate here decide to drone on ALL DAY SUNDAY with a "special blizzard report" to tell us that there was alot of snow on the ground (as if we didn't know?) Keep in mind, that by the time Sunadys 500 qualifying came around, it had not snowed for, 15 hours. But our FOX owned affiliate chose to prempt the 500 programming and stayed on with insidious blather about snow.
I'm sure NASCAR loves this news.
Great job FOX. Really great
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