Monday, April 19, 2010

Live Blogging Nationwide Series From Texas (5PM - ESPN2)


Here we go with the second half of the Monday NASCAR doubleheader. The Nationwide Series is on ESPN2 at 5PM from the Texas Motor Speedway.

Marty Reid will call the race with Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree alongside. On pit road are Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Jamie Little and Dave Burns. Tim Brewer has packed the Tech Garage up and gone home.

This race is also in hurry-up mode, trying to get finished between 7 and 7:30PM when both SPEED and ESPN2 have TV shows scheduled to review the races.

The familiar scenario should be in place of Cup drivers vs. the Nationwide regulars. ESPN did a tremendous job of promoting the series during the rain delay on Saturday.

Hopefully, that momentum will translate into a telecast that chases the racing on the track and stays away from the bells and whistles. ESPN has been hit or miss with the directing lately, but very good with the commentary.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Nationwide Series coverage on ESPN2 from Texas. 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 live blog with us today.

95 comments:

Daly Planet Editor said...

It's Rusty time!

Anonymous said...

I have soccer on ESPN 2.

Daly Planet Editor said...

5PM my friend!

The Loose Wheel said...

RWI/Cup Regular show!

Charlie said...

JD - verification is still on

Daly Planet Editor said...

Stay open minded there hombre.

Karen said...

Steve Wallace's twin brother singing the anthem.

Daly Planet Editor said...

I have a feeling this is going to be a good one.

Andrew said...

So while this is probably going to be the Cup B-show, again, at least we'll see the drivers that FOX mostly ignored today!

Andrew said...

And I agree, JD, I think it's gonna be really good.

Becky [@hightechredneck] said...

The station that had the Cup race doesn't have the Nationwide race on. :( Can't find another affiliate online either. Guess I'll just have to wait 'til I get home from work in about an hour. Hopefully I don't miss anything good 'cuz I didn't record this one (I did record the Cup race tho).

The Loose Wheel said...

that was a good in-car reporter

The Loose Wheel said...

Mark Green behind wall

Martin Vincent said...

For those in Canada who are wondering, TSN has a hockey game later on that the race would have overlapped with and TSN2 has a basketball game that is supposed to end at 10:30pm, so we have to wait until after the basketball game to see the race here in Canada.

I can't get the radio broadcast to work on NASCAR.com. Are there any other sources for it?

Daly Planet Editor said...

Marty can get it cranked up!

Anonymous said...

Love it when Marty Reid calls out a "start & park".

FOX doesn't have the gall to do that.

Andrew said...

The contrast between Marty and Mike Joy is insane. Marty is actually doing play-by-play, and telling us where cars are on the track.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Weird, isn't it? Someone must have told Mike to back off this season.

He used to have me on the edge of my seat, now I am snoring.

Kylie said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sophia said...

Martin

here is a link for race on radio. I listen in basic player so nothing needs to be downloaded :)

http://www.wnpv1440.com/asx/wnpv8700asx.asx

majorshouse said...

I have really enjoyed Marty Reid this year and the entire Fox gang could take some real lessons about not only play by ply, but maybe we could get rid of Rusty Wallace and DW all at the same time, how annoying can one person be.

Martin Vincent said...

@Sophia - Thanks, I won't see the pictures until 10:30pm tonight, but at least I can hear what's going on. I think it's my first time following a race strictly on the radio.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Rusty is the odd man out. Love to see Ricky Craven with Andy and Marty.

Sophia said...

Martin

Today it's PRN and I MUCH prefer MRN but radio is still better than nothing and better than tv camera work.

I was thrilled to discover local AM free radio covers Indycar over weekend! Woo hoo! :-) never had Indycar before on local radio. They are working hard to get more fans.

I'm still not a fan of ESPN booth voices like I am FOX..listening to radio now and caught last 20 laps of CUP on DVR. Still love the Fox guys no matter how much they get hated on here.

Andrew said...

Looks like ESPN had some scoring & timing issues on that one. Did they have time to get the transponders installed in the NW cars?

Ann_Ominous said...

jd, need to wash Kylie's mouth out with soap.....

Anonymous said...

So, we're not gonna get to see "NASCAR Countdown" next week in Seattle / Portland ... again ?!?!?

Nothing exciting better happen today ;-)

red said...

