Saturday, August 7, 2010

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.

93 comments:

Daly Planet Editor said...

Hi all, looks like a nice day for some racing.

PammH said...

Oh good grief, I'm beginning to HATE BSPN's pre-race. Rusty & Brad are just AWFUL!

Daly Planet Editor said...

They have been talking since 9AM!

oldnewenglander said...

Welcome back Vince Welch!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Hey Anon, you can take the day off. Comments are being moderated on this blog permanently.

Tell your mom I said hi!

Daly Planet Editor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daly Planet Editor said...

Vince looks pretty good for playing with broken ribs.

Palmetto said...

Looks like several new camera angles.

Sally said...

I wonder if the new paved runoffs will keep the number of caution laps down today.

Daly Planet Editor said...

I like the changes! Hope it pays off with more green flag racing.

oldnewenglander said...

Well, if there's any place to have a car accident, its Indiana. Have access to Methodist Hospital if you need it.

PammH said...

Excellent anthem!!

Anonymous said...

Well thank you for the great blog. Guess I will not be reading or participating any more. Bloggers can remain anonymous - that is part of the system.

It seems that you too are choosing the route that NASCAR has gone down and moderating / censoring even responsible anonymous bloggers.

Anonymous said...

Happy Busy Busy Busy Race Day Saturday Planeteers <3

Hearing Gluck was tagged to be a spotter for Boris today. Will be a fun blog to read :). I 'member when MartDawg got to be a Gas Catch Man for Happy's Pick 'em Up team a few years ago. That was a fun read!

Looking forward to turning left AND right today! Glad to see Vince back! As they say "you can't keep a good man down".

Anonymous said...

Hope the changes help with less cautions, too.

WOW, that is the highest key I've ever heard the anthem sung. She did a fair job if you like that high a soprano voice! :)
Great weather. DVRing the race. Not sure how long I'll watch live. Tough to show road courses on tv for any motorsports.

LOOKS GORGEOUS from above.

OSBORNK said...

A nice voice for the Anthem.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a lack of enthusiasm in the booth? They seem very unmotivated.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Going to moderate today due to the continuing presence of our trolls.

Always interesting on the Internet!

Daly Planet Editor said...

We also chat at twitter.com/thedalyplanet and on Facebook. Just search The Daly Planet for our fan page.

Ann_Ominous said...

No, I did NOT like that anthem!! Made my ears hurt!!!

Daly Planet Editor said...

I hope Mike Massaro got a big raise this season. He is working like a dog!

I also think it's his birthday!

Vicky D said...

Ann, I thought the anthem's key was too high and it hurt my ears too. Ok, let's see how these guys in the both do. I hope the safety changes on the track help.

Sally said...

JD...thanks for keeping the trolls away. Makes for a much nicer day!

Sally said...

Looks like a good crowd there!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Man, in-car cams on a road course? Come on man!

Daly Planet Editor said...

These guys got all strung out pretty quick.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Oops, looks like it was a local break. No bringing that back.

Wisconsin Steve said...

Bad start to this broadcast.

Anonymous said...

well they tried to stay with that :(

Lisa Hogan said...

Enjoyed the NW qualifying this morning. Had to multi-task around the house and only got to watch parts of the Cup qualifying and pre-race.

Hoping to see a good race today.
Enjoy, everyone!

Vicky D said...

On the pre-race it was mentioned that Denny Hamlin's pit crew will be pitting Brendan Gaughan to get more practice pitting a car on a road course. Let's see how they do.

Wisconsin Steve said...

Where's Dr. Punch? Scheduled off-week?

Sally said...

What did everyone think of the new qualifying this AM? Like it better than 1 car at a time?

Daly Planet Editor said...

Jerry is off this week, scheduled.

GuardWifeL said...

We should probably cut broadcasters some slack since they're on hyper-overtime today. But not ESPN for putting them in that position!!

Vicky D said...

Sally, I much preferred NW qualifying that the slow and boring cup qualifying today.

GuardWifeL said...

Cup qualifying could have been OK if they hadn't completely obscured the actual RACECARS with stats and old wreck footage they've shown forty zillion times already this week!

Sally said...

I thought it was grat, too! Liked the way they qualified the trucks at Pocono, too. Think they should do something like that at the big tracks.

Charlie said...

Do the 7 cars that were picked for in-car cameras get extra pay for that?

Sally said...

AW. Carl is having trouble. I wonder how big Kez's smile is right now?

Daly Planet Editor said...

Sponsors, NASCAR and the in-car camera company BSI make the arrangements for the cams.

Charlie said...

Thanks for the info JD.

Seems Steve Wallace is always picked for in-car.

Sally said...

Yow! They have had some awful crashes at the road courses this year!

Wisconsin Steve said...

Wow. Road Block.

Nice overhead shots of the crash scene.

Anonymous said...

What a hot mess that wreck was :( Hate it for Mr. Alligator :(

Charlie said...

See, an aerial view is better then a bumper cam. Take note Espn.

PammH said...

In car is good AFTER the wrecks, imo. They used them well this time.

Vicky D said...

Jack's going to have a relapse after watching this race today!

Patrick said...

