This week the Nationwide Series is at the Monster Mile in Dover, DE. Danica Patrick is back and there are many Sprint Cup Series drivers crossing-over to race.
Once again there is a college football game starting at noon ET. These events normally run about three and a half hours. The NASCAR Countdown pre-race show is scheduled for 3PM ET, the race coverage at 3:30PM.
There is no way to adequately express the frustration with ESPN and NASCAR on this topic. This is ESPN purposefully scheduling NASCAR in a timeslot in which no other programming is scheduled. Only NASCAR is played for the fool. The sport that won't object to being placed in a timeslot that, in reality, does not exist.
Allen Bestwick is the NASCAR Countdown host with Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace alongside. Tim Brewer will be in the tech garage. Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Jamie Little and Dave Burns will be the pit road reporters.
At this time of the season, ESPN falls into the trap of celebrity worship with the focus of the pre-race show on the Sprint Cup Series drivers. While some Nationwide Series regulars were shown in the qualifying show, these drivers tend to fade into the background when the race coverage comes around.
We have been critical of ESPN for using only one set of announcers on the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races from the same track. This scenario unfolds again as Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree are calling both races, practice sessions and qualifying.
These announcers and this production team clearly have as their priority the Sprint Cup Series. The result is a casual walk through the Nationwide Series races with a constant running theme of showing Sprint Cup Series drivers and a skewed sense of priorities. Nationwide teams and sponsors need TV time right now to survive.
The ironic twist in this coverage is that from February through September, ESPN's focus is on the Nationwide Series. Suddenly, it is relegated to a second-tier level when the network's Sprint Cup Series coverage begins. The scheduling during college football season is a confirmation of that fact.
Dover is a fast and challenging track for the TV crew. Two bridges over the track must be eliminated through the camera operators and the director cutting around them on each and every lap. The pit area is tight and the track has a tendency to push all accidents to the bottom very quickly.
There will be lots of traffic for the race leaders and that may well prove to play a role in the race outcome. Red flags are not uncommon and late arriving cars have plowed into accidents due to the limited sight line and fast speeds.
This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the NNS from Dover. To add your TV-related comments, 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.
111 comments:
At 2:46pm, there is over 11 minutes to go in the college football game on ESPN2 in a blowout.
No chance on seeing the start of the pre-race show. We get hit again.
Hope the football game don't run into the pre race!! looks like it is tho so fail by ESPN
Welcome all lets have a great time and a great race!!!!
The one word that sums up this weekend so far is drama or flat out stange!!!
Come on Michigan!
#7 Oklahoma plays after race. It'll be intresting to see what ESPN does if the race runs long.
Over 6 minutes to go, and I'm sure 2-3 commercial breaks.
Great, just Great
College football is running long, just perfect. Why not just eliminate the pre-race show and just air the race like they did in the old days and all of our problems will be solved.
I'm sure ESPN just views the pre-race show like airlines view overbooking.
certainly cuts down on time for Danica hype, lol. Great photo.
JD, you wrote:
"There is no way to adequately express the frustration with ESPN and NASCAR on this topic. This is ESPN purposefully scheduling NASCAR in a timeslot in which no other programming is scheduled. Only NASCAR is played for the fool. The sport that won't object to being placed in a timeslot that, in reality, does not exist."
Forgive me, but I do not get it. Is that not how schedules are typically made? There is a hole & you fill it. Is there a variable missing here or are you saying that NASCAR should get first dibs on times? Or something else? I am lost...maybe too much herb, I dunno.
Was hoping for a little Denny vs. Kevin update. Oh well...
Anon 3:07PM,
There is no hole. College games go 3.5 hours and always have.
Scoreboard shows usually follow to be flexible as no game ends right on the top or bottom of the hour.
NASCAR is shoved into a hole that simply does not exist.
Hey, ESPN paid the money and they can do what they want. That seems to be NASCAR's stance.
How many times will Marty Reid say, "Look out?"
This game is a blow out yet they are still showing it not the pre race.. That makes a lot of sense NOT!!
I'd almost rather know what NASCAR thinks of 'drivers speaking their minds' than Kevin vs. Denny vs Clint. It's great stuff, they shouldn't be afraid of it.
