This is one of those weekends where the ESPN family of networks has been busy with other programming. It has been SPEED handling all the on-track Nationwide Series activities this weekend.
That changes for the race as ABC begins coverage with NASCAR Countdown at 2PM. It will be Allen Bestwick hosting from the Infield Pit Studio with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside. The pre-race show is only thirty minutes long.
It will be Marty Reid calling the race itself with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the booth. Reid has been bringing out the best in his two analysts and Bristol is a track that lends itself to a lot of excitement.
On pit road will be Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Jamie Little and Dave Burns. Punch has been an incredible bonus for this team as he continues to raise the bar for pit reporting. Gone are the "how does that make you feel" questions. That has made a big difference.
Bristol poses unique challenges for both the producer and director. Fast laps on a small track make it impossible to cut live to in-car cameras. Wideshots that keep an eye on one big clump of cars are usually the order of the day. Telling the stories unfolding throughout the field requires a lot of coordination in the TV truck.
While there are usually frequent cautions, green flag pitstops can put cars laps down quickly and jumble the entire field. Race resets and through the field updates are going to play a major role.
Reid continues to set the tone in dealing with start and park cars. He calls them out as they leave the track and speaks honestly about why they left. Giving the TV viewers information about what is actually happening at the track is a great philosophy to follow.
The telecast is schedule to run until 5P ET. A check of the weather reveals a high of 70 degrees with no chance of rain at race time.
This post will serve to host your comments on the Nationwide Series race from the Bristol Motor Speedway on ABC. To add your TV-related comment, 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 stop by.
150 comments:
Happy to see the word "live" was left out of q'ing.
At least we race today --- tomorrow looks like crap. All the stuff that's hitting me today, will be there tomorrow. Bah, humbug.
For those of us who are unlucky enough to live in Wisconsin - high school basketball be will be shown on ABC instead of the race.
I am extremely NOT HAPPY! (That was putting it nicely)
Yeah, Houston is experiencing heavy rain and thunderstorms today and heading east! Might be a washout in Bristol for cup race.
Basketball tourney still making NASCAR a 2nd choice for some TV viewers.
As a side note, watching Happy Hour on SPEED, looks like Fox has found a new toy.....the front bumper cam. Sounds like it'll get a lot of use on Sunday.
KOMO-TV in Seattle, WA showing a "Hannah Montana" rerun instead of "NASCAR Countdown."
Mike, if they try to shove that in the broadcast tomorrow, it is not going to go over very well. But, I think you are right.
I bet tomorrow we will see that front bummer cam over and over again. What I don't like is when they use it, they move the cam and it makes you think the car is spinning out. Keep the cam pointing straight.
We will see more cams then long shots of the cars.
Nascar broadcast has now changed to a video game. Show camera shots as if you were in a video game. That is their plan.
Charlie, "bummer cam" might be a good new term for us!
jd, said it on twitter but will repeat it here in case FOX folks don't catch it: they need to significantly reduce the amount of time spent showing the bumper cam. it was overused during practice when there were fewer cars on the track at any one time. use it that much tomorrow and some of us will go immediately to the radio call while being outside in the great weather.
and opening with kez and edwards? i turned the tv off as soon as it started. nothing like rehashing events from the last race instead of setting up this one, eh?
i'll be back after i take a walk with the beast in one of the local parks. have fun, gang!
New bummer-cam will surely get a workout tomorrow - we'll all need dramamine before the first pit stops that's for sure.
I think this weekend will be used by ESPN/Fox, RaceDay, etc. to try and "put to bed" the incident between Edwards and Keselowski. Might as well get that out of the way at the opening of the broadcasts.
Jamie Little...anyone?
LOL....I didn't realize Harvick was being introduced to the crowd. At first, I thought he was walking away from Jamie because of the question being brought up.
Is Jamie a dip or what. Why is it again that she is there?
Now that the first 10 minutes was wasted regurging crap, how many more times do you think we will have to hear about Brad and Carl at Atlanta today?
