Update: NASCAR has postponed the Sprint Cup Series race until Monday at Noon ET. FOX will carry the TV, MRN the radio.
The rain is falling and everyone is hoping that the Sprint Cup Series race from Martinsville can run today. That is especially true for the NASCAR on FOX gang. The local FOX TV stations are not looking forward to dealing with a Monday morning race.
Chris Myers will start the coverage at 12PM from the Hollywood Hotel. That facility might get quite a workout today. Myers will be joined by Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. The unfocused nature of the pre-race show continues to amaze.
Waltrip joins Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds in the booth to call the race. On pit road are Krista Voda, Steve Byrnes, Dick Berggren and Matt Yocum.
Weather may change a lot of the TV stories today. Drivers may well believe they are racing to halfway and that will change a lot of the race strategy. Pictures at Martinsville are best from the low angle. The backstretch cam showing the cars racing straight at the camera might be the most dynamic camera placement.
Pitstops are always a story and tough to cover. The long pit road makes incidents almost commonplace when pitting under caution. Staying wide to offer perspective on the race off pit road is important.
Mike Joy has been battling Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds over the issue of who should be talking while the cars are racing. The answer is Mike Joy. This seasoned professional works best when he can call the action and then mix his two analysts into the broadcast. Joy needs control and right now, he does not have it.
So, the big stories are weather and the race to halfway. A sidebar is what a possible postponement to Monday might mean to Denny Hamlin's knee surgery.
This will be your opportunity to offer your opinion during the live race telecast. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly telecast, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by The Daly Planet.
102 comments:
hi jd,
like i posted eariler hope it does not rain. still need a plan B if race is rained out.
I hope Mike Joy is on his game today. We really need that on a short track like this. maybe DW will take a break and make it easier for Mike.
enjoy the race all
How does this help television viewers?
Does anybody really know why they keep racing at this small town,a no market, no seats race track? It's like the tour goes from one mountain town (Bristol) to another (Martinsville) the next week and no one has ever figured out that it is still as cold as you know what there this time of year.
Heck, one time I remember a snowball fights in the infield during a Nationwide Race at Bristol. Then they head to another hill town. So why race at M-Ville once much less twice going back there when winter starts the end of Oct?
Plus, it's a one lane track and the race is boring especially now that they have the "no touch" rule. How do the powers of TV like it?
Morning everyone. Lets do the no rain today dance ;) HAVE FUN EVERYONE!!!!
Personally I think Bristol and Martinsville are the best races of the year. I love the short tracks and tire quickly of the cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks at the cities. There all the same. Bristol and Martinsville offer something unique.
Trackside was pretty good. It was nice seeing Jr Johnson, Ned Jarrett and Richard Petty on TV. Never saw any of them race. Don't know a lot about Jr Johnson because he was way before my day. But it's so nice to hear from them. Segments could of been longer and there could of been a lot less time covering Jimmy Johnson.
Hopefully the rain holds off.
Any bets? How long before the vortex theory is brought up after the start of the pre-race show.
I'm thinking by 12:30 someone, DW, will have brought it up.
Nr. No,
That is not for our race blog. If you would like to start your own, just email me for help with blogspot.
If you want to talk about the NASCAR on FOX race today, no problem.
If you have ideas for topics of posts at TDP, just email me at editor@thedalyplanet.tv anytime.
Thanks,
JD
Wow-really liked that segment w/Larry Mac & Mike walking among the "common" folks.
That was a very different beginning from the goofy Hollywood Hotel stuff we have been getting.
Be interesting to see how the rest goes...
"So, the big stories are weather and the race to halfway."
That's what you said the big stories were so I followed.
Maybe you need to have another cup of coffee and cheer up a little.
It's a beautiful day here.
It definitely was an interesting opening with Larry Mac and Mike.
Still can do without Pizzi :(
being honest about the weather...wow...
and once again. Who thinks this Pizzi is funny? This is the third one I've seen, and I haven't laughed once.
Why does Fox continue to insult us with this crap like the Pizzi segment? Every year, they come up with another unnecessary gimmick.
Who thinks of this stuff and why?
Obvious Pizzi is edited. In one shot Pizzi has a sheet of paper in his left hand, a second later the piece of paper is gone.
THAT WAS FUNNY!!
Pizzi = YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN. So how much longer until Fox cuts their losses on this year's "revolutionary" pre-race show innovation and starts running re-runs of it to fill out the year like they did last year with the Adventures of Digger debacle last year? Phoenix? Texas?
If Pizzi is edited, I would sure hate to see what they left out.
I have cable and the show is just a black screen right now.
Myers jokes are even more lame....
this pizzi segment has got to go. it has nothing to do w/racing and is not even entertaining. adds nothing to the prerace of the race.
done til the green flag. later all
Wonder if SPEED is the Monday rain TV network?
