The first Nationwide Series race from Daytona is going to be run under very cool conditions. There are fourteen Sprint Cup regulars joining the Nationwide ranks on this Saturday and in the past they would steal all the TV exposure. ESPN had become famous for featuring the big names on the coverage. This race is going to be different.
Danica Patrick has been a media magnet from her arrival in Daytona last week to run in the ARCA event. Now, she is racing in the Nationwide Series. The TV ratings for the ARCA race went through the roof and ESPN is hoping for the same. That means a good dose of Danica throughout the coverage today.
Allen Bestwick has the task of setting the tone for the coverage as he hosts the one hour pre-race show from the Infield Pit Studio. Brad Daugherty, Rusty Wallace and Ray Evernham will join him. Fans watching coverage during the week saw both Daugherty and Wallace in the garage talking with Patrick during practice.
During this show, Bestwick will be using the ESPN pit road reporters for interviews. It will be during that time that viewers will discover which reporter has been assigned to the Patrick team for the race. Hopefully, ESPN will make a wise move and welcome Jerry Punch back to pit road by giving him that task.
Once live race coverage gets underway, it will be Marty Reid beginning a very long year of calling both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races. Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns and Vince Welch will all have an opportunity to call a Nationwide race this season. There are several stand-alone race weekends and Reid will also be calling the IRL races for ESPN and ABC.
Joining Reid in the booth today will be Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. These two appeared several times this week and seemed to be having a lot of fun with Reid's excitement and energy level. The race today should be a good test of how Jarrett and Petree will work with Reid this season in a very different booth environment.
Jamie Little, Punch, Burns and Welch make up the pit road reporting crew. Shannon Spake is still on maternity leave. With Punch joining the pit road gang, ESPN has already announced that Spake will be hosting some NASCAR Now shows and reporting during the week for the network as well as returning to pit road later in the season.
While ESPN has made many changes in the on-air personalities, perhaps the biggest question remains the decisions being made inside the TV truck by the producer and director. Staying with a script written before the live race has been a sticking point for three seasons of coverage. If Danica is the theme, than ESPN may remind us of the insane coverage of Jimmie Johnson offered down the stretch last season.
On the good side, once again the pictures and sound have looked great all season. No tech problems are on the horizon and the weather picture is clear of rain. Daytona is an incredible venue for TV where equipment is concerned. The in-car cameras in HD are looking wonderful again and should add excitement as the Nationwide cars move around much more than the COT machines.
We invite you to join us and talk TV today. To add your opinion on the coverage of today's race, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for starting the fourth season of NASCAR TV coverage here on TDP with us.
292 comments:
1 – 200 of 292 Newer› Newest»Hi everyone! Here we go with season four of TDP live blogs!
Good to see JP on pit road!
Hurrah!! I'm only tuned in so early because they are playing MS interview w/Jr. again.
Like it or not, this race is all about Danica. Whether she finished 1st or 43rd, that is the big story.
So, looks like Vince Welch and not Jerry Punch drew the Danica assignment
Looks like Vince Welch has Danica.
While I agree it would be great to have Dr. Punch follow her, this does make sense because Vince came to the Nascar team from the IRL crew, and was a longtime employee of TV stations in Indianapolis.
Check out the ARCA ratings last week for the reason Danica is the story. You might not like it but it's pretty simple for ESPN
It's a TV blog, not a fan blog. Could care less about her. Just include the TV coverage in your comments please.
So, ESPN has made the first decision. Danica gets the bulk of the pre-race coverage. Wonder what will happen after the green flag falls?
About 20 minutes of Danica talk in a row. Thank you for finally mentioning Chrissy Wallace. She deserves more talk than Danica
We are also on Twitter today at twitter.com/TheDalyPlanet and on our Facebook fan page. Search The Daly Planet on Facebook for addy.
Thanks!
JD
DPE,
Once the green flag falls, they'll focus on the action up front, a little on Smoke coming from the back and plenty of Danica
Think they will show Danica getting introduced? I wonder if it'll be mostly cheers with some boos or all cheers?
That was a huge waste of air time with all that time on DP. Never before have I seen so much coverage on one driver. Oh, I respect her, and I like what she is doing but come on. Let's give some others their day too. The media is robbing other drivers by too much DP coverage. I want to tell ESPN, "we got it" OK?
For those of you with Sirius, Danica Patrick's in-car radio is going to be on channel 125 starting at 1PM. Seriously!
