The final race on TNT proved to be a challenge in more ways than one. Other than the National Anthem, excitement was in rather short supply on the track after a series of long green flag runs.
Chicagoland features high speeds but little passing. That was on the menu again Saturday night. Lindsay Czarniak started the TNT coverage from the infield with Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds.
Kyle Busch was the guest and Allan Kulwicki was the featured NASCAR personality on the Pride of NASCAR. The track description was done during the Wally's World feature. McReynolds and Petty talked about various issues, mostly supporting NASCAR's policies.
Adam Alexander called the race with Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. in the TV booth. It was quickly clear that Alexander would be having a long night. In this race, the cameras continually left the best action and moved to the leaders of the race. In addition, the normal TNT commercial schedule made it rough on viewers.
As the race continued, the commercial breaks fell in the worst possible manner for TNT. Time after time, viewers missed important events and incidents while the network was in commercial.
Petty and Dallenbach talked about everything under the sun. Larry McReynolds showed all kind of things on the cutaway car and the pit reporters followed the stories. It was just a single-file aero race.
This post will give you an opportunity to offer your opinion on this race and the TNT coverage. There will be another post up during the week asking your overall opinion of the six TNT races.
To add your comments on this race, 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.
49 comments:
As Pockrass said on Twitter, the 5 most famous words of this race were, "While we were at break..."
Bring back the commercial picture in a picture...I can deal with it.
DaveA
Lake Norman
"While we were away" sounds like a rehearsed line! How many commercials do we need? I was wondering if TNT would have to say, "While we were away, David Reutimann won the race!"
TNT packing it in on their last race--Daytona make-ups...RaceBuddy rocks!
Loved the camera work but too many commercials. Disappointing after great week last week.
Still, sad to see Mike Wells directing leave and back to in car, bumper cam MANIA>
NASCAR please drop tnt. They have been terrible every single race. Keep Kyle petty but drop tnt.
I was really disappointed in the isolated camera shots of Jimmie Johnson even when he was not in top-10 competition. It just goes to show that the NASCAR powers-to-be just keep on propping up the four-time NASCAR champion.
There were too many commercials today. I am glad that I was off from work to watch the race LIVE, not as I usually watch on the DVR. I watched it mostly on RaceView and RaceBuddy with the commentary on MRN.
Waaaaaay to many commercial breaks tonight. Fans at home deserve picture in picture commercials every race!
The Positives:
- Kyle & Wally in the booth
- Ralph shined on pit road these past 6 weeks
- Matt & Marty solid as usual
- David Reutimann earning a victory
- ARCA race on Speed, really fun to watch.
The Negatives:
- AA just not clicking. I listen to Adam and I hear a reporter and a SPEED broadcast member, not TNT play-by-play announcer. Ralph is welcome in the booth next year.
- Commercial overload and poor timing
- Phil Parsons. I listen to Phil and I hear a confused reporter and a SPEED broadcast member.
- No more RaceBuddy for the rest of the year. It is a fantastic supplement to a poor broadcast.
- Lousy Cookie-cutters. It has been a while since a Chicagoland race was fun to watch. Not all 1.5 milers are bad, Charlotte and Atlanta have great character that can't be copied. Chicagoland has no character.
TOTALLY LAMO to go off the air early again? WTH? Can't fill in 6 minutes for LAST show?
HORRIBLE calls at TNT to ALWAYS leave air before the scheduled time ends? Epic FAIL.
Good news, they are done for the year, bad news they will probably be back next year.
Really good post-race coverage on nascar.com tonight.
I thought TNT did a pretty solid 6 race segment this summer at some tracks that just don't lend themselves to exciting racing. Not much they can do about that. Kyle and Wally are a good tandem in the booth. Adam seemed nervous sometimes. But it's his first time leading the booth. One thing I like is that TNT doesn't show favoritism towards certain drivers like Fox does. They didn't fawn over Juneyer constantly like Fox does.
Watching a race on TNT seems more fun and is much more laid back then Fox. No agendas, no trying to sell trinkets, no "me, I, I did" that DW spouts constantly. TNT gets a B plus in coverage in my book in 2010. Fox gets a D-.