Has Danica announced any plans regarding Nascar for her next year?
I hope the booth will focus on NNS regulars today.
Start and Park predictions?
Oh, I see. Makes sense now. Should be a variable length buffer not a hard start since you really cannot move the whole circus back like you can 60 Minutes.
Thanks.
Wow, still 30 minutes to the green flag?
Green is around 3:45PM. Ceremonies, anthems and flyover.
Anyone know who is doing the flyover today for this race?
I know this is nationwide series, but I think more people are interested in Harvick vs Hamlin than Danica
This game was perfect for ESPN normally. Ran 3 hrs 15 min with time for scoreboard show and highlights.
Big passing teams and tight games can run the entire 3.5 hours.
College football looks great on TV.
Did they get rid of the horse trotter track? I thought they had to keep it in order to have the casino....
Wow, Bayne and Allgaier out. That sums up the need for more and better TV for this series.
@Chadderbox - S&P prediction today: 91, 92, 90, 36, 89, 26
Maybe: 79, 09, 10, 73, 21
That many S&P? Wow...
@JD - I read that Brian Scott might be gone at Braun/Turner before year's end. Less than a week ago, Brian Scott was saying in an interview that Steve Turner really wanted him to win the rookie title. I guess he's just going to have to do it in someone else's car.
I can't say I really mind missing the pre race shows...they seldom have anthing vital to say, especially in this series. All focus on the Cup guys, bare mentions of the 'regulars'. Too bad to see so many good young drivers being booted out of cars.
GO BLUE!
Just had to add that. Sorry.
I've had it with Marty Reid. He's got Chris Fowler, also of ESPN disease. You want a conspiracy NASCAR theory? Here's mine.
ESPN has TV coaches for their personalities that sit down and mandate how personalities can improve their game.
This happened to follower to, and he, along with Reid, USED to be amongst my favorite ESPN personalities because they were efficient and smart.
However for ESPN this personality is encouraged to be more folksy, friendly and dumbed down.
Thus, Marty Reid, has clearly and awkwardly inserted a new shtick into his delivery. I'm not sure what the name for it would be, but it basically consists of him doing forced laughter, sort of under his breath, mid sentence. It's sort of a forced, semi-giddiness that I suppose is supposed to make him sound more approachable and happier.
I never thought he was the crabby type before, and this is just hard to listen to. Pay attention, you'll see what I mean, it's like a fake half-laugh type of thing he does mid sentence as if he's forcing a smile and talking through his teeth.
ESPN won't stop meddling with anything in their quest to make themselves the Walmart of TV.
well, again the Nationwide Series race is up against my Alabama Crimson Tide. I think I know how this will turn out but I will have the race in the small box. Good luck to all of you that hang with the race. I will have twitter and TDP to keep up. Roll Tide!
Was the grand marshal Greg Sacks the old nascar driver
This series has a lot going on right now - team finances, sponsorship issues, etc.
Scary.
For those that watched the college football and are now are watching this Nationwide race have no idea that anything happened with Kevin and Denny.
Was at the store so just got back a bit ago so Mr. Alligator is officially out now :(. I knew about Trevor such a shame! Good good young men :(
Major TV failure today. ESPN edited out most of the go or go homers runs in qualifying, Speed missed the Hamlin-Harvick deal live because of babbling on the infield set, Happy Hour pre-empted by people buying cars, the usual college football overrun and then Danica mania during pre-race coverage. She qualified last for crying out loud!
Charlie, isn't that amazing?
@Brad
It is against Notre Dame, too.
That will be a ratings stat JD will just HAVE to look up. NASCAR vs. both.
Just stop and think about how bad things would be if NASCAR and ESPN didn't have such intelligent people managing their businesses.
@MV---that would be a shame about Brian too :(. I learned not to trust what they say and wait for their actions back in 2K2 when Floyd was 110% behind Jimmy Spencer and a few weeks later he was released. I was just getting into racing back then but learned that QUICK!
Poor Trevor :( guess he's lucky to be in the car today :(. *hugs*
Danica said her goal was not to get lapped before the first fuel run.
