Update: NNS race postponed by rain. Rescheduled for Sunday night at 9PM ET, 8PM Central. Details to follow on the TV schedule.
The picture above is Nicole Briscoe's view out of the ESPN Infield Pit Studio. Briscoe is filling-in this weekend for the vacationing Allen Bestwick. She may be in for a very long day. Rain has already cancelled the Sprint Cup Series practice and the track is still wet.
Briscoe will be joined by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty for the NNS pre-race show. With Dale Jarrett also on vacation, Wallace is scheduled to move up and call the race if it ever gets underway. He will be joined by Marty Reid and Andy Petree.
Luckily, Jerry Punch is back on pit road along with Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch. Rainy days like this really work the pit reporters and Punch is one of the best at conducting live interviews in these situations.
NASCAR tries to stick to the schedule and announces changes only when they are about to be put into place. Rumors today from the on-site media suggest that NASCAR is considering running this race on Sunday night after the Cup Series if rain forces a postponement today. Monday would be tough with a short week for many teams.
We will use this post to keep updated on the rain developments and possible track drying. We invite your comments as we all watch what ESPN2 decides to air during this timeslot. Just click on the comments button below to add your opinion. Thanks!
75 comments:
Wow, ESPN will be leaving a live event (women's tennis) for NASCAR coverage.
ESPN just announced that they will
take the Swat & Grunt to #3 at the
end of this set.
Wow-only a couple mins late for Nascar.
TSN in Canada is showing NBA Playoffs originating from ABC. No scroll on screen (from ABC or TSN) to indicate what will happen with the race broadcast.
I'm a bit suprised they left on time! Big plus! :)
Big minus- Looks icky over there.
Race somehow switched to TSN2, for anybody watching in Canada.
Thanks MV, I will pass that along.
Jet dryers not going. When its not raining, its cloudy and very humid. It'll take several hours to dry the track. Just call the race.
At least they're trying. You can't blame them for trying to get things started.
If I were a women's tennis fan, I'd be hacked off over what ESPN did cutting away to a race delayed by rain anyway. Probably should have done just a quick update, and gone back.
I also would be very lonely being a women's tennis fan.
anon-word is Nascar is willing to start race as late as 10pm. Not sure who would air it...BSPN is pretty full up.
I am monitoring all the info I can about scheduling. NASCAR always waits.
One rumor says 4:30PM and another says Sunday night. We will see!
The most recent post on the Facebook page for Texas Motor Speedway is ...
Texas Motor Speedway
All signs point to intros at 4:30 and start at 5. Will have an official announcement shortly.
Are you watching Rusty go off on Kyle? This should be good.
Battle of the egos in a rain delay!
4:30pm local or Eastern?...
Eddie Gossage is such a liar. No way there will be racing by 5pm. Another band is about to hit the track, and another one will be forming. This has the characteristics of a tropical system of bands of rain always forming.
Yeah, blame ESPN Kyle.
why not show kyle the video, they showed us, supposedly showing he didn't go... no guts, if you are going to say it when he's not there, at least do it in front of his face too...
Love to know what Kyle said to Rusty before they got on the air.
Rusty never said a word during the segment and then Kyle slammed him going out the door.
Wow!
Sam Ard passed away? Was it during the off season?
wouldn't the obvious question be, kyle weren't you really trying to get brad to go before you so he would get black flagged?
Was kyle's jab to rusty about his kid always wrecking cars?
Yes, because Kyle heard Rusty calling him out about crashing the field at PIR.
Rusty did not say a word or ask a question while Kyle was in the studio.
What the heck was that about?
Had to be someone telling rusty in his ear, you can't ask a question..unless rusty in the end is a chicken#### and can only be critical when the person is not there. Wonder if kyle said he wouldn't go on if rusty asked a question... very odd
Well, apparently Sam is still alive despite Kyle refering to him as his "late friend"
It was "great," I rewound it.