Dr Punch still has a little of the PxP guy in his delivery throwing it back up to the booth
Wow! Is the ticker rolling on the desk as out of focus for yall as it is for me?
I bet she will be happy to strap in the car and get away from the media. It must be exhausting and overwhelming.. That showed during the ARCA red flag when she seemed to be resting. A race car is a great place to rest and get a way for it all. Just my thoughts for the moment.
Wow, I don't think that was fake between Ray & Rusty!
Seriously JD?
Thats shocking by SIRIUS
David, her channel is also being offered free by NASCAR.com
Don't forget, the 2009 season ended in the dumps. NASCAR needs fans, ratings and sponsors back and they need it now.
thankfully NASCAR.com will have scanners up for the rest of the field today also
great interview by Marty Smith. He is really making a name for himself I feel
Still don't get what BD brings to the presentation.
He kind of seems to be the odd man out now that Ray is sitting there.
What time is the race suppose to start?
Hate to bring this one up, but after the abrupt departure of Ask.com . . .
Does GoDaddy.com actually have the staying power to sponsor Danica's various ventures and the Hendrick #5?
Start time according to the ticker at the bottom of the screen on
ESPN2 says green flag at 1:34 pm
Opening ceremonies start at 1:15p.m. with a green flag just after 1:30p.m.
Other than cheerleading, I don't see any reason for Brad in the booth. Ray just gets better for me. Loved that he pointed out that lots of drivers have outside business interests, not just Jr. Guess he heard me thinkin it!
I can't recall BD ever saying anything that your average fan couldn't have said if they had a pass to roam the garages and pits.
Is there any better/more appropriate sponsor/driver combo than Tony and any snack food?
More talent in this race than the Daytona 500? C'mon Rusty.
According to my weather deal with the wind chill it feels like 37 degrees there.
Ink my thoughts exactly. WHAT? Is he crazy
Oh good Lord the anthem, Is that Marily singing happy birthday
HORRIBLE anthem!
JD......you know what im gonna say...
Also, invocation..."let the cars fly" not the best choice of words ever...
I think she learned how to sing from watching Marilyn Monroe sing Happy Birthday
Sometimes Rusty's comment don't make sense! But I guess it runs in the family.
Gentlemen start your engines?
All that hype and they only said Gentleman. LMAO
Horrid anthem & they didn't include the gals in the start your engines...interesting.
Getting static on audio - DirecTV SD
Anyone having audio issues, intermittantly sounds bubbly (don't know the technical term)
I heard one, "Drivers, start your engines" in there. someone was paying attention!
Yes, sound has been off and on bad.
Looks like ESPN fixed the audio problem. Whew....
I think the lady said - "Ladies start your engines" at the same time.
Couldn't they just talk to the driver and crew chief before he gets in the car. Still don't get the in-car reporter gimmick.
nrf - You stole my thoughts about the so-called singer and Marilyn ...
Stupid OpenID is dorking up ...
Oh yeah ... BradD has got to go away ...
Bevo key word is gimmick
Apparently none of these people have ever watched Danica in an IRL race - she's not the smoothest driver in the series making pit stops without an incident
Wow, Pops and Jr together again. Expect good things Jr fans.
Wow, the 62 pit guy talking about Danica too? over-kill.
I bet ESPN is praying Danica makes it through the whole race so they can milk the cash cow
JL off to a roaring start "very many" :)
Bad news, that was a useless piece by Tim Brewer in the 2 million dollar tech center. Looks like he could do better than that, oh I forgot, it was Tim Brewer.
Good news, he didn't mention Danica.
Branden, I talked to a programming guy and they have no idea what the ratings are going to be.
The ARCA race on SPEED went off the chart.
Poor Morgan Shepherd! Looks like several drivers have "issues".
Drawback to watching NW live- can't FF through Brewer!
And check out the crowd! Simply fantastic hope it's a good race and no wrecks! Green flag.
Hey, that guy just sounded excited about the start of a race-poor Chrissy.
Guess it's a family tradition.
Good job by Marty calling it.
Would have loved a wideshot there. Miss is not a nice way to start the season.
Damn! Poor Crissy. Wish she hadn't had such bad luck.
Amazing how much different this race call is from a year ago
Just wanted to say hello to everyone - longtime reader of the site this is my first time posting during a live race should be fun.
David, night and day isn't it?
