Allen Bestwick returns to handle the play-by-play duties at Richmond. This is the first of five Nationwide Series races that Bestwick will call in 2010.
First on the air is Nicole Briscoe, who is hosting the pre-race show with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Wallace will move up to the booth and join Bestwick and Andy Petree for the race.
Down on pit road are Dr. Jerry Punch, Mike Massaro and Dave Burns. Along with Marty Reid, Jamie Little and Vince Welch are in Kansas this weekend working on an IndyCar race for ABC.
Richmond is a snug little track that makes for great racing and sometimes lots of caution flags where the Nationwide Series is concerned. It will be nice to hear Bestwick back on the race call.
Richmond under the lights makes for good TV, but not really from the in-car cameras. The laps are short and the racing is intense, so it is easy for the director to miss a lot of action while trying to use the in-car cameras.
This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the Nationwide Series from Richmond. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by!
149 comments:
Allen Bestwick in the booth! Here we go!
It should be fun watching and listening to a real pro doing what he does best.
WIN!
So how does Mrs Briscoe equate failing post-race tech to "cheating" ?? Penske does NOT have a history of cheating (like Chad/Jimmie) do ... The spring failed and no one knows what happened to the shock since NASCAR didn't open it and the team was hoping to go to the R&D center and open it with NASCAR ...
50/50/$20k is a "slap on the wrist" ?? It's pretty heavy for Nationwide ... esp compared to the two other teams that were penalized ...
Can't wait to hear Allen Bestwick in the booth!
Nicole Briscoe is doing fairly well (aside from the cheating question, which may have been fed to her by the suits) so far.
Don't think Rusty has really figured out Nicole yet.
This is a 1/2 I'm not watching. Nicole's fine, but I will only put up w/Brad & Rusty for AB. CAN NOT WAIT for him to call the race tonite!
This Nicole and Allen combo is one that we might see more in the future. Just sayin...
I think the blonde hair dye is making Nicole go dumb again ... LOL ;-)
Sounds like her mouth's having trouble today ... She's pulling a "Shannon" ... LOL ;-)
WHY is Nicole talking sooooo fast?? That's WHY she's messing up her pronunciation ...
I'm looking forward to having AB in the booth tonight. That should help things along!
I think Rusty makes her nervous! Didn't she have DJ last time?
ah, April's back. Never a problem there.
2 F-15's from Louisiana doing the flyover.
So-so anthem ... IDK what was with the screaming part ...
Nicole tweeting in commercial break that her hubby got the IndyCar pole in Kansas.
E-2C/D AWACS (made by Northrup Grumman) during Cup practice
They had moisture in KC earlier today and it delayed IRL practice ...
Waitaminute ... She slams her hubby's co-workers on-air then tweets he won the pole ?!?! Butter side butter, Nicole ... ;-)
When I was in the Navy I worked on the E2B. Neat planes.
That opening with all the garbled radio traffic has seen better days. Time for something new. You can't understand it with 20 team radios at one time.
no way this race ends before the nba game
I sure like Dr. Jerry Punch in the pits. He knows what he is doing and does it well.
NBA @ 10 pm? Yeah but no postrace coverage.
Nice pit whip.
Rusty is the ESPN equivilent of DW. Both of them need to tone it down
Agree on that one!
This race could very well be a snoozer - Kyle Busch runaway.
crowd's pretty sparse....been that way a couple years now. Shame, because it's a great race, and the tickets aren't that much.
How many times have I said this during NW races, please booth, turn down RW's mic a notch!
Hello all wow what a treat I didnt know AB was going to call this race and was waiting for him to throw it to Marty but when this didnt happen a big smile came across my face Very Nice :P Hello to all happy Friday to all
I know there is nothing I can do about it but the bottom ticker sure is distracting.
Hey, Anon 7:45,
Denver-Utah Game 6 is scheduled at 8 p.m. (MDT), after the Nationwide race.
If NASCAR is smart, they'll stay with the race until the end. When TNT had its Thursday doubleheader, second games that started 20 minutes past the advertised time was common.
Don't be surprised if they make a quick exit following the checkered flag, though.
ESPN- In your plans to replace Jerry Punch in the booth this year, you made a mistake this year. You're showing us tonight the way it should have been.
Allen Bestwick blows Marty Reid away. Best PBP guy ESPN has.
Not sure how we're gonna hear much of AB with Rusty doing his DW impression tonight...
"This Nicole and Allen combo is one that we might see more in the future. Just sayin..."
Do you know something we don't, Editor? ;)
More commercial time then race time so far.
