Heat Races In The Camping World Truck Series?

Once and a while, some good information leaks out of the weekly NASCAR Fan Council surveys. These emails to NFC members ask about all kinds of topics and work as a marketing tool for the sanctioning body.

Last week, the eye-catcher was a group of questions about the Camping World Truck Series. Here are some excerpts:

NASCAR is exploring the idea of running some NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races throughout the season using a new “heat race” format in which approximately half of the trucks run a preliminary “heat race” followed by the other half of the trucks running in a separate preliminary “heat race.”

These “heat races” would then be followed by “The Main Event” which would feature a slightly longer race than the two “heat races” and would consist of only a certain number of the best finishing trucks from the first and second “heat races” competing in "The Main Event.”

You may remember that the CWTS had several formats over the years. The cost of having full pit crews capable of doing quick stops for track position is considerable. At one time, the races had a halftime break that let crews pit the trucks with no such pressure.

The survey also asked about the connection between the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series. Here are some of the questions:

Would you like to see a Sprint Cup style Chase format in the truck series?

Are you more interested in the truck races when Sprint Cup drivers are team owners?

Are you more interested when Sprint Cup drivers are racing in the truck series?

Those are pretty good topics to ask about as the truck series continues to morph into the Nationwide dynamic of dominant Sprint Cup Series drivers in the events.

The fan council has proven to be a useful tool and many of NASCAR's senior management types quoted the results from last season as the primary reason for many changes to the sport this year.

Where do you come down on these Camping World Truck Series issues? To add your 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.

Time For ESPN To Reinstate Randy LaJoie

When it was announced in June that Randy LaJoie had failed a NASCAR drug test while working as a spotter at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, ESPN was quick to respond.

LaJoie had been working for the network in a variety of roles for several years. The same day that NASCAR suspended LaJoie indefinitely, so did ESPN. At the time, only NASCAR had a clearly defined pathway for LaJoie's return.

Wednesday, the sanctioning body made it official:

Randy LaJoie has been re-instated by NASCAR for competition following completion of a NASCAR-approved treatment program and the satisfactory fulfillment of all requirements for reinstatement.

Since the start, LaJoie has taken full responsibility for his actions. He continued that theme with his statment after being reinstated:

"I am thankful to NASCAR for reinstating me for competition and grateful to my friends and family who supported me through this time," said LaJoie. "This has been a tremendous learning and growing process for me and I have come through it a stronger, better person. I am looking forward to returning to work and continuing to prove to NASCAR, my colleagues, my family and my friends that this was an isolated incident that I have put behind me."

ESPN's road to recovery is a bit different. LaJoie never failed an ESPN drug test and his suspension from the network was a bit of a shock. Simply keeping LaJoie on the sidelines while he went through the NASCAR program might have made a bit more sense.

If there is any network that needs some more characters on TV, it's ESPN. LaJoie's presence on NASCAR Now's Monday shows brought some honest talk with some laughs along the way. His veteran perspective on safety issues came into play time and time again. LaJoie has a value to ESPN where NASCAR is concerned.

Since ESPN took over both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series coverage, it has used Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the booth to work practice, qualifying and the races for both series. One announce team is doubling-up.

In the past, LaJoie was used to work some stand-alone Nationwide Series races. The results were outstanding, especially when teamed with Bestwick. Those two brought out the best in Rusty Wallace. This was especially true when LaJoie led the charge to kid Rusty about his Nationwide Series teams and his son Steven's colorful driving style.

There is a long way to go this season and Jarrett and Petree need to focus on the Sprint Cup Series, the upcoming Chase and the quality of the telecasts. Having these two work both series, including practice and qualifying leaves the Nationwide Series out in the cold.

Like two good relief pitchers, LaJoie and Ricky Craven have been warming up in the ESPN bullpen for several years now. Craven's recent performance in the TV booth working as an analyst on a Nationwide Series race was outstanding. It just might be time to get a second team focused on the Nationwide Series out into the field.

Let's hope that ESPN follows the example they set back in June when taking NASCAR's lead and this time brings LaJoie back to actively working for the network. He has satisfied the NASCAR requirements, completed a treatment program and admitted the incident.

We all have moments in life we would like to have back. We all have times we wish we had acted differently. Now is the right time for ESPN to step-up and reinstate LaJoie.

We welcome your opinion on this topic. 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.

Live Blogging Nationwide Series From Montreal (ESPN2 - 2PM ET)

The Nationwide Series is on the road course in Montreal. A very diverse field of drivers is taking the green as usual. Road course specialists are mixed with Nationwide Regulars and some Sprint Cup Series drivers.

This year there is no rain in the forecast and that should dramatically change the telecast. The pre-race duties will be shared among the pit road reporters Mike Massaro, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch.

Allen Bestwick will call the race with Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree alongside. ESPN offered practice and qualifying coverage which showed the wide range of road course experience in the field.

Road course racing has been good for the ESPN crew. Watkins Glen was a fantastic presentation and this should offer a solid showcase for the series before it begins to be sandwiched between college football games on ESPN2.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the Nationwide Series from Montreal. To add your opinion on the telecast, 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.

Live Blogging ARCA And Camping World Trucks At Chicagoland (SPEED - 7PM ET)

Here we go with a nice little Friday night doubleheader on SPEED. First up are the ARCA cars and then the Camping World Trucks.

Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip are upstairs in the TV booth. Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander are pit reporting. Krista Voda is hosting the pre-race. Wendy Venturini and Jim Tretow are normally the pit reporters on the ARCA Series.

This should be a good night for both series. The Sprint Cup gang is off and the Nationwide Series is racing up in Montreal. This puts the ARCA and CWTS storylines front and center in primetime on a Friday night.

Chicagoland makes good TV pictures and the SPEED TV crew knows how to pick the right cameras to show the fans. This has good potential to be a fantastic night of racing on TV.

This post will serve to host your comments on tonight's doubleheader. 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 tonight!

NASCAR.com Misfires In Bristol

It's taken a little while to sort out the emails, tweets and Facebook messages sent by angry fans over the weekend. They were not about a driver, a team or even a TV commentator. They were all about the various services offered by the NASCAR.com website.

It seems ironic that NASCAR.com does not offer a live leaderboard for the Camping World Truck Series. This past week, NASCAR.com RaceView was the primary sponsor on the winning truck from Kyle Busch Motorsports, pictured above. It was the only positive night for NASCAR.com of the three racing dates at BMS.

Turner Sports Interactive out of Atlanta, GA operates the NASCAR.com website. It paid NASCAR a hefty fee to operate the site and maintain total Internet exclusivity for NASCAR video and audio content.

Trackpass is the gateway to the three pay services NASCAR.com offers. RaceVew, Pit Command and Scanner each offer various applications for a monthly or annual fee. RaceView has all the bells and whistles, including team scanners, real time data and virtual video that allow fans lap-by-lap tracking of teams.

There have been several redesigns of the NASCAR.com website and upgrades of the three pay services. The current homepage resembles many sports blogs with an emphasis on key news stories combined with advertising. Video elements have recently been integrated effectively into the site and include contributions from TNT and SPEED personalities.

The history of fans upset about NASCAR.com goes back years. It's easy to find forums online full of conversations about problems. Recently, the issue has flared again as some current technology is having trouble dealing with the Trackpass applications.

