Saturday is going to feature some interesting TV from of all places, Wisconsin. The Road America race course in Elkhart Lake is playing host to the Nationwide Series.
ESPN2 chose not to cover the practice or qualifying sessions. This means that fans are going to get their first and only peek at the NNS cars on this monstrous four-mile road course layout during the actual race.
Allen Bestwick is going back to his roots with ESPN on this telecast. In his early days, Bestwick handled hosting the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show and then called the races for the stand-alone Nationwide Series events. Saturday afternoon at 3PM, he will do that once again.
Dale Jarrett is off, so Rusty Wallace will be joining Bestwick for the telecasts. There is no Brad Daugherty this week, so Andy Petree will also wear two hats. Down on pit road will be Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro.
Massaro has spent most of this season doing his best Bestwick impression. Massaro is one of two fulltime hosts of NASCAR Now. In this role, he hosts from the studio and also travels to races as a reporter for the daily series. Fans have also seen Massaro breakout the old firesuit and fill the role of a pit reporter during select live races.
Bestwick seems to be very excited about this event. His enthusiasm makes it even tougher that ESPN and NASCAR could not get together to get at least the qualifying televised or streamed online. A lot of good and very unique NASCAR content was left on the table.
Road America came late to the schedule, replacing yet another racetrack having financial troubles. The layout features the kind of gravel traps primarily made for lighter and perhaps faster vehicles. There is little doubt that several of the NNS cars will bring out a full course caution after being "beached."
The race gives ESPN and the BSI group an opportunity to break-out the "foot-cams" on several of the drivers. Once again, this is the type of content that would work well in a RaceBuddy style online application for fans. It would allow the main feed to follow the racing while allowing fans to really see the skill it takes to handle these cars on a big road course.
Bestwick is a solid professional, while Wallace has been up and down this season. Personal feelings have always interfered with the way Wallace presents himself on the air. Anger is never more than a moment away and it's not hard for veteran fans to see through some of the smokescreens Wallace tries to set-up.
Since 2007 Petree has been ESPN's forgotten man. Flying under the radar, he has dealt with trouble in the TV booth that has meant a new play-by-play announcer and a new lead analyst. Through it all, Petree has delivered consistent and informed commentary that features a healthy perspective on the sport.
We will use this post to host your comments before, during and after the Nationwide Series race on Saturday afternoon from Road America on ESPN2. To add your comment, just click on the comment button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by!
155 comments:
I feel its a shame ESPN couldnt at least show qualifying! Such a unique race track and we only get the race. bam here you go... No qualifying so we can at least get familiar with whos drivng what car noooooo good luck buddy!!! We will have that ticker across the screen all throughout the race that should be good enough says ESPN! God Espn treats us like crap
JD,
I'm guessing the reason they couldn't put it on ESPN 360 was the NASCAR.com issue?
Never heard of this track before last night while the wife surfed the internet to see where the race was. Ashame that practice, qualifying or mabe a little on air advertising was not done. I do not know the turns, the layout, or anything concerning this Road America track. Does it have the safer walls? Or all gravel traps. Dang - Poorly advertised. We just "bumped" into the information.
Ritchie,
You betcha!
JD
I agree Jonathan and John :(.
This is why they need another channel that would be available on basic/extended basic. I don't know what was on E3 yesterday and today but I know for a lot of areas E3 is on one of the sports upgrade packages. So if they can't repackage E3 to get on a basic/extended basic tier it would be nice to have another one. Then MAYBE we can have a "safe" channel for the N'wide races and not have to flip through 8 billion channels because football is still on & they tell us to go to E3 and then have to go back to the Deuce just as the Invocation and Anthem are getting started and we're kicked off.
N'wide is treated like the red-headed step child :(. It's like they "tolerate" it because it came with it's mother (Cup) but if they had a choice they'd ignore it completely.
And I hate it for those who work the N'wide part because I know they work hard and try to deliver a good package but TPTB act like it's a rock in their shoe they can't find to get rid of :(.
It's just a shame that BSPN has a zillion projects on it's plate and no room for all of them :(.
NASCAR has done nothing to promote Road America's Nationwide race on TV. If it's not in the contract for ESPN to cover practice and qualifying, I tend to blame NASCAR. They must not have read their copy of the TV contract. NASCAR will always be "right" and the fans opinions "wrong." Throwing a token bone like "Double-File Restarts - Shootout Style" only goes so far to keep the fans attention.
espn should not be given the whole season of nationwide races, they bury it when college football comes around and a newnetwork should take over when espn starts their cup races
a network like versus for example
Wait until college football starts!
no pit studio...pretty cool
allen bestwick has so much enthusiasm for this event, i love it
Sounded on NASCAR Now like Bestwick was peeved practice and quals were not on TV.
they should've been on tv or at least streamed on nascar.com
Just in case someone who new is here I'm repeating myself.
