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.
I'm actually really curious about this. If the announcement is what's been leaked so far, 2 races and one's a night race, then I'm kind of underwhelmed. And that also wouldn't explain the IndyCar folks being there.
ReplyDeleteI know Eddie Gossage likes to throw a party, but without some sort of actual exciting announcement this seems silly. Unless he's talked the IndyCar folks back into letting him do two races a year, and actually moving the weekend of the fall race, which is something that needs to happen.
A weekend free of DW. I might tune in to some programming.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a fan of Steve Byrnes for some reason, so I welcome the change for practices and qualifying, but I did enjoy seeing him on Trackside. I don't mean to sound sexist, because Krista is a great part of the NASCAR on Speed crew, but I'm not sure I like the addition of her on Trackside. I could be wrong, but I don't see her fitting in with "they guys" very well.
ReplyDeleteI do love the addition of Rick Allen to the practice/qualifying broadcasts. I've loved him for the CWTS races (aside from constantly yelling out "PROBLEMS!") and I'm glad to see him getting a shot at expanding his work.
I just moved to Texas and the idea of a night race there excites me to no end. After having my choices in California limited to a road course where you can't see but a portion of the track, or Fontana and it's miserable on-track "racing" and even worse facilities, a night race at TMS is like winnng the lotto. Color me the happiest NASCAR fan in Texas!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSkip, I think the reason IndyCar is there is possibly for the announcement of them changing the Texas race to Twin 125's.
ReplyDeleteWelp, I just woke to bad news. I live in the Detroit area & the Woodward Dream Cruise is this wk-end. My ABC affliate just imformed me that coverage of the Bristol nite race will be on something called channel 7.2 until 9 pm. I assume that's a digital channel that I don't have access to. Great..
ReplyDeleteJD, looking forward to all these announcements today. I like Rick Allen I think he can do a nice job for practice and qualifying. I wanted to comment about Brad Keselowski on NN yesterday I thought he was terrific and added much to the broadcast. I don't know if I liked Angelique keep on asking him questions but they were all started off by well I've never driven a race car but . . . .
ReplyDeleteRace Hub with Byrnes yesterday
ReplyDeletewas great. The segment with Tony
Gibson displayed the type of
the "human side" of our sport that
needs to be portrayed more. These
behind-the-scenes heroes are what
we need to see more of. There are
lots of these hands-on guys who
make the drivers what they are and
make great story lines.
RH also brought the story home on
Newman vs Logano with most of their
dialogue. Sounds like Joey wants
everyone to roll over.
Think the TMS news may be Tony and
Helio talking trading of their Czars?
Although the RCR announcement kind of intrigues me, I'll have to follow all of this via the internet since I'm working during these "announcements".
ReplyDeleteThe schedule changes that have been "leaked" so far make me yawn. I guess its nice about Texas, but its not a track that has been on my "gotta get there" list so one or two races doesn't matter to me and changing the first chase race to be Chicagoland is a really who cares item for me.
BTW, I thought RaceHub was really good last night. I like the new set, Steve did his usual fine job and the interview with Tony Gibson was something special. I didn't know that he had been part of Alan Kulwicki's team and having the conversation with Steve connect the dots between Bristol and how the 39 team plans to make up the points it needs over the next 3 races with Kulwicki and the plane crash was really interesting to me. For me, finding out about the people involved in racing, not just the drivers, is what makes it special and real.
So, Harvick gets Bud for 20 races plus the Shootout next season. So that leaves a pretty good chunk of the season for another sponsor. We know Shell is gone. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteVery interested to see what TMS says tonight and why they have so many big names at that event.
Thanks Speed, for keeping the shill Waltrips off your shows this weekend. Your intelligence is improving.
ReplyDeleteDaly Planet Editor said...
ReplyDeleteSo, Harvick gets Bud for 20 races plus the Shootout next season. So that leaves a pretty good chunk of the season for another sponsor. We know Shell is gone. Hmm...
Very interested to see what TMS says tonight and why they have so many big names at that event.
August 17, 2010 11:01 AM
The other sponsor filler for Harvick would have to be a chips/salsa combo
Did anyone see Dave Despain: On Assignment last night? I missed it but am thinking of watching the re-air if its worth my time.
ReplyDeleteBig mistake moving Steve Byrnes to the RaceHub. He was good at 'Trackside' and he was part of a good team with himself, Larry Mac & Hammond doing practice & qualifying. Should have let Krista Voda do RaceHub because she's good in that format. Don't care much for Rick Allen.
ReplyDeleteSteve, fantastic show! Airs again on Wednesday at 3:30PM ET.
ReplyDeleteThanks JD.
ReplyDeleteI kind of hope Speed gives Krista Voda a chance in the booth for qualifying or practice before the season ends; I think she's earned the opportunity.
Steve, Krista is going to handle most of the "Trackside" shows down the stretch along with the pre-race on the Trucks.