When Apple released the iPad, it did not support Flash technology. That is the basis for the Trackpass applications. While the leaderboards worked, the remainder did not. That put iPad users out of the NASCAR.com mix for this season.

The most recent problems happen when fans try to log on for a Sprint Cup Series race. This was especially prevalent at the Michigan and Bristol race weekends. Amid the bevy of browsers, operating systems and Internet Service Providers, it's understandable that some problems would arise. This situation is perhaps a little different.

A key issue repeated by frustrated fans is summed up quite well in this blog post from NASCAR fan Mark Headrick:

I don’t mind troubleshooting problems. however I do not want to do it during the actual race! It totally ruins the fan’s experience. How can you expect fans to search knowledge bases and forums, reinstall Java, plug-ins, audio and video drivers, and do whatever else might be potentially involved?

It boggles my mind that there isn’t a race simulator that we can test these applications with during the week. If I was a NASCAR website/TrackPass developer I’d scream for this. I am quite sure the NASCAR.com website team has no desire to fix the software during races. Normally I wouldn’t give a flying fruitcake about it, but I am paying more for TrackPass than I am for my webhosting.

Headrick's point is well taken. Fans experiencing problems have to step away from the race to troubleshoot the problem and often find they are in a long helpline at the website. Picking up the phone is even more interesting.

The NASCAR.com phone calls are answered by the International Speedway Corporation operators in Daytona Beach, FL. Needless to say, this is not the Geek Squad. Fans who called recently found sympathy, but little help.

One fan emailed NASCAR.com and got a nice little admission about the Bristol weekend in return. NASCAR.com customer service responded with the following:

"There was an issue for both race series with all of the Trackpass products from those races. It was actually a server issue and the technical team had to reset the servers and this was not done until the end of the Cup race on Saturday."

Well, that's mighty nice but did not actually help the situation as the races were in progress. The problem with that answer is NASCAR.com is a pay service. Ultimately, good customer service and reliable products are the only way to keep fans coming back.

Twitter has been in use by many NASCAR fans for some time now. Saturday night, I was so overwhelmed on Twitter with fans asking me for help I contacted NASCAR directly and asked what was going on. After a short time I was told by NASCAR from the track that all the online troubles were sorted out. It certainly did not look that way.

For hours on Saturday, it was easy to watch the endless tweets from upset fans missing the online part of one of the most exciting night races of the season. Add to that the fact that some key TV markets were showing NFL preseason football instead of NASCAR and the mess just gets bigger. No access to NASCAR.com's online pay service and no live TV. That is a bad combination.

Perhaps you could take a moment to tell us your experience with NASCAR.com, the customer service and the products. It would help to put things in perspective after a Bristol weekend that left some fans rather steamed.

To add your opinion on this topic, 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.

Changes At SPEED Expected To Continue

We have recently been talking about the changes SPEED has been going through since FOX Sports Chairman David Hill, pictured above, was put directly in charge of the cable TV network.

Hill's first attempt at a new Monday night line-up went down in flames. Michael Waltrip's amateur talent show, Jimmy Spencer's junkyard rants and a rehashing of NASCAR in a Hurry were eventually cancelled.

The lack of Monday through Thursday NASCAR programming on SPEED has been the hot topic for many years. Depending on who was in charge at the network, there has either been little or no effort put into creating original weekday NASCAR programs.

TV viewers who have seen Stealth Rider, Intersections or Battle of the Supercars know the current reality of SPEED all too well. Memories of former TV series like Beyond the Wheel, NBS 24/7 and This Week in NASCAR show a network that has been all over the map in terms of programming themes and genres.

Hill successfully began to make his mark at SPEED when he coordinated the Hall of Fame coverage by bringing in top-flight producers from Los Angeles. Suddenly, everyone at SPEED stepped things up a notch as it became clear this was not the good old boy approach fans had seen for years.

A short time ago, Hill made another major programming move. He decided to revamp Race Hub and make it a flagship news and interview series. He persuaded Steve Byrnes to come off the road and into the studio as the fulltime host. The show was expanded to one hour in length, a new studio set was created and a fulltime field reporter was hired.

SPEED finally had a solid weekday NASCAR presence that made sense. The production staff is only into week two and the changes have already paid dividends. Monday, Byrnes had Kyle Busch in studio for an extended interview that covered lots of topics and let fans see a very different side of this controversial driver.

While SPEED can create its own studio shows, it must purchase other NASCAR programming from the NASCAR Media Group (NMG). This downtown Charlotte company already produces the programming from the SPEED Stage as well as Race in 60 and NASCAR Hot Wired. NMG controls all NASCAR footage.

Hill's new agenda has to ultimately include exploring a merger between SPEED and NMG. A partnership would finally put these two rival fraternities on the same team. NMG would have direct access to an already successful cable TV network while SPEED would get the keys to the NMG footage vault, a treasure chest of historic NASCAR content.

Remember, SPEED was originally moved from Stamford, CT to Charlotte, NC in order to become a fulltime NASCAR TV network in a partnership between NASCAR and FOX. Those plans never worked out, but changes in management at both companies may now have set those wheels in motion again.

This is a critical time for both parties. NASCAR needs a very different television companion than the sporadic weekday coverage in place for the past three seasons. SPEED needs to shake the bipolar rap of catering to race fans on the weekends and teenagers on the week nights.

However Hill and NASCAR work it out, look for substantive changes at SPEED where NASCAR programming is concerned to continue at a rapid clip. Don't be surprised if a 24 hour fulltime NASCAR TV network is in the future. The very near future.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your 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.

NASCAR Preempted By Nothing

It's been a tough couple of weeks for ESPN2's daily NASCAR Now show. Weekday episodes have been preempted or moved by tennis and Little League Baseball. This Monday, the situation takes a turn for the worse. The show has been preempted by nothing.

It was season four of Seinfeld when Jerry and George had a discussion at the coffee shop about bringing a new TV show idea to NBC. Here is a slice of the conversation.

Jerry: So you're saying, I go in to NBC, and tell them I got this idea for a show about nothing.
George: Yeah, I think we really got something here.
Jerry: What do we got?
George: An idea.
Jerry: What idea?
George: An idea for the show.
Jerry: I still don't know what the idea is!
George: It's about nothing!
Jerry: Right.
George: Everybody's doing something. We'll do nothing!
Jerry: So, we go into NBC, we tell them we've got an idea for a show about nothing.
George: Exactly.
Jerry: They say, "What's your show about?" I say, "Nothing."
George: There you go.
Jerry (After a moment of pause): I think you may have something there.

This Monday after English Premier League Soccer ends and before Little League Baseball begins there is a full hour from 5 to 6PM available on ESPN2. This is the normal time for the one-hour edition of NASCAR Now to air.

The series has been on ESPN2 six days a week since 2007 as the only regularly scheduled support programming for NASCAR. Due to the hard work of those behind the scenes and the tireless efforts of host Allen Bestwick, the Monday version of NASCAR Now has become the finest discussion of the weekend events in the sport currently on the air.

Last week, there were four races at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch won the three races in which he was entered. Storylines are swirling as NASCAR is in the heart of the season and The Chase is looming. In 2006, ESPN paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to show the final seventeen races of the season.

Early on Monday the trio of Rusty Wallace, Ricky Craven and Ray Evernham will be arriving at ESPN. They are this week's expert panel, a term coined by Bestwick a long time ago as he hosted another iconic TV series.

