So often it seems that when something special is about to happen for NASCAR, some other issue pops-up and steals the media spotlight. The sport has dealt with the Olympics and World Cup Soccer. Now, the NBA comes calling.
LeBron James is a free agent at one minute after midnight, so Thursday should be dominated by the national sports media playing out every single scenario possible for his future. Expect ESPN's coverage to rival that of the annual Brett Favre retirement/comeback watch.
Amid this clamor the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars will be turning laps at Daytona. The focus of the day, however, will be something that happens a little later.
SPEED is offering an 8PM ET edition of Race Hub with liveshots from the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the speedway in Daytona. It's time to announce the second group of nominees for the Hall of Fame. 25 individuals will be included on the list.
Krista Voda has been doing a super job hosting the new one-hour Race Hub shows this week. She will anchor the Thursday coverage from the SPEED Studios in Charlotte, NC. Mike Joy and Ken Squier will be downtown in that same city at the Hall of Fame. They will also have a live audience on hand.
Meanwhile, the "fun bunch" of Steve Byrnes and Kyle Petty will be in front of the fans at Daytona on the SPEED Stage. If there was ever an interesting place to reveal the new Hall of Fame nominees, this is it. Well, that is exactly what is going to happen.
NASCAR's VP of Competition is Robin Pemberton. He will do the honors of reading the names of the nominees. Byrnes and Petty know Pemberton very well. Long before Pemberton became a NASCAR head honcho, he was a colorful crew chief who enjoyed interacting with the television folks. Permberton's dry sense of humor mixed with Byrnes and Petty could make the official announcements rather interesting.
So, Voda hosts from the network HQ while Joy anchors from the Hall and the Daytona trio read the nominees from the SPEED Stage in front of the fans. That is a good amount of talent and manpower devoted to this effort. SPEED is also taking the time to re-air this show at 11PM ET and Friday morning at 8AM.
It's doubtful that we will know where LeBron and the other free agents have landed by Thursday night. While the mainstream sports media may be in an NBA frenzy, at least NASCAR fans will know exactly who is on the next list for the biggest honor in the sport. SPEED has proven this season to be on top of the NASCAR news. Let's see just how far this NASCAR information travels on other media outlets.
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I've heard that they're already campin out at Lebrons house, so how can NASCAR possibly win.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that we could be in the middle of the HOF announcements and have to break in for him, if he went to the store.
yeah nascar has no shot of getting noticed by the WWL with the NBA free agent stuff going on. The NBA Destroys Nascar in ratings and it's not even close. Nascar is going to be in for a rude awakening when the new tv deal is negotiated in a couple years
ReplyDeleteGave up on Race hub back in April or early May. With a full time anchor maybe it's time to check it out again. But in all reality, I get my news online so I doub't there is much they can tell me. Maybe a tidbit here and there, but overall their not getting an hour of my time every Monday thru Friday.
ReplyDeleteThe 25 nominees tonight. No interest from me. Don't care. Won't watch a mili-second of it. Even after the 25 are picked I don't care. I'll wait for the outcome of the final 5 choosen and read about it. Some things Nascar are worth watching, some are not. This is not. Sorry to be so negetive on this pre-award, award show. Just seems like a total waste of time. I'll wait until Saturday night for the real broadcast to watch. The race.
Chuckled at the headline. Good one
ReplyDeleteJD.
"The NBA Destroys Nascar in ratings" What say you John, can this be true? Especially when they go head to head?
ReplyDeleteI think the announcement of the HOF nominees is a non-story. When you announce 25 nominees, I don't think there will be many surprises and those ultimately chosen will be the story when it is finally announced. The NBA happenings make a difference to people now where the HOF announcement is for memories past. Most of the sports media lives in the present and the things they report is a reflection of that.
ReplyDeleteI'm not in the least bit interested in the NBA stuff.
