It's a scenario that fans, teams and officials dread. While Friday signals the beginning of the TV coverage from Talladega, Saturday is on the minds of many.
Strong storms that have already produced severe weather across the Midwest are moving into the Southeast. Talladega is right in the path of this system.
When NASCAR gets together for a big weekend, there is a lot of equipment and manpower that is positioned at the track. Between the staff operating the facility, the crews working on the race cars and the large contingent of TV folks, there are a lot of people to take care of if severe weather threatens.
The Friday coverage begins at 11:30AM with Nationwide Series qualifying. This is another weekend where ESPN just covers the race, so SPEED will handle this session. Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Hermie Sadler have done a solid job again this season of covering a series where all the actual races are telecast by ESPN.
The Sprint Cup Series practice sessions are at 2 and 3:30PM ET. The NASCAR on FOX team will handle that coverage on SPEED with NASCAR Live programs before, between and after the two practices. There is usually a lot to talk about when practice is going on at Talladega.
5PM brings the ARCA race on SPEED with Rick Allen and Phil Parsons on the call. Wendy Venturini and Jim Tretow will handle pit road duties. This is always a time when lots of deep breaths are taken as many of the ARCA drivers are not very experienced with a speedway the size of Talladega.
The TV day ends with Trackside at 7:30 and another new Hall of Fame biography program at 8:30PM. This time, it is Bill France Jr. who is the subject of the show. This series from the NASCAR Media Group has been outstanding.
The weather today at the track is sunny skies with temps in the high 80's. As we mentioned earlier, all that will be changing quickly as the storm front approaches on Friday night. While the ARCA teams will be gone, that will still leave about eighty Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series teams at the track.
This post will host your comments about the Friday TV coverage from Talladega. 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 taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
44 comments:
Here in Houston it's already raining this morning. Has anyone noticed the starting lineup of the ARCA race for tonight. Larry McReynolds' son, Brandon, is starting 18th. Hope he has a good race too. Maybe the weather will sunny and clear tomorrow - the forecasters have been known to be wrong before . . . . . .
JD,
Not sure where you got your miss-information you tweeted on Twitter last night:
@BoSoxCutie19 He will miss the early one. The second one cranks at 3:30PM.
April 22, 2010 8:19:56 PM
from web
@racetime2010 Right, Harvick just in the media center at Dega yapping. Jr. and company at 1PM for the #3 deal
April 22, 2010 8:22:30 PM
from web
Dale Earnhardt Jr will have his regular Top 12 Sprint Cup press conference Friday [today] at 1:45pm in Talladega at the #88 hauler:
1:45 p.m. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet), 7th in points (1013)… #88 hauler
He will not miss any practice today.
The JR Motorsports press conference is scheduled for Thursday, April 29 at 1:00pm to unveil what is "rumored" to be a #3 Nationwide Series Wrangler car to be run at Daytona in July.
Might want to correct this on Twitter. Even Dale Jr can't be two places at once!
Sincerely,
JR Nation
# Fri. at 1PM ET Dale Junior, Kelley and Teresa Earnhardt with Richard Childress hold news conf. at JRM. Expected #3 car update. about 13 hours ago via web
What gives?
According to above comment this is next Thursday. I don't want to miss it...
oh boy, here we go again! And this is an impound race, so I hope they at least get some practice in with the spoiler.
Rain on the weekend - no one's favorite thing.
Guess I'm in the "who cares" camp regarding Jr's press conference! LOL
It's just another way to sell some more trinkets GinaV24.
Another stormy weekend in store for racing. I hope all at the track keep an eye to the sky and stay safe.
Here in East Texas, tonight could be rough. I'm hoping I don't get blown off my hill.
Yesterday's weather action in west Texas and Kansas plus what is shaping up for today might seem like nothing to what is setting up for Alabama, Mississippi, and central Tennessee on Saturday. The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service is actually using the words "tornado outbreak" in their outlook for the 24th (which is pretty strong language for the SPC).