Annon: to be fair Con-Way wanted to go NW racing, not Truck racing. It was the sponsor's call and they made it. Now all parties have to live with that reality.
Good broadcast, but alot of tight shots. Would prefer more wide angles.
RIR may be due for a re-seal...
Long caution for a spin with little debris or cantact. Lotsa ad time.
and on that note...I love Pops Eury, but he has to be the worst tv guy ever, lol. I will admit the caveman/fire thing makes me laugh.
Sgt. Schultz: I know nothing!!
Rusty - they got "blowed out" ? He is from the Larry Mac school of english.
If I read things right, Con-Way is the reason Braun still has a ride in Nationwide. Didn't Roush want to can him & the sponsor asked him for a less stringent punishment? I could be wrong.
And to add to what I said before, I don't have anything against Marty Reid. I just like AB more.
Andrew, I agree w/you. Already have yelled at Rusty to shut up a couple of times!
That is correct. Con-Way is invested in Collin Braun rather than Roush-Fenway.
Man, hope Willie gets a good finish. Great report by Doc
Well, Stenhouse flat out nailed Roush teammate Carl Edwards last week. There are some problems there. Both Braun and Stenhouse seem like good kids but Roush is impatient.
Can we turn Rusty down or off like we need to do to DW.
Rusty and DW are the gradest of there error.
;-)
KRKO-AM just now joined the racecast ... Ugh!!
Apparently, they couldn't be bothered to cut away from whatever national show they were carrying via FoxSports ... :-(
They need to hurry up & get the 2nd station up & running ...
Too much 5 hour energy drink for Rusty.
Guys, if you are new to TDP we are talking here about the TV telecast and the folks involved in it on the air.
Our site is about the TV and media folks in the sport.
Tonight is interesting because Allen Bestwick is back in the play by play role after a long absence and Nicole Briscoe is hosting her second infield studio gig of the season.
Looks like this spill is going to take a while, wonder if we will see Nicole and Brad?
I think all the team owners are impatient in the Nationwide Series anymore.
"Win all the races right away or get out of my car so a Cup guy can drive for me."
-James Finch firing Mike Bliss who was 6th in points with a win & 10 top 10s last year in favor of Newman/Sorenson
-Townley replaced by Bowyer
-Bires replaced by McMurray
-Braun's ride being given up so Kenseth can "make the team feel good" (generate sponsorship dollars).
That's why I hardly watch anymore...
JD, I miss the pre-race days when you did it from pit road and it contained 30 minutes of driver intros and highlight packages of prior races at the track. It's almost like a 30 minute NN anymore before the race which gets old and tired.
AB is doing a fine job leading this, but with as fired up as BD was during pre-race I feel we will certainly see them again if not to have a Cup driver in for a "surprise" guest appearance.
Got emails telling me Tiger Woods missed the cut in Charlotte.
I don't do golf! LOL!
Con-Way had been with Stacy Compton & Wyler in Trucks before they switched to RFR / Colin ...
Carl had admonished Ricky on MRN when he was in the garage after the wreck ... ESPN didn't interview Carl & Ricky until AFTER the race ... And Carl still admonished Ricky ... The black car (BScott??) that was behind Ricky had been slam drafting him and got him right before Ricky got Carl ...
All that time under catuion, and no mention of the damage to the #7 car after getting that rear end in the nose? Disappointing.
David, the Infield Pit Studio is really just a Hollywood Hotel part 2.
Not a big fan of either.
Don't get me started on Chris Myers!!
Wide shots and no little side by side windows would be nice.
What did Daugherty get fired up about during the pre-race show?
Editor - this blog is about NASCAR NOT golf ! LOL
You can't believe how many golf tweets I get because folks think I am the golfer.
I never knew you liked NASCAR! DOH!
Young drivers being brought up too fast JS.
Con-Way came to Trucks with Sprauge and Wyler, but bailed to RFR to back Collin. Collin is their guy long term much like Grainger was with Biffle when he was coming up through the ranks.
JD, I know your sentiments and I share the same. I can't for the life of me understand why they can't make it simple. The Setup format for CWTS has it down pat. You'd think networks would try to cut costs but rather than that they just sell more commercials. But lets not get me started on COMMERCIALS! lol.
True, no update on Arpin, that's a shame.
JS - That Penske wasn't trying to cheat, just crappy parts last week.
Ohhhh John Daly - got it now !
Enjoying listening to AB do the PBP, but wish Rusty would shut up. I loved him as a driver, but he sucks as a pxp guy.
JD, glad the PRISM cars missed the race tomorrow? lol
Finally a S&P update. But Marty Reid actually calls them out.