There is no way to overstate the importance of getting the Monday hour of NASCAR Now out to the fans this week. The Kyle Busch topic is sizzling. The Bristol racing across the sport's top three series was outstanding. The Hendrick Motorsports saga is unfolding. In short, what's happening in NASCAR right now is everything.

It's unfortunate that on this Monday, ESPN's programming priority is nothing. The network's version of Seinfeld is called SportsNation. It's a series created by ESPN for ESPN and is generally about ESPN. If features ESPN personalities, is produced in the ESPN studios and is absolutely the epitome of a full hour of nothing.

Co-hosts Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle spend sixty vapid minutes aiming trendy comments at their teenage audience, showing funny videos and reading tweets. ESPN wraps the wholesome sex appeal of Beadle and the "can't get a date" loser charm of Cowherd into a show that accomplishes nothing, discusses nothing and leaves no lasting memory. In the new world of ESPN, it's perfect.

So, it is ESPN's choice this week to preempt the 5PM Monday original airing of NASCAR Now and instead move SportsNation into this timeslot. NASCAR fans across the country arriving home ready to view the show they recorded at 5PM are in for a surprise.

Instead of Rusty, Ricky and Ray talking about NASCAR, the wild and wacky world of SportsNation will be in full effect. NASCAR Now will air once at 1AM Eastern, 10PM Pacific time. This choice by ESPN is a very clear indication of where priorities lay at the network.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your 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.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Bristol On ABC

The Sprint Cup Series moved from ESPN to ABC for the Saturday night race from the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Nicole Briscoe hosted the pre-race show with Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Tim Brewer was in the Tech Garage. Marty Reid called the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the TV booth. On pit road were Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch.

The pictures and sound were again solid. There were no technical problems. Several TV markets around the nation chose to show NFL football or other programming. TDP provided alternate viewing choices sent to us by ESPN.

The pre-race show focused on paybacks by drivers, including video of drivers fighting going back for over a decade. The race was billed as being a clash of egos and lots of potential deliberate accidents.

The weather was great, the stands were full and the teams put on a good race from start to finish. This post is an opportunity for you to voice your comments on the ABC coverage produced by the NASCAR on ESPN team.

To add your race recap, just click on the comments button below. This is a family friendly website, please keep that in mind. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Bristol, TN (ABC - 7PM ET)

This is going to be a very interesting night in many different ways. The night race from Bristol is on ABC across the nation, but some key ABC local stations have opted to carry preseason NFL football.

Here is the list and the available options for viewers in those markets via ESPN:

The following markets will have alternate viewing options for ABC’s telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol tonight (DT2 = Digital Tier 2):

Detroit (WXYZ) – will show 7:30 – 9 p.m. on its DT2 channel then switch to primary channel at 9 p.m. due to coverage of annual Woodward Dream Cruise

Houston (KTRK) – will show entire race on its DT2 channel due to coverage of Houston Texans preseason game.

Richmond, VA (WRIC) – will show entire race on WUPV-TV (CW station in market) due to coverage of Washington Redskins preseason game.

Weslaco, TX (KRGV) – will show entire race on its DT2 channel due to coverage of Dallas Cowboys preseason game.

Madison, WI (WKOW) – will show entire race on its DT2 channel due to coverage of Green bay Packers preseason game.

LaCrosse, WI (WXOW) – will show entire game on its DT2 channel and in-market on CW station due to coverage of Green Bay Packers preseason game.

Wausau, WI (WAOW) -- will show entire game on its DT2 channel and in-market on CW station due to coverage of Green Bay Packers preseason game.

NOTE: Joplin, MO (KODE) and St. Joseph, MO (KQTV) are both showing Kansas City Chiefs preseason games. Neither station has DT2 channel and due to limited alternate clearance options in the markets, race will not air in either market.

The NASCAR Countdown show will be hosted by Nicole Briscoe for thirty minutes at 7PM ET. Briscoe is filling-in for Allen Bestwick, who is attending to some family issues. Our best to Allen and his family.

Ray Evernham, Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace will join Briscoe in the Infield Studio. Actually, both the pit studio and Tim Brewer's Tech Garage are located outside of the track this weekend due to the small size of the BMS infield.

Briscoe has filled this role before with no problems, but Bristol offers an entirely new challenge of directing high-speed traffic and offering recaps and highlights during the race. She is in for a long night.

Marty Reid gets his first turn as the play-by-play announcer for this race. He is joined by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the broadcast booth. These three called the Nationwide Series race on Saturday and learned some valuable lessons about sticking to the action on the track. There is no time for other discussions.

The director faces the biggest challenge of continually cutting cameras all night long as the 15 second laps tick off. BMS bit ESPN Saturday night several times when the director tried to use the in-car cameras live. Other action happened in a split second and it was over before the cameras even found it.

Tonight will hopefully feature the aerial shot, the high cameras on top of the race control tower and the low angle "speed shots" that let the cars zoom right by the camera within inches. Bristol can make great TV if you let it.

This post will serve to host your comments about the night race from Bristol on ABC. 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.

ABC Updates On Sprint Cup Series From Bristol, TN

Saturday night presents some scheduling issues across the nation as local coverage of NFL preseason games or other programming conflicts with the Sprint Cup Series coverage on ABC.

Here is the latest schedule change information and updates:

The following markets will have alternate viewing options for ABC’s telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol tonight (DT2 = Digital Tier 2):

Detroit (WXYZ) – will show 7:30 – 9 p.m. on its DT2 channel then switch to primary channel at 9 p.m. due to coverage of annual Woodward Dream Cruise

Houston (KTRK) – will show entire race on its DT2 channel due to coverage of Houston Texans preseason game.

Richmond, VA (WRIC) – will show entire race on WUPV-TV (CW station in market) due to coverage of Washington Redskins preseason game.

Weslaco, TX (KRGV) – will show entire race on its DT2 channel due to coverage of Dallas Cowboys preseason game.

Madison, WI (WKOW) – will show entire race on its DT2 channel due to coverage of Green bay Packers preseason game.

LaCrosse, WI (WXOW) – will show entire game on its DT2 channel and in-market on CW station due to coverage of Green Bay Packers preseason game.

Wausau, WI (WAOW) -- will show entire game on its DT2 channel and in-market on CW station due to coverage of Green Bay Packers preseason game.

NOTE: Joplin, MO (KODE) and St. Joseph, MO (KQTV) are both showing Kansas City Chiefs preseason games. Neither station has DT2 channel and due to limited alternate clearance options in the markets, race will not air in either market.

There are two more Sprint Cup Series night races on ABC this season, in Richmond and Charlotte. Thanks to ESPN for providing the detailed viewer information for tonight's schedule conflicts.

You can offer a comment on this topic by clicking the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Live Blogging Nationwide Series on ESPN

Here we go with the Nationwide Series from the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Allen Bestwick starts the show with Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside in the Infield Pit Studio. Tim Brewer will be in the Tech Garage.

Marty Reid will call the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Jamie Little, Vince Welch, Dave Burns and Jerry Punch are on pit road.

This is a fast-paced race that often comes down to the Sprint Cup Series drivers in the field vs. one or two of the best Nationwide Series regulars.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Nationwide Series from BMS. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendy website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Rick Allen Gets The Call

Over the past couple of years we have often discussed how one thing rarely changes in sports TV without affecting other things. Such is the case with SPEED this weekend.