If anyone is actually curious, this race is on ABC because its the only sporting event ESPN has rights to today that has ABC involved in the contract.
NCAA women's basketball and Spanish Primera soccer are exclusive to the ESPN cable networks.
Not the most sparkling pre-race show in recent history.
well, 20 minutes in I think i would pay for lacrosse or high school anything at this point. Why do I keep watching these prerace shows?
Now I'm in yawning mode.
Catch the old ESPN logo on the legends race promo? Circa 1985 I think.
Yep, that was great.
You know, no matter how much Brad yells, he just does not bring a lot to the telecasts. Rather have Ray Evernham in that seat.
At least these guys quoted the
Harvick remark and Carl's response.
Better than Byrnes supressing it
in the Cup practice on Speed. Carl
using the words "devious" and
"cowardly" to describe someone?
We see some results from that this
weekend.
I predict, for the second time, the winningest driver in Nascar Nationwide Series History will end up driving the number 7 car.
Now if only they could get the folks at Winn-Dixie Supermarkets on board.
"Have at it" in the Prayer? Wow
I would love to see him ride in that! What a great idea.
Brad is right ahead of Carl at the start btw...
start your spreaders did NOT get it for me..
JD -
"Hannah Montana" Episode: Debt It Be (First Aired: December 01, 2006)
That's how much KOMO-tv thinks of NASCAR ...
that was a horrible command. don't think it had the effect he thought it would. after that invocation also, and the pre race this could be an "off" day. hope not!
Carl still wearing white gloves !!
Oh I thought he said - start your splitters and couldn't figure out what the heck he was talking about
Pamm - I thought he said sprinters. Made no sense to me? Everything seems off, even me!
That was a weak pre-race effort all the way around. Lots of real stories buried under the Carl vs. Brad crap.
Expect the same tomorrow - it's all Carl vs. Brad.
Please don't in-car camera us to death today!
Bad idea Brad
I hope ABC doesn't just show CE & BK today and miss all the other action. Looks like a good crowd. One more pre-race lap, maybe they need to get the splitters, splinters and spreaders off the track!
They didn't show what happened on the start ... back in the field ...
Piss poor camera work on the first laps. had to wait 10 laps to get a replay of lap 1 incident that we should have seen to start with.
DJ sounds like he has something in his mouth when he speaks.
MR already calling out the S&Pers.
Horrible from the start. Cut away from Brad and Carl on lap one and missed Brad getting loose.
Not tight shots and in-cars. I just might be heading for sports cars or hoops.
Stuff happens FAST at Bristol. Cameramen and especially director need to be on their A game.
When did this tight shot and in-car stuff become "cool?"
We have missed so much stuff already.
PIT ROAD WAS OPEN guys
Still talking Danica up - c'mon.
Wow, getting weirder all the time. Guess not only the drivers had to knock some rust off.
All of the talk of track narrowing with the installation of Safer barriers that would bring back the "old" Bristol appears to be just a bunch of hype.
I dont see anything wrong w the different cams as long as they dont over us them
Why don't they say what lap the caution comes out on ... like MRN / PRN do ??
Ken, totally different from what they said in the pre-race.
Nothing to do with ESPN/ABC, but: I'm especially glad there's basketball on to switch over to during the breaks. Junior's commercials get worse with each viewing. Pretty cringe-inducing, actually.
unfortunately this is turning out to be an "off" day all the way around. on a side not i can switch over and watch my home town Murray State Racers play Butler and be confident that I wont miss a thing. the way this is going I wouldn't see it anyway!
Jonathan, there is passing and racing all over the track at Bristol because it is tiny.
Deciding to pick one battle and show that one only to viewers is a production decision made in advance.
Very different style of coverage.
I would think that tight shots on a small track takes more work then showing a wider shot.
Why do they want to do tight shots?
Maybe to them this is not a race but a showing of cars going around in a circle and they want to just show pretty cars.