Jd, starting as far back as she its, that would be impressive. Hope Jr. can do the same tomorrow!
@saltsburgtrojanfan - Yes, that was the Greg Sacks you were thinking about. He and his two sons are the makers of GT Vodka and it looks like they struck a marketing deal with Dover Int'l Speedway as their logo is all along the pit road wall.
Made it to lap 9 before commercial!
9 laps completed and commercial. In-car cam on lap 2. Tight shots. Was told about 4 wide but watched the leaders single file.
Four S&P already, it looks like: 89, 26, 92, 36
I have the race in PIP, too. Too many football games to choose from.
ESPN is making TV. They cannot be concerning themselves with those cars, there are awards to be won. The camera operator is told to get that car in turn 4 and he does. No more attention to detail is required to do this job is needed. Heh.
RE: Pre-race..the Hamlin/Harvick deal is a Cup series issue. They had approx. 15 mins after the football game ended, and they chose, I feel rightly, to skip that issue. If it manifests itself in this race (such as one of the Gibbs cars taking it out on Harvick), then a review of this a.m.'s actions would be appropriate at that time.
You have said repeatedly that you don't like the NNS telecasts to be so heavily cup-driver oriented. You even tweeted earlier a snarky comment about how you were sure the Countdown show would lead-off with Hamlin/Harvick. So now you're complaining that they didn't mention it?
"Damned if they do, and damned if they don't" apparently.
Twitter stat: ESPN2 has been in commercial 13 of first 29 laps
Hey! Three more laps of racing than ads?! Great day.
Yea, it shouldn't have led but it should have been on the menu because Harvick is in this race with JGR cars.
15 min due to football is only because the game was lopsided and a blowout.
It easily could have run the full 3.5 hour timeslot and made it all moot.
The majority of the time when I glance at the little box I see advertisements. Hopefully for all of you trying to watch I just have bad timing. Good luck with your Kyle Busch benefit race!
Argh! Grammar police moment please. You may have a battle BETWEEN two cars, or AMONG three or more, but you can't have a battle between two cars! Drives me nuts!
@Sally - You got so aggravated that you confused and contradicted yourself! :)
ESPN always tries to tie the Nationwide coverage to Sunday's Cup races and they fumbled the opportunity to do so today with the Hamlin-Harvick incident. There coverage is about as inconsistant as Nascar's governing practices.
Every play of the Alabama @ Arkansas game has been televised:-)
Contrary to what Tony Eury Sr. said earlier, at this rate, Danica is going to be more than 4 laps down at the end of this race.
If you must show the troll in the Cutaway Closet, do so in the small window please.
MV, you're right! It can't be 'between' 3 cars, or 'among' two. See how much it gets my goat?
If the race is strung out, why do tight shots.
@ Martin Vincent re: Sally
You are spot on. That is the second thing I have read here today I have not understood. Thankfully JD cleared up the first one.
Hearing Danica into the wall.
JD, back from wedding so missed the pre-race and 50 laps. I love the picture of DP & Brad. She finishes 6th last night at Dover and the guys that finished 1, 2 or 3 don't even get menntioned earlier. Oh well, she's 2 laps down anyway.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East driver D. Patrick just hit the wall.
As I tweeted to Pete Pistone. a race with 14 cars on the lead lap after 70 laps of another Kyle Busch benefit will not cut it against college football.
Does anyone think NASCAR has trimmed the purses of the Nationwide Series competitors enough yet? Steered enough of the potential sponsors to the sanctioning body yet?
Dang, coverage is even loaded with Danica commercials!!
I think I might try reading a book during the rest of the race. If something actually happens I can look up....
Well, for once it's the action on the track or lack thereof that's just brutal!
Like it was an after thought.
Car such and such had a drive through penalty during last pit stop which was laps ago.
I wish ESPN will finally use the entire HDTV display with the picture boxes and graphics.
Fox is now doing that with their NFL and MLB broadcasts.
Over half the TVs now are in the HDTV format.
Nine of the top ten are present or former Cup drivers. What a beatdown there, NASCAR.