I bet that Verizon in-car shot commercial cost a few buck.
Both PRISM cars and Max Papis missed the race. Max just drove it too hard and it was his fault. The PRISM guys did not have the speed.
BTW, Rusty is horrible so far! I agree with ya.
Loving AB's PxP but we're getting precious little between Rusty and 10,000 commercials.
S&P for tomorrow still looks ugly even without PRISM.
#32 is totally blank, 87, 09, 36, 64 all look like likely candidates. Mears may try to run though...
Too much Brewer already.
Leffler has always been rough on equipment.
If both FOX and ESPN would get in the 21st century and do side by side during commercials they sure would keep a lot more people watching. IRL does it almost every race even when it is on ABC.The technology is not that hard. Must be a legal deal in there somewhere that prohibits it because it is a no brainer. Just do it !!!
Huh, that was actually a pretty good Tim Brewer segment. And it was a double-box! Wow.
Side by side won't happen because IRL doesn't have a 700 million dollar TV deal. They also have alot of series supporting sponsors footing that bill I.E. Honda and IZOD.
I'm not so much in favor of side-by-side as long as networks attempt to frontload as much as possible, get what they can during extended delays in, and break in when something happens which seems to be happening less and less now.
The ESPN boys are on it tonight. Now...about Rusty....
Is anybody logging commercial minutes versus actual on air race minutes? This is about to get out of hand and its still real early.And I very seldom complain because I know what pays the bills.Can you sell 2.5 hours of commercial time for a 3.o hour race?
Wow, that's a pretty bombshell report by AB!
wow did not know about the Red Man advertising gig.
how about a pit reporter going to menards pits.
AB knows how to mix the content pretty darn well.
Or don't update pit road before the restart, show the lame crew cam instead...
I guess menard pulled into the pits because he knew a wreck was going to happen.
Is anybody else already tired of Rusty's "When I was driving.....". ENOUGH already.
Hi everyone -- just got in and I see the race is in progress. nice to hear Allen's voice!
Nascar live leaderboard keeps locking up tonight. Just something else I don't need to check out tonight.
Even the Marlboro sponsorship finally left Penske this year.
What KFC has a sandwich with no bun? Lord help us.
Is Jim Utter insane on Twitter or just a "funny" guy, saying no one would watch SxS coverage?? My goodness, there have been ALOT of commls tonite so far...:(
Wow, that was a great shot from the blimp.
Good grief, this is a demolition derby tonight! Feels like we've run more laps under caution than under green.
Pam, it's a toss up on that question!
Love the updates that Allen is giving on the field. Off to commercial again.
The blimp shot would be nice to watch for a few laps.
Keep thinking I've died and gone to heaven and then Rusty talks. Glad to see AB hasn't forgotten how to call a race
What's with the mumble mouth music in the bumpers?? Tres annoying!
how about in the small window a field run down and in the bigger window the blimp shot of the whole track.
I think what they're doing in regards to the commercials is, because of the NBA game coming up, they're front-loading the commercials.....that way the commercials are out of the way as the race winds up, and they don't have to take anymore commercial breaks. Once the race is done, they can go directly to the NBA game.
I like Allen calling the race, but I still think ESPN isn't showing the cars in mid-pack enough. They have fans too.
Just weird how the commercials are sticking out like a sore thumb this season on both NNS and Cup telecasts.
I will say this for Rusty - while he needs to stop talking over AB and AP, at least he has good points to make and isn't just cheerleading. DW, on the other hand, is full of hot air these days.
Rusty and AB just don't seem to mesh well in the booth. Rusty worked much better with Marty.
Maybe we could get Marty and Rusty to anchor the NW broadcasts for the second half of the season, while AB, AP, and DJ handle the Cup races? Please?
shut up, Rusty!
Andrew, what we are hoping is when ESPN takes over Cup in July, that they have one team for NNS and one for Cup.
The big problem has been having one set of announcers do practice, quals and race for both series.
Nicole sounds like she has settled down a little bit and they are using the pit reporters - unlike Fox who apparently is paying pit reporters to just hang out near the cars, but not actually report anything during the race.
is there ANYONE in the stands???
No one there. Been a big topic on Twitter and behind the scenes. Nice night on a Friday in Richmond with cheap tickets.
BESTWICK MUST REPLACE MARTY REID
IT IS SO OBVIOUS
Wow ESPN has improve so much. Enjoying through the field so far.
Nice run-down by the pit crew.
ESPN moves at a glacial pace. AB in the booth for five races this season is a good start.
When the race is good, the comments die down. Always true!
JD
remember when you'd be in BOC yelling at the truck about thru the fields?