Lets see what ESPN brings. I'm nervous about them. I'm afraid it will all Chase, all the time. Hope I'm wrong.
Comment on race only....
Well on the on ehand it was good to see a race run all the way to the end without Nascar bringing out a ficticious caution flag to close things up.
On the other the race itself was pretty darn boring with little action. Maybe RG was alseep when he hit Bill Elliot - he had plenty of time to miss him. Then again there was little else to talk about.
I'm not a fan of the chase format as I think the best guy from the whole season should win the title. I also think Carl Edwards' comments re not having enough points to challange hard for the lead are also telling.
AS far as coverage goes - still way too many avert breaks in the US feed for us UK viewers and this time it was made worse vy missing some crucial moments such as lead changes.
Thanks TNT (Dynomite), for covering the last six NASCAR Cup races. Its been great. Lindsay was the best, along with Wally and Kyle. The other guys are OK, but nothing to write home about.
I thought the race was a great one. I really enjoy watching strategies play out and teams having to work as a whole to figure out how to make their car better. To me there is as much action there as there is on the track and Chicago brings all of that out of a team. Hope that made sense.
The coverage by TNT, not so great, pitiful actually. If it wasn't for race buddy and Twitter, I would have been totally frustrated off my rocker.
Wow so glad I got to see both races this weekend live! SOoooo happy for David, I have to saw I did shed a tear or two tonight! Thanks Chicagoland Speedway! Thanks TNT for what I thought was the best coverage of the year so far, and thanks JD!
ESPN here we come
It felt like we were at commercial every 5 laps they just seemed to be so frequent tonight.
I really enjoy the Pride of NA$CAR segments and will miss those :(.
I'll really miss RaceBuddy! I wish FOX and BSPN would sign up for it. It's a welcome need!
I'm just thankful I don't have to hear Kyle Petty anymore until next year. I can't tell what's worse; his driving or commentary. I wish a mute button existed for the commentators. Aside from the astounding pit-road reporters, Wally Dallenbach is the only good thing to come out of the TNT race broadcasts. He's the only one who's both knowledgeable and not annoying.
Switching back and forth between the ARCA and Cup races made me appreciate how good the TNT booth is. Mikey must get paid by the word for his announcing, as he rarely shuts up, and talks as fast as he can. Thank goodness for Schrader being there to squelch him occasionally. The racing 'action' at Chicago was so sparse that the RB 'battle cam' was at a loss, and made me dizzy as it tried to find close competition somewhere on the track. The new 'cookie cutter' track may have different set ups for the teams, but the races at most of them are consistantly generic. There isn't much TNT can do when they have to broadcast from tracks that have nap producing races. I still find them the best of the bunch so far.
I will miss TNT. This was another boring race caused by nascar's stupid decisions. But, I really enjoy the atmosphere the booth brings to the viewers. I feel they try to broadcast the race as a race and do not try to broadcast the race using the stick and ball format. Also, I really enjoy the majority of the camera shots. Mostly wide angles, lots less in-car cam, bumper cam, roof cam, jumping from one camera to another so often I turn it off. Yes, they missed a lot. I do not know why they did not focus more on the strong cars at the back of the pack at the start of the race. Seems like there would be a lot of action there? All in all, TNT is the bright spot in nascar broadcasting and I will really miss them.
About nationwide: nascar did make a right decision to try to make the cars look more like what is on the street, but they have a ways to go. I was disappointed the cars were not more distinctive.
A tremendous anthem. I wish other
track promoters understood musical
presentation.
The race was nothing more than a
merry go round which TNT added to
with their less-than-stellar
exit production. NASCAR needs to
come up with a points system that
will make everyone race during the
race by awarding points as the race unfolds.
The real drama last night was the
Phillies/Reds 1-0,11th inning duel.
I didn't think the actual racing was all that bad. At some point, when you have long green runs, these Goodyear tires seem to get to a point that prevents drivers from really gaining any track position. That's an issue that any track, be it Bristol, Pocono, or Chicago, can't make better alone.
