They are calling it FOX NASCAR Sunday. Basically, it's still Chris Myers, Jeff Hammond and Darrell Waltrip from the Hollywood Hotel in Daytona.
FOX starts the Sprint Cup Series season on a cold and clear day in Florida. NASCAR has undergone several months of changes that have resulted in a solid increase in fan interest. Now, the action on the track has to live up to the hype.
The Hollywood Hotel is going to be the place for FOX to rise to the occasion. Myers has been both the best and worst of what NASCAR needs on TV. On this day, he cannot act as the "California outsider" who does not know a lugnut from a fuel cell. TV viewers need the informed and well-spoken Myers seen on other programs.
The NASCAR on FOX pit reporters are Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum, Krista Voda and Dick Berggren. This team has been together for a long time and each has worked very hard to be accepted in the sport. FOX continues to be the standard in this area.
Mike Joy has been calling the action in Daytona for a long time. His challenge this February is to help the sport get back on solid footing after a tough 2009. There is little doubt he is the right man for the job. Having already handled the Bud Shoot Out and the Gatorade Duels, the big race is in good hands.
Larry McReynolds has been keeping a low profile and limiting his comments so far this season. After a big bump in the road last year that caused hard feelings all around, McReynold is looking to have a smooth telecast. Still the most detail oriented analyst on NASCAR TV, he should be able to get himself back on track before the checkered flag.
Fan comments have been flying about Darrell Waltrip this season. He was called out by Jack Roush for negative comments about the sport. Then, Denny Hamlin said DW was always telling the drivers how to drive. The bottom line is that Waltrip has been the most high-profile analyst in the sport for a decade. Criticism comes with the territory.
DW will be clearly in the spotlight once the action begins as the story of bump-drafting begins to unfold. NASCAR is turning the drivers loose and has changed many rules since last season. From contact in the corners to the green/white/checkered finish, things are going to be very different in this race.
FOX Sports executive David Hill admitted he was wrong about the later start times. The race today will be underway by 1:20PM ET. Hill admitted he would back off with the Digger character after negative reactions from fans. Finally, Hill said there would be no online streaming of this race because that protected the FOX local stations. That really does not help fans without TV access.
This is the fourth season of offering a live TV race blog. We are looking for your comments on the FOX coverage of this event. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Just click on the comments button below to add your opinion. Thanks and let's go racing!
878 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 878 Newer› Newest»No, JoLo is 20 seconds off
Nothing to be confused about DW, it's green flag racing at it's finest.
Rogers saying he can help Kyle out a little by trying to give more left rear grip
bumper cams, roof cams, tight shots and this is a spread out field where wide shots would be a better way to see the racing.
But what do I know.
really boring
LOL this Toyota commercial is freaking hilarious!!
We have a winner! Best TV commercial of the season. Toyota.
may as well go run some laundry while they are into all the commercials. Maybe a race will break out, but of course, there's a long way to go, so probably not for anotehr hour or so.
The last 100 miles should be commercial free.
At the same rate there maybe only a 100 viewers left.
Now that was fun - Kyle in pink w/ kittens, puppies and seals
This is loooking just like the year Harvick won the 500. Just 2 cautions in the first 150 laps. But then all heck broke loose in the last 50 laps.
Yep Mike.
Wow. Joe is gonna be awfully upset, already is
A yellow.......about time
ok everyone on the same pit schedule now, that should help. Not sure why those guys didn't pit that first time, sort of risky.
At least this will get everyon back on the same pit schedule.
Toyota's commercial was fabulous.
The camera work here is not. It started off fairly well but they've been bitten by the ESPN tight-cam bug. Oy.
Hornish again? Sheesh....
Cool areial shot. You can actually see where the bumps are with the darker depressions in the track
What was THAT nonsense? Let's stick with triple pits please!
Guess those slick pits bit Kyle today too.
Why this obsession with pit boxes? Isn't it the same evey year? Good grief!