One can reason that empty seats at a racetrack are the result of the economy. Cannot justify continued dropping TV viewership other than interst in NASCAR racing is plumetting.
I'll bet anyone 1000 Farmville points that NASCAR will have to take a time out to repair the safety barriers before the demolition derby is over this weekend.
Hey, you all remember when Harmon ran into and opened the track gate? I saw the race car after and it was amazing he walked away thank goodness.
Commercials aren't always bad. It got me to switch stations and i saw Villanova fall to St. Marys.
I fell asleep during the pre-race, happy to see by the comments I didn't miss anything.
Dang, what a crash.
Darn, poor Colin Braun
Opps, Steven blinked!
Same old Steven Wallace - nuthin's changed. Does Rusty really think he will be a Cup driver someday?
Hi everyone, Wow, I was outside until just now since it is beautiful in NJ. Sunny and warm. I so needed this week of nice weather.
I came in and turned on the race and what do I see, the replay of that wreck and it looks like the race is redflagged.
I'll have to read through to catchup!
Steven really ran it in there.
I think a lot of us are watching basketball instead of blogging when there is a commercial, caution or red flag.
It amazes me how many people say that NASCAR viewership or interest is down. That might be true, but I’m not going to concentrate on that, I’m going to work on getting more interest in the sport because it’s the most unique sport right now. There is nothing like it! I don’t like football, basketball, baseball or any other ball!
I don't watch basketball.
No wrecks, no fights, and the ending is always the same.
Ken, there is no one around today. Few in chat, few on Facebook and not a lot of Twitter chat.
Not sure how I feel about NASCAR responding to these TV competition issues.
Once the NFL begins, kiss it goodbye again. Last year was brutal.
Can you say Tiger Wood return?
No basketball here, but in the fall I watched every Redskins game and Nascar took second tier for the first time since 1996
How does NA$CAR compete with the first weekend of the year that is sunny and warm enough to ride my motorcycle. I rode a while but there is still gravel from the winter in the curves and intersections. I'm about 40 miles from the track. Basketball also distracts.
All Cup guys up front - as usual. Boring....
I just wish they made some TV changes like side-by-side commercials or an online application like RaceBuddy for every race.
They need to get it really rolling before Sept and NFL comes around.
I'm with you TONO & Amp, no other sports for me but racing.
NASCAR is hoping for an NFL strike and no games.
yes Junior - that's Scott Wimmer a REAL driver running your car up front.
Well, we finally got Marty Reid upstairs and Jerry Punch back on pit road.
The ESPN Cup telecasts should be exciting. Just lacks something right now, maybe the spoiler will help with that.
I don't understand how Nascar thinks this NW race is good racing when a bunch of cup guys are up front.
Got together with a group of friends to watch the Indy 500 last year. Constant racing, they used the side by side during commercials. Very little on track action missed due to commercials
Side-by-side during commercial breaks would be awesome. Especially as the season goes on (and on) and the even the best commercials start to wear on our nerves. Side-by-side sure would prevent me from grabbing the remote and wondering around the channels.
SMH @ Anon 3:40
4 top 10's/2 top 5's in 5 career Indy 500 starts, but yeah, Danica is NOT a real driver. Where do you people come up with this junk?
JohnP,
Don't you mean constant yellows? ;)
How many accidents can we miss in one race because of tight shots and in-car cams?
Anon 3:40p: Took the words right out of my mouth.
We didn't miss anything, they're the replay.
They're showing the replay, sheesh
If those two guys were having issues on the track, why didn't we know about it?
Damon .. No no, not the 2008 Brickyard 400.. Lol..
But yea, there were plenty of yellows during the Indy 500 last year.. Still side by commercials would be great.
Even during the red flag I just sat through.
HAVE AT IT BOYS - Buescher vs. Bayne bout
Damon, replay does not mean you saw it happen. It means it's being replayed.
Did you every watch these races when they showed the field racing?
Made a big difference.
Watching the race on TV is like being forced to watch the race through binoculars. You don't see much but what you do see, you see really well. The in-cars and bumper shots are annoying and destroys the flow of the race.