Steve Byrnes just finished his first week of hosting Race Hub on a fulltime basis. Byrnes set a very different tone with the show and it will be interesting to watch the new production team try different features, formats and ideas. One hour of NASCAR TV Monday through Thursday from a studio based in Charlotte, NC has a ton of potential.

Byrnes left quite a legacy of hard work on the road. The first task was to name new hosts for the Trackside program. SPEED recently announced that Krista Voda and John Roberts are going to share hosting duties, with Voda handling the majority of the remaining programs this season. Friday at 11PM ET will be her debut.

While bringing in a veteran like Voda may have been expected, the second move following Byrnes departure was an attention grabber. Camping World Truck Series play-by-play announcer Rick Allen is going to move up to the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series on Friday.

Allen will handle the entire day, including practice for both series and the Nationwide qualifying. The full TV schedule for Friday is on the left hand side of the TDP page.

Along with Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond, Allen will be on the air Friday for over five hours. The Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series should be an interesting challenge for Allen, who has made his mark focusing on the trucks. This season, however, Allen has also done studio work as a host for both The Speed Report and Race Hub.

Before the season is done, Mike Joy will also step-in and help with the support programming of practice and qualifying, but for Allen this is a big opportunity. TV viewers who do not watch the trucks are going to be exposed to Allen on a product that Byrnes has made his own for the past several years.

One trademark of Byrnes is that his personality and good sense of humor come through on the practice and qualifying coverage. Allen is more personally reserved, focusing on allowing Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip to take the spotlight in the truck series programs.

This is going to be a good test of Allen's NASCAR TV skills as the intensity, noise and fast pace of Bristol is not only present for the actual races, but also for the practice and qualifying. Allen ends his day at 5:30PM when ESPN takes over for the Sprint Cup qualifying coverage.

We will use this post to host your comments on the Friday daytime coverage from Bristol Motor Speedway. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

There will be a live TV blog up for the Nationwide Series race on ESPN Friday night. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Thursday TV/Media Notes

Great racing from Bristol yesterday with the Mods and the Camping World Trucks. Nice to see a good crowd on hand for a Wednesday show. Here are some TV and media notes heading into the racing weekend:

Regan Smith crew member Kenyatta Houston will again be the over the wall crew guy wearing the live camera. Last time Houston was in this role, ESPN's Marty Reid was perhaps a little off-base with a comment. Good move by ESPN to make things right and get Houston some TV time.

On Wednesday, SPEED made it official:

Voda, host of NCWTS Setup, SPEED’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pre-race show, will anchor the energetic Friday night program for eight of the remaining 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends. Her duties in the Truck Series remain priority, so John Roberts, host of NASCAR RaceDay Built by The Home Depot, will fill in on Trackside for the weekends when the Truck and Cup Series are not companion events to each other.

Voda moved into that role when Steve Byrnes came off the road and joined Race Hub as the fulltime host. This also opened the door for Rick Allen and Mike Joy. Those two will be handling the practice and qualifying sessions for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series on SPEED. Allen is first with the shows from BMS this Friday.

I'm not a big fan of the NASCAR Smarts show on SPEED, but this weekend Kyle Petty and Rutledge Wood take on the team of Larry and Brandon McReynolds from the SPEED Stage at BMS. The show airs on Saturday at 4PM ET.

Lots of interest has been spurred by a group that is set to invest millions in building a road course in the Austin, TX area. F-1 has already indicated that the series would come to the US and race at that facility when completed. The head honcho, Tavo Hellmund, is going to be Dave Despain's guest on Wind Tunnel Sunday night at 9PM ET.

Just a friendly reminder that the Saturday night Sprint Cup Series race from BMS is on ABC, not ESPN. Ray Evernham is also going to be joining the usual group in the Infield Studio. That makes 12 on-air announcers for ESPN this weekend.

The new NASCAR race schedules for 2011 are out, we will be updating shortly what changes that means for the TV networks in venues and times. Next season will certainly have a different look in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

We will update this post with more info, please check back during the day. In the meantime, please feel free to leave us a comment on the topics above. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

Live Blogging Mods and Trucks From Bristol (SPEED - 6PM ET)

It's one of the most interesting days of the year on SPEED. Viewers get to see the NASCAR Modifieds in a combined North and South Series show before the Camping World Trucks take to the high banks of the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Mike Joy and Dick Berggren call the Modified action that includes Ryan Newman and an all-star cast of Mod regulars at 6PM ET. This race is so very different that it is a hit every season. Joy and Berggren both make the entire race exciting from start to finish.

The Camping World Trucks are next with Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip on the race call. Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander are on pit road. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Elliott Sadler are crossing over to race in the series and there is quite a variety of drivers in the field.

The new pavement at Bristol allows the trucks to have two racing grooves and that is very important for this series. The leaders are going to begin lapping quickly and the difference between the experienced and non-experienced drivers is going to show-up quickly.

Update: News from SPEED is that Kyle Busch is going to be moved to the rear of the field after having to change engines. That is going to put a whole new storyline into play for the TV network as Busch, who was on the pole, moves through the field.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Mod and truck races Wednesday night on SPEED. 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.

Tuesday TV/Media Notes (Updated)

Update #1: Brian France will appear on SPEED's Race Hub with Steve Byrnes via liveshot from Texas Motor Speedway in the 7PM ET hour.

Update #2: Richard Petty and the new driver of the #9 Stanley Tools Dodge Marcos Ambros will be on NASCAR Now with Mike Massaro at 5PM ET today.

It's a big day of press conferences on Tuesday. Richard Childress Racing is up first at 10AM from the shop and then again at noon ET on the official NASCAR weekly news teleconference. Expected news is that Budweiser is joining RCR as a sponsor, reportedly on the #29 car with Kevin Harvick as the driver. Updated: Click here for the NASCAR.com link to online streaming for this event.

Richard Petty Motorsports has called a press conference for 1PM to announce a new driver and sponsor combination for 2011. Odds are Marcos Ambrose is the driver, but the sponsor is still TBA. No online streaming for this event at the present time.

The third media event of the day will be streamed live at SPEED.com with good reason. They always do things bigger in Texas. Here is the media release info:

TMS officials announced Thursday that a press conference and a 2011 Schedule Party will be held on Tuesday at the House of Blues in Dallas. The announcement will take place in the Foundation Room at 8 p.m. A reception will be held beginning at 6 p.m.

TMS officials said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, along with Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, ABC/ESPN motorsports reporter Jamie Little, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith, Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage and some 1,000 TMS fans will be on hand for the announcement. A concert by the Goo Goo Dolls, a Grammy-nominated, triple-platinum rock group, will be performed at the House of Blues after the announcement.

This one should be fun to watch, with the expected news that TMS will keep two Sprint Cup Series dates and one will be a night race. We will update streaming details during the day on Tuesday.

Jim Utter from thatsracin.com reports that Red Bull driver Brian Vickers will give an update on his medical issues this weekend in Bristol, TN. SPEED will be on the air most of Friday with activity from the track, so that would probably be the best place for a TV update.

Trackside on SPEED has a new host this week since Steve Byrnes has moved to the studio to host Race Hub. Krista Voda will handle those duties in Bristol, but a permanent host has not yet been announced.

Although Darrell Waltrip has said he will be in Bristol, he is not currently on the list of folks working for SPEED. Elliott Sadler returns on Trackside and Kyle Petty and Kenny Wallace will handle RaceDay.