( just sneaking in here b/c i'm still at work so i've been keeping track of race monday via my laptop.)

that being said: @sophia: i'm loving that you recommended wnpv 1440: they are my local station -- and by that, i mean about 3 miles from my home & next to my vet's office! good ole reliable 1440!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Timing and scoring is having an issue. NASCAR.com is down right now and it should be interesting to see if that affects TV.

Andrew said...

This race is like night and day with the Cup race. The camera angles are showing 10+ cars at once. It hardly even looks like the same track. Tons of side-by-side racing. It's impossible to know if that's due to the directing of FOX or the actual racing but this, at least, is fun to watch.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Wonder what happened to the music from that teenage rock group?

PammH said...

Listened to the Cup race at work. Sounded exciting. Cup Lite race looks exciting....hmmm.

Martin Vincent said...

@David - Is McCumbee out or just off?

NorCalFan said...

JD, I'm listening to the radio broadcast thru Nascar.com and running the live Leaderboard with no problem.

Charlie said...

Camera work like this is why we get to see real time wrecks/hitting walls and not just replays of it after it happened.

Martin Vincent said...

@JD - Live Leaderboard works for me too.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Thanks for that update!

This is so easy to watch, even with Rusty!

Sophia said...

@red

love listening to the radio and taping/dvr race instead. Listened to CUP randomly in car radio this afternoon.
great alternative when out and about since I don't have internet in my car :-D

Sally said...

Had to work today and taped the Cup race. So far I'm liking this broadcast. They are really showing the action on the track, but would love to hear more about some of the 'regulars'.

Steve L. said...

Cool, that's my photo used for this post! Thanks for using JD.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Welcome Steve, all your pics are awesome!

Steve L. said...

Thanks. I'll be heading to Dega this week, should be a blast!

Charlie said...

He's back.

OSBORNK said...

It's fortunate for Fox that they had their race first. The complaints would have far worse if this broadcast was first and was used for comparison.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Brewer on memorex.

Andrew said...

The in-race reporter curse strikes again! Or is this the JWT curse?

Daly Planet Editor said...

Bowyer waiting on Harvick?

OSBORNK said...

We saw the Bowyer wreck in the distance but the truck and the booth seemed to miss it.

Steve L. said...

Was JWT in the back seat?

Anonymous said...

Such good camera choices! I feel I'm watching a RACE and not endless in-car cam commercials.

Booth sounding good, too.

Makiki
Honolulu

Charlie said...

Heads up on the spotter for Bowyer, telling him to slow down after he hit the wall so he could get in the pits on that lap.

NorCalFan said...

PRN's take "the Zaxby's chicken machine is officially cooked"

PammH said...

Wow, Chicken Man curse strikes again!

Ann_Ominous said...

Lot better than the Fox coverage.

Better than last week's ESPN coverage, too.

Rusty and Andy don't seem to work that good together. I wonder if there is some old history animosity...

Martin Vincent said...

@tia - So this whole time, it was the sponsor's fault and not the driver's fault?... They should give JWT a second chance, but without the chicken sponsor just to see how he does.

Would be funny to see a plucked chicken car like in Stroker Ace!

Ann_Ominous said...

Safer barrier taking a pounding... needing repairs again.

Daly Planet Editor said...

This is just fun to watch.

Sally said...

I really like it that ESPN starts showing the running order BEFORE they throw the green flag after a caution. See? It isn't impossible, Fox.

Steve L. said...

Nice to see so many cars on the tv screen. Nice camera work for a change.

Sophia said...

Just looked at tv a few minutes after hearing LESS car cams..but remember this is NW..they often have less in car cam than the BIG SHOTS in CUP with paid in car cam commercials. But I NEVER watch the races on tv anymore but a few laps.

Got tired of screaming at tv...but nice to see a few laps without in car stuff AND more wide shots...as they go to SPLIT screen albet briefly :)

Still listening to radio tho

p.s. spoke too soon..a side or bumpber cam looking at J All

Charlie said...

Wide shots show you can have two sets of drivers both racing and you can see them both at the same time.

Anonymous said...

MV - When Zaxby's was in the Trucks, they had problems and replaced the driver (JWT?) ... Then the replacement driver had problems too ...

Look at the Fastenal sponsorship ... I don't think I've seen it have a successful run since they parted ways with the late Bobby Hamilton Sr ...

Sometimes ... sponsors just seem to be cursed ...

Charlie said...

The person controlling the bummer cam. Don't move it, just keep it straight.

Martin Vincent said...

@tia - Upon further review, it was JWT's driving and not the chicken on the hood.