TNT's 2-to-1 ratio of live action and commercial breaks is getting old. 10 laps on-air, 5 laps at commercial. It's ridiculous. One huge advantage with ESPN is that there aren't that many commercials. This Chicago race had an hour of commercials during a 3 hour race. Pitiful, really.
The announce team did well and the pit reporters were OUTSTANDING yet again. I will miss Ralph, Marty, and Matt.
If TNT would just straighten up this 2-to-1 commercial business and the going-off-the-air-10-minutes-early junk, I'd be happy to have them along for more than 6 weeks. Otherwise, I'm ready for ESPN (I think).
Not a fan of TNT coverage at all. It's amateur hour when they are on except for Kyle Petty. Thankfully Weber is no longer on or I'd have no choice but to listen to Sirius broadcast during race.
I do agree on one plus above, they don't show favoritism in the booth like Fox (DW needs to go) does and not constantly pushing their own teams, etc. That's totally unprofessional.
As for too many commercials and cutting short the end, typical TNT.
Oh, my --- where to begin.
I must say, though, in defense of TNT, Chicago had to be the most mind-numbing of races to cover.
That being said, Adam Alexander is just not working for me as PxP guy. He just doesn't generate any excitement. Maybe he's just overwhelmed with all the commercial lead-ins he's required to do.
Wally and Kyle work well together. At times they seem to finish each other's thoughts.
The pit road guys for TNT are great, with one glaring exception.
Phil Parsons is good in the booth, but he is a lost soul on pit road.
If I'd had a drink everytime I heard, "While we were away", I'd have been passed out on the floor.
And leaving the post-race with time to spare in the time slot! Sure, it was just 5 or 6 minutes, but does that mean that every driver/team member magically disappeared?
***********
Off-topic a bit ---- watched some of the ARCA race on SPEED. Kenny Schrader was his usual hilarious self.
Austin Dillon needs to consider a career in broadcasting. That young man was super in the booth.
As was reported on Jayski attendance at Chicago cup race was only 67,000 no wonder they only have 1 race a year. I thought the TNT guys did wonderful on their broadcasts. I like everyone in the booth, AA may be the weak one though. Don't understand why they interviewed JJ as he was way down in the running order. Popular win for Reut too. My laptop was messing up so I had to shut it down way before the race finished unfortunately. Now have to wait 2 weeks for another cup race and JJ show!
I can't comment on last nights coverage because I fell asleep a hour into it. Maybe that speaks for itself. Chicagoland just does not excite me in anyway.
I can comment to TNT's over coverage now their done their six week run. They BLEW FOX AWAY! TNT made FOX look like a buch of 5 years old playing in a sandbox. Could TNT get better. Shure, what organization can't? AA got better as the weeks went by and he got more seat time in the booth. The pit road reporting is Way better the Fox. Overall they showed multiple cars racing and not one car. Sounds like from the comments here that might not of been the case last night though. But, this is Chicagoland and they can't show something that's not happening on the track. No racing. Drop Chicagoland. Track stinks.
Now I'm scared about ESPN coming up. They were Awfull last year. It better not be Chase, Chase, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, Chase again like last year.
As someone said.
TNT = B+
Fox = D-
Espn = Me hoping for at least a C
was monitoring the feed at the track. During breaks AA, WD, KP talked about how dull the race was (mor than usual). Larry kept the banter positive, Kyle was blunt and funny. At one point either AA or WD said "would somebody just hit somebody?" I don't need that. Switched to MRN.
Due to being at a family reunion in Texas, I watched the race live for a change instead of coming home and watching it on DVR. However, I will have a DVR copy waiting for me once I return and I will see if the anthem is as good as John M. Daly said it was.
The commercial overload was annoying, but if TNT had to do it, this was the place. Chicagoland has some of the worst racing in NASCAR, and it was a week after Wide-Open at Daytona.
As for the Jimmie Johnson interview: He had one of the wildest nights on the track one can imagine, with one incident after another after he had led the first third of the race. Also, TNT thought he might use the opportunity to reveal the name of the new baby daughter.[lol] Oh, well, Jimmie and Chandra have two weeks to figure that out before the next race at Indy.