I should add, 2 years when Ryan Newman won, there was just 1 caution in the first 150 laps. In the last 50 laps there were 6 cautions. Can't count last year due to weather being an issue. I just think most of these drivers have decided to ride around until it gets money time. Everyone looks to be playing it safe for now.
Lotsa tearoffs blowing of windshields at the restart.
Could it be that ESPN's Nationwide race was a more exciting broadcast?
So much jostling around on restarts and we get useless "speed shots"
Nice to see the 43 running up front at Daytona.
Montoya very tight in traffic
@JD- Not even close. Like the difference between a home movie and Avatar.
This is flat out embarrassing. Gives fuel to people who say NASCAR is nothing but a bunch of cars going around in circles.
Pamm, I was just thinking the same thing. Bet The King is smiling.
could it be that 500 miles is too long for any race, and that there is no urgency to race until the last 50 or 100 miles?
Yellow
There's a caution....don't know what for.
JD, I would certainly say that ESPNs broadcast yesterday was better than this. Why aren't they calling the race and why aren't they using better camera views? The race may NOT actually be boring, but the presentation certainly is -- and they just called a caution on the scanner, but we are IN commercial
Caution out and Fox stays in break
Hey! FOX! Caution is out. *snaps fingers*
Since Nascar's promotional strategy this year is to "return to its roots", a battle for the win between the #29 and #43 would be an ideal storyline.
sorry but so far the commercials with Johnson, including the Lowe's commercial, have been lame.
....THAT took long enough. At least we're back in time for pit stops.
Hamlin stays out again
We get a nostalgia piece with racing on the track...then a caution and they miss it. again. Fox is looking pretty lame today.
Oh good. We have time for another commercial.
Is it too much to ask of the racing gods that we have both FOX and ESPN provide excellent broadcasts? This has not been anywhere near FOX's best effort.
Actually, I think this is pretty typical of Fox coverage. It's just that ESPN was SOOO bad we forgot how bad Fox really is.
Ambrose is behind the wall with a problem
@bozo -- could be. The thing is especially at RP races, you have to survive until the end and if somebody does something stupid, your day gets ruined and it's not your fault.
With the chase format, it seems to me that the points racing has become even more apparent than it used to be.
Pretty sad when your 1/3 into the Daytona 500 and the highlight is Kyle Busch in a pink suit.
Sally I think your right.
Alright coming to the green, Denny pitted
Yes, the crapshoot has made points racing THE focus now.
Remember how Marty was calling the action yesterday? Hate to say it but Joy is slipping big time. Maybe he's gotten too comfortable up there.
He has to whip this thing in shape.
Horrible TV Coverage. FOX must have hired The Directors and camera people from last year's ESPN crew.
To many promo's for FOX, too many commercials making a disjointed race. THey have missed almost all on-track actiion, spin outs or wrecks. Pit coverage is disjointed. This is a Total FAILURE !
THe Director and camera people should be replaced before the next race.
Where is Mike Joy? No calling of the action, no rundown of the order.
THis is by far the worst Race coverage , even worst then all of last year
@sally -- I so agree with you!
It's weird. No excitement from Joy.
Time for a through the field reset
WHY are we seeing a full-screen replay on GREEN FLAG RACING?
This is ridiculous. The Shootout and Duels were good broadcasts. What is going on today!?
82 laps, have we had a verbal thru the field?
And they wait for the green flag to show pit stops? Someone needs to get their head out of Diggers hole!
Anyone got Montoya on the scanner? Intrested to see if he is saying anything about the 5 car boxing him in his stall causing him to lose positions.
Only real improvement that I am seeing from last year to this is that Digger is confined to doing his antics during the coverage sponsor listings.
Fewer digger cam shots, but even without Digger there are still too many.
I think I am going to have to go design a pink car for Kyle with pictures of my cockers as little puppies on it!! Will y'all vote for it? (I am assuming that at some point there will be fan voting online for that contest. haven't been to the site to actually see the rules yet)
Joy needs to be calling the action on restarts, not DW doing his "gee gosh wow" thing
Gina, I think the crapshoot is what really ruined Bristol. Not the repave.