I'm tired of hearing about this stupid DirecTV tournament thing! If they want to have a real tournament and set up weekly match races every Saturday for charity or something that would be great. Manufacturing some make-believe "competition" within the races that the teams and drivers don't give a darn about is ridiculous. This is just another silly fantasy game, stop trying to treat this like it's something special that adds something to these events. And Larry Mac, it is still NOT REAL!
@Charlie,
You are probably having the best pre race of them all!
I switched to the regular channel of FOX and the show is on.
The HD Channel is still a black screen.
Have you seen those ESPN NASCAR brackets? Same deal.
@Ken - The teaser for Pizzi before the commercials showed Edwards leaving the interview, but the actual segment didn't have that in it. I take it Pizzi asked a really stupid question and Edwards walked out on the interview, only to have that edited out of the final segment. These segments are so moronic, I have no idea who thinks they still belong in a NASCAR pre-race show. I'm viewing taped Fox pre-race shows from 2003 and the product then was miles ahead of what they're showing us today.
Any Monday racing would be on most Fox affiliates
Anon 12:30PM,
How would that work if they ran in the AM Eastern Time? Fox Central and West Coast in AM local news.
How about a simulcast?
From the tone of pre-race so far, if they don't get in the race today it might not be until Tuesday. I'm thinking Speed if they can't get it in today. The viewership will be really low as most people will be at work.
Rockingham 2001 Monday race was on Fox--I remember because my Fox station declined to show it because they wouldn't be allowed to show their logo in the corner of the screen...that is what they e-mailed me, I kid you not. But I studied the radar & I do think they'll get halfway unless something new pops up.
Fox needs to ask itself who their intended pre-race audience is... because the gopher and Pizzi sure don't appeal to race fans, i.e., the people who will be watching the race.
Does Fox do nonsense like this in their baseball pre-game shows, or do they just insult NASCAR fans?
Now being told by reporters at the track that rain is falling and the track is now wet.
FOX cameras avoiding that!
The difference between those other fantasy games and this one is that it's all over the race broadcasts and shows like the Dan Patrick Show under the premise that this is something real that the drivers are really racing for. They're announcing #1 seeds on the air today and the rest of the brackets on-air at Phoenix like this actually means something. At Bristol Larry Mac actually said this is different than other fantasy games, this is real.
What's next? Interviewing drivers about the brackets after the race? Giving another goofy trophy like Stewart got for winning the "Fox Cup" last year?
A quick promo directing to their web site would be fine. Just quit wasting endless air time on this make-believe garbage and focus on the real race. That's my opinion.
the track looks soaked, but that doesn't really agree with the rader :/
The HD picture is back.
from weather.com
1pm - 30% chance of rain
2pm - 30%
3pm - 30%
4pm - 60%
5pm - 70%
6pm - 80%
JD, I noticed that. Umbrella's have been up for 20 minutes or so, but no shots of the rain that I've seen. Even Hamlin is holding an umbrella, but no rain shown. Something is up with that.
seriously!? Myers "So far so good on the weather"
"So far, so good on the weather"....seconds after showing Denny Hamlin holding his umbrella with it open.
Charlie (12:26) I had the same
problem last week and finally called Fox local who blamed feed; but 5 minutes later it went to HD.
Hey, Fox: You can't "trick" us into watching the race by pretending the weather's fine.
If the race is PPD for weather, we're not going to see it. The end.
Start of the race will now be delayed after the anthem is over.
No cars on the track.
MrNowitall....
There are only so many weekends in the season...someone has to be in the spring. It has even rained out west from time to time. I'd say the vast majority of fans don't want to see Martinsville go anywhere, weather or no. It does, however, complicate things for the broadcast, and that's what we're here to talk about.
Mr. No,
Happy to have your comments on the FOX telecast.
Wunderground has 100% chance of rain this afternoon and 60% tomorrow afternoon. Forecasting weather here in the mountains is hit or miss proposition. When a front comes through, it may go over the mountain as predicted, stall at the mountain or swerve to the side. You can have a hugh storm in one spot and nothing 5 or 10 miles away.
"Racing soon"....those famous words used to keep the viewer from switching.
Being told the delay will be at least an hour, go run some errands folks!
Even if they get to start the race delayed, if it starts after the NCAA tournament starts a 2:00PM, people will tune in to the game and not switch back to the race.
I always remember the rain delayed FOX races airing on FOX, at least since they dropped the FX channel out of the tv package a few years ago, but it could be Speed.
Related (non-NASCAR question) if I may. What does the Indycar contract say about rainouts during ABC races that aren't the 500. Do they stay on ABC, shift to ESPN2, or does Versus take over?
Great question. Try to get an answer from the ESPN peeps.
Chris Myers says "It looks like we're going to start the race, we're just not going to start it on time". In other words, the afternoon looks like a wash, but we want you to stay tuned anyway.