That Kyle interview was just wild.
kyle interview was a great missed opportunity..you have a rain delay, you have mouth rusty and mouth kyle..you have a video, show it to him.. If you are going to bring up his radio comments about crew, play some of those, ask kyle how he thinks it is constructive...just don't get it..
"... besides another one of my good friends, which is the late Sam Ard" was what Kyle said.
bozo, they sure could have filled some time and answered some questions for the fans about the PIR stuff.
i guess it's better to be delayed by rain vice volcanic ash..they say it may go on another 4 to 5 days.. supposed to fly to switzerland next saturday, could be in jeopardy.
Gluck tweeted that nascar announced in drivers mtg they would be willing to start races as late as 10:00 over the next 3 nights.
Looks like late tonight at the earliest. Keep you posted.
@Ann---Kyle misspoke he tweeted that he meant to say "great" but JD says it sounded like "great" to him. Kyle apologized for any confusion
That's the least worry from that segment.
I got a lot of emails saying Rusty was told to shut up by the ESPN producers. Why?
He never said a word during the KB segment.
Are we missing something here?
I heard "late" not "great", but with sinuses having my head and ears clogged up, I'm definitely an impeachable witness!!
No big deal. Word slip is a word slop. Kyle cleared it right up.
Rusty has to be fuming right now.
Whole lotta talking (aka nothing) going on 'bout now.
But on the plus side, I got to finish the hockey game I was watching. (the Bruins beat the Sabres to tie their playoff series)
from your days at espn jd, what would happen if a guest says, I won't go on if he asks a question? would they have let the guest go and tell the audience what happened or not have that guy ask any questions?
bozo,
That is exactly what I was trying to find out. What happened?
JD, ref: your comment 17Apr101606.
it sort of reminds me of when DW did his disappering act when Denny Hamlin was on trackside. No courage by either. too bad Mr R.Wallace just sat there. but as a fan i know better on both instances. just another nail in the coffin for both of them. what a shame to do that to true racing fans. i can see though that. too bad they can not.
Definitely agree since it's nothing that was "ran" with like some stories that go across the wire. I remember years ago a local radio station said an actor had passed. What happened was that since he was a million years old they figured he'd die any day so they did the bio to have ready and the wrong button was hit and it went to the wire. So everyone had reported it and then had to back track
There definitely was some tension in there. Rusty ran his mouth and then as soon as Kyle came in he hushed up until Kyle mentioned the body hanging "assistance".
But Kyle was right if you're going to throw him under the bus show everything and analyze it from every position while he's there!
Rusty needs to teach his son how to lie about the weather. Obviously he hasn't had that lesson.
Thanks to Steve Wallace for telling it like it is about the rain. Jamie can "think positive" all she wants, just don't tell me it's not raining when it is.
Really enjoying this interview with Jr. Dr. Jerry is doing a great job IMO :)
Fantastic interview with JR from Jerry Punch.
would they really wait until 10:00 pm eastern time to start the race?
J.D., in twitter world i'm under littlepigs99, tried to follow you but get that i am blocked..
JP sure knows how to do an interview. He always makes it feel as if he's just sitting there, talking to a buddy and we get to listen. Boy, am I glad he's back where he belongs!
Jr's looking abit shaggy, but the interview was terrific! Doc is someone Jr. feels comfortable with.
@Sally--agreed! that's the feeling I felt as well. Like buddies having a chat and we were able to eavesdrop :)
PammH, agree with your assessment of Jr.'s look. Like Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson role with the reddish beard. Way too mountainman for my taste.
First interview in ages that Jr. wasn't mumbling, fumbling for words, spoke up, didn't keep his head down. Seems he was really into it with JP.
Nice that they are interviewing some of the guys we never see. However, they won't have a THING to show us Sunday on NN.
Does anyone else find the irony of the piece on the 'primitive' first race live telecasts? How the precedent was set to interview drivers as soon as they get out of their cars? Let's see...how many drivers have NOT been interviewed after a wreck in the past few years? Or drivers that dro out of a race with barely a passing mention? Yes, those were primitive alright...when they had to keep focus on the action on the track instead of bells and whistles.