I had to mute the TV. They have no idea what's going on & what is this stupid box?
Wow, this is getting horrible. I am embarrassed for Fox right now.
Heard Letarte talking about #47 having a possible oil leak and warned JG to avoid it on the track.
Anon 2:41 - you summed all the issues up really well.
Wow, I have got some nasty feedback on my scanner
yes, we know that Sprint is the title sponsor.
Joy had more enthusiasm for Barrett-Jackson in it's 30th hour than he does today.
Still seems unfair to me that the Nationwide cars only get 5 sets of tires for the whole weekend, but the Cup cars are unlimited on the amount of tires they can use.
What's up with Denny Hamlin? Isn't he the one who is supposed to win the title this year?
c'mon guys, I hate in car shots. Too much!!
@glenn - not that I've heard
way too many commercials for my taste
it's because it doesn't matter right now, not even 1/2 way, everyone including the announcers plodding their way through.
This version of Alice HAS to be directed by Tim Burton!
WOOOOOW! This is awful! No wonder Mike was not talking. Probably about to explode!
The irony has just reached a new level.
Fox is airing a long-form promo for Walt Disney Picture's Alice in Wonderland?
Isn't that literally supposed to be ESPN's job?
If this is the way they're going to broadcast California I'm going to be adding Best of Sirius to my XM Radio...
I agree Mike Joy is off, I wonder what is going on. It seems like DW is in control but he's just throwing out random comments. There is just no flow today. He was fine in the duels and the shoot out hope everything is OK.
Oh Boy! Another 5 minute trailer!
Hope the race doesn't get in the way of Fox promoting movies, that would be a shame.
Sally Denny got in the grass during that first wreck and may have done some damage to the front of the car. He has been pitting off sequence and it may be by design.
Branden, I have had Juan up, with 2 scanners going on cautions it is hard to hear who is saying what so Juan didn't say anything memorable that I caught. He has been pretty quiet today actually
obviously they are bored too since we just went to commercial AGAIN. Why am I bothering to watch this? Oh yeah, it's the Daytona 500.
This pretty much convinces me that I will be finding something else to do NEXT Sunday when they run out at Calibornia.
JD you may be right perhaps he is just livid and can't get past it.
and Sally, yes that movie is another Tim Burton product
Did Disney buy out Fox without telling anyone?
@JD - Did I miss something about Mike Joy?
Again I tune in as a casual viewer and am insulted every which way imaginable. Trying to be enthusiastic about the sport is hard when I have nothing but logos thrown at me and no idea how interesting drivers are doing in what is supposedly the biggest race of the year. The media is the message, and the message I get is "You should be ashamed for supporting this broadcast."
If the idea is to chase me into a seat at a track, it's working.
More green flag racing time is missed while FOX tries to find an replay the action they missed. Early on the announcers were calling out the action and the director must have been listening to his Ipod. It has only got worst, even the annoucers have given up calling the Race. They have relented to making comments on Drivers and other things, not related to the current action.
This is a Total embarrasment !
I'm catching myself watching the birds at the feeders in my backyard.
This is such a letdown.
Amost half way and STILL no 'thru the field'? This broadcast sucks. On a par with last year's ESPN.
No interviews in the garage with anyone but their pre-race storyline Keselowski. I swear to you ESPN and Fox must have switched in the off-season. Unbelievable.
Aren't there any pit reporters today? I'd like an update from the garage during a caution lap.
I get the sense they're waiting for a storyline to develop. Problem is we're about to halfway.
@Sally, I think so too. I was lucky enough to get there BEFORE the chase was put in and it was a great race. I wouldn't pay the money it cost to go back there now.
Man, lots of fans going to the radio.
embarrassing, indeed, JD. And just plain bad broadcasting. OH look, they just showed some action.
Me too, Gina. This year I didn't renew my seaon tickets. Never thought that would happen! It started going down hill with the crapshoot, and has just gotten worse.