Camping World Truck Series announcer Rick Allen also gets an opportunity to step into a new role with the absence of Byrnes at the track. Allen will move into the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series as he calls various practice and qualifying sessions on Friday. SPEED will not confirm that Allen will fill this role for the rest of the season.

Over on ESPN Ray Evernham joins Allen Bestwick, Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace in the Infield Pit Studio for the Bristol telecasts this weekend. Evernham passed along that he will also be at Richmond, Loudon, Charlotte, Talladega, Phoenix and Homestead.

This week, the daily shows are a bit different. Race Hub has Kurt Busch in studio on Tuesday, is preempted by live racing on Wednesday and then has Richard Petty as a Thursday guest.

NASCAR Now will be hosted by Mike Massaro this week at 5PM on Tuesday, 6PM on Wednesday and 5PM on Thursday. No show Friday due to live racing. Also due to the Saturday night race, the weekend wrap-up edition will air at 10AM on Sunday.

Finally, lots of folks have been asking about the Knoxville Nationals Sprint Car race last weekend. It was not live due to a promoter issue, but SPEED will air an edited version of the race three times. Saturday, August 28 at 4:30PM, Friday, September 3 at 3PM and Saturday, September 11 at 9PM are the air dates.

We will update this post during the day on Tuesday. In the meantime please feel free to add your comments on any of the topics mentioned above. To add your 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.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Michigan On ESPN

The high banks of Michigan served ESPN quite well on Sunday afternoon. Allen Bestwick started the day with the NASCAR Countdown show. Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty were alongside. This was a one hour program.

This time of year, the challenge for ESPN is to mix stories about making The Chase with the stories of winning the race. That challenge was again on display in the pre-race show. Strangely, Dave Burns narrated a poem that was set to NASCAR video footage. Update: Now being told the narrator was ESPN feature reporter Chris Connelly.

Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree handled the call of the race from the TV booth. Reid kept his excited tone while continuing to come up to speed with the teams and personalities in the sport. Petree was much more vocal than in the past while Jarrett continued to be the statesman for the sport.

On pit road was Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Mike Massaro and Dave Burns. The pit reporters were key to this telecast and were very busy. This big track needs effective updates from the reporters assigned to the various teams.

ESPN recovered from a terrible Nationwide Series telecast on Sunday with a big change in approach to the race coverage. Wider shots and many split-screens put a lot more of the racing on the screen and eliminated the single shots of cars and long periods of simply following the leader.

Both Reid and Bestwick continue to push the agenda of continued excitement and pumping up the stories of the actual race. Coverage included a ton of focus on the Chase early, but that faded among the actual racing and the stories unfolding on and off the track.

ESPN made good pictures and had no technical problems. In-car cameras worked great, but once again burned the director as key passes from the in-car perspective just make bad TV. As usual, replays from in-car angles are great.

This was a very different presentation of NASCAR on ESPN. We want to know what you thought of this coverage. Please take a moment to leave us a race wrap-up comment focusing on the TV coverage. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by The Daly Planet.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Michigan (ESPN - 12PM ET)

The weather has cleared after overnight rain and things look good for the Sprint Cup Series as they race in Michigan. ESPN has the race coverage after a one hour pre-race show.

Allen Bestwick hosts from the Infield Pit Studio with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside. Marty Reid calls the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree from the TV booth. Tim Brewer is in the Tech Garage. Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro are the pit road reporters. Jamie Little has the weekend off.

MIS is often a fuel mileage race with long green flag runs. The challenge for the TV team is to stay on top of the developing race strategies and update the teams that are struggling. The pit reporters are key at this race.

Saturday, ESPN came into the Nationwide Series race at MIS fresh off a fantastic performance at Watkins Glen. The MIS Nationwide coverage quickly dissolved into tight shots of one or two cars mixed with in-car cameras. The director jumped from car to car and quickly disoriented the TV viewers.

This was the ESPN of old, working stories scripted in the pre-race show like Danica Patrick and the Edwards vs. Keselowski rivalry. The actual reality of what was happening on the track in the field was lost. Only the ticker updated the real stories of the race and offered any perspective on the race itself.

As hard as Reid and Bestwick tried to update viewers, the choice of the pictures by the producer and director pushed the Nationwide race right back into the same old mode. Random images of the leader were mixed with sudden cuts to two cars on the track running next to each other with no explanation. In a word, it was awful.

This is the fourth season of NASCAR on ESPN. Like many of the Sprint Cup Series teams, there have been glimpses of what could be mixed with the reality of the end result. If ESPN tries to offer NASCAR fans this type of disjointed coverage during the longer Sprint Cup Series race, it is going to fail miserably.

With the NFL regular season only weeks away, it is going to be more important than ever before for ESPN to open up the coverage and show fans at home the best racing on the track regardless of position. The trend of following the leader and then jumping back to other cars on the track has been a failure since 2007.

There is an all-star cast of announcers ready for this race and the camera people and other technicians are second to none. Ultimately, the success of this race comes down to the choices made in the production truck by the producer and director. After producing races again this season since February, ESPN should know how to get it right.

This post will serve to host your TV-related comments on the ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series from MIS. To add your 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.

Live Blogging Camping World Trucks In Darlington (SPEED - 7PM ET)

It's a special one day show for the Camping World Trucks at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. SPEED has the pre-race show at 7PM and the race coverage at 7:30PM ET.

Krista Voda hosts The Setup with Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander as the reporters. This is a veteran crew that should be all smiles as the trucks run at Darlington. There is little doubt that tonight could be one of the best races of the year.

Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip will call the race. This track tends to string the field out quickly as side by side racing through the corners is really rough for the trucks.

Most passing is done down the straights, but taking it two-wide through the corners is going to be key for the TV crew to capture regardless of the position on the track. The truck series now features drivers of very different ability and experience. That will certainly come into play quickly in this race.

Pictures from Darlington under the lights are outstanding. This is an opportunity for the truck series TV team to recapture the magic of presenting uncomplicated and straightforward NASCAR coverage. There is a big transition taking place behind the scenes at SPEED and tonight we will see if the coverage of the only NASCAR series that the network televises from start to finish is affected.

This post will serve to host your comments on the coverage from Darlington. 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.

Live Blogging Nationwide Series From Michigan (ESPN - 1PM ET)

Michigan International Speedway is the stop this weekend for the Nationwide Series. ESPN is the TV network. 1PM ET for the pre-race show and 2PM for race coverage.

Allen Bestwick is set to host the program from the Infield Pit Studio. He will have Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside and Tim Brewer in the Tech Garage. Danica Patrick is back and making news with a Hot Wheels sponsored car and solid times in practice. These are the new Nationwide Series cars and they look great.

Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree are in the TV booth. Mike Massaro, Dave Burns, Vince Welch and Dr. Jerry Punch are on pit road. Jamie Little is off the NASCAR beat this weekend.

The new Nationwide Series cars have been causing a quite a stir. Complaints were everywhere in practice and the tech inspection before qualifying was a disaster. This is an impound race, so drivers will be running exactly the set-up they had after qualifying.

TV has several stories to cover including how many cars are going to start and park on this big track. Meanwhile the cross-over drivers from the Cup Series are in a brand new car and perhaps do not have the advantages they normally enjoy in this series.

SPEED handled the practice and qualifying coverage for the NNS series. ESPN is only covering the race. There may well be a bit of a information gap in terms of the stories that have been unfolding this weekend. That is going to be a key point to watch, especially in the pre-race show.