Nice rundown by the ESPN pit reporters there!
Now please excuse me while I ensure that I have not accidentally slipped into an alternate dimension.
Might make that NBA tip-off yet!
This has been a first-class production tonight.
Though I do wish they'd quit with so many in-car cameras.
We used to go to Richmond all the time. I loved the racing there, but we had a less than optimum experience with the parking at the track.
From the look of things, we could have gone tonight and gotten out with NO problems. Maybe we aren't the only ones that got tired of the hassles in the parking areas.
I guess you might call that a Nascar caution.
How did Leffler save that thing? Nice move.
Good coverage of the pit stops there. Could have had a better angle at the exit of pit road, since that graphic is always on the left, but they panned back over before it got too high to see the cars. It's nice to see that someone in the booth is watching.
It would take about 20 minutes to run the remaining laps under green.....so they have about 15 minutes of caution time to play with and still get to the NBA broadcast on time.
Very tough to figure out - even in today's economy. The only real answer is folks losing total interest in NASCAR - otherwise TV ratings would rise as folks stay home. Yep Talladega was up 9% but that is the only one for 2010.
I just hope NASCAR hears the reality of what is happening. That is especially true in trucks and NNS.
Hear it ? They can see it - in the stands.
Couldn't go a race without Rusty's fast hot rod reference.
@Charlie --- they probably call him Coleman to make sure no one confuses him with Robert Pressley.
Took Rusty a while to settle down.
You feel he has "settled down" ?
This is a local hard break right now. Makes me think this is the last break of the broadcast. Or at least until the checkers.
He stopped talking overtop of AB and Andy. Tough to get Rusty to listen sometimes. Kind of like ole DW!
10% commercial rule - did not apply tonight.
OOPS
JD - where is Wally Dallenbach? Does he just show up for the six TNT races then we never hear from him? He has no other gigs in broadcasting?
Wait until FOX tries to slam breaks into the short track action tomorrow night. UGH.
Last I checked, Wally was doing an outdoors show for another network. Outdoor Channel maybe?
He is not involved in the TV part of the sport except for TNT.
Penalty 22.
He did not make that line.
Boy tires might be a problem tomorrow...
NASCAR still has blinders on about why fans aren't coming to the tracks. They want to blame it all on the economy. That certainly plays a role, but if that were the only reason people would watch it on TV instead, but they aren't because as we've discussed many times on this blog, the TV coverage has been lacking too over the past few years.
The racing "product" that NASCAR has put on the track over the past few years simply hasn't lived up to the past or the hype.
Once people had to make a decision of whether to pay the mortgage or buy race tickets, well, it was an easier decision if the sport wasn't the one they had grown up with and loved.
ESPN has really improved its work on the Nationwide series this year, but Fox needs to make big changes in its presentation.
Once people find something better to do on Saturday or Sunday, its really hard to get them back.
ESPN has certainly listened
Thanks for showing all the cars go across the finish line.
How have the ratings been for the Nationwide Series? I've had very little interest in the series since it became Cup Lite. I only watch Daytona, Talladega, the road course races, Richmond & Bristol anymore (the tracks that have character). Beyond that, I just don't care anymore & haven't since '05 or '06.
And what a finish! Biffle (Baker/Curb) almost got their miracle win. Hopefully a hard-fought second can get them a sponsor.
Since when did they quit using commitment cones in the pits?
Mike, they don't use it for Richmond and Martinsville since the cone would be too close to the racing surface. That being said, I thought you had to have the right sides on that line...
Those guys did a good job tonight. Real nice way to get back on track after the rain weeks.
Fantastic job from everyone involved. As the broadcast went on, it felt like Rusty got better; I have a feeling that his issues at the start were just from him not meshing well with Allen Bestwick's style.
This was fun tonight! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to join us. We are live blogging the Cup race tomorrow night on FOX too!
Hope to see you then! Thanks!
JD
What happened to the follow-up on what happened to Allgaier on the restart??
I think it was so so. Still to many tight shots, not following up on some cars that were damaged and of course commercials.
I think a lot of NASCAR's problem is due to the age we live in. We have cars based on 70s technology with commentators from the 80s or 90s with the races lasting 3 or 4 hours. People today want the latest technology with instant results given by folks from today. We old folks want racing like it used to be but today's youth wants sports like it has never been. Baseball was passed by because it didn't keep up with the times so maybe NASCAR ..........
It was so nice to hear Allen doing the PXP. It was great. Good camera work, too.
I can live without Rusty and Brad, but when its a well done broadcast, they bug me a lot less.
All in all, it was fun to watch tonight.
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