Compton and Kvapil had lots of top-10s in the Zaxby's truck and Wimmer and Fellows also had top-10s in the #5 Fastenal Nationwide car.

It just made for a funny scenario though.

Andrew said...

Look! Racing in the BIG BOX. I didn't know they could do that anymore.

Charlie said...

I like the lap counter at the top it says 132 of 200, not 68 to go like Fox does.

Andrew said...

Ooh, full-screen green flag pit stops. Have to take a point off for tha...oh, look, they fixed it already!

Martin Vincent said...

Can somebody tell me if #04, #05, #21 and #26 are all officially out of the race?

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Fastenal jinx continues

Anonymous said...

KRKO-AM is playing extended commercials ... Ugh!!

But, at least they've carried both races today ...

Daly Planet Editor said...

This is like the truck races. The comments slow down because people are watching!!

Anonymous said...

I dunno who is on PRN ... but they seem to be expressing the SAME feelings that we do ... esp at the 1.5M tracks ... LOL

NorCalFan said...

MV, according to PRN, the following cars are out of the race:
05, 21, 26, 71, 07, 90, 56, 91, 49, 92.

Andrew said...

@JD - LMAO.

It's been really interesting to see the differences between FOX and ESPN confirmed. Carl's axles breaking really bites as this race may now be over, and yet it's still entertaining thanks to ESPN.

Also, I think that this is the best job Rusty's done in the booth in years. He sounds like he used to for the IndyCar races - knowledgeable, not cartoonish.

Martin Vincent said...

@NCF - I'm listening to PRN too, but they were wrong earlier, saying that McCumbee was out. Wasn't sure I could trust them again. Just wanted to ask what the TV ticker said.

Daly Planet Editor said...

This is only the beginning of the "deuce and a half" tour this season.

Lots of stinking racing at very fancy tracks.

Andrew said...

WOW. ESPN (nearly) came back from commercial for a caution...or at least they came as close as anyone does these days.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Did you see how they let Jerry take it directly out of commercial for the pit stops?

That is the mark of a TV team on their game.

Sally said...

You got that right, JD. It always irritates me when the media makes such a big deal that each track has it's own 'personality' and set ups. What they choose to ignore is that the type of races at most of these tracks are identical...mostly single file (at least for the Cup cars), and whomever gets out front tends to stay there.

Anonymous said...

Who on ESPN2 thinks the Cup race was "yesterday" ???

Andrew said...

@JD - If I had the money to build a track, I'd copy Rockingham or Darlington or North Wilkesboro or Bristol. One of the tracks that actually does have a "personality".

Sally said...

I really appreciate that ESPN is finding the closest racing on the track instead of showing KB running all by himself up front.

NorCalFan said...

MV - tv ticker says the 6, 01, 04, 05, 21, 26, 71, 07, 90, 56, 91, 49, and 92 are out (in that order).

Sally said...

Nice split screen!

Sally said...

Some great dicing back and forth!

The Loose Wheel said...

richmoond Andrew?

Martin Vincent said...

@NCF - Thanks!

Andrew said...

@David - Yeah, Richmond is good too. I seem to have dropped an "other" from that comment. I just don't get why nearly all of the recent tracks have been these cookie-cutter 1.5 mile ovals.

Fantastic job by ESPN today. They managed to make a mediocre race much more exciting than the Cup race.

Charlie said...

What race track was Fox at. It couldn't have been this one.
Nice Job Espn.

Steve L. said...

I wish NASCAR could find the advantage that Gibbs has in this Nationwide team. If it's the driver, why doesn't he dominate the Cup Series?

OSBORNK said...

Andrew, I would choose Richmond over Bristol since they took Bristol's unique personality away with the repaving.

The Loose Wheel said...

Andrew it was during the phenomina where tracks wanted to have the facilities to host NASCAR, IROC, IRL, CART, NW, CWTS, ARCA, etc. Only now people are realizing to build different designs.

I get why people dislike Kansas and Chicago though. The other 3 "sister" tracks are uniquely similar and I enjoy them

Anonymous said...

I expected to get so much done during the Nationwide race but I have been glued to the TV.

During the Fox coverage that I saw of the Sprint race, I cleaned my entire kitchen.

I'm sure that FOX/ESPN watch each other's telecasts.

FOX, what part of this don't you get?????

Makiki
Honolulu

The Loose Wheel said...

i slept through the wrong race! lol

Daly Planet Editor said...

Thanks again to everyone for stopping by. We have the post up for your race wrap comments.

JD