MIS is a huge track with few TV coverage issues. Cameras on top of the tower work well for racing action. Low angles show the speed and the pit road is straight and wide for easy TV coverage.

It's yet to be seen exactly how the NNS cars will race in a pack on this big track. One thing is for sure, the cars look great and the fan reaction has been positive. This may translate to higher TV ratings as Saturday viewers click by the race.

This post will serve to host your comments about the ESPN coverage of the NNS series at MIS. 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.

Friday From MIS On SPEED

The channels keep flipping and this Friday every program from the Michigan International Speedway is on SPEED beginning at noon ET.

Cup practice gets things started with the hard working trio of Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds. These three are going to have a long Saturday of TV.

John Roberts is next doing what he does best and that is direct traffic. Kyle Petty is alongside Roberts from the SPEED Stage with Wendy Venturini and Hermie Sadler roaming the pits as NASCAR Live presents an hour of highlights, interviews and updates at 1:30PM.

Nationwide Series cars are on the track for Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds next. Matt Yocum and Hermie Sadler are the garage reporters for this session. Needless to say, Danica Patrick is back this weekend and it should be interesting to watch her come up to speed on the type of track at which she is very familiar.

As the Cup cars go out to qualify at 3:30PM, Bob Dillner and Venturini rejoin Hammond, McReynolds and Byrnes. This is a home track for several manufacturers and getting the pole with horsepower has always been an extra bonus for teams.

Once qualifying is over, Roberts will be back for another edition of NASCAR Live. This time, the outspoken Randy Pemberton will be on the SPEED Stage with Roberts. Bob Dillner and Matt Yocum will be the reporters.

The night ends with Trackside. This show is bittersweet because Steve Byrnes is going to be leaving the series to begin hosting the newly revamped Race Hub show from the SPEED studios on Charlotte, NC. No word yet on who is replacing Byrnes, but we should have that early next week.

Byrnes has been the heart and soul of this series which exposes a lot of NASCAR personalities to good conversation, questions and fun. There is no doubt it was hard to come off the road and again anchor a studio TV series. We will have more on Race Hub in a Sunday night column.

In the meantime, this post will serve to host your comments about the Friday NASCAR TV from MIS on SPEED. To leave us your TV-related post, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Your Turn: "NASCAR Now" Comments

Sometimes, when you get it from all sides the smart thing to do is retreat. Fans have been coming from every direction this week asking the same thing. Why did ESPN2 bump the 5PM airing of NASCAR Now Tuesday through Friday?

The easy answer is that Little League baseball is airing on ESPN2 during that timeslot. The big problem is that this is truly a historic week in NASCAR news. Not having this TV show on the air at 5PM is rough.

From Kasey Kahne at Red Bull Racing to the largest schedule realignment in recent memory, the news has been non-stop since Monday. The Sprint Cup Series coming to Kentucky Speedway and a second time to Kansas has also brought a lot of media and fan reaction. Danica is back this week and the trucks can't even get a full field for Darlington.

It should be pointed out that Shannon Spake is hosting new episodes of NASCAR Now this week airing at midnight Eastern Time or slightly later. While 9PM might work for our West Coast friends, there are apparently some rather unhappy race fans in the other time zones.

NASCAR Now is one of the most popular shows for the DVR because the 5PM airing allows fans to get home and catch right up to date on all the news. ESPN.com has been posting stories on the same topics, but the daily TV show is the heart and soul of the commitment that ESPN made to NASCAR back in 2007.

Over the past couple of years, we have offered suggestions when this situation has happened. Unfortunately, airing thirty minutes of NASCAR Now on ESPN or ESPNEWS or ESPNU or even good old ESPN Classic has just not been something the corporation has chosen to do.

There has been a solid start to the Sprint Cup Series coverage on ESPN this season. The extended post-race shows have been a treat. Coming off a great weekend of coverage at Watkins Glen, there was good momentum heading into Michigan.

The decision not to move NASCAR Now to ESPNEWS or ESPN for the East Coast audience this week is one that may prove to be costly. These days, SPEED offers an alternative in the Race Hub program airing at 7PM. ESPN2 is no longer the only game in town when it comes to a daily NASCAR news program.

This post is simply to get the comments on this topic in one location. Please feel free to offer your opinion. There will be a new post Wednesday updating other TV stories including details of changes at SPEED and coverage of upcoming special events. Check back with us during the day.

As always, this is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and check the TV schedule on the left side of the main page for the latest information including announcers and guests for all the NASCAR TV programs.

Tuesday TV/Media Notes (Updated)

Here are some topics in the news this week on the TV and media beat:

Nicole Briscoe deleted her Twitter account and is no longer active on that social media application. This was surprising because she had a large following and was a great example of someone deeply involved in motorsports.

Briscoe is a fulltime co-host of the NASCAR Now program on ESPN2 and the wife of IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe, who races for Team Penske.

We are told that leaving Twitter was a personal decision on her part. Her husband is still very active on Twitter as are many other IndyCar drivers. While Twitter is fun and informative, the demands of real life sometimes curtail the time available for social media interaction.

The good news is that the NASCAR Now program still has a very active Twitter account, as do many other ESPN personalities connected with the NASCAR coverage.

Speaking of NASCAR Now, there are no afternoon (5PM ET) shows this week. Instead, Shannon Spake hosts late night shows Tuesday through Friday.

Little League Baseball coverage left only the 5 to 6PM timeslot open and ESPN chose to put the ridiculous Sports Nation show on and bump NASCAR Now. This decision absolutely defies logic.

ESPN executives recently indicated that ESPNEWS was due for an overhaul. The first round of changes were just released. Instead of re-airing afternoon shows like NASCAR Now in primetime, ESPNEWS is going to host a mind-blowing seven additional hours of SportsCenter daily.

As the blending of online and TV content continues to evolve, ESPN is going to feature the new ESPN.com regional websites on this expanded SportsCenter coverage. Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas now have their own ESPN branded websites for sports news. Once again, NASCAR is nowhere in this picture.

SPEEDtv.com is going to offer live streaming of the press conference from Kentucky Speedway at 2PM ET on Tuesday. Lots of dignitaries on hand as SMI Chairman Bruton Smith is expected to make it official that a Sprint Cup Series race will be coming to the facility in 2011.

ESPN has chosen to take only one team of booth announcers to Michigan. Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will again do double duty on the Nationwide and Cup Series. Qualifying and practice is split this weekend between ESPN and SPEED.

Finally, Tuesday finds Krista Voda hosting Race Hub from Roush Fenway Racing as the SPEED studio for this program undergoes what is being described as a renovation. SPEED has made a major commitment to four hours of Race Hub each week and a new set is a nice way to change the currently disjointed look of the program.

Update 10AM ET: SPEED today confirmed that Steve Byrnes is going to be stepping into the Monday through Thursday fulltime role as the host of Race Hub next week. Byrnes is a veteran who works very well in a studio setting. There is no news of how this might affect Byrnes' current assignments in the field that range from Trackside to hosting practice and qualifying coverage.

Any additional updates will be added to this post during the day on Tuesday. Please feel free to offer your comments on any of the topics mentioned above. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below.

This is a family-friendly website. Please keep that in mind when posting. Comments may be moderated prior to posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Watkins Glen On ESPN

It's been a memorable weekend for the NASCAR on ESPN team. Good weather and great racing has a way of making the TV coverage even better.