Let us all hope for the best and, most of all, for the safety of everybody in that area whether they are at the race or elsewhere. For those of you in the area...better make sure the batteries in your NOAA Weather Radio are fresh because you're probably going to need them.
Thanks for the updated information about Junior and the press conference!
If you spot an error, just drop me a line anytime. I get so much info in email that this stuff is going to happen sooner or later.
Kevin Harvick updated: Said in the media center that he was not happy with how the Shell deal went down, but has no hard feelings against Shell.
Harvick also said he was upset the media used anonymous sources in reporting the deal. Finally, he said that he and RC have been having ongoing discussions about the future.
Here we go with live TV. First up is NNS qual on SPEED.
Thanks again for the updated info!
JD
The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center has issued a "Moderate Risk" of severe thunderstorms for a good portion of the southern US for Saturday, April 24th. The next outlook update for tomorrow is due by 1:30 PM eastern/12:30 PM central today. Looks like it could be a potentially dangerous situation tomorrow. Anyone at the track needs to keep an eye to the sky during the day and into the evening on Saturday.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html
@Vicky--yes I look forward to watching Brandon :). Brian's pulled out every trick he can if he can make the rain go away he will :).
@JD--yes Happy had some tweets that expressed how upset he was over the media and their "sources" :(
@TRL--stay safe. We've only had one storm here that scared me to death! It was a few years ago and I didn't get to sleep until after 5 am when things finally calmed down. I was listening hard for that train sound that AM! There was rain with very strong wind!
Has NASCAR ever called a race a day ahead of time due to weather? I'd think there exists the possibility they may do that in this case.
@Mike C, they did that for the September Cup race at Richmond two years ago because of a hurricane, if I recall correctly.
Harvick being mad at the media for anonymous sources on a story that turns out to be true is pretty funny, just like Newman's wife a couple of years ago when they were reporting that Ryan was going to Stewart. I imagine that Harvick's real ire is Shell keeping him at RCR last year when he had a chance to go to Stewart too.
@Anon -- you are so right! LOL But I have quit buying NASCAR trinkets and Jr isn't my driver, so no temptation there!
@TexasRaceLady -- hunker down! I hope you are safe. Tornados are no fun -- living in Ga taught me that.
Man, this is going to be an interesting weekend.
I hope the race telecast doesn't get to much into in-car cams. This track has rows of cars that move not just a single car.
I see where NASCAR and Talladega Superspeedway officials are going to meet at 3:00p.m. and discuss closing the track on Saturday. I'd say by the time today's ARCA race starts, we'll have info what the agenda is for Saturday.
I should add that meeting is at 3p.m. Central time, 4p.m. Eastern
Thanks Mike for the info.
Ryan Newman got punted into the inside fence by Mark Martin. Back-up car coming out.
Speeds around 198!
Blogger Charlie said...
I hope the race telecast doesn't get to much into in-car cams. This track has rows of cars that move not just a single car.
~~~
You can COUNT on too many in car cams. Fox did this last year at Dega :( TOTALLY kills the race, thus my now old joke of "where they racing? Bristol? Dega? Prague"
We've no clue at home between ZOOM IN TIGHT cams and the in car junk. Thus I am DVRing the race and will listen online.
STINKS to have the great superspeedways RUINED by in car/bumper cams. HECK, their doing it today for the SPEED coverage? WTH
NASCAR is no longer a visually appealing race to watch for serious fans. It's all bells and whistles, gizmos and toys. Lather, rinse, repeat.
*sigh*
Just.plain.sad
:-(
I was trying to figure out if they were serious or not about that bird causing the stoppage of practice.
Where are they taking Mr Bird
It's official! Talladega will stay on schedule tomorrow and try to run the NNS race.
That should make it all the more interesting for everyone there.
WOW! Looks like there is a big difference in the ARCA cars. Lots of have nots. I counted 14 cars a lap down or more after not that many laps with no wrecks.