Can't believe Morgan Shepherd had too many people over pit wall during pit stop.
The constant close video angles stink. I can't see the race when they do it. And quite frankly, had to take a two hour road trip today. Saw myself turning my steering wheel enough. Dont' need the driver cam either seeing them turning a steering wheel.
JD,
They mentioned the 1/99 contact at the start of the race.
Stinkin' Kyle Busch!
HAVE AT IT BOYS - Kyle Busch vs. Kelly Bires bout.
anon@4:00 what'd bires do to busch to merit that punt -- except for being in front of him, that is?
Red,
Not a thing, Kyle is just being the impatient pain in the butt he usually is. I hope HE gets punted.
Damon, they cut away and missed it while showing the back of the pack come up to speed.
Like he said, watching the race on TV is like watching through a tube.
I miss the top 10 pylon on the upper left of the screen
ESPN is not doing a very good job of keeping the race fans from switching to CBS...as others have said, this tunnel vision viewing ruins the atmmosphere of Bristol
No politics please. Tomorrow is the day that ABC stations may cut a way to the breaking national news.
There is also weather in the area for Sunday afternoon. Rain!
The Hellman's commercials don't really make sense West of the Mississippi ...
Now, substitute Best Foods ... and we know what they're talking about ... LOL
#6 Stenhouse running well. A plain white (unsponsored) Roush car too. What does that tell ya'?
Haus, it's soooooo much fun to see the wideshot and all the crazy racing.
Watching it like this is awful!
These guys calling the race, always blame the NW regular drivers for their spins by the cup drivers. The cup drivers can do no wrong.
half time in my hoops game. see while i was gone ABC hasn't found their mojo yet. JD, we finally got our man up in the booth was there a change of producer or director that we didn't hear about?
a rhetorical b/c i'm not a tv professional but . . .
on a track that features 16 SECOND laps, shouldn't the focus be on the entire track and not on in-cars? it has to be darn near impossible to figure out where to focus the cameras b/c by the time you frame and choose the shot, it's over.
well, that was ugly.
Marty seems to be pretty frustrated about it. Lots and lots of replays to show what is going on.
The in-car stuff tomorrow should be.......interesting.
That's my thinking too Red :( Let's see the action and leave the in=car for the accident replays to see their view.
JD, the in car shots are going to be total .... tomorrow. One racing fan here getting fustrated with technology working against a good broadcast. They did so much better 10 years a go.
"The in-car stuff tomorrow should be.......interesting."
well, that's one way to phrase it, jd.
Maybe some TV types need to get called to the NASCAR hauler.
The close shots ruins the feel of a short track like Bristol. If they used a shot like you get when you are about 1/3 from the top, you see the whole track. Then, when something happened they could zoom in. The close up shots doesn't give you the short track feel.
I think technology has ruined the coverage because the TV people want to use their latest toys. In earlier years, old technology forced them to use wide shots.
Is there a reason they use tight shots on a short track. If you didn't know which track you were watching it would be hard to tell which track you were at.
With two cameras zoomed out, you could see the entire race and all the racing.
@ken: very perceptive comments, both from the positioning suggestion and the "too much technology" perspective. with the camera work being soo tight, it's hard to get the feel of a short track.
JD, do you think that NASCAR is really addressing the competition and broadcast issues? I'm not sure that I do.
I should correct myself. To much technology in the hands of people who don't know how to use it correctly. Properly used, it's great. But it's become a crutch for people who don't know what they are doing. So don't mis-read that please. Just like computer models, junk in, junk out.
Wow, actually saw a spin as it happened.
PRN seems to be having issues too ... Just not as smooth as normal ... Lots of yammering and then "Oops, a wreck" ...
Ken, I have a bunch of the old races that I saved onto tape. I get them out to watch once in a while so I can remember what it used to be like to see the whole track at a short track race instead of the "bummer cam" (love that) and in car shots ALL the time.
