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.
Nice pictures from Darlington tonight.
ReplyDeleteMan, 7:26 and nobody on board yet?
ReplyDeleteThis is my 'local' track, about 90 minutes from the house. I'm not there because the forecast called for rain. I hope it holds off for the benefit of those attending. It looks like a decent Carolina crowd.
During the early '00s, the Trucks were usually the best race of the three series for the spring weekend. The Truck races have always had an 'old school' feel to them, and it suits this track perfectly.
Krista looks great in her 'Lady in Black' attire. Someone made a great call putting her in front of the 'striped' track logo.
I really hope this goes well. After the NNS race, I need some good racing TV coverage.
ReplyDeleteI know we made fun of 'Fast Track to Fame'...but this guy is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteKrista looked great. Good features in the Setup. Austin' little fish made me laugh.
Anthem: a bit long, but at least he didn't over-sing it.
ReplyDeleteC-17!
There was some good racing in then N'wide series after the half-way caution bunched the leaders up.
Pre-race fishing segment: that is NOT the famed minnow pond whose preservation resulted in the track's egg shape. While the one shown (Ramsey's Pond) is at that same end of the track (Turns 3 and 4), the original minnow pond is long gone. Ramsey's drains through a swampy creek that runs between the track front stands and the main parking lot.
ReplyDeleteI still get messed up since they flipped the layout.
ReplyDeleteWith so many late entries to fill the field, 25% of the starting lineup will likely be in the garage by lap 50. The likely S&P teams are 89, 87, 21, 85, 93, 24, 72, 16, 95.
ReplyDeleteMV, NASCAR pulled out the stops to get trucks there.
ReplyDeleteIf there is a big wreck early, it could really be a problem.
ReplyDelete@JD - After Billy Ballew withdrew his #15 entry early in the week, there were only 31 trucks on the entry list.
ReplyDeleteESPN made me grumpy. Hoping SPEED will cheer me up! :)
ReplyDeleteWishing everyone a good race.
Me to Lisa, not over that disaster yet. And after the great NNS race from Watkins Glen, it was even more confusing.
ReplyDeletePlus, I got yelled at by all kinds of people about it! LOL!
Great first couple of laps. Must have got the message in the driver's meeting.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand how ESPN can do such a wonderful job of dovering a race one week, and completely blow it the next! Do they have different producers or something?
ReplyDeleteNice job by SPEED to finally find that replay.
ReplyDeleteSally, I am really bummed. No clue to what they were thinking. Never showed the racing except for a lap or two after a restart. Very strange.
ReplyDeleteGuess we'll see a lot of Schrader tonight!
ReplyDeleteThat works for me! I've missed Schrader a ton!
ReplyDeleteThat Turn 1 camera is positioned over the best view in the place. You can see the vehicles approaching you the entire length of the front stretch. Watch for the two- and three-wide and you can see wrecks like the Dillon-White one coming long before they happen.
ReplyDeleteGood job, Jason!
ReplyDeleteWhole different tone to this coverage than earlier....
ReplyDeleteI hope Rick doesn't let MW talk over Phil or him. Phil has some good information but he needs a chance to give it to us.
ReplyDeleteGot Rick Allen tweeting pics from the TV booth while he is calling the race. Nice!
ReplyDeleteSPEED has really locked onto the social media thing and it's good for the fans.
Vicky, Mikey's rather restrained tonight, at least when compared to his past performances.
ReplyDeleteMikey is very different from the last race for sure. I like it.
ReplyDeleteWhen they tell Michael he isn't being paid by the word, he's actually coherent and interesting.
ReplyDeleteMikey is better tonite for sure! I haven't muted & gone to MRN!
ReplyDeleteWe just had a commercial break 4 minutes ago. Jeez!
ReplyDeleteNothing is killing this sport more than commercials this season. It's just been awful. Side-by-side soon or things are just going to tank.
ReplyDeleteOnce Rick got the hang of tweeting pics, we've seen a lot of them. One of them looked like Mikey was asleep!
ReplyDeleteHey, it's better than the Cup races. I'm sure everyone's seen the stats he reposts on Tuesdays showing the # of commercial minutes. They usually run 3 minutes of coverage for every minute of racing.
ReplyDeleteIf only Peters had more grip leaving the pits, he would've held position. Close.
ReplyDeleteBoy, when you can hear engine noise like that over the in-car, you know it's done for the night.
ReplyDeleteThose are the little touches that make SPEED the leader.
ReplyDeleteMV,
ReplyDeleteDo you know who the late entries are? Those that won't get points?
Schrader in the top ten.
ReplyDeleteDon't these guys know that wall will grab them? Just sucks them right in. Like a magnet.
ReplyDeleteJust what makes Darlington special.
ReplyDeleteAnother wrecked truck for Ricky!
ReplyDeleteWho besides Peters, Hornaday & Dillon has led a lap? summary said 4, but i've only seen 3. i guess someone stayed out during pits.
ReplyDeleteSurprise for Carmichael!
ReplyDeletePatrick - they mentioned the other driver staying out and leading a lap, but I can't remember who they said.
ReplyDeleteMan, that was a hard hit.
ReplyDeleteThat nice save by Carmichael earlier just delayed the inevitable.
ReplyDeleteThat Gander Mountain commercial is awful!
ReplyDeleteVicky, it was funny once but now it drives me nuts.
ReplyDeleteWe are down to 20 trucks running and several are multiple laps down.
ReplyDeleteIt took them a bit, but they found a good shot of the #7 getting sideways all on his own. It's like Patrick said, big magnets in the walls.
ReplyDeleteI really like these race summaries, especially when it's hopefully the last caution of the night. Now, we shootout to the end.
ReplyDeletehave they even mentioned the 13, 14 placers--Stout, Cobb, etc? They're gonna get a good finish, but nothing from Speed (I did take a break, mighta missed it.) Didn't blog cause I've just been enjoying the race. Mikey really was okay tonight.
ReplyDeleteseemed like a fairly long stretch at the end without a commercial break.
ReplyDeleteNice finish camera work
ReplyDeleteJennifer Jo had a lead lap finish; haven't seen that in a while. Almirola did well to get a Top 10 after beating it up a bit.
ReplyDeleteGood finish line shot.
Nice little TV race. They got everything out of it they could.
ReplyDeleteSee you guys tomorrow for the Cup race. Hope ESPN gets a clue by then.
JD
Much better this week than last week. Mikey must of read my post lol cause he didn't blabber so much. Or else somebody gave him decaf....
ReplyDeleteI think it was all you Ann! Hehe...
ReplyDelete@Patrick - Sorry, I left the blog before you posted your question.
ReplyDeleteMy guess would be that the 24, 87, 16, 72 and 95 would be the late entries, but somehow the unofficial results shows them as having earned points. Maybe the official results will show the corrected points.
When I saw that Schrader was going to be in the race, I made up my mind that I was going to watch it, even if Mikey was in the booth.
ReplyDeleteI thought the coverage was very good. Made me sorry I didn't travel to Darlington to see this race live, but it is a long trip from NJ
It was a beautiful day in NJ so I didn't sit inside to watch the NW race. Glad I didn't after reading the posts about the TV coverage. Too bad that ESPN can't be consistent with the coverage from week to week. I wonder how they will do for the Cup race?