Well I'm still a little P0'D with ESPN, but what's new.
I know absolutely nothing about Road America and have been looking forward to the coverage.
I guess we get what "coverage" is in the TV contract, not an ounce more.
Really a great way to grow the fan base, race on a different track with no priming of the pump. As usual, ESPN could care less about the Nationwide series, they're only in the business for the cup series.
SO SAD!
i am looking so forward to this race, i love the road courses and this is a really cool track
@B-Flo--IIRC Fox didn't want it and for ESPN to get Cup they *had* to take N'wide.
@anon 2:57--yes I wouldn't be surprised if there was some clause where they didn't "have to" carry. Heck most are delayed as it is so if they DO show something live it's a shock!
Nice to have Allen walking around as he sets up the day for us since they couldn't be arsed to show anything :(
Since no one knows anything about this circuit really, I might have thought about adding Scott Goodyear.
I love this track and have seen some great open wheel races here and it was a shame that no qualifying or practice and am happy to see AB back int he booth, but could definitely live without Rusty Wallace because he brings nothing but garbage to the booth, kind of like listening to the Waltrip brothers.
ESPN has to bring Ricky Craven in for next season. Rusty is just too tied into his team. Just not fair any more for him to be the lead analyst in the booth.
Assume Dr. Punch is reading the promos so that Alan can get settled upstairs?
I think i speak for many in saying I am already tired of the new Danica hype...all it does is take talent, focus and cameras away from the racing action and puts it on a single car which will run in the mid 20's all day long.
Wonder if they will show us the track by having a car take a lap and use the in-car cam.
Yes, JP covered the transition back to the booth for both AB and Rusty.
It worked!
Haus,
Been told Danica is on the billboards for the NHMS race. Get ready.
Well then, that is a petty good public address announcer. Thanks AB for confirming it was really him.
Somewhat off topic, but watching the World Cup, I see that Samsung & Sony have joined Panasonic in producing 3D HD tv's. It looks as if this is going to be something that stays around. I wonder how long before Oakley and Chanel produce designer 3D glasses?
Normally they run 3 pace laps before the green....I'm assuming they'll do the same today....but I've got to believe it take close to 8 minutes to run a lap under caution. Green White Checker oughta be interesting at this place if it comes into play.
@Mike C, I was kind of wondering about that today...maybe fewer caution laps will be the goal due to course length
I've got to think they'll try at all possible to use "local" cautions. But if a car gets stuck, they'll almost be forced to throw a full-course yellow.
Could almost run 2 commercial breaks during a full-course caution lap.
AB says two pace laps.
Haus, Google TV is about to change it all.
Almost done with website changes, by the way. Appreciate your patience on that.
I asuume that this course knows about 'local yellows', which Nascar seems to have forgotten. Could be a few with all the kitty litter!
This definitely calls for a different strategy by the producer with the placement of commercial breaks.
Showing an aerial view of the track is fine but why not have a car take a lap for a ground level view.
Would not like to be the gravel trap raker guy today.
wooooooooooooooooo here we goooo hello everyone this will be awsome
From Jayski:
Balash said NASCAR will use two pace cars to try to cut down on the length of yellow-flag laps. "We can kind of cut the track in half by using multiple pace cars, and that'll speed things up a little bit," Balash said. "Wherever the leader is, the closest pace car will pick him up and close up the field. That'll help us speed up our process." One pace car will be on the frontstretch as always, with a second in the Carousel.
Behaving pretty good so far!
I have to say this course is beautiful!!!! I think, wait yeah I think I have it here, this should be road course #3 for the Sprint Cup and maybe the chase?????????????????????? ah ha now I have your attention what do you think
It's a pretty track but its narrow as all get out!
IndyCar track. Fast!
This course is so long, Nascar may need to refine its ability to call local yellows to minimize use of the safety car.
narrow is ok as long as there are places to pass...the last thing we need is for our races to turn in to F1 parades.
It'll be interesting if they go back to Road America next year, or if it's just a temporary replacement for Milwaukee and the Nationwide series is racing at some other track this weekend next year.
I think this race is going to be more commercials then the race.