Hey, at least we didn't have to listen to DW. That is a positive in TNT's direction.....
Why in the WORLD does TNT get to broadcast the races – they are sub par at best. I cannot remember when I didn't grimace each year upon hearing that FOX would be handing over the reigns to TNT...good grief man, can we not do better than this?
I was rather put off by, among many reasons, the return from break near the end of the broadcast when we see Kyle & Wally laughing – all the while Adam is not...strange, awkward and, well, never mind. What the heck was so funny...let us in, because there was nothing funny about the coverage – from their first broadcast thru the last!
Brian in Charlotte
I got back from camping a little after noon today and was able to watch the race on my DVR before I knew who the winner was. I skipped through the commercials and the follow the leader racing. It took me about 35 minutes to watch the entire race and not miss a thing. It appears all of the action was in replays anyway.
I don't blame TNT for their subpar coverage because it is difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. An ugly woman is ugly regardless of how well she is photographed.
Lets be honest TNT does a good job with what its been given. Besides the only other place these race could been shown is on ESPN, but they were to busy showing soccer, poker, bass fishing, bowling, wnba etc.... and promoting danica patick
I honestly don't understand all the complaints about commercials. What do you expect when Brian France got millions and millions for the broadcast rights? I don't like the commercials either, but how are the networks supposed to get their money back? They must sell commercial time. The only other choice is to put all races on pay per view and show them commercial free. Then watch viewership drop big time.
As for the coverage, how would anyone make Nascar's terribly boring races interesting? Can't be done.
Considering that TNT is curesed with 6 of THE most boring races on the schedule, they still exceeded what Fox accomplished.
I like:
- Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach in the booth
- Larry does a better job as the resident crew chief for TNT than he does for Fox
- Ralph Sheeheen! Awesome, awesome job
- Lindsay is OK and gets a B plus for effort, but there is something that didn't quite click for me.
- The Pridce of NASCAR segment was wonderful.
- RACEBUDDY is awesome. It needs to be available for every race on every network.
The bad:
Too many commercials -- it seemed we saw commercials every 5 laps. I was really tired of "while we were away". Totally ruins being able to watch the race
Adam Alexander is NOT it for the PXP guy. Please bring back Ralph Sheeheen for next year and let AA go back and do what he's better at - pit road.
NASCAR and the various media mouthpieces really really need to get a clue and stop telling the fans how wonderful the racing is at all the cookie cutter tracks snd spend some time finding a way to actually make the races worth watching on TV.
I am sorry that this is the end for TNT because they, at least, didn't spend a lot of time talking down to the fans and up until the rather poor camera work at Chicagoland, did a decent job overall of showing the action on the track. I don't know why they fell apart last night and its a shame that this race was the end of their run.
Buschseries61, I agree with every single one of your "positives."
Here's the thing (learned that one from Kyle Petty): TNT has a short window in the whole scheme of things. I can see why they're selling ad time like crazy. But a PIP would make fans happier and give the sponsors what they want. Race Buddy saved me from having a fit over the number of commercials: a trade-off of sorts. Race Buddy is super.
Plus, the ARCA race was a ton of fun just to hear Schrader again. So I can't criticize every minute of TNT's coverage because I was flipping back and forth.
Like Ralph Shaheen a bunch. Wally and Kyle work well together. TNT is a nice break from Fox, and my last gasp at racing before ESPN moves in to make NASCAR unwatchable.
Nice to see Reutimann win, and to hear Jamie McMurry congratulate him.
51yroldfan, Sorry, but I have to disagree with your assessment of the Anthem. The guy had a wonderful voice, but tried to put too much showmanship into it. The first thing that popped into my mind was "Michigan J Frog" from the Looney Toons cartoon "One Froggy Evening".
I'm going to miss Kyle big time. Love the way he speaks his mind.
Mary in Richmond, VA
Mary, you're not alone about the anthem. Guy made my skin crawl; wayyyy too over the top. I'd much rather it be simple & to the point.