Allen Bestwick hosted the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty from the Infield Pit Center. Marty Reid called the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Dr. Jerry Punch had the weekend off, so Mike Massaro filled-in on pit road. Dave Burns, Vince Welch and Jamie Little rounded-out the pit road gang.

ESPN presented a pre-race show that once again put Rusty Wallace on the spot for some comments on road course racing. Daugherty was once again the cheerleader for the sport which was easy to do given his success with Marcos Ambrose.

The booth was enthusiastic, but faced the common TV challenge that we see on road courses. The announcers can only see the frontstretch and have to rely on the TV monitors in the booth to view the rest of the course.

ESPN used aerial views of restarts to give a great perspective of turn one. The remainder of the course was covered with the standard array of cameras. There were no special effects or other nonsense that ESPN has tried to force into coverage over the last several seasons. This time, it was just about the racing.

Watkins Glen seemed to breathe a lot of excitement into the racing and made for an exciting presentation on TV. This is your opportunity to offer a comment about the coverage. To add your 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.

Day Four: Did NASCAR Crush Social Media? (Updated With Hamlin Comments)

Veteran reporter Dustin Long posted these quotes from Denny Hamlin about his Twitter fines and subsequent use of social media on the Hamptonroads.com website.

Denny Hamlin admits he's not commenting as often on Twitter after being fined an undisclosed amount by NASCAR recently for comments series officials felt were hurtful to the sport. Said Hamlin: "I'd say half of the time I was on (Twitter discussing NASCAR stuff and whatnot. They really don't want me going there, so I'm not going to go there. It's just one of those things. I'm still part of that stuff, but obviously with getting a fine and everything, you've got to be a little bit more careful.''

Well, it was fun while it lasted. This season many fans have been enjoying a level of direct interaction with NASCAR personalities, including drivers, that has never existed before. It's called Twitter.

It was no longer a pipe dream to communicate with your favorite driver and have him answer you back. It happened every day. As the season progressed, drivers and teams began to understand that Twitter was a gold mine in terms of building a new NASCAR fan base and exposing sponsors directly to race fans.

Twitter technology is so portable that cell phones now offer an entirely new opportunity for NASCAR personalities to exchange all kinds of information and have conversations about the sport directly with fans. In a word, it was amazing.

TV personalities jumped on the bandwagon along with most of the NASCAR media. Teams, sponsors and even the sanctioning body joined the party. Each NASCAR series, all the tracks and most of the NASCAR TV shows have very active Twitter accounts.

Then, after a seemingly harmless chat about the value of late race "show caution" flags, the bottom fell out. It was AP reporter Jenna Fryer who broke the story of Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman being secretly fined by NASCAR. Hamlin's penalty was supposedly for Twitter conversations.

Click here to read the SBNation post that was apparently the straw that broke NASCAR's back in terms of patience with Hamlin's candid conversations on Twitter.

Click here to read Hamlin's subsequent conversation about waking up to the fact that NASCAR had been watching his social media activities for months. "They did give me a pretty good log book of all the negative things I've had to say over the last couple of months," said Hamlin. It was a log book of Twitter comments.

This week, Twitter has been almost silent when it comes to drivers and real conversations. The normal PR and marketing tweets have been sent out. The appearances and autograph sessions have been promoted. What is missing is the heart and soul of NASCAR on Twitter. What is missing is the drivers.

NASCAR reinforced the edict of no negative talk about the sport by putting personalities on TV and radio to echo that theme. The result is that the content heard "on the air" is rather different than that expressed elsewhere.

Click here to view the candid online video from Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond about winning and The Chase for the Championship.

It seems ironic that it was Hammond on SPEED's Race Hub this week emphatically delivering the message of no negative talk in public about anything connected with NASCAR. Hammond said on Race Hub that if folks working in NASCAR did not like what the sanctioning body was doing, they should get out of the sport.

Here is an excerpt from Fryer's original story about the fines and what trying to control the public comments of drivers and personalities could bring:

But it’s also a slippery slope. NASCAR fans often choose their favorite drivers based on personality and competitive fire and after years of complaining that the stars had become too corporate, the racers this year were urged to let loose. From the “boys, have at it” policy that permits more aggressive driving to NASCAR encouraging drivers to cut back sponsor plugs in favor of raw emotion, now asking them to bite their tongue is a mixed message.

It should be interesting to see the impact of all of this on the one place where drivers could express their own thoughts without PR managers or agents involved. The one place where fans worldwide came to interact with drivers on a one-on-one basis. The one place where drivers opened the door to their family life, their hobbies and ultimately to their true personalities.

If drivers stay quiet on Twitter permanently the loss to NASCAR is going to be much greater than the damage one 29 year-old did debating debris caution flags with a NASCAR blogger. NASCAR may have closed an important social media door it can't reopen.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your 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.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Watkins Glen (12PM ET - ESPN)

There is a new buzz in the air when it comes to NASCAR on ESPN. Saturday afternoon, the ESPN TV team put together a dynamite Nationwide Series telecast.

Now, it's Sunday and the Sprint Cup Series awaits. It will be Allen Bestwick anchoring the telecast from the Infield Pit Studio. He will be joined by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. This is a one hour pre-race show and hopefully ESPN will use this opportunity to touch on a wide variety of stories within the sport.

Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will be in the TV booth. These three had a blast on the Nationwide Series race Saturday and Jarrett took the lead in speaking his mind and offering opinions.

Dr. Jerry Punch is off this weekend. Mike Massaro, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch are covering pit road. This is the first race back for Welch since being involved in a car accident in the Indy area. He is still playing hurt with some broken ribs.

The best thing about ESPN on Saturday was that the telecast followed the closest racing on the track, regardless of the position in the race. It completely changed the tone of the telecast from the boring follow the leader coverage that fans have suffered through for years.

Watkins Glen has made safety changes that have eliminated the gravel traps and ended the extended caution or red flags of the past. No longer is there a need to take fifteen minutes to tow a car out of the gravel. This resulted in even better racing, especially in the bus stop chicane area.

The pictures from The Glen are always spectacular and this is an opportunity for ESPN to pick up some momentum as the fuel mileage race at MIS looms as the next Sprint Cup Series event. This should be a fun telecast to watch.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Sprint Cup Series race from Watkins Glen on ESPN. To add your TV-related 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.

Live Blogging Camping World Trucks From Nashville, TN (SPEED - 8:30PM ET)

The trucks are running a one-day show from Nashville Superspeedway on SPEED.

Krista Voda is hosting the pre-race show with Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander reporting. Rick Allen will be in the broadcast booth with Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons.

This is the standard truck series TV from SPEED that has been crowd pleasing for several seasons. Expect good coverage of the actual racing after a straightforward pre-race show.

There are lots of new drivers in the field since this is a stand-alone event and SPEED should have many good stories to follow before, during and after the race.

This post will serve to host your comments on the SPEED coverage of the Camping World Trucks from Nashville. 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.

Live Blogging Nationwide Series From Watkins Glen (ESPN - 1:30PM ET)

The ESPN team is back and the Nationwide Series racing on the road course at Watkins Glen is waiting.

Allen Bestwick hosts Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty in the Infield Pit Studio to start the coverage at 1:30PM. These three have already been on the air with both Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series practice Saturday morning. They should be well informed on the stories of the day.