Very similar to the Hornish/Gordon/Burton wreck last year. Leffler got bounced right into the racing line.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Thank God for replays!

Sally said...

So much for cutting down on cautions...tho a red flag is different.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Leffler is not the most popular guy in the NNS garage. Just sayin...

Wisconsin Steve said...

I love it when people say "I'll take the blame for that..." and then go on to blame everyone else.

51 yr. fan said...

Leffler takes his usual low-road.
It's never his fault.

I tired of watching pit road. I
would like to see the racing. What
is the director's fixation with
lug nuts and impact wrenches?

Daly Planet Editor said...

Nice to see Dale Jarrett not having any of what Leffler was trying to say.

Love to see DJ become a strong force in the TV booth instead of Mr. Polite all the time.

His dad knew how to do it!

Lisa Hogan said...

Glad all the drivers are o.k.
Hate to see a wreck like that.
ESPN did a good job with the replays.

PammH said...

Leffler is a terrible racer in general & really not good at rd racing. He never takes the blame either.

Wisconsin Steve said...

Some drivers just won't admit it when they mess up... Bobby Hamilton Jr. was the same way.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Did you see that Fruit of the Loom boy band ad? Creeped me out!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Steve, Leffler's personality was great for midget and sprint car racing, but he never "got it" when he came to NASCAR.

Vicky D said...

JD, I hate that Fruit of the Loom commercial, plus the one for Quiznos and those cats - they are both so irritating!

Sally said...

Quizno's has had some creepy commercials! Makes me neveer want to eat there...have no idea what they might put between the bread!

Daly Planet Editor said...

No love lost between Ambrose and good old Kyle. This is going to get interesting. I hope ESPN sticks with it.

Sally said...

Some good racing going on that we are seeing.

Sally said...

Wow!!!! Great having the overhead shot...really showed the action!

Vicky D said...

And Sally there's probably some good racing we aren't seeing either!

Wisconsin Steve said...

JD - What did you mean in the intro. column when you wrote that Reid needs to apologize for last week? Were you referring to the Sadler wreck failure, the debris caution failure, or something else?

PammH said...

That was an great sequence of racing between KyBu & Marcos.

Vicky D said...

Sounds like RW is winding down too besides the race like he's saying.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Steve, I was talking about Marty's comment to the in-race crew member.

Wisconsin Steve said...

They should probably just cover themselves by apologizing for the entire broadcast - lots of stuff went wrong :)

OSBORNK said...

I don't understand the obsession with pit road.

Daly Planet Editor said...

You know it's good TV when we are not complaining!

Wisconsin Steve said...

DJ called out that Menard and Newman were side-by-side, and the director dumped the in-car cam for a shot of the battle - I like it.

Sally said...

I like that they seem willing to find the closest racing on track instead of just showing the leader out front running my himself. So far, so good.

oldnewenglander said...

Now, that's what I call a debris caution!

OSBORNK said...

Now that's debris.

Sally said...

WOW! They showed the debris as it happened! Great move. AND...showing what happened to Kyle. And we can hear him whining.

Wisconsin Steve said...

Hear that sarcastic tone that DJ directed towards Kyle Busch? I'm liking his attitude today!!!

TexasRaceLady said...

Great camera work picking up that weight coming out.

I've been enjoying the telecast.

Daly Planet Editor said...

If this is a preview of tomorrow, it's a good sign.

Sally said...

Yes, JD. Good racing and good coverage so far.

Wisconsin Steve said...

Great broadcast. I hope they close it out with a shot of everyone finishing.

Wisconsin Steve said...

GREAT shots of the finish. TEXTBOOK-WORTHY!!

Vicky D said...

With 3 laps to go a bad rain storm comes over us and we lose the satellite! Dang.

Palmetto said...

Freakin' EXCELLENT coverage of the finish!

TexasRaceLady said...

Thank you, ESPN for letting us watch the battles to the finish line.

Take note for tomorrow, A team.

Daly Planet Editor said...

We will be back to live blog the trucks tonight at 8:30PM.

Thanks for sticking with us today.

Wisconsin Steve said...

I'll give this to Brad...when Marcos wins, he is very professional with his comments (not a cheerleader).

Ann_Ominous said...

Hey!! they showed us all (or at least most) of the lead lap cars finishing!!!

Lisa Hogan said...

Although road courses are not my favorite tracks, I think that ESPN did a good job today.

Have high hopes for tomorrow!

majorshouse said...

A enjoyable race to watch, even though I still want to either turn Rusty's mike down or off, preferably off and I too was impressed with the professionality of Brad after Marcos won, not a cheerleader, just good and solid. Looking forward to the broadcast tomorrow and hopefully it will be as solid as today

Nan S said...

I'm thrilled for Ambrose. But I am also thrilled for the viewers because Nascar let the race play out. On road courses you don't need full course yellows every time someone sneezes.

Any chance they will let the Cup race run this way too?

Anonymous said...

I honest thought that this might just be the best coverage that ESPN has done since coming back to Nascar. They did a great job. I was totally amazed they showed the 01 and 15 (I think) battle to the checkered flag for like 18th. That's all you can ask for as a racing fan. Just simply show us the racing. Somebody, somewhere cares about what those cars are doing.