Thanks for stopping by, Branden.
if by night and day you mean night on the moon and day on earth then yes. night and day
Shootout style restart for Danica!
Hey Brandon, welcome to our jolly band! Glad you stopped by today.
This race really should be on ABC ... Biggest race of the year should have the exposure to the largest possible audience ...
Paul Menard wrecking people after he used daddies money to "buy" his way in hmmm
Punch talking to Chrissy, that's why we love him. Great job!
Marty taking charge - good job.
Welcome aboard Branden!
Like to see that replay again. Did not see any contact with Menard.
Wonder if any of the Wallace brothers will have a talk with Mr. Menard after the race?
Reid is money today but the production truck is sucking it up horribly. the zoom out button would have been useful there
Are we watching an ARCA race this is a mess
No ARCA jokes yet please.
"Danica made a great move!" She went straight...
Looks like an ARCA race is breaking out, everyone in the booth is bringing their A game. Amazing the difference in energy.
newracefan- I agree looks like it's going to be a demo derby today.
Daggone, not fast enough.
Why is everyone so surprised that Danica can drive around wrecking cars? It's not like she's never run fast before!
LOL JD
JD you know you have to be quick with this group.
All Danica did was drive straight. That was not impressive. Sorry Espn.
@JD- Sorry, was writing the post while you wrote that :)
Why do we have to watch every crash live from an in-car camera? Those should be saved for replays not while chaos is ensuing. Not just ESPN but Fox too.
I normally just lurk, but MR, DJ and AP sound excited to be together. Its a great sound to hear. And kudo's to Doc back to doing what he does best, great stuff.
JD dumb question but what do the cameras cost that ESPN puts in / outside of the cars?
I have to say ESPN is showing the cars with a good balance. I really thought they'd do like SPEED did during last week's ARCA race and show nothing but Patrick. If there's side by side racing taking place in front of her, they have to show that action.
Somehow, the in-cars have become the thing to do. ESPN even showed live accidents last year using in-cars. It made us nuts then as well...
18 says the 88 is horrible. cant pull up or push or anything
Branden,
Broadcast Sports Inc. has a Facebook fan page with pics and explanations of what they do.
BSI supplies all the wireless stuff including the in-cars to all the TV networks at Daytona.
They come as a part of a sponsorship package and are usually paid for by sponsors.
SPEED and ESPN mentioning NASCAR races on each broadcast - guess you-know-what froze over
Sure can tell when I need to look up w/MR in the booth.
Marty Smith said he is doing a SportsCenter special on ESPN after the NW Series race with Mike Massaro and Nicole Manske.
DJ and AP feeding off of the energy MR brings. Now if when can just get the director and producer to step up and improve their effort.
David, whould that be the 18 that's running behind the 88?
Sally that was what was said during the last caution. Kyle got hung out to dry. seems like the lines and runs are really odd so far
So, Danica fades to a non-issue?
Right now, ESPN better find a way to hold the audience with Danica back in 33rd....otherwise those viewers who are tuning in specifically to see her may be switching to something else.
Calming down some now, good coverage so far.
reid, s&p update...
Wonder how much that group spent to get Paul into the race. Though I am VERY glad Fuller withdrew. That would have been pathetic.
On frontstretch this morning the speculation is Rousch spent about $250K to buy the 98 into the race. Paid off 4 other cars.
Man, that is some coin!
This has been excellent coverage. The PBP finding interesting things to talk about, and they're showing the different packs racing.
I think the reason Punch sounds so much better is he has to talk louder in the pits over the noise. In the booth, he sounded low keyed because of the envirnment he was in. Makes him sound more excited now.
MR is a breath of fresh air in the booth and called the camera off of DP to the front of the pack. I was sure the broadcast would be all DP but like the balance so far.
Notice how the comments slow down when the coverage is good? Always true!
Kyle: "Where's that 29 car?"
Spotter: "It's the 21 car."
Kyle: "No, where is the 29 car that was so fast here last year, is that car in the field?"
Spotter: "Yeah, I think it's that 21 car that chicken guy is driving"
Wouldn't surprise me if it was Paul Menard's father who was paying people off to withdraw from the race.
Also, Jon Wes Townley running for RCR sounds like a similar situation.
Danica still hasn't found out how to properly race at Daytona? How'd she finish well in the ARCA race? People this clueless shouldn't drive for JR Motorsports.
JD- any idea if these are the same directors/ producers as the NW ones last year?
