The rain is falling, the day is gray and FOX has five hours to fill. This should be interesting!
Chris Myers starts the day from the Hollywood Hotel with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. This is a one hour pre-race show. Last week the emphasis was on the new DirecTV head-to-head bracket game that puts NASCAR into an NCAA hoop tourney style bracket. The secondary emphasis was on Subway and the launch of the new breakfast memo.
Myers is looking at a long day as track drying has not made a dent in the rain and the entire track is wet. Upstairs in the broadcast booth are Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. Expect McReynolds to contribute to the rain delay and maybe even move from his broadcast booth location.
Luckily, the FOX pit reporters are the best in the business. Steve Byrnes, Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum and Krista Voda are going to be working very hard for several hours to offer the stories of the day other than the rain.
It should be interesting to see how long FOX remains on the air live before giving way to either the local affiliates or standby programming. The challenge is normally to try and encourage the TV audience to remain, but today is still a wash-out and none of the drivers are even in their firesuits.
This post will serve to host your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from the Texas Motor Speedway. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for stopping by!
96 comments:
Max Papis's wife just said the rain is starting to pickup again and FOX says it has stopped.
Who to believe.
Apparently, it's a mist that is being blown back toward the track.
Even the media guys are arguing over what it should be called.
Just tuning it..
Wow, that track looks soaked..
The media guys have to be pulling their hair out rite about now! Sucks if you're a fan trying to go to the race also.
Myers for a second time: "the rain has stopped"... as more raindrops accumulate on the live camera lens.
Why does Fox think the rest of the world lives in a bubble and we can't see through their BS????
I hope Mark clocks the Pizza guy.
Oh great Pizzi is back and I aready took a shower, guess I'll got throw in some laundry or something
I HATE this DirecTV knockout thing!!!!!! They even shut down the Hotpass driver channels this week for imaginary "driver matchup" channels. TALK ABOUT THE REAL RACE FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!
"Green flag: should be dry" I WOULD SURE HOPE SO!.. unless they plan on killing 43 drivers. What kind of weather reporting is that!!!??? Fox's way of saying they didn't actually lie???
Wow, that Pizzi thing really rubbed me the wrong way.
Hmm and folks walking round with umbrellas.......
Mark Martin, what a stitch!
My respect for Mark Martin just increased. It was not a failure to communicate. It was an adult not thinking that this guy was at all funny.
After the Digger and Pizzi colossal failures I hate to imagine what the braintrust (if such a thing actually exists) at Fox will come up with for next year's installment of a completely worthless failure of a pre-race show segment with less than year's shelf life.
Chris Pizzi and Rutledge Wood should hook up. Pizziwood - a theme park for failed comedians.
tuned in just in time to see sleazy pizzi fat guy. how insulting to mark martin and so far from funny. So obvious it's raining & they "hope" to get the race in hype...
I really miss NASCAR but it's not worth the aggravation to try 'and see' the race & I'm too tired to be forced to multi task.
how many weeks until TNT and if Mike Wells is gone & his brilliant camera work, i'm so done with NASCAR. I know FOX will butcher Dega...will we see ANY WIDE SHOTS? maybe 1/10 of the race.
sad the carnival like atmosphere on FOX is the 'star' of the show and not the 'actual viewing of cars on the track'
I hear the chainsaws amidst a crowded tree line calling my attention on this gorgeous, sunny day.
I hate that my love for this sport has been GREATLY DIMINISHED this year.
Should I, as a Mark Martin fan, be very glad I missed that Pizzi segment?
FOX should jsut watch what ESPN did yesterday and do the same thing.
ESPN's rain delay coverage was awesome!
Yet another Slice of Pizzi segment that should have ended up on the cutting room floor. Not informative. Not funny. Complete insult to the intelligence of the Nascar fan base. Adds nothing at all to the broadcast. Sounds familiar now that I think of it.... Digger and Friends anyone?
Now what Gordon just said made sence.. The rain coming down is not showing up on radar.. Must be a light mist.. But wet is wet.
@Andrew- Yes but Mark made him look like the idiot he is
Driver intros have just been cancelled. Gonna be a long afternoon/evening folks!
It's a fog/mist/drizzle mix here right now
rats..the house shook before I made it outside. HUGE tree is safely down. YAY.