One bone I'd like to pick:
I thought the piece on Bill France, Sr. last week was so syrpy-sweet it, well, sucked. Only the tape of him in the strike drivers' meeting sounded like him BECAUSE that WAS him.
But what can you expect from the NASCAR Media Group?
Kere is hoping the piece on Bill, Jr. is better.
Can see the cloud cover has already reached the track. When they took the green it was completely sunny. Just an hour later, it's cloudy there.
I sure enjoy having Kenny Schrader in the booth.
Rick Allen needs to find a thesaurus. PROBLEMS! is really getting old. Something is off in the booth today. It gives me chills when Rick has to ask the analysts questions, instead of just calling play-by-play and letting an analysts elaborate. Memories of Dr. Punch.
You could sure see the dark clouds coming in on that last camera shot.
According to Live Timing & Scoring on the ARCA website, it's way ahead of the race on Speed. I like Kenny Schrader in the booth too but I think Allen & Parsons and doing a great job!
Pretty good ARCA race today.
I thought Rick struggled a bit today...when he asked about deal making there was just silence for a bit. I mean, I'm not familiar with ARCA, but I imagine they don't hook up quite the way Cup guys do. Happy for young Dakota.
Anon 6:07....did you really think a piece produced for the Hall of Fame opening was going to be critical? I'm not saying it's right, I get your point, but I just wouldn't have expected it to be anything but respectful because of the occasion. I would guess there are other sources out there not so one sided.
JD, the front is actually just to the West of me -- here in Palestine. It's all the humidity out in front of it that's the problem.
Heavy rain is in Mississippi right now.
We're under a severe t'storm watch and tornado watch right now. And all of this is moving East.
NASCAR is always in a no win situation. There are so many folks who already made plans and are in the area. Hope it all works out well.
Hurricanes, I can deal with....tornados? No way!
I enjoyed the pieces on Big Bill and Bill Jr. :)
Schrader like always is a great addition to the booth I wish they'd add him permanently :).
I agree JD Tornadoes are nothing to play with! While you never know how hard a hurricane will hit until it hits land with tornadoes they're very unpredictable. It can go down a street and leave one side untouched and the other looking like match sticks. I hope nothing comes but if it does that everyone stays safe and smart.
camping vs. tornado...very bad.
TWC had been all downhill since NBC has been there. But if we all vent our frustration, maybe they will get it. We want *weather*, not movies.
I have a solution. Why not have a doubleheader on Sunday with the Sprint Cup race at noon (ET)/9:00 AM(PT) and then have the Nationwide race at 5:00PM (ET)/ 2:00PM (PT)? While we may not have the invocation and the national anthem that day, at least we can get both races in.
Glen1 - glad to hear that someone else is dissatisfied with the "new" TWC format. I tune in for weather, not movies and I really hate waking up with Al Roker. All of this extraneous stuff goes along with my complaints about the race coverage. Just show me the race, weather, history (for what used to be the history channel), Speed and I'm a lot happier.
For all of you in the area expected to be in the tornado or bad weather zone, I'm wishing you all the luck and be safe. Tornados, campers and RVs are a bad mix.
I think they shut Dover down a few years ago for part of the race weekend because of a hurricane. Not much high ground in Delaware!
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 93 IN
EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN ALABAMA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 29 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
AUTAUGA BIBB BLOUNT
CHILTON COOSA DALLAS
ELMORE JEFFERSON LOWNDES
MONTGOMERY PERRY SHELBY
ST. CLAIR TALLADEGA WALKER
fortunately TWC is doing what it's supposed to do this morning. And Betty's not being ditzy today. They did mention 'dega earlier, saying things looked much better for tomorrow's race, they just put up a level 9 warning for parts of Alabama.
When they started giving storms an identity (like 'Northeast nightmare' or whatever), I knew we were in trouble. I don't watch in the morning, but I was glad they moved Abrams there...much too perky for the evenings...
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