I think JW Townley is the new Stroker Ace.
ARCA race: different car, half the drivers crashed at the beginning of the race, different caliber of drivers. Totally different scenario
Since I missed the pre-race show, why is Jason Leffler in the 10 car instead of the 38 which KK is in?
I';d like to see accidents from OUTSIDE CAMS not inside car cams.
Just one gripe so far besides camera work. NOT enough Danica (sarcasm!)
WARNING:Careful driving on the interestates. HUGE sheet of ice just hit my room mates car and shattered his windshield. HE is ok,semi just kept going of course. Needs to be a law with ice on top.
HPatrol on the way and roomies brother. 30 minutes from here on INTERSTATE. These sunny days make it dangerous as vibrations break off the chunks. Will feel better if he knows if his car is totally or just shattered windshield. Partially caved in on him and he can't move,
10 yr old Toyota that he has loved driving.
Glad he is safe.Thank God for cell phones. He is in center of median but interstated will have to close a couple lanes to get car OUT.
PSA over, back to the race
Car hits the cone and they go to pit stops.
bevo, same guys in the truck for ESPN. New agenda hopefully.
Other pit reporters need to take a lesson from JP on how to call a pit stop. Don't be so wordy and give the pertinent information.
ARCA is not 100% different. At least you still have to bump-draft and work together to get from clean air to the pack. And the cars are used Nationwide cars. I thought Danica would know already. We all probably thought that.
ARCA and NASCAR are not as different as Le Mans and Grand Am.
Good point MR brought over from his IRL days re: rev limiters.
What a huge advantage for Marty Reid with his IRL experience.
Well damn, they broke commercial for a caution. Way to go ESPN
2 Wallaces down, 2 to go!
Nice move by ESPN to cut out of commercial.
Vicky, that is the plan per Great Clips for 8 races this year. Leffler will drive 27 races, KK the other 8. Leff will drive the 10 in those races he isn't in the 38
In the pre race Tim Brewer said ARCA cars are 5 inches longer and have more stability on the track.
"Oversteer" . . . sounds like an Indycar race.
ARCA uses cup wheelbase, NW has a shorter wheelbase.
Weight is also a bit different too as well as the engine/aero package
David thanks for the update on KK & JL I hadn't heard.
Favorite triple split of the year!
Kyle: "Why is it no one seems to want to work with me?"
Spotter: "Cuz they are scared to death your going to beat 'em."
I don't think it's cool calling Danica a "Lucky Dog" maybe we should ask to change it for her to the:
"Lucky Lady"
"Lucky Ducky"
"Lucky Kitty"
"Lucky Hottie"
What do you all think it should be?
LOL
Spider,
More like "Lucky multi-millionaire."
Spider,
Dog is the term for a male dog and bitch is the term for a female dog but I don't think that would work for tv.
Id love to see Riggs have a great finish
Last year this blog was screaming about the horrible coverage from ESPN on this very race.
Amazing what a new year can bring.
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I heard before the season started that ARCA was switching to NWS wheelbase (from Speed Channel), unless they were waiting for next year.
makes you just want to watch JD. Nice!
Amazing that, the better the racing on track, the less the guys in the booth need to say.
Jamie thinks Bobby Gerhart damaged Vickers' nose ?!?!?
Does she forget the one who rear ends someone is the one at fault ??
Chris, they are permitting both sizes of cars for this season. No one has any daggone money. Trying to keep the car count up.
The wide shots really help keep the entire field in context. Much better. I don't feel totally lost.
Remember how out of it and disinterested DJ and AP sounded at times last year? This is the difference a PxP guy with genuine energy brings to the party.
Danica's toast! Too bad.
Can't wait to see the replay on this one. Bummer.
ESPN2 actually broke away from commercial for a wreck???!!! Oh my! Tell me they've listened to us!!! I can't believe it. I think I've seen them do it more than once. There is a god.
Big mess I'm thinking red flag. So will the stands empty out like they do when Jr wrecks out
Spotter to Danica
"OK you wrecked now go low, and park it in the Daytona Logo."
Nice photo opp, look for that one on AP and everything else.
Love how espn makes excuses for Danica's wreck. They didn't for Chrissy Wallace
Danica just drove straight into it.
What a miracle. She knows how to race Daytona in ARCA but fails in Nationwide, now she avoids a wreck early and drives straight into one later. Told you this was no place for cluelessness.
Anyone know if the 7 car is racing for owner points?