Glad to see others upset wMark Martin segment. Fox has lost their marbles and why they continue this pizzi sleaze is mind boggling. Do 12 yr olds even find him funny? The ageism jokes are just not funny.
Was that not the longest interview ever? I like JG but that was ridiculous, they are clearly trying to fill.
Jayski (via Twitter) says that track drying has stopped and rain is picking up. FOX says that the radar is deceiving, the showers are "lingering", and doesn't mention the dryers. Lovely.
If need be, will they push the race back to when the NW race is scheduled to run tonight (9pm et)?
@Lisa - I liked the interview. I'd love it if the pre-race was just interviews like that. (It would certainly be a fair sight better than what we have right now.)
Ryan, I beleive the chance of rain increases during the evening tonight.. Broadcasters are between a rock and a hard place this weekend..
every forecast I've seen (accu-weather, NWS, raceweather, Nascar WXMAN, looks positive for getting the cup race in today. the NW race ill probably end up tomorrow, as Cup will probably go well into the night based on a delayed start, but drying it forecast, does look positive at this point...
This DW segment with the blackboard is absolutely insulting. I think we could understand the scenario without the visual "aid". Also, it added nothing to discussion.
That D.W. piece about Kahne was a bit stupid, but the one thing I noticed is Richard Petty's drawing on that chalkboard looked a bit too much like the creature in the movie Gremlins.
Compare this to what ESPN did yesterday with Nicole Briscoe leading the way during the rain delay for three hours.
I find it interesting that FOX is not mentioning the possibility of Junior being the odd man out in this scenario. (Though come to think of it, I haven't seen much discussion of that anywhere.)
The DW chalkboard segment just confused me. Its pretty simple to understand...Kahne to ? in 2011, Kahne to 5 in 2012+. Martin stays in #5 in 2011, Martin leaves #5 after 2011.
Fox doing something nonsensical and insulting to the viewers? No way, never would've seen that coming! If all we did was listen to DW we'd be led to believe Johnson would be dumped by Hendrick before Junior. Did he really pick Dale to win AGAIN today? Come on man, quit pandering to Junior, Kyle, Conway and the other guys you have personal relationships with.
This 1st hour of coverage is still the scripted pre-race show, I'm hoping the rain-delay coverage will get a little better once they run out of scripted material. Probably still won't be as good as yesterday's ESPN rain fill, but one can only hope.
@andrew: there's been no discussion of dale being the "odd man out" because he isn't. his contract runs thru 2013 at hms. first driver contract to come up is mark martin in 2011 so he's been the focus since the kahne announcement.
i doubt rick hendrick would have signed kahne if he thought martin would still want to run a full schedule in 2012. the real question is where kahne will settle in 2011, not whether dale will be "pushed out" in 2011 to make room for kahne.
sometimes (most times), it's really NOT all about dale -- and as a fan of his, i am very happy with that!
Golf coming up, Indy race coming up.
Wish Nascar.com would e-mail me when the race is on the warm up lap.
off to watch Indyrace & golf!!
Gotta love how FOX tried to sell today as a bright sunshine-filled day on Friday....yet the forecast since yesterday was ugly. Tomorrow still looks like 50% chance of rain too.
Been watching this pre-race for 10 minutes, not enjoying this filler like I did ESPN's
If you really think about it why wouldn't the FOX coverage be full of gimmicks?
After all the "sport" they cover has become nothing but a bunch of gimmicks under the watch of Brian France.
Just announced via twitter that due to contractual limitations they can't do post-race coverage on FOXSports.com.
"Unfortuantly, due to contractual limitations that we hoped to overcome, we're unable to extend post-race coverage on FOXSports.com. Since this would have been a commercial-free undertaking, our goal was to have all parties agree that this would only benefit NASCAR fans, but obviously that didn't happen."
Good F1 race on SPEED right now if anyone is looking for some racing in this rain delay. They don't care if it rains.
First 20 minutes of rain-delay coverage have been far better than what we got in the pre-race show.
This is a DVR nightmare scenario. It's time to extend my Fox Network recording time tonight.
I am trying to figure who is a bigger idiot or has a bigger moth, DW or Kenny Wallace. Both Fox and Speed need to be shot over their pre-race coverage between Race Day and this garbage that they are trying to shove off as pre-race coverage that is rain delayed.