Has everybody tuned out? I've refreshed my page and no new comments for 40 minutes...
awesome segment on the tv history.
I just woke up MV. I knew it would be delayed and sure enough....
MV, I'm just monitoring for announcements. No way they'll start before 7:30 EST. I wish my lawn was as green as that radar.
Tim Brewer saying last night's show "on that other network." Must be told universally at ESPN not to mention Speed's name. Childish!
I like watching this rain delay show.
If anyone has set their recorder to record the race and gets home and sees the race was not run, the show that was recorded is worth watching. A little added treat.
I understand if everybody tuned out anyway, when all the reporters are saying "think positive" and all the drivers are in dress shirts saying they're going to race on Monday.
I just wasn't sure if JD had fallen asleep and wasn't approving the comments...
ESPN reporters are in "weather denial" just like the Fox people.
I really enjoyed the infield studio being used for interviews and features.
It was nice to see the drivers, old and new, getting to talk at length.
I was a little worried about Nicole would handle it, but she did a great job.
Got Twitter, Facebook and this blog running. Trying to find out what the TV is going to do and not getting a lot of answers.
Running the NNS race tomorrow night at 8PM ET could be an interesting scenario.
JD
JD, looks like some rain tomorrow too though. could we see a doubleheader Monday?
@JD - Just teasing!
Well, kudos to ESPN for filling the entire three hours with interviews and features.
Nice job by Nicole Briscoe hosting from the infield for the first time this season.
JD
Did Nicole just say Townley wasn't going to be in the car next weekend? I thought Childress had previously said he was going to be back behind the wheel at Talladega. If Townley is still employed at RCR, sounds like he's sweeping the shop floors because he sure isn't driving the car anytime soon.
I think the reason TSN decided to switch the race to TSN2 in Canada is because TSN had a live hockey game coming tonight. TSN2 is currently in what would have been a boxing match that was fought last night and had an encore of this race scheduled from 7pm to 10pm. Whatever ESPN does, TSN2 should be able to stay with it all day.
Now that ESPN has gone to NHRA, TSN2 has started showing the Friday Night Fights from last night. Don't know what they'll be doing when the scheduled encore starts at 7pm.
Have to agree Nicole did excellently in the Infield Pit Studio and also great interviews by Jerry Punch, like the Dr. Punch we remember from the '80s and '90s.
I too, really enjoyed the entire rain delay show. To use a MM word Nicole was awesome. The interviews were really great to see with the younger less known Nwide drivers. And Dr J Punch was really good, just a really relaxed interview with Jr. & no stupid questions, he asked questions that made Jr think & then just let him answer. Now thats the Doc we oldies remember so fondly!
Now if espn would watch the old films of how they used to cover racing & put it in place now it would be great! PxP calling the race, interviews with drivers, less is more.
Really a good job today, heck cRusty didn't get to me too bad even. Tho' his silence with Kyle was deafening ;)
NNS race will be run on Sunday night at 9PM Eastern, 8PM Central time on ESPN2.
Thanks for the update JD.
Just getting around to watching today's rain delay coverage.
IMHO This was the BEST rain delay coverage I have seen in many years, probably the best ever. Nicole did an excellent job as the host and "traffic director".
Still worried with such a strong chance of rain tomorrow that we could be looking at a doubleheader on Monday. I'm actually hoping for it now but should the Cup race get delayed that NW race will get bumped in a hurry.
Nicole did a great job from the bit I saw today I would say she is a competent replacement for AB when he is not available for sure.
If anyone from ESPN reads this I just want to agree with something that was said earlier.
THIS WAS THE BEST RAIN DELAY COVERAGE IN YEARS!!!! Nicole was absolutely awesome. The interviews and features were GREAT!
Great job by everyone at ESPN!!!!
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