MRN is off the air until 2p.m. Eastern time.
Myers: "We're being told the race will start..... but not on time". Very convenient spin. I'd love to know if someone from Nascar really said the race WILL start at some point or if that's just a misleading spin on "we're in a holding pattern".
Giving credit where credit is due. I enjoyed the overall pre-race show on Fox. They could of left the Pizzi stuff out, and they could of been more honest with the rain. But overall it's a pickup in quality over the previous show's I've seen so far this year. Now if I can just figure out why the screen does not fit my tv, weather watching on my 3/4 or 9/16 tv. Good show, the rain delay should be interesting to watch. Can DW keep focused or not? And no Vortex theory. Guess I would of lost a bet. Lol. Happy race everyone.
It is all in the hands of Nascar, Fox has nothing to say about anything
If someone (Burns) says I believe it quit raining, yet continues to hold an umbrella-ella-ella over their head, do you believe them?
Hey, Chris Meyers: The race always starts.
That doesn't mean it'll start today, however.
Anon @ 1:04, Myers is right. The race will start, eventually. That may not be until Tuesday, but it WILL start.
@Patrick - Notice Byrnes said "I believe it has quit raining, at least that's what we're going with", so that means it hasn't.
FOX should have the Pizzi guy interview Digger. That would be a great show. ha ha.
Here is a media funny:
@RyanMcGeeESPN Knoxville marathon this morning. I pull off course to hurl. Cop: "You okay?" Me: "Yeah." Him: "I thought you'd be in Martinsville."
They just called the ShamWow guy annoying. How ironic...
Charlie, I'm with you on the "Take a Pizzi" guy and digger.
Just heard 2:45PM is the new buzz for start time.
I'd have to say 3:30p.m. has to be about the latest they can hold out til.
I'm two or three hours west of the track and we've had a steady drizzle for hours with short periods of harder rain. Our weather goes east toward Martinsville. Looks like it will be a NCAA basketball afternoon.
Well, I've had enough of announcers whose last names begin with 'Wal'
I thought about going Picture-In-Picture with the race and NCAA Tourney but I tried that last week, and by the end of the day I looked like Marty Feldman :) so that option is out. It's NCAA or no TV for me as long as the bloviating continues on the race casts
There's a band of rain that's approaching the track that stretches all the way back west to beyond Bristol. When that band hits, might as well call it a day.
We are in slowdown mode. Rain has started again despite the track being partially dry. That will be gone shortly.
Look! A couple of wieners on TV! And it looks like they're eating hot dogs.
:-D
Ugh. Darryl eating a hot dog on camera! Now we're REALLY at the bottom of the barrel!
I caught some of the pre-race show. What I caught was a big improvement. Been watching the rain delay off and on. The interview with Kyle Bush was entertaining. Now it's back to the Hollywood Hotel. Even though they were improved in the pre-race, I would rather they talk to drivers than hear them.
Pizzi did have one good question for Carl about the no shirt pictures costing him a possible t-shirt endorsement deal. Otherwise, I was hoping he would do the backflip and hurt himself bad enough to not be back next week!
Meanwhile back to the Hotdog story again.
You'll never see that crew on TV eating Sushi.
Looks like no race today. Turned off Fox awile back. Will check in from time to time but thinking it's not happenning today.
Looking more like a Tuesday NASCAR race this week. They should move it to prime time, if that happens.
MRN came on with an update for a couple of minutes and is back off the air again until 2:30p.m.
I see the K&N Pro East Series has a driver named Darrell Wallace, Jr. Does anyone know him. I wonder if he talks much.
Not only has the audience left for college basketball, the doubleheader on CBS involves Tennessee and Duke, two schools in the traditional hotbeds of Nascar. Syracuse playing Oregon State might not have the same interest.
I am sick and tired of Fox's outright lies about the weather. It disgusts me. The weather is always clearing, and a window opening to get a race in. Tell us the truth please.
Just been told NASCAR will be calling it shortly.
Stay tuned for TV plans for Monday.
The truth, you CAN'T handle the truth!!
now the question becomes any confirmations of which FOX stations will be showing it to set DVR's, anyone with specific insight on the Baltimore/DC market? Thanks
just heard from c myers race is cancelled til monday. Btw GRILLING was great during rain delay. c u tomorrow. thanks JD
Probably hold off the postponement until a minute before hand and then Fox can go off the air cleanly at 2:30p.m.
Did they mention when the race will be on tomorrow. If they did I missed it.
Bad for NASCAR. Good for IndyCar. One hour to St. Pete's. Let's blog about that instead, since we're already here.