If they can not get on the track today and they race tomorrow....when was the last time Nascar raced both series on Monday? Anybody know?
California raced a Monday doubleheader in '08
Good question! Sure has been awhile.
@Chad - It was the February races at California in 2008; that was the year water started seeping up through the track.
I'm gonna head over to IndyCar, I think; they won't have this track dry before that race is over.
Adam, I tried watching an F1 race earlier this year. My problem was I couldn't tell who was driving each car. The scoring tickers don't show car number or color. I couldn't tell what car each driver was in, or where the car on the screen was in the running order. Differentiating between team cars was nearly impossible.
I'd watch the Indy cars, but my Dish Network package doesn't carry Versus. I don't know how the IRL expects to build an audience on a network most people don't get, and the rest don't know they get.
I call bull---- on Fox actually planning on airing an extended post-race show online. In my humble opinion they knew they didn't have the rights to do this and never planned on paying a dime to Turner to compensate them for it. In my opinion this was all nothing more than a bunch of lip service to get fans off their back about their serious lack of adequate post-race coverage and an attempt to try to pass the blame to someone else and make them look like the "bad guy" instead.
@Chad - Forgot to add that Richmond also had the doubleheader in fall 2008 but the races were delayed from Friday and Saturday to Sunday.
NASCAR is going to make the race call for today at 4PM ET.
Updates ASAP!
why in the heck don't they have a rain-delay graphic on top of the screen as they run their wreck highlight package. Turned it on five minutes ago to see Newman airborne and was worried about the guy for a sec . . .
PRN off the air until 4:30 EDT
Anon, it has not been the best of TV times for FOX today. Myers is horrible.
watching the f1, does the rain not get on the driver's visor?
would they really call it this early at at track with lights, and an imprvoing forecast? (it's only 3pm Central...)
So that probably means 5PM ET if PRN if off air.
See you Monday!
FOX knew there might be a rain delay today. You would of thought they would have had a plan to show some quality programing.
With 60 years of NASCAR history - these rain delays would be perfect for "classic" NASCAR races.
Sure would be nice to see something from the 70's or 80's for 60 minutes while you KNOW it's going to be raining.
FYI -
Red Wings- 1
Phoenix- 1
starting 2nd period.
Indycar race & Bob Jenkins > NASCAR & Goofball Myers, Ramblin Waltrip, and "Look at Me!" Hammond
I guess I can stop recording the wings game. Thanks Ken.
I'm under the impression Nascar isn't even trying today, it's a ligth rain/mist/fog situation, and no jet dryers? This is from the official NWS forecast " AREAS OF DRIZZLE AND FOG
OVER MUCH OF NORTH TEXAS THROUGH SUNSETNO SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL
IS EXPECTED TO FALL THROUGH SUNSET."
and yes the growing trend seems to be an expectation to call this race, I don't get it...
I never thought I'd hear myself say this based on the last 3 years but when the Nationwide race got rained out I said to someone that I wished the networks would get together and in the name of saving money just send the Fox circus home and let ESPN's group cover both races. After watching today's nonsense I feel vindicated for saying that. Weird year indeed......
also update, both NWS, and have weather ungerground have dropped mist/light rain/fog from current conditions and switched to overcast for first time today. I see no reason why this race can't get in tonight, even if they start it at 9pm ET (8PM CT)
Wow, is Mark unsponsored?
He's wearing a Hendrick car dealership firesuit.
@Anon 4:17 - Yes, it's Hendrickcars.com. He ran this at Atlanta already this year. There are 4 more points races he doesn't have a sponsor for, plus the All-Star Race.
Hello all, man I wish they were still in Phoenix just for the fact we all would be blogging about a race right now, Hows it looking do you guys think we will get this in or should I turn off my tv???? Weather.com says 10% chance a showers for the next couple of hours soooo whats the deal????? Hi to all anyways hope we get this one in cause I absolutley hate Monday races
Anon@4:17, Hendrick is the listed sponsor this week, with GoDaddy as the associate.
GoDaddy probably has a deal for a limited portion of the schedule, and Rick decide to use one of the events he couldn't sell to promo his dealerships. Strictly speculation on my part.
Im pulling for a Monday doubleheader, sorry guys.