These full screen replays and ignoring the guys out of the race are MADDENING! What happened to Max?
somebody just told them it was time to run single file around the top!
why is this such a let down to everyone???
Do you suppose this race is exciting if you are actually in the stands watching ALL the action? It certainly isn't from my couch.
Pass for the lead and we get Gordon boxing on tape? What the hell FOX?????
@Jonathan...it's hard to get involved in a race when they don't cover what's happening on the track in a comprehensive manner. It's just odd cars on screen with no flow and no way to keep things in perspective. The broadcast has failed to do that big time.
Jonathan, the cars are running under green at the Daytona 500.
There are plenty of stories unfolding and updates to provide.
If you turned on the radio and watched the TV pics, you would see a completely different race.
I swear- you could pick any three of us yahoos on this right now and put us in the booth and we could do what they're doing right now.
It sounds like three old guys talking in a diner drinking coffee. And not in a good entertaining way either.
LOL I like how on pit command there is no picture for Clint Bowyer
JD -
local feed (Roanoke) back to DirecTV ...broadcast just as lacking, but NYC local commercials were funnier
There's something going on. Poor AJ is whining like a baby about being in the back.
There must be SOME racing happening, TV just won't tell us.
And again they miss action while at commercial! We have a replay during green flag action. Pathetic.
I waited 3 months for this?
I am really wanting pay per view nascar right now...i feel i have seen as many commercials as the race right now.
Fox very unimpressive right now...
For those who will say that we only complain about ESPN and never say anything bad about FOX be sure to read this blog come this October. Fox deserves the criticism today. I looked forward to the 500 all winter and have enjoyed Speed weeks coverage so far. However, I now found myself dozing during this race. Very disappointed so far.
And Chris Myers had to mention MM's age....again?
Good idea, JD. I just put the radio on so I can hear the race being called instead of this non-broadcast being done by Fox.
@Sally, wow, yeah who would have thought that THE most sought after tickets in NASCAR would be something you'd give up?
Not that I am the biggest supporter of the technology, but do you perhaps wonder if the FOX group is detached from the viewer? Kyle Petty is on Twitter during races and hears the crys and concerns and questions of the fans, JD, etc. FOX seems to be living in their own world...
Shurb's sass has made an appearance on the radio
ug!! First Chris Myers refers to Tony as being in a Gibbs car. Then the booth starts talking about Jr's problems and on the the screen they have the 24 for at least 10 seconds!!
11-14 laps from stops
You could knock me over with a feather right now. I had no idea this would be horrible.
Mike Joy can hardly bring himself to talk. Nothing. No excitement, not phrasing, no information.
Wonder what is going on?
well the person I am watching with is entertained. Then again he is 7 months old (4 adjusted) and has about a 7 second attention span. its like the director needs to use every possible camera/zoom/in-car each minute...look i just used 18 different shots in 30 seconds. I am lost.
Mr Editor -
Such a lackluster production begs the question, 'Is the the 2009 production team for Fox?'
This is the A Team for Fox, pun intended.
Does anyone have any idea why Tony is near 30th? Just riding right now?
We need to go and look back at last years posts on TDP and compare what we said then about this races' coverage.
JD, do you perhaps think this race was over-hyped?
DW, Joy and others spent 2 weeks building this race up to be the "Best Daytona 500, EVER!" and it has not been the race they expected.
Maybe the wind has been sucked right out of the sails?
Unrealistic expectation to demand a race be something before the green flag ever falls.
This has been a good race to me, FOX has just sucked the big one today.
This is starting to remind me of those TNT races a few years back. you know the commercials and promo's with occasional racing thrown in. I am just in shock here I love Fox and Mike Joy
Montoya: Really loose in, tight off
With the exception of Digger nothing has changed from last year. In fact it might even be worse. If David Hill gave a damn he would be embarrassed right now but obviously he and the football guys don't.
Fox missed a caution of Andretti
@David- Always remember Mr. David Hills response to the fans - "Tough"
Caution again, FOX cannot buy a break.