Nine of the top ten are present or former Cup drivers. What a beatdown there, NASCAR.
Nine of the top ten are present or former Cup drivers. What a beatdown there, NASCAR.
Racing in the big window, folks. Cutaway Closet troll in the small window, please.
Half the race gone, and what, 12 cars on the lead lap? Tell me again how 'good' Kyle is for the series? College football is getting a big gift from Nascar today.
In the business and social world I live in I am nearly the only NASCAR fan who admits to being one, and I have found a sure-fire expression that simply stops those I must associate with in their tracks. Ask me a question and after an appropriate moment I may say with all solemnity, "Kyle Busch will win," or a close variant. Nails them every time. Almost choke on their Brie, they do.
Just thought I would share that since It appears he may well do it again today. And, yes, I am a KB fan, thank you.
I guess the mercy here is that the race will be over fairly quickly.
Guess we won't see many more full time NW drivers now that DP has crashed. ESPN will be showing us the cup guys passing the poor NW guys!
Ok, just got home from the Wisconsin game. What's the Harvick/Hamlin deal ???????
I think in this case, the drama of the Chase really does help watching the race. Today's race is fairly boring, not much to grasp on to. But for the Cup race, there is a bigger story to bring together everything that is happening on the track...multiple big stories. Now concentrating one one story or one driver isn't very good, but having many things to cover is.
Was there a different director of the cameras used between these two commercials.
Wide shots, more then 6 cars in the picture. I even saw a zoom out.
Yes, like Darcie asked, what happened with Hamlin & Harvick earlier.
Wonder what the TV guys are saying in commercial?
And ESPN misses another one.
ANOTHER incident while we were away at commercial. ESPN certainly has a knack for that! Oh well, it's not like the cameras would have caught that anyway, right?
Damn, that was a hard hit!
Yeeow! Poor Elliot! It always amazes me when a car drives into a wreck so late...with no apparent loss of speed.
geez... Brad talking over everyone else...like he's the expert...
Back when Espn was first doing Nascar I had a 10 foot dish and watched the races in the clear. With no commercials and you could hear what they were talking about. It was really interesting to hear Ned, Benny and Bob chat.
I believe they are saying something along the lines of "when will this wretched race be over". or "could it have been any more bland than that?" or maybe "can you believe we get paid for these horrible telecasts?"
zzzzzzz - all Cup drivers in the lead pack. Alabama vs. Arkansas football game is much more appealing today.
I'm sorry, but illegal or not, I thought Denny taking cheap shots at Childress showed no class. If he needed to gloat, he should have kept it private.
Hehe...same guy who NASCAR docked 50K for calling them out for fake debris cautions.
Might make some fans watch tomorrow!
For someone who's only won a few races and chokes in the Chase, Hamlin sure yaps a lot. What goes around comes around. Someday, he'll realize it.
I agree, Sally. But on the other hand, Kevin trying to fight someone else's battles for him (1st wrong) and taking it out on the crew instead of the driver (2nd wrong) was not a smart way to handle it. If you have an issue, go to the guy.
But this is the stuff that's good for ratings. I think Clint has criticized NASCAR a lot too, be interesting to see how they feel about that as well..
also unfortunately, ESPN now has yet another story they can beat to death.
Vicky, apparently Harvick went after Hamlin during cup practice. While Childress said it wasn't an ordered retaliation for Hamlin's comments about Bowyer's car, Childress said they are a tight group and take up for each other. While both cars were being fixed, the two of them got into a shouting match. Personally, Hamlin needs to keep his mouth shut----little like the pot calling the kettle. Hamlin hasn't been an angel this season with his Tweet penalties
Is this now a different director doing this segment. Tight shots, two windows, in-car cam.
Actually, I felt that Kevin was defending the honor of RCR in general, since Denny implied that the entire organization was cheating for months...including 'regular season champion' Kevin.
Another commercial, another on-track incident. Wow. How do you do that, ESPN?
And another incident while ESPN was at commercial. I think they are running about 75% at missing incidents this year.
Danica will have the opportunity to learn how to be lapped properly.
I still think these guys should just being doing the Cup races.
Let AB, Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie call these races with no infield pit studