This stand-alone Nationwide Series race gives ESPN an opportunity to split the crew and allow some folks to take new roles in the telecast.
Originally, Vince Welch was coming to Iowa to call the play-by-play. Unfortunately, Welch was in a minor traffic accident Thursday in Indy and has decided to sit this one out. He is uninjured, but a telecast like this would be a bit much for him right now.
Instead, Dave Burns will return to fill that role. He will be joined by Ricky Craven and Ray Evernham. My mistake from the original posting. Working on other things today and I apologize for the error. Probably won't be the last!
On pit road will be Shannon Spake, Rick DeBruhl and Jim Noble. DeBruhl has long been a utility player for ESPN and is a local station reporter from the Phoenix area. Noble worked hard this summer as the Race Buddy pit reporter and is a radio veteran.
Iowa is sold out and the crowd should be rocking. While several Sprint Cup Series drivers made the trip from Pocono, it should be a good opportunity for some Nationwide Series regulars to get some media attention.
The track is easy to cover and basically made for TV. Great lighting and cameras embedded in the racing surface make the track shine in HD. Hopefully, there is an aerial shot available as this facility looks great at night.
This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the Nationwide Series from Iowa Speedway. To add your TV-related opinion, 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.
283 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 283 of 283OK, if any of you are Kyle Busch fans, I'm sorry, but really and truly I am SO tired of watching him dominate in the Nationwide series.
Doesn't this track have kind of a Richmondy feel to it?
red, that was the most informative exchange I've heard in years.
I LOVE getting inside the mind of a driver and crew chief.
What a pleasure when the booth actually calls the race and gives racing info instead of just being a platform for egos.
Good coverage ESPN.
Makiki
Honolulu
ginav24, to be honest, i sorta forgot he was leading! they have been talking about so much other stuff that it slipped my mind.
Guess he likes being a big fish in a small pond. Like Carl.
Bill,
Great observation. It's the right size too.
and another great comment from craven as to why carl edwards isn't having the tire issue (yet) b/c of knowing how to manage the issue. that sort of insight is what's making this broadcast so strong tonight -- plus some pretty great visuals!
It took a while for me to get in step with Ray, but he has been consistent and informative for several seasons for ESPN.
This is a big moment for him and Ricky.
Yes, this is a really smooth team. I'd like to see them be THE team for ESPN's Nationwide coverage. Much better than that mess last week.
I'm not sure that I'm watching tomorrow's race. ESPN Sr didn't impress me much with their Indy coverage and Pocono is not that exciting. I've been there and IMO its worse being there than at home. Plus and I know this may sound stupid to others, but I'm still ticked off with NASCAR over the driver fines issue so i'm not willing to waste my day on Sunday watching TV. I'm thinking about voting with my remote.
Hey look, its a version of the battle cam! very nice
The Apocalypse may be upon us, I'm really enjoying this race a lot tonight. R & R work flawlessly together. They are informative, and polite to each other. And they never talk down to us fans!Excellent job espn. I've probably jinxed Cup race....
Craven and Evernham are giving us great information tonight. Love this style of commentary.
Sally, right on! Red, yes they are giving a lot of really good info, but it caught my attn just as they went to commercial.
The booth is doing something that most the others don't do and that is talking to us as race fans.
The coverage here actually reminds me of the 'glory days' of ESPN covering Nascar. Very few in car and bumpeer cam shots, keeping an overall view of the race. It was almost worth missing the green flag because of the tennis to see this telecast. BRAVO ESPN!
Joyaye, I was thinking the same thing. Has He77 frozen over? LOL
This is absolutely the most delightful, informative race I've seen in a long time.
Shannon I don't think you need to be telling the booth what to talk about.
so why does the progressive banking work here in Iowa and at Homestead, but doen't seem to work as well at Bristol?
Yes, Charlie, that's why it seems different. They aren't talking down to the viewers but they are being informative. So very cool.
Can we send an electronic copy of this broadcast to NASCAR and say "see, this is how it SHOULD be done"?
TexasRaceLady - I'm really enjoying these guys tonight & its really astounding how good they are! We're getting treated like intelligent fans! I'm really liking this
I think a reason a lot of us are enjoying the race are
1: They aren't just focusing on the big guys
2: All the information the guys in the booth are giving out.
No tech garage tonight? Well, nothing against Tim Brewer, but it hasn't been missed, in my opinion.
@ Gina - maybe its Bruton Smiths version of it?
I think the new banking at Bristol has worked; they actually race there now instead of just running into each other.
And the things is that Dave Burns is working WITH them and I'm impressed with how knowledgeable he is as well. Based on the role he played with TNT, I didn't think he was this good. I so stand corrected. Bravo, Dave Burns.
ginav24: it might be because iowa's progressive banking is more banking all around and there's not really any of that sudden change in banking that bristol (i believe) has.
feel free to correct me if i'm misrepresenting, gang.
I vote for these guys to be in the booth the rest of the Nationwide season.
Wouldn't it be nice to have them next week and they could say how they talked about something at Iowa and now at this track it changes this or that.
Great coverage by the booth, good overall race per se. Not to say that this type of racing can not be covered by the main stream media.
Jojaye --LOL there's a thought. Wisconsin Steve, I guess they do, but it still doesn't look to me like they can race at Bristol like they are doing here.
Of course, there is the chase factor too with the cup series, too
The commentators DID fail to notice that as soon as the 04 was lapped, it was time to start looking for tire trouble. ;-)
Ugh, I don't miss the tech garage. I don't think it adds that much. As one of the other Planeteers has said before - tires are round and they go on the bottom. I got it the first time.
re Jeff Gluck on twitter
I look forward to (Cravens) next comment.
That's what we've been missing.
OK, well, I may not like Kyle Busch, but geez louise, the guy can wheel a race car.
hahahaha! burns started to say "great restart" but changed it to the approved "great double file restart shootout style at the front of the pack." pretty funny to hear him jam all that in and still not lose the point!
To many bumper cam shots. Need more wide shots.
Wish the camera work was half as good as the booth.
Steve- I don't think it works at Bristol. I live 50 miles from the track and we locals no longer go to the races. It's not fun to go deaf and be bored at the same time.
LOL GinaV24 RE: tech garage! If ESPN listens and keeps this excellent team in the booth, perhaps the tech garage could be closed for good.
Has this broadcast made you forget that the first 24 or so laps weren't on ESPN2?
Just read about Vince Welch's accident --- those gentlemen were lucky.
Get well soon.
boyd, absolutely. This telecast has more than made up for that little mis-judgement.
boyd: nope, i have not forgotten. but to be fair, that wasn't a decision/action from this team and they truly are doing a wonderful job tonight.
espn corporate has a lot to answer for but these guys are just flat out good.
I wonder how much money ESPN spent building the Tech Garage. A waste of money if you ask me.
oh, please guys! please don't start focusing on just the front after such a great job to this point. please keep talking about & looking at the rest of the field.
Ricky Craven won only two Cup races.
Bob Uecker was a career .200 Major League hitter. He's a Hall-of-Fame broadcaster.
Evernham's had some GREAT lines tonight. Funny stuff.
I hope they show everyone taking the checkered flag tonight. A great broadcast deserves that finishing touch.
OsbornK, I'm so glad we got to the Bristol BEFORE the chase and before they changed the banking. We had so much fun that weekend. It's a great memory for me. I usually nap through the August race now. I'll admit, I liked the beating and banging they did there.
Boyd, no, I haven't forgotten that ESPN managed to mess up the schedule, but I agree the way this booth has called the race sure has made it enjoyable.
ESPN Sr is going to have a tough act to follow broadcasting from Pocono tomorrow since that track is a whole different animal.
The great thing about Ray & Ricky in my mind is that they can both explain complicated things in a way they can be understood.
In car cams have to go. We are not watching an arcade game.
@Bill--Tim and his bling were on during the Countdown show. I tune him out so not sure what obvious observation he was yacking about.
Richard in NC: and not in a condescending way, either. they are clearly respecting our intelligence.
Nice job by Dave there, giving the shout out to Vince.
There was a little too much in car there for my taste. Its much better with a wider view.
Don't mess it up now ESPN
Gina-The local motels and other businesses are wrried about the August Race at Bristol. They're promoting the race in every way you can imagine and sales are still very slow.
Grrr, wanted to see all the lead lap cars cross the line.
Well that was a little strange camera work at the end there. If they had just kept the wide shot, they'd have shown all the field crossing the line. Not sure why they needed to go into that 2 car shot at the end.
AND they hung with the actual racing on the track after busch crossed the line!
i am quite a happy fan tonight thanks to dave burns, ray evernham and ricky craven. they were outstanding!
(and the production truck wasn't so bad, either!)
Congrats to Kyle & his fans. And to ESPN for a really good broadcast after the miscue with scheduling. Solid A
Okay, Liked covering the battle to the checkered at the end.
Was better than far off camera shot of cars crossing the line.
Glad to know that Leffler was 3rd!
@Osburnk...I didn't renew my season tickets this year because Bristol just isn't Bristol anymore. Not sayin' it's bad, just not the Bristol I grew up loving. Went bad once the chase happened. Miss that.
OsbornK, I'm sure they are. I've seen the commercials for Bristol and its always kind of a shock to me. We stayed in a hotel in Christianburg VA since we were on a bus trip. LOL it was a long ride back and forth, but worth it that time.
So sad that the crappy camera work at the end of the raced just ticked me off. I HATE, HATE, HATE bumper cam, roof cam, single car, close up camera work!!! Otherwise, kudos to the race track!!! So much better racing than what we have been stuck with this year.
The guys in the booth seemed at ease and natural. It was like they had done this together for years. I hope to hear this team many more times.
Just got to wonder how old our profanity troll really is...what a waste of effort!
I feel L'EESPN misuses and underuses Tim Brewer. He's a Junior Johnson alumni, not a dummy, and can be outspoken when given the chance. I look at him as the Randy lajoie of crew chiefs when given the opportunity.
JD, I give this broadcast a big yes. They screwed up a little, but honestly it was a really solid broadcast.
JD, I just had to laugh when I saw that post -- I thought maybe it was past his bedtime.
Ever notice how nice KyBu is when he wins?
We just can't shoot the finish of the race, can we. Is it a mental disorder? I invest an evening in a broadcast only to have the resolution snatched away from me at the last moment like a schoolyard bully. Dang!
See you guys tomorrow for the live race blog.
NASCAR Now is at 9AM on ESPN2
RaceDay is at 10AM on SPEED
NASCAR Countdown is at noon on ESPN2
Race coverage is at 1PM on ESPN
Yes, there is live golf before the race! LOL!
KyBusch loves his team when he wins, when he loses you can't find him he's hiding in his motorcoach.
I thought coverage was good EXCEPT too much bumper cam in the last 40 laps or so?
Didn't they UP the in car/bumper cams in latter part of the race? It got annoying to me.
Booth was great match up. LOVED the sound of the voices and the cadence!
Camera work was better in first half of the race but I missed 1 45 laps or so due to TW dumped CLASSIC from our DIGITAL tier to bump it up to "Sports tier"..so by the time I turned on the race, I'd miss some of it.
But I like the guys in the booth..fun, intelligent.
Now I wanna know, the the truck booth get a call from TPTB to SHOW more in car junk towards the end.
Would've liked a held WIDE SHOT of fin line but they went back and showed what was happening.
Better than the one car crossing and crew jumping around...which Indycar does, too by the way
VickyD, that's my opinion, too!
Ricky is great in the booth. Good telecast!
I missed the first 23 laps because of tennis on ESPN2. On DISH, ESPN Classic was moved to the Top 250 Gold Package from the Top 200 Silver Package a few months ago. DISH also lost ESPNEWS in HD, which I did not like. If I were a tennis fan and the end of the match was moved, I'd be upset, so I won't complain about moving. I will complain about the attitude of the broadcasting companies to play the "If you want it, it costs this much, but if you really want it, it costs this much."
As for the race/broadcast itself, it was great to see a sold out crowd. I live about a half-hour from the track and was considering going to the race only to hear it was sold out earlier this week. I think that outside of the Daytona 500 maybe this has been the only sold out race in any series in the last 2 years. Glad we represented well.
The race wasn't quite as good as last year, but the broadcasting team was solid. They didn't turn the tire issues into a rant on how bad Goodyear is because it wasn't their fault. Dave Burns had a great second race. This team does a great job at the races that aren't at the Cup racetrack. I give ESPN an A for the broadcast itself, but an F on networking decisions.
Burns, Craven and Evernham should be the "A Team"
Missed the race watching X games. But it will be quite interesting as I felt I was watching a chase race from last year.
The announcers (Paul Page and Said) seemed to be reading a script. Words didn't match the events. 2 to 4 cars on the track yet the cameras missed ALOT.
So heaven help everyone tomorrow if the script and the cameras are just as bad.
Thought the coverage was terrific tonight. Intelligent and insightful remarks by all 3 in the booth.
Saddened however espn putting the race/prerace on the schedule for the 2nd week in a row knowing well that that tennis wouldn't be over. For some of us who don't get the other espn channel itd quite sad.
I recorded the Nationwide race and watched it late last night. I really enjoyed Ricky and Ray in the booth. I feel like they called the race that was happening and they were super informative while doing it.
They had a good chemistry and flow between them last night, IMHO.
We need to see more of these guys in the booth. I hope they get another opportunity!
Wisconsin Steve, I believe Randy LaJoie mentioned during a NW race last year that RCR would not compete in NW if Nascar goes with the COT. Guess he was correct!
For years I had ESPN Classic but only watch it when ESPN has an overlap. Now though, even with my Dish $100 package I find they had to include it Only with yet another premium package and pull it as of March 10th. ESPN basically is blackmailing it's customers in to buying it for the occasional occurence. I Hope NASCAR does not renew with ESPN and I have been a NASCAR fan for over 50 years. WTG !!!
Gina, I prefer Kyle Dominating to that of Jimmy Johnson though. Trevor appreciated the chance to race so well with the best and that is the beauty of Cup Drivers mixed in with the NW series. They just should not be awarded points or be limited to the number of races they can enter in the NW and Truck series IMHO.
And Apology accepted. LOL
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