Marty Reid is calling the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside. Reid has an apology to make from last week's coverage, let's hope that happens. Jarrett and Petree handled the Nationwide Series qualifying Saturday morning, so they know the starting grid and track conditions.

ESPN decided not to take a different team of announcers to the Glen for this NNS race, despite the strong efforts recently of Ricky Craven and Ray Evernham in the booth. This put the entire NASCAR on ESPN team on the air continuously since 9AM ET.

By the time the NNS race starts shortly after 2PM, the announcers will have been on the air for five hours. Anyway you cut it, ESPN should have learned from the last several seasons at the Glen and brought along a second set of booth announcers.

The Glen has changed several corners on the course with improved runoff areas and added SAFER barriers. While the racing on the track might not change, we should be able to avoid the extended caution period while cars were pulled out of the gravel traps.

Cutting a road course is relatively simple until the field gets strung-out and the director has to "back cut" in order to follow a second battle on the track. Unlike ovals, where one camera can follow a car all the way around, road courses have cameras assigned to each turn or straight.

The weather is good, the pictures are super and as usual there are lots of conflicting agendas in the Nationwide Series race in terms of drivers and cars.

This post will serve to host your comments as ESPN covers the Nationwide Series race from Watkins Glen. To add your TV-related 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.

Live Blogging Friday At Watkins Glen (SPEED And ESPN2)

SPEED kicks off the day with Sprint Cup Series practice coverage from Watkins Glen at noon ET. Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds are in the TV booth. Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini are the reporters.

ESPN2 picks-up the action with Nationwide Series practice at 2PM ET. Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree are in the booth. This trio sticks around for the 4PM Sprint Cup Series final practice as well. Nicole Briscoe then hosts NASCAR Now at 5:30PM from ESPN's Bristol, CT headquarters.

The TV coverage wraps-up with Trackside on SPEED at 7PM. Elliott Sadler is back on the show with host Steve Byrnes, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond. It should be interesting to see what Sadler has to say about his rough ride last week in Pocono.

This is always a good opportunity to see the differences in coverage approach between SPEED and ESPN. SPEED is much more focused on chasing the stories of the moment while ESPN has a lot of pre-produced features and interviews all set before the coverage starts.

This post will let you post comments on the Friday TV coverage. To add your 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.

Wednesday TV/Media Notes

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a primetime TV moment on the Shaq vs. show on ABC Tuesday night. Love to get your comments on how you felt this worked for Junior and also for the sport.

Jack Arute informed us that he will be calling the play-by-play on the new NASCAR Modifieds TV package for VERSUS. The surprise was that Jimmy Spencer is going to be alongside of Arute providing the analysis. Click here to read the details and take a look at the rest of the Mods schedule on TV.

Saturday's Pocono truck series race on SPEED wound-up #2 in basic cable for that timeslot, only losing out to King Kong on TNT. The ARCA rating was also good on the weekend where SPEED announced it had extended its agreement to televise ARCA races through 2011.

Rutlege Wood is off to Los Angeles this weekend to work on the new Top Gear program that is coming to the US on The History Channel. Wendy Venturini will take his place on the infamous NASCAR Smarts program. Click here to review the details of the new 10 episode series. SPEED's Tanner Foust from Supercars Exposed and Adam Ferrara from FX's Rescue Me are Wood's co-stars. The series is slated to debut this fall.

Next week SPEED's Race Hub series goes on the road, but not very far. The show is stepping out of the studio so it can be revamped with a new set. The schedule is Monday at JGR, Tuesday at Roush Fenway, Wednesday at Penske and Thursday at Hendrick Motorsports. This show has come a long way and now with the new one-hour format, it deserved a better studio set.

Despite the strong performance of Ricky Craven and Ray Evernham, ESPN will not be taking a second set of announcers to Watkins Glen. Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will be handling both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series duties. In the past, that has made for some tired announcers by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around. This trio will handle practice and qualifying for both series in addition to the races. Coverage jumps back and forth between ESPN and ESPN2, so reference the TV schedule on the left side of the TDP page.

ESPN executive John Skipper has said in recent interviews that changes are coming to ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic network. Once again this past weekend, ESPN Classic was used to host the pre-race and early race portions of a NASCAR telecast. As the college football season closes in, viewers know the Nationwide Series telecasts will once again be sandwiched in between football games. Hopefully, ESPN will identify a viable television or online source that can present the Nationwide telecasts from start to finish for fans of that series.

Fans should note that Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series qualifying sessions this weekend are back-to-back on Saturday from Watkins Glen beginning at 9AM ET. This is the road course format, so things should be a bit more interesting. Don't forget, there is also a CWTS race from Nashville on Saturday night. Pre-race starts at 8:30PM on SPEED, the race is at 9PM ET. No early coverage is offered.

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Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Pocono On ESPN

Update: We are leaving this post up for one extra day. Getting great comments from fans on the Pocono coverage. Thanks.

It was a long day in Pocono for the ESPN team. After a thirty minute delay for rain, the race coverage began with long green flag runs and little racing.

Allen Bestwick started the pre-race show over on ESPN2 as women's golf was live on ESPN. Bestwick was with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. The pre-race show featured highlights, several edited features and some interviews.

Marty Reid called the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the TV booth. Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Dave Burns were on pit road.

Pocono is either feast or famine. Race coverage was straightforward and featured recaps, pit road updates and good information. The original problem was there was not much to cover.

Several caution periods closed the field and resulted in periods of hard racing. The TV coverage struggled to cover the many races for position on the big track. ESPN used a split screen effect and also just jumped from one camera to the next.

A big wreck late in the race caused a mess. Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler had hard hits with Sadler's wreck remaining a mystery on TV. ESPN had no replay of the Sadler portion of the accident on the backstretch. That was rough for viewers.

ESPN interviewed both Busch and Sadler when they were released from the Infield Medical Center. A red flag allowed for more interviews before the final restart.

Rain came with 28 laps and the field under caution. The race ended with a short sprint to the finish without incident.

I will have plenty to say about the coverage of this race once the Your Turn comments are completed. To add your race recap of the TV coverage, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Pocono (12PM ESPN2 - 1PM ESPN)

It's an overcast summer day in Pocono with a good chance of rain. The Sprint Cup Series has some fireworks at the last race here, so today should be interesting in many different ways.

There is golf on ESPN this morning, so ESPN2 will host the NASCAR Countdown show at 12PM ET. Allen Bestwick has Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace alongside. This will also be the location that provides the "rain fill" should weather come along.

Marty Reid will call the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the TV booth. On pit road are Dr. Jerry Punch, Mike Massaro, Dave Burns and Jamie Little. Vince Welch is recovering from a Thursday car accident back in Indy.

Pocono is a huge three turn track that has been a source of controversy for years. Safety issues at the track and the lack of the kind of racing that fans have come to expect from other tracks makes it tough for TV.

A short truck race on Saturday with several restarts showed that the track can be exciting, but if the Sprint Cup guys get strung-out and long green flag runs are the order of the day this one is sometimes tough to watch.

Long camera shots down the frontstretch and low angle shots from the infield as the cars go between turns one and two make for good pictures. The pit road is wide and straight which makes for easy coverage of both green and caution flag pitstops.

Last week, ESPN cut away from the finish and focused the cameras on the winner, his pit crew and crew chief. Hopefully, Pocono will bring a decision to show all the lead lap cars race to the finish line for fans of those teams and drivers.

This post will serve to host 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.