I have no issue with Kyle, Wally & I think Adam was okay--I did like Ralph better. They did seem cursed at missing live action last night. But I didn't find the race as boring as some of you. There are always stories to follow. The ads don't bother me that much either, it pays the bills, they just were really poorly timed (not that you can always plan that...) I just kinda tune them out.
To the folks that thought the anthem was "over the top". The man that sang does it for the Blackhawks 41 times a year and nobody ever complains. Also he is an opera singer. He sang it as he always does. Plus he had to keep that note long because of the fly over.
I love how we complain about the anthem because he didn't sing it the way "I" wanted him too. When it was clearly awesome to the fans in the stands.
btw i was at the race
Jon in IL
Jon, I think we got that, and I was happy for the fans there who obviously enjoyed it. I just wasn't one of them. I personally don't like an operatic style of singing. I listen to classic but can't turn a dial fast enough when it's opera. Just because the fans in attendance love it (obviously it's 'their' personal thing) doesn't mean I have to. I happen to like many versions, everything from Jimi Hendrix to the Army bands. But I prefer a simpler style when it's singing. I've heard dreadful version in rock, country, and even bands (in person) but I just didn't like this one.
Lindsay, Kyle, Larry, and Matt (and maybe Ralph) - keep.
Dump the rest.
Adam is brutal on PxP, Wally brings nothing, and the other pit reporters (especially Parsons) are just wasting per diems...
The bad thing is now we get ESPN which will be 10 times worse than anything Fox and TNT have given us.
Regarding the anthem - it has nothing to do with the singing style. It's the pure lack of respect for this country the Chicago fans show by cheering during the singing. They do it at the Blackhawks games and it is just as disgusting and treasonous then.
I shouldn't expect much from Chicago but they can at least honor this country.
My only complaint is TNT did not stay on the air longer after the race. America's Funniest Home Videos was not coming up next. ;)
TNT puts way too much emphasis on RB for post race coverage. There were many interviews people missed unless they were online. I do enjoy RB during the commls and there did seem to be a lot of them.
On to BSPN. Are you ready JD?
I've enjoyed TNT's coverage this year, especially Race Buddy. However, I don't believe TNT did any better job than FOX - so I have to give FOX the nod due to Mike Joy.
JD, so far I've been unable to find any discussion in the mainstream, internet media of questionable debris cautions in the N-wide race.
I thought TNT did a good job Saturday night except for taking too many commercial breaks at the end of the race. I counted 3 in the last 40 laps. Not good.
It was refreshing to see a camera showing a wreck in progress when the announcers say there is a wreck instead of seeing it after it's already happened. Capturing Elliott spinning and then getting rammed by Robby Gordon was good. Had Fox been covering that race, we would have been switched right after the Gordon hit.
I was disappointed in Alexander. He needs to improve or be replaced. Phil Parsons needs to stick to being an analyst. TNT should consider replacing him with Randy Pemberton.
LMAO! "Treasonous"?? C'mon!!!!
We will sorely miss RaceBuddy. We want it or a similar app all season.
From TNT, that is all that was good, maybe with the exception "Pride of NASCAR" those were very good. We don't like Lindsay, other guys are ok, Adam take or leave but if we could have Ralph he would be better. Also TNT warned from the start that other races coverage would have to "pay" for WideOpen coverage, the biggest reason why RaceBuddy's 4 TV camera views are invaluable.
With the desperate revenue fight I don't think there's anything to be done about commercial breaks, unless either 100% green lap side-by-side or WideOpen type coverage is permanently adapted by all networks for all races. Ironic thing is, seems the more commercial breaks there are, the more viewers they lose. Even children know it.
Hopefully ESPN has paid attention to the great job in coverage of NNS, and Cup gets the same.
TNT was AWFUL, now we get ESPN, which is even worse. Bring back FOX!
I think TNT did a more professional job over Fox overall. Personally I like Wally and Kyle and always have. DJ and Andy are good together as well. As for the Chicago broadcast, like a lot of others have said, Way Too Many Commercials and I believe TNT was just making a few extra $$$'s on their last stint and decided to pack them in. Jerks.
My DVR is my race buddy from here on out.
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