ReplyDeleteI loved the new Hub Show, the set it much better. Just looks more professional without the ESPN suits so it's still fun and now informative. Steve was fantastic. I'll miss him at the track but having him on Hub is reason enough for me plus it means he gets to see his family which I totally understand.
ReplyDeleteWell my hope is that they're announcing that the Fall race is moving weekends. I know that Gossage wants to move it because he probably loses twenty thousand in attendance having the fall race go up against the opening weekend of deer season. But I figure that this would have leaked before now if it was going to happen.
ReplyDeleteWonder whether Bud might have an option to expand sponsorship if Happy wins the championship?
ReplyDeleteHappy seems like a better fit, to me, for Bud than Kasey.
I'm still floored they are only doing 20 races. That makes no sense at all for a major brand like that.
ReplyDeleteHappy for both Steve and Krista. Steve lives in the Charlotte area while Krista lives in Pittsburgh and is why it makes sense the way they have set things up. Shades of Totally Nascar for Steve and Krista just keeps advancing the female participation in the sport.
ReplyDeletePersonally I'm looking forward to having a woman on the Trackside panel. Just to see if it changes the dynamic any. I mean, she'll be herding cats just like Steve, but I like the idea of mixing it up a bit, if she's up to the challenge. They are not an easy group. It's so rare for them to even have a female as a guest, when at least a third of your fans are women, it would seem out of proportion with the NASCAR population. Just thinking aloud.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bud...see InBev, the new foreign owners. Also, they spent a ton of marketing money at the World Cup to be the official sponsor and only beer at all World Cup games. Possibly they shrank their marketing budgets in the US to expand marketing on a worldwide basis.
ReplyDeleteI think Krista will do a good job with trackside -- Krista and Wendy V are my two favorite female NASCAR broadcasters. Both are professional and smart and it is great.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be fun to watch Krista herd that group of "cats" on Trackside.
WisconsinSteve -- I watched it -- it was a very good show -- I've setup the recorder to catch it again on Wed.
Richard in NC -- I'm with you on Harvick being a better fit with Bud than Kahne. Harvick looks like he actually drinks beer, I always figured that Hallmark would be a good sponsor for Kahne.
BD, totally agree with that. They have dropped so many US sponsorships to concentrate on the international market.
ReplyDeleteGina...lol. I like Kasey, but that just never seemed like a good fit.
ReplyDeleteI've been surprised that they've haven't had more interest from Canadian beer companies wanting more recognition in the US. I'm sure there is no stone unturned by the NASCAR owners though.
Isn't Molson tied in with Coors, which now is in a joint venture with Miller as I recall?
ReplyDeleteNever know what RC might have up his sleeve. Offhand I can't recall what happened about the Holiday Inn N-wide sponsorship RCR had the past few years.
With the upcoming birth, I thought SPEED might have used Wendy V more on Race Hub. To some extent it surprises me that Race Hub apparently is going to have one, non-track host whereas NASCAR Now has 3 rotating hosts all of whom have some regular at-the-track presence. I will miss Steve on Trackside.
This is greed at it's finest, JD. Sponsorship changing hands every year you never know what conflict of interest chaos can occur.
ReplyDeleteThe TMS announcement this evening will be that there will be a combined NASCAR/IRL race weekend with the added bonus that if a driver enters and wins each event, they get a ton of $ and an opportunity to sing with the Goo Goo Dolls on an off weekend
ReplyDeleteJD, just hope that the "Local Singing Sensation" doesn't show up at the announcement tonight. I'm wondering about the other races for KH maybe a pretzel maker?
ReplyDeleteJohn, InBev is also cutting back from Bud to focus on other beers (note Bud is cutting to a little more than a half season). The Leuven-based brewery's primary beers include Stella Artois and Beck's. It's a clear move out of the big red beer for the over 600-year old brewer.
ReplyDeleteThe IRL race will be two 275 km feature races in the same evening with half points for each race, in the traditional June date. USAC has run this format in the past, and it is listed in the NASCAR rule book for short track racing. Many short tracks feature the twin-feature format for some weekly races.
The NASCAR announcement is the April date is moving to a night race. This is two-fold: first, it allows a built-in Sunday rain date because Denton ISD has had to close school in the past when the Sprint Cup race is rained out and postponed to Monday; second, this is Masters weekend, and NASCAR doesn't want to compete against the final round of Augusta.
I see that Texas race in April is going to start at around 8p.m. Eastern, 7p.m. Central. So much for the idea of standard starting times. Once they start allowing exceptions like this, before you know it, the starting times will be all over the map again.
ReplyDeleteglenc1 -- I don't dislike Kasey - heck I'm a longtime Gordon fan so I have no room to talk about someone being mocked as a "pretty boy". LOL
ReplyDeleteI just never could see the Bud sponsorship as a fit for him, not like with Schrader or Dale Jr and now Harvick.
And I do wish that Kasey would grow out of that "deer in the headlights" look he tends to get. Maybe all those creepy Allstate Insurance stalker ads took their toll.