Gina, I hope so but the TV money pays a lot of the bills so you have to walk softly.
ABC is able to make Bristol a boring track to watch on Tv. That is a pretty good accomplishment. Wonder if ABC will be nominated for any awards.
All you need to know about the Sports Emmys is that Cubed from foxsports.com got nominated.
Pizzi, porn stars and strippers. Wonderful family sports entertainment.
I don't think today's race will make anyone want to attend the race tomorrow unless they already haved plans. Bristol is one of the tracks that has maintained high ticket prices (don't want to punish season ticket holders). The racing of old we remember is not back like they promised and there is a threat of bad weather (even though local media keeps assuring us that it will come after the race is over).
The normal excitement in the air feeling is not in the air this year.
They broke out of a commercial. Amazing
Ken, it's just strange. The more NASCAR tries to control things, the worse it gets.
Maybe one good solid race tomorrow with a super finish will help to turn things around.
I also think the schedule, including the lack of trucks, really stinks this year.
Well, it's JWT! Our fav!
It’s the hope of all NASCAR fans that the network what ever it is: Fox, ESPN, ABC, or TNT will allow the viewers to choose which camera angle to select. That way it’ll really using the technology the way that it was meant to be!
TONO
well, i'm pleasantly surprised they broke from commercial for the JWT moment. nice job, truck guy. (not to be confused with PapaTruckTV!)
Booooooo on PRN ...
They're trying to make it sound like the standardizing of the start times is a "good" thing ...
That is why RaceBuddy is such a big hit. Lets the fans have some fun during long races with technology anyone can use!
I had the privilege of sitting in the TV trailer for a road course race broadcast. I'm not sure I can be satisfied with anything less than 20 screens and the feed from each camera including the TV feed so that I have the option of being told where the interesting action is, or of just looking for it myself.
@ tiamatsrevenge:
It is for this fan
I love the fact that the races are starting earlier-hate wasting the whole day in front of the TV...waiting.
don't get carried away with praise for breaking away from commercial. they just never got away to hte commercial before the yellow came out. apparently they decided it is taboo to cut out of a commercial to let us know what is going on. just give a replay and recap and pretend that we are all stupid!
Brad, I think the tv people all viewers are stupid and don't know what is going on!
@JD--yuppers! RaceBuddy is so awesome and I'm excited to see they're going to have the Pick 'em Ups Buddy even if it's a one up! Hopefully there will be enough fans to show that we'll be there to support it! Now to pressure them to do it FT all season! Something HAS to work out!
Come on Mr. Allligator!
Herm is the King of the Lucky Dogs! I checked with Lee but he didn't know but I bet Jayski knows! He knows everything :)
Nice popular winner. That should be something to carry over to the next race.
Thanks again to everyone for stopping by. Sure was a mixed TV day with good commentary from upstairs, the pit reporters and the infield.
Just strange pictures and directing.
YOUPPI Mr. Alligator! A win that all of Twitterville and all of NA$CAR can support! He's a good kid!
Did ABC move the end of the race? I got paid programming that started at the top of the hour.
Yea Justin! The only NASCAR-related race we've ever attended was an all-star race few years ago at Kenny Schrader's Pevely track, where Justin won the feature. Great!
Houston ABC broadcast JA's interview and then left the telecast guess they ran long.
So happy to see everyones ok after that crash! That was a hit
thanks, JD. Yeah, I get that money talks, but if the TV stuff continues to drive fans away, they will be paying and no one will be wataching.
Slightly off topic...I'm loving the '90s SpeedWorld theme music coming into and out of commercials during this Legends race.
Can ESPN drop the current music they use & bring that back instead?
Hearing from NASCAR that RaceBuddy is for all Camping World Truck Series races starting with Martinsville next week.
that's awesome news about racebuddy being offered for the trucks. that program really made watching the races that TNT did much more enjoyable.
Congrats to Justin on his first (of many) wins. Gotta love a driver who lists Kenny Schrader as one of his idols.
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