Just throwing this out there, while we are talking about classic CART venues that aren't too narrow.
How about the airport circuit in Cleveland? That would make an interesting road race.
well...i broke out the sirius radio...am switching to soccer during the yellows and keeping track of the race with the MRN guys...15 of them at this track...
I concur....
Imagine setting up all the TV equipment for a four mile road course and not showing practice and qualifying.
What is the record for the time under yellow for an caution?
The world cup, with a nil-nil draw has more action than this.
Burke Lakefront. Wasn't that the name?
Yes, Burke Lakefront.
They shut down the airport for a weekend and turn it into a very wide racetrack.
Cameroon - Denmark has had a lot of action...Denmark leads 2 - 1 nearing the end of regulation...Cameroon is putting lots of pressure on Denmark
Haus.......it's soccer!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!
That be about the only excitement in soccer.
LOL JD! So true must suck. But hey its ESPN im sure that thought never crossed there mind. those people are getting paid well so they could care less
#26 Brian Keselowski, #61 Josh Wise, #92 Andy Ponstein and #04 Kevin Lepage are our S&P so far.
Other than #89 Morgan Shepherd and possibly #01 Mike Wallace, I can't see who else might S&P today.
Miraculously, the #90 D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports car with Patrick Long is set to run all day today. I think that's the same car Kyle Busch drove to a 2nd-place finish at The Glen in 2008, judging by the blue flame paint scheme.
Guess this race isn't that exciting. They decide to show one car pit under green and not show the race on the track.
jonathan, they ain't getting paid not to work. Crew not happy either!
Sorry I'm late, out doing the Saturday deal. Got here just in time for a caution, I see. I'll have to read through and catch up.
So nice to hear Allen's voice for this race.
Don't worry Gina, you will have plenty of time to catch up during the caution...they last forever.
with as long as the cautions are their should be no reason for commercials during the green flag racing
bestwick is BY FAR the best nascar play by play guy for nascar
he is so much better than marty reid and dr. punch
Gets dark at 8:30PM.
3D is so overrated, nobody will buy 3D tvs cause there so overpriced for something that is not that great to begin with
I figure I will switch to the more exciting US Open Golf show.
Hope the race is a good one.
Hey Gina happy weekend to you!
boy that's a nice aerial shot of the restart. Looks like fun.
Hi, Haus and Jonathan -- you were right, I had time to read all the way to the bottom of the comments during that caution. Better than paying attention to what Rusty is saying! just sayin
Good weekend so far, Jonathan. Chores and stuff, nothing spectacular and time to watch the race.
How about you?
Wow, look at paul menard go!
I know I just said this, but wow I'm loving those camera shots. This is a neat track. What's going on with the sound? It's cutting out intermittenly.
We need to see any racing at all, not just the leaders.
JD, do they have fixed camera points at this track?
Yep, same location for years. But, they have to run cable!
you mean cable back to the truck? Are they using a blimp or helicopter for the overhead shots?
ESPN has missed quite a bit of action so far...Carl Edwards has gotten a little off course, J R Fitzpatrick spun his JR motorsports car about 60 seconds before ESPN went to commercial, but you never saw that either...
I hate that commercial for 5 hr energy.
there you go, Haus, we get to see it in REPLAY, not live.
"just a second ago???" c'mon ESPN!!! don't lie to us. 4 minutes is not just a second ago.
you want the truth, you can't handle the truth! LOL
Sorry, Haus, I couldn't resist. I hate it when the tv people do that, too. No, just say you MISSED it.
wow, a 6 second lead and they aren't showing action anywhere else. so will NASCAR throw a late caution to close up the field today or save it for the cup race?
Gina, the TV crew has to lay cable to all of the camera positions around the track. This track is four miles long.
ooops into the kitty litter
wow, JD, that must be a crazy difficult job to do.
Gina, got to pick it all up when it's over too!
well, nothing like having to be the clean up crew too. I'll bet that's not fun at the end of a long day.
23 laps to go and the booth doesn't seem very excited
No, no, no! The world is coming to an end...my 4 yr. old daughter is watching the race and just said, "I don't see Danica Patrick in this race."
LOL, Haus. My niece who is 30 told me very proudly that she had a DP decal for her car.
She was shocked when I said - who cares? After watching a race together and seeing the GoDaddy commercials, she looked at me and said, OK, I see your point.
Very sorry, Haus!
oh boy, well, I guess I can go make dinner while they are cleaning this mess up.