I just wanted to respond to Mr.Nowitall - Speaking from personal experience, Martinsville is a great track to watch a race on AND it requires a good set of skills to race here, rather than on big wide tracks. I wish there were MORE short tracks on the schedule. NASCAR needs to rethink where races are though based on potential weather issues. This race used to always be run the weekend AFTER Easter when spring had come to the SE. By moving into March, IMO, NASCAR is looking for another excuse to take a race date from this track. I've sat through several drizzly cold races at this track since they moved the date. The only reason I'm not there this weekend as planned was because I ran into a work issue that I absolutely had to stay in the area to cover.
So I understand that from a TV perspective it doesn't make much sense (although if the camera work is done right you can see the entire track on TV and see all the racing) from the perspective of a fan who loves short track racing, this track is a great experience.
Respectfully, if you've never been to a short track before the introduction of the IROC car and the Chase with all its points racing crap, you really can't understand how great the racing at Bristol and Martinsville were and sometimes still are.
So, race on FOX at noon on Monday. NASCAR Now on ESPN moved to 6PM. Still waiting on SPEED changes.
The IRL grandstands have been evacuated. Severe weather warning in the area.
No racing due to lightning and possible ponding of water on street course track.
JD, my fox station is now showing TMZ in Philadelphia.
I didn't catch much of the prerace, but I did tune in to hear the invocation and the anthem. I thought Myers comment about it being a "down home" rendition was insulting to the cadets. I enjoyed it, it was well done with respect unlike the ones often done by "contestants". Of course they went right into a rain delay, but since they were actually interviewing my favorite, I was happy with that.
Mike Joy needs to give DW a headslap when he starts just flapping his jaws about NOTHING during race coverage and take control
FYI, previously I submitted a post about Martinsville so I realize you may want to delete it, please feel free, it wasn't related to the TV topic.
oh well! Free Showtime weekend so go watch some movies. Wall-E is about to start....
Wow,so the IRL race is having weather problems too.
I'll have to sneak on from work and see what you guys are saying tomorrow since I won't be able to watch TV.
take care everyone and be safe.
SPEED will air Fast Track to Fame at 5:00PM(PT)/8:00PM(ET) in place of NASCAR Victory Lane today. A special hour-long edition of NASCAR Raceday will air tomorrow at 8:00AM(PT)/11:00AM(ET) and a special edition of NASCAR Victory Lane will air at 5:00PM(ET)/8:00PM
(ET) on SPEED, weather permitting, of course.
JD or anyone with insight, which is a better bet to DVR in the central MD market? FOX baltimore, or FOX DC? have either have problems in the past with "must-carry races"? My plan for now is FOX baltimore...
I did not see the first 1/2 of FOX pre-race, but what I saw and the HH rain fill I enjoyed - except that I now have a craving for hot dogs smothered in chili.
I have no idea what Mr. Now-itall is babbling about. I was at the spring Martinsville race in 2004 and it was sunny with temps in the high 70's.
For my fellow Canucks, TSN2 will air the IRL race live and TSN will have the Cup race.
To the earlier anonymous, Fox DC is an owned-and-operated, so they should have no financial excuse to not carry the race, since it all goes to NewsCorp anyway.
Gina, I thought I was overreacting to Myers' comment...but clearly you had the same thought. I don't think of cadets as 'down home', but I wondered if he was just making reference to them being from nearby, rather than meaning anything by it. I hope so, anyway. Sometimes things just come out wrong.
Down Home, as Chris probably meant, is a reference to the Glee Club at The School Formerly Known as the Virginia Military Institute (a reference some in Virginia and South Carolina use in reference to a Supreme Court decision that feminised male military colleges in 1996) doing the National Anthem.
Having a military chorus doing it is appropriate. Remember the "down home" feel of the track has increased, as college students in the area now build the signature longcase clocks now that Howard Miller has shut down the plant that made the Ridgeway longcases in the area that had been used as trophies. ISC disconnected from Howard Miller because of that, so this is the first race with the new local college student-built longcase trophies.
I left for college hoops when it didn't go green after the out-of-tune national anthem.
Came back later and Fox was running COPS. Waited til the top of the hour for some info, AND.....
nothing. Zip. Nada. Not a live update. Not a recorde update. Not a graphic. Not a crawl. No information at all.
Nice job FOX.
Thanks, Glen, yeah sometimes things just come out sounding differently than you expected.
Bobby, thanks for the explanation. I had wondered about the clocks since I knew that the plant had closed.
Me, I'm all for "down home" when it sounds as good as those young people did singing the anthem. And kudos to them for building the cases for the clocks. That is a really special trophy.
Hope they can get the race in today -- I'll have to pop in and out to check on the status since I can't do any livestreaming or use raceview from the office.
Bobby, we did hear them say they were from VMI, and they did an excellent job with the anthem. But that wasn't what the comment was about (although I do believe he was making reference to them being local, as I said.) He was just a bit glib when he said it, which might lead one to misinterpret his comment.
I didn't know that about the clocks.
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