I work nights and gotta be in in 4 hours.
DW and FOX's LOVE for conspiracy and turmoil needs to go away. DW keeps throwing out these RIDICULOUS ideas and they need to just zip it for a few months and SEE what happens with Kahne and Martin. Speculating now is completely useless.
@Anon 4:17pm: Yes, HendrickCars.com will be on the car whenever none of the other sponsors have primary status.
GoDaddy.com (20 point races)
CarQuest (8)
Delphi (2)
The other races where HendrickCars.com will be the sponsor, unless Hendrick sells sponsorship for them, are Richmond in May, the All-Star race, both Pocono races and Sears Point.
I don't like how Myers just phrased that, sounds like FOX is forcing Nascar to make an earlier call rather than wait it out. TV should NOT be the deciding factor here...
why is everyone giving up so early here makes no sense, it's not even 3:30 central, 4 hours even to dry the track, and we have a 7:30 night race...
statement on nascar.com about the FOX/Turner dispute: http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/official/04/18/turner.proactive.online/index.html
They really need to make a decision with respect to the Nationwide race too, if it would follow the scheduled distance of the Cup race, it could get rather late.
Jayski is reporting it's been called, no word from FOX, what gives?
PRN back on the air - speculates the NW race (at least) will be Monday. They say the mist is too heavy to dry, but too light to show up on radar. They estimate 2.5 hours to dry after the jet dryers get started.
Official - moved to Monday!
Yesterday's rain fill by ESPN had interviews with almost all the drivers, either in the studio or in the garage. Today's offering is just more of Blabber Waltrip and Hot-Air Hammond!miz
nascar really dropped the ball today, you could see clearing skies as they signed off, that was definiately a FOX influenced call..
NASCAR continues to shoot itself in the foot with their contracts. The lack of RaceBuddy and extended post race coverage fustrates fans. The sport will continue to suffer as NASCAR sits on their hands. It is time for everyone to sit down and work together for the benefit of the sinking sport.
12:00p.m. Eastern tomorrow. The Nationwide race will probably roll off at around 5:00p.m. Eastern tomorrow
Postponed until noon on Monday with the Nationwide Series race starting 45 min. after the Cup race ends.
Have fun everyone, thanks for hanging with us today.
We will live blog and tweet the entire race schedule tomorrow as it happens.
Stick with us!
JD
Anon@4:33, what would Fox gain from a reduced Monday afternoon audience? They probably have more viewers on a Sunday night by moving it to Speed, a sister network.
Lets hope the Hollywood Hotel packs up and ships out tonight.
Per TMS' facebook page
The Samsung Mobile 500 will begin at 11 a.m. CT and will be followed by the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at 4 p.m. Fans holding tickets for either race will be allowed to enjoy both events. The Samsung Mobile 500 will be broadcast live on FOX while the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 will be shown live on ESPN2.
this real ticks me off and I dont get ticked off much. unreal and theres lights at the race track. whatever ill spend my sunday night doing whatever but im realy ticked this sucks. WHY call a race this early its beyond me. NASCAR WAKE UP SERIOUSLY THIS IS STUPID
10% to 30% chance of any rain and you call a race?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
DID I MISS SOMETHING??? i know im bad at math but comeon
Its 5pm local time, still overcast, humid, and off and on mist. NASCAR made the right call. No way they can get the track dry.
Folks, this isn't like a passing storm where the skies clear out, and dry air comes in.
Looks like TV did play a role in one thing. Originally, NASCAR said the Nationwide race would start 40 minutes after the Sprint Cup race. Now, its fixed at 4pm EDT. That just happens to be when a live EPL game ends on ESPN2.
Expect the invocation and the national anthem to take place before FOX goes on the air tomorrow. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 12:08PM(ET)/
9:08AM(PT).
The local weather guys are calling for the fog / mist to continue in the early morning hours, with all that finally burning off by mid morning.
I'm guessing they'll be lucky to get a green flag at 11am, maybe closer to 12-12:30.
I thought the first 1 1/2 or 2 hours of FOX pre-race/rain fill was pretty good. The pre-recorded piece with DW and Hammond discussing crew chief decisions and gambling was sort of hokey, but FOX does not have an exclusive on being hokey - and I thought DW's monkey-see, monkey-do was spot on.
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