Haus, time for that Go Daddy t-shirt in kids size!
Man, this is going to be a long day.
and now the dreaded "romantic moment" commercials. blech!
did AB just say "a-yuh"? LOL if he did.
there was an article in scenedaily.com about how NASCAR and TV ratings are expected to go up when Danica comes back to Nascar.
As soon as she wins at New Hampshire and Haus jumps out the window!
Ha! JD, I guess that would boost interest wouldn't it? Up till now its been a whole lot of talk and not much action.
Awesome idea - NASCAR at Cleveland Lakefront. Maybe even N-wide on Sat. & IRL on Sunday.
Since I obviously don't understand TV logic, I still don't understand why they could not have had some practice and/or qualifying on EESPN Classic, even if tape delayed.
There is no way NASCAR can spin "racing" at Road America a success. As for ESPN, all these cautions on a 4-mile track makes for lots of commercials slots. This was not a good idea...
@Haus--LOL! Well she'll get plenty of Danica coverage next weekend :)
Road America's track crew wins the slowest clean-up award so far this year.
as opposed to the opinions expressed by the Anon, I LIKE road racing. It makes for a change.
I agree this is a very slow cleanup though.
oy
Road racing is a fun change, but they need to figure out how to have less cautions
De-accelerate, Tim?...
I think some of the anons have been enjoying too much fruit of the vine
We'll be here all night if there's three attempts at a GWC... like the booth poking fun at the track clean-up crew, that was a long red flag.
me, too, Jack. At least they have a sense of humor about it. 30 plus minutes is a long time for a cleanup
GREAT catch of the 32 passing the 90!
I hope they can finish this off!
Oh baby! It's gonna get ugly fast.
Don't think Nascar will need a charity caution to keep this exciting.
There's a new game coming to town. Look for it next week
Sorry gang, we have a little teenager who is going through some puberty issues and enjoys stopping by and saying "dirty words" and spamming.
I hope he either gets a girlfriend, a car or a job at McDonalds pretty soon.
The act is getting old...
Always fun when the kiddies discover they can use 'dirty words' without lightning striking, isn't it? And no school to keep them occupied.
With the ability to type & drone on and on, he/she will probably become a legislative assistant writing laws.
They throw the caution so fast...what about a local until they see if he can refire!
WOW!!! how about that restart?!
Insane moves by Villenuve
@Richard in N.C.:
With the ability to type & drone on and on, he/she will probably become an industry lobbyist writing laws.
FTFY
To be fair, you can't really compare cleaning up a road course with cleaning up an oval. The amounts of gravel, sand, dirt, and grass on a road course are rarely seen on an oval. They probably could have been faster, but I wager that cautions at road courses are on average much longer than those at ovals.
@Haus
I feel like Nascar may just be unfamiliar with the use of local yellows. The road courses they usually run on are rather compact places that are totally unlike Road America.
Interesting question from "NASCAR Now's" DJCopp: This track needs a cut through of some sort that would allow cars to not have to run the full length of the track during cautions. Thoughts?
The coverage is only ok so far. I've seen So Many cars come down pit road with no mention from the booth.
The race itself is Horrible. We have turned it off with 12 to go. Sometimes to big, is to big. The track is to big to cover it well. And it's to big to clean it up in a reasonable amount of time. The length of these yellow's in totally unreasonable.
Click, I'm not watching anymore of this non-sense.
Has anyone timed how long it's taken them to run a lap under caution? It's got to be close to 10 minutes!
While it might not be likely Villenuve's tire holds up. . . just for the what ifs.
How many F1 World Champions have won Nascar races.
One of Rusty's drivers might have put Menard out....let's see how Rusty handles it.
The problem with this track in NASCAR terms is it's too big in distance, but not big enough in width.
Been a great race so far. I noticed today that Allen Bestwick has an unusual ability to make Rusty Wallace tolerable in the booth.
And is there a car that Paul Menard hasn't hit today?
Let's remember the reason this race ended up on the schedule was because of Milwaukee going by the wayside. I'm beginning to think this was simply a way to patch up the schedule. I'd be very surprised to see if they return to Road America in 2011.
The latest caution begs the question: Does Nascar allow sector cautions? No reason to yellow flag the whole track, why not a sector caution like other forms of racing use?
Jerry Punch is just killing it on pit road.
Aside from Jerry's remark about Carl writing a proposal in ink with a pencil, he's been great
I wonder what percentage of the time since the start of the race has been under the green flag? This really presents a problem for the announcers--we end up talking about Brendan's baby!!