On the #14: Said on radio car was getting "ugly" on entry so found a place where he could just ride.
That caution happened well before they went to break.
Another commercial and we have caution. JJ flat pitting while pitroad is closed having a fix and I have commercials on the TV. THis just sucks
6 laps between commercials will miss a lot of action ... they're missing pit stops too ...
We cut to commercial just before caution. Lovely. This is beyond insane.
Jimmie spin?
This is pathetic, I saw the smoke as they went to commercial, now they are on the second commercial without coming back to the track.
Here's a thought. Maybe if FOX would show 15 laps of racing at a time, they wouldn't be having the problems with all the missed action.
I have MRN on Sirius....it's on a 15-second delay compared to TV. When TV went to commercial, I hit mute on the TV and radio was calling the incident happening, even on a 15-second delay.
So Ragan is running well, where did hot disappear off to?
well obviously something was happening since the guys on the radio were jumping up and down but since we were in commercials are now we're in pit stops, I'm just seeing it now.
9 months of preparation and we get THIS from Fox!? Really????
I can't wait to see the commercial count it must be sky high this is just awful, was it always this bad?
That was less than 2 minutes. God forbid we interrupt the commercials to bring you a race.
Maybe we hyped FOX up too much during the ESPN debacle, but ESPN has fixed their problems. FOX has added new ones.
Best comml so far, singing coke drivers!!
Did FOX have budget cuts that forced them to fire all their roof top camera operators? I'm tired of seeing close ups of the track and the noses of the cars from those speed shots.
HotPass is pretty useless for what brings out the caution during a commercial unless the driver you are watching was in it and/or his in car camera caught the action. They even manage to switch to the in camera shot of the driver before they turn their little box yellow. Started channel jumping and found Jimmie on pit road. Thought he had brought out the caution.
The drivers singing the Coke song was great!! Isn't this pitiful that the high points are some of the commercials? Too much like the super bowl - only there you do get to see all of the action!!!
NASCAR needs to update the commercial about the start times since they've been giving exceptions to different tracks already, so it's no longer true.
These start times suck. This is the biggest race, and they start it at 10am on the west coast, right during church for most people. They should push everything back by an hour an a half.
Must not be important to break from commercial if it's not one of the big money drivers.
Houston we have a problem:
Juan Montoya: I think there's a hole!
Spotter: On the apron or banking?
Montoya: Banking, where the first seam runs into the 2nd seam
Spotter: They are bringing a van and a whole bunch of people out
Spotter: 2 car saying the same as you. First on the scene there Juan!
geez, that would have been big with the 48 losing a lap, if we had seen it!
West coast fan here, these start times are LOVED by me. We did the whole push back for west coast theme, they never bit. This formula works.
I don't think the standard starting times will last too many seasons. Before it's all said and done, this track will be looking for an exemption and that track will be looking for one, and next thnk you know, we're back to where we were before.
its been a tough day for Fox to.
Yes, these are the old, TRADITIONAL race start times.
Nothing said about problems with the track?
"Sorry Super Bowl fans, you missed that touchdown pass because we were in commercial"
It doesn't happen there, why here?
OVER-SELLING COMMERCIALS
lots of drivers commenting about a whole in the track in turn 2....
Shame on DirecTV for sticking us with the Fox announcers and Fox commercials on Hotpass. Obvious ego at work taking care of Hill's beloved advertisers. Guess we have to wait til TNT and ESPN come back to get the great coverage MRN and no commercials provided us subscribers last fall.
ecause football can stop the game to allow ads to air. That's why Nascar can't be compared to football on any level. Like a 'playoff'.
well, as an east coast fan, I'm rally happy with the new start times. I was really tired of waiting around until 3 pm for the race to start. it made me tend to go away and not bother to come back.
Of course, if this is a sample of what Fox is going to do all season, finding something else to do will become my priority again this season.