ReplyDeleteNor am I interested in the HoF nominee list at this time, as I have already pretty much made my mind up who should go in next, and I'm 100% sure those names are still on the list.
IMO it was a mistake for NASCAR to release the HoF list at this time, on both the race debut of the new NNS car & a Daytona weekend, as those events deserved the fans' full attention. It could've waited one week!
It's not just LeBron - it's a half-dozen superstars who are free agents, and more than that many teams who have taken the steps to free up salary cap space in anticipation of the free agency. It's the equivalent of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch all announcing they were changing teams in the same off-season and would announce their new teams all in the same week. It's like silly season on steroids.
ReplyDeleteNASCAR will lose in the ratings battle between the two. NASCAR's ratings have been on the downhill slide for quite a while and it's popularity is on the decline also. Plus having the HOF announcements on a cable channel sort of restricts just who all will actually be able to watch it.
ReplyDeleteThe pre-HOF stuff is nothing but fluff, as usual. As to the actual nominations, unless Raymond Parks Jr is nominated, you can consider this to be more of a marketing gimmick than a true, historical event. I've got nothing against Ritchie Evans or Fred Lorenzen. Both were great racers. But Parks contributions surpass both of them and even that of Bill France Sr and Jr.
jim utter has a great point over on twitter: there are (presumably) 20 carry-over nominees from the first shot. if true, that means there would only be 5 new nominees to review.
ReplyDeleteif not true, what happened to eliminate some/all of those men who were on the original list? THAT, my friends, could be a very big deal!
soooo, i'm not going to worry about watching the actual ceremony. i'll catch the list later at night and review who i think should be in the second class, starting with raymond parks and david pearson.
HoF Nominees is not a significant story as it has already determined who will be the final 5. Plus why keep listening to hype of why DW should be in and watch his cock of the walk attitude and listen to him talk about (DW) me, me, me?
ReplyDeleteNBA will rule that media attention wrestle....
Like a lot of others, I'm not interested in either story. I don't follow the NBA, so who cares and the NASCAR HOF announcement is just another blip on the radar screen. With more than 50 years of history, inducting 5 nominees at a time is a joke. Especially when the inaugural class included 2 of the France family -- they need to rethink this and induct some of the racers who MADE Nascar what it is -- I had a really fun conversation in the airport with some NASCAR fans about this issue -- and we were pretty much in agreement that this was not a good process -- just induct 25 at a time until they get up to say the 1970's (the start of the so-called "modern" era) then it would make sense to do 5 at a time from there.
ReplyDeletethe weather is nice, its summertime and I actually have a REAL life. In a nutshell, I won't be watching either the LeBron cam or the HOF stuff.
JD, I was already tired of hearing about Lebron by 10:00 last night - and I do have some passing interest in him and the NBA. As often happens in today's media world, EESPN and FOX sports radio had beaten the crap out of the whole subject - when in doubt, repeat, repeat, repeat.
ReplyDeleteWe were led to believe for six months there would be 25 new nominations. Those in the first class of 25 weren't necessarily in the second class of 25. I really would have liked to had more debate for the second class of nominations.
ReplyDeleteWe already know about Ritchie Evans and Jerry Cook now. Not such a big deal for three nominations. Just feel this is another poor NASCAR decision.
batchief,
ReplyDeleteDon't believe everything you read. The NBA is no match for NASCAR until the playoffs. The remainder of the games appear regionally.
JD
Nascar has been getting some good press in the print media. Stories in Sporting News Daily and in USA Today about the new Pony car and how Nascar is supposedly listening to fans who are demanding better brand recognition with the race cars. But no one can fight the way silly James stuff. I cannot stand how that guy has taken over the NBA and has become the presumptive ruler of the entire sport. He hasn't won jack, but yet has wayyyyy too much power.