I agree that the cautions are way long, but it sure is nice to hear Allen in the booth doing his thing - like real PXP. Rusty has been tolerable, I enjoy Andy P and with jerry on pit road, its nice to listen to the ESPN coverage.
Actually one of the things I've enjoyed the most is watching Villenuve drive this course.
Hey, ESPN. Are you watching the race you're putting on today?
-Allen Bestwick in the booth with Petree.
-Though he's been there all year, Dr. Jerry Punch on pit road.
-Mike Massaro on pit road.
Throw in DJ in the booth, Dave Burns and Vince Welch on pit road with Doc & Massaro, and...Oh my God, an excellent, knowledgeable broadcast crew. Let's take out Shannon Spake. I love Jamie Little's enthusiasm for racing (as demonstrated in the Toyota Celebrity Race that she won), but get her out, too.
MikeC- Possibly. I wonder if they're waiting for Milwaukee to have another chance to re-open. That would make this race look like the one-off Busch race at Martinsville in 2006, the most pointless race ever.
for the love of humanity...restart this race...before my wife leaves me because dinner is getting cold...
still a great run by the 89. morgan is the man in this race.
Anon -- too funny -- I made and ate mine during that long caution.
Thanks everyone! Have a great Saturday night. See you Sunday afternoon for TNT action from Sonoma!
JD
Congratulations to Cousin Carl in his win :)
I liked them having an outlay of the track showing where someone was in relation to the leader.
Love when Allen gets to be in the booth wish they'd put him back up there.
Not all NASCAR races are run for TV viewers.
I've been to many Road America races. The track is beautiful, incredibly clean, with friendly workers, great food, and plenty toilets.
It's a RELAXED track, cautions give time to eat the brats and cob corn, move to another viewpoint, eat more...
Wisconsin and surrounding areas have so many NASCAR fans. The huge crowd today shows that.
I truly believe ESPN covered this race well. Camera work on a four mile track is challnging.
AB is beyond comparison.
I've been a contributor to TDP since '07, and have been very vocal about TV coverage. But, just gotta speak up on this one.
Makiki
Honolulu
I think this track is really beautiful but I thought the yellows went way too long plus the red flag went on and on. I don't think Nascar should have a NW & cup race on a road course on the same weekend. AB in the booth was easy listening, Rusty still yells at us but AP did fine. All in all a pretty good broadcast, although I don't care for road courses. Also, so many new drivers today I think they should have mentioned it more I even saw different car numbers and got confused.
One thing that could make sense for Road America is to change the Safety Car Speed from 35 MPH to 55 MPH (average), which would make the speed around five minutes a lap. The pit lane is wide for that. They could go 45 MPH on pit straight for the length, then up the speed to 60 MPH through the straights and be a bit faster. The slowest places are Station Five and Canada, while Kettle Bottoms, Moraine Sweep, Hurry Downs, are able to be run at maybe 55-60 MPH. Also seriously look at local yellows when pulling cars off when it's a single-car incident and use the safety car only for multiple incidents, severe debris on the track, and of course oil and fluids.
The Carl Edwards love-fest from the announcers was too much.
I am a rusty fan i am about tired of your constant trashing him . This guy is a pro you need to back off. I watch all the races and i dont agree with you at all.
How could you be a race fan of any kind and not know Road America! The best road course in the US!
I have watched races there and raced there myself, it is a fun and challenging track.
I thought ESPN did a magnificent job, best race coverage of the season for either of the series. Maybe it helped that I knew the track and it was a good race.
There are several items that need clarifing about Nationwide at Road America.
1. NASCAR had radio problems which caused them to switch EVERYONE to the same channel. This created a lot of confusion as to who was talking to whom and who were the instructions intended for.
2. A "caution lap" at Road America is 7 minutes. It was NASCAR's call to go "full course yellow" ANYTIME a Safety Crew had to respond to an incident. Even CART let the Safety Crews handle issues under a local yellow. NASCAR wants the field bunched up.
3. The Timing and Scoring, which is handled by NASCAR, couldn't figure out the position of the cars before going "green". This added 2-3 more laps of yellow.
4. According to ESPN, they had 50 some cameras in use for this race and layed 20 some miles of cable. Road America already has TV connection boxes located around the track. They simply plug the cameras in these boxes and the boxes feed the trailers. Because of HD TV cameras, each one needed 4 cables.
I'm truly sorry for all of the yellows and the time it takes but that wasn't our call.
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