If it may be, Danica is about to learn about one of the worst jobs in NASCAR -- limping around many laps down maintaining minimum speed.
Do we hear the new racing fans TV channels changing? Doubt it...
They are locked in from last season. She is done.
Yes, she just drove right into the wreck but I am not sure if she could have cut to her left or not.
Hard to blame her when you've got guys spinning all over the place right where you trying to sneak by, she had nowhere to go.
Ah well, California should be interesting, less craziness.
@Chris- Should she have thrown it in reverse to avoid the wrecks in front of her?
DirecTV was reporting this as being more watched nationally than the Vancouver Olympics (but not locally).
MRN is saying that Danica had ducked down low to miss things, but Wise's car came down and clipped her in the rear and sent her into the wall.
This coverage is one step away from one of those DirecTV channels for an individual driver.
The race recap...was a recap of Danica's day so far.
Split screen for her pit stop...with one camera on her crew and the other an in-car of her!
Honestly, how was this a race recap? I'm surprised there isn't more outrage about this.
They are still only showing her!
ESPN just lost the feed that is just too funny
And the ratings just took a nosedive ... ;-)
JWT hasn't wrecked yet, but has 2 penalties today.
A left cut would have still been dangerous, but infinitely better than driving straight into it.
So much for the "5-Hour Energy Rapid Recap". They should have called it the "GoDaddy.com 'Enhanced' Danica Recap".
They have no concept of how to incorporate a celebrity into their coverage. Instead, they just cover the celebrity and to hell with the rest of the 42 drivers or what's going on with them.
Anon 2:59...they do the same thing every Ntionwide race, only it's usually Kyle Busch or Cousin Carl. Get used to it. Only the Cup drivers ever get any attention. Last year it was the love fest with Kyle Busch. This year it's Danica.
It's too bad....because I felt she was just starting to get competitive and might have been able to finish in the top 12.
Annon:
We expected this though that is the difference. Also during green they have actually had quite balanced coverage
If she had cut it and made a dive down pit road to miss this, the TV guys would be out of control. She just does not have the experience for that.
Danica is out of the race. Lets not talk about her now.
Frankly, I'm glad she's out of the race and safe. Maybe we can get coverage of the actual race, as opposed to the 34th place car.
Exactly, David. It's interesting that she's getting more coverage for being involved in a caution. Up to that point the coverage on her was perfect. Not overboard, but just enough to let people know where she was running.
@JD - totally agree, she could have cut it hard left but with no experience that is a move almost impossible to make.
When you have an elephant in the room, you have to deal with it.
I actually thought they did a pretty good job of mixing the coverage.
I think ESPN has done a great job of balancing. During the racing they didn't focus on Danica like Fox does with Kyle in Cup races.
I thought the coverage was fair considering there are some people just watching to see Danica.
Why does everybody think she could've cut to the left? There was so much smoke and cars spinning everywhere, she picked a spot to and somebody else just happened to be there.....it happens.
If we can just get ESPN to discover that their cameras can zoom out we would have a home run for coverage today.
All in all, I give them credit for balancing Danica vs. the field. They certainly can't avoid her with all the hype that came with her. which the media mostly created! I will be interested to see what the TV ratings are once she's out of the race.
ya know for the what its worth department. i did happen to enjoy the Hellmann's commerical w/jr.
Wendy Venturini just Twittered "Well danica patrick has severe RF damage. Espn decided to go off air. Hahahaha
@Damon, was the only other move should have tried without driving straight into it, not saying it would have worked but she only had 2 viable options in that instance.
Interesting that some media members are dissing SPEN for all the Danica coverage when they're been lined up 3 deep around her hauler along with eveeryone else to get an interview. Why didn't they complain about the Klye only coverage last year?
Sorry for all the typos. clutzy today.
@Steve- So Wendy's employer didn't do their share of Danica coverage? She might want to look in the mirror.
Glad the damage wasn't on the 'back of his nose'. But I'd sure like to see what that looks like!
@Sally- My thoughts exactly. Kind of tired of media people getting snarky about that stuff like they're apart from it. Physician heal thyself.
And DP says she'll have more confidence next year. Already has that scheduled I guess.
Think she will show up in the ESPN Infield Studio for the rest of the race?
Told Danica was throwing F-bombs on the radio after the race and what ESPN showed was the edited version.
It's a 2 year deal with Jr Motorsports, Vicky
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