ReplyDeleteShould the Coke Zero 400 be rained out on Saturday, Do you think that they'll run the race on Sunday afternoon? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMan I cant belive your all saying what your saying, But it was but a few weeks back when Nascars ratings were beating the Nba playoffs HEAD 2 HEAD so whats that fuss about??? Yeah the finals got huge ratings over Nascar but it was Lakers Celtics so what do you expect? The Daytona 500 was on pace to be one of the highest rated ones until the pot hole, would of got similar ratings to the Finals... anyways I could care less but you people sound so down on Nascar its such a shame. We have a new car debuting for the first time as I speak on ESPN 2 such a sexy car, plus the return of the 3 and Dale Jr, oh yeah and the HOF stuff! The Past, Present, and Future of Nascar is this weekend and were talking about the NBA and Lebron oh well. Nascar is just fine and about to get much better... Give this a couple years when Sprint Cup goes all out and Nascar will be back and better than ever. To each there own and I respect what everyones saying but come on.. Its only been 2 weeks of bad ratings but theres been a lot going on in sports and Nascar is still number one watched sport on cable for this 6 race tnt strech... But like I said before it wasnt but a few weeks ago during the NBA playoffs that Nascar on Fox were getting better ratings so I think were a ok! Love the Mustang and Challenger!!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like for the first time since 2002 we have cars with some side contours to it! Mustang looks like it is its own entire body rather than dressing up in full decal.
ReplyDeleteLove the new Camry actually. Challenger looks awesome too.
Still want to know how many start and parks we will have, I am figuring in the neighborhood of 15 right now max.
NBA vs. NASCAR, umm yeah personally I don't care as a fan because this whole movement to bring in casual fans has done nothing but wreck the sport. IMO anyways.
Interesting stuff thus far.
I don't care about the NBA if I'm bored I might check out a game or go "when did that happen" when I hear someone is on a new team...of course I realize this is like a year later :p.
ReplyDelete@Johnathon. I don't think we are down on Nascar. Or we would not spend any time reading and writing here. Obviously fans don't care about the program tonight on Speed.
ReplyDeleteRating down for two weeks? Come on.
http://jayski.com/pages/tvratings2010.htm
Check it yourself. If you think rating are down for just two weeks it will be an eye opener.
This nomination deal really is kind of pointless in my opinion because they are trying to act surprised. When in fact in a press release, 22 of the names are already out. all 20 from last year that were not inducted are back, plus 5. So that part trying to play "surprised" grates on me a little.
ReplyDeleteStill cool in a way, just wish the press release wasn't a leaked deal.
Nascar has lost a bit of its touch but as much as it pains me to say it, it's because it is still way too traditional. Things need to be spiced up a bit, the NBA free agency is so entertaining because of personalities such as Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Carmelo, Wade and Paul all possibly being traded to different teams (and most of the big markets involved in this).
ReplyDeleteNascar has 36 races but they go to most of the tracks twice a year and it can become pretty boring watching cars around Pocono or Michigan for at least 4 hours. I know it may sound gimmicky to do some of these things but I truly believe having a mix of races can't hurt. For example, having street races, having a short sprint race (something like the Bud Shootout) and then in the off-season having some sort of national media grab to keep Nascar in the focus. I love the sport but I see from friends and family it is difficult to watch a race, they fall asleep after 5 minutes! From their perspective, there is no intrigue in the sport, there is no figure that sticks out in such a negative way that you want them to lose (not even Kyle Busch is cutting it), and in the same way there is no really good guy that people are intrigued to see win. There are just a bunch of talented drivers that go to a racetrack and do their job, there is no real personality behind them. For example, Jimmie Johnson wins four straight championships and personally I don't get the feel (outside of maybe Hamlin and Jeff Gordon for one week) that there's any rivalry or real competition. I would like to see a Lebron vs Kobe in Nascar, and as much as the media tries sometimes these drivers hide their personality and are way too politically correct. This is just my opinion but if Nascar loses the media battle this week, it would be because nothing really captivates them to watch the race