They are bringing the cars down pit road so they can work on the tracks. MRN is in commercial too
Stopping the cars on pit road
FOX treating the viewers like we are stupid
There is a HOLE in the track and FOX is saying nothing.
This is crazy.
I haven't really been paying attention to what they're saying on FOX, so maybe I just missed it. But have they mentioned the asphalt coming up in turn 2? I know I heard MRN mention it and it's all over Twitter. Just wondering if I missed FOX or if FOX missed it (wouldn't surprise me).
Red flag guys
its like being in a secret club. between here and twitter I know there is a hole in the track. I guess only suckers get their info from tv?
JJ said asphalt was missing in the track and needed to be fixed. Officials channel is talking about sweepers on the back stretch.
Juan Montoya first on the scene reporting the hole
they are working on a hole in the track -- the spotters are talking about it and MRN is done with the commercial and are talking about the cars being stopped.
MRN doing a full field run down now!
Does anybody remember David Hill's comment about ad revenue being up for the race? I think we now know why.
Fox could take the chance to do that while they work on the track,too.
Isn't that where they burried the Digger Cam?
Track problems and Fox is the last to know. Wonder how that happened.
I hope someone at Fox has the decency to be embarrassed about this broadcast.
Guess I ought to log in to Twitter for info eh?
When was the last time the NFL started the Super Bowl at 10am? Makes no sense at all.
Fox should be getting in a groove here soon....this is about the time the green flag dropped last year.
And still no full field rundown? More than 1/2 way thru the race.
We get commercials during green flag racing and live coverage during a red flag? How do you stay awake?
Come on Fox let's get the rest of the sponsored crap out of the way right now while the cars are stopped....
MikeC, that is really funny!
I have taken this opportunity to hook up my satellite radio. First time i have done that during a fox broadcast.
But the NFL has standard start times and games start at 10 am too. Why aren't you complaining to them to start games later?
Your analogy makes no sense
Dear FOX,
Please dump your commericals now so we can get far less interruptions for the rest of the race.
Thanks!
Anon 3:25...what do you do when the football game starts at 1 PM Eastern time? Isn't it the same thing?
Wow, even the tie-in advertising on MRN is interesting. I just listened to that whole thing about grocers and branding and was not pandered to in an effort to get my money. Good work.
Be nice of fox took the commercials now to show us more green flag racing.
OK, since the 48 has damaage, I'm predicting they will come from the back and win the race. It seems to be their MO
Sally,
Daytona 500 does not equal just a regular NFL game.
Or a perfect time to run sown pit road and find out how all the cars are doing? something other than babbling?
Longest time between commercials is during a red flag.
I'm going to reserve judgment on Fox's commercial load. Maybe they're front-loading the commercials in order to show more green flag racing without commercials in the closing stages of the race.
Now if they take a commercial during green flag racing in the last 20 laps, then I'll be convinced they overloaded on commercials.
Anon -- you are so right. Why are they NOT in commercial now? They'll wait for green flag racing to show more I guess.
I see DW is moving his lips and looking sincere again.
NASCAR isn't telling the spotters anything about what's going on with the repair (per the 24 radio)
Finally, some interviews!
Ken, you're right! we get more coverage during a red flag...without commercial interruptions...than during green flag racing. sure. That makes sense.
Dave moody is reporting that they are 'cold patching" the hole to try and get through the rest of the race. It is on the apron.
Glad we aren't missing a second of the red flag.
Fox Fail
But it pays the same number of points as every other race. If they want primetime, lets race Sat. night then. NOT sunday night.
Late starting times + a sport that can't run in the rain = a disaster, that's why NASCAR has gone back to what worked for the first 50 years of their existence. Remember last year's Daytona 500 finish? Me neither, because there was none.
MRN is doing interviews with the crew chiefs
I want to know how bad the hole is.
Can it be fixed.
If it can be fixed how long.
Just once, I would love to hear Dick Berggeren say "sufferin' succotash!"
@Charlie - Mulhern says they should be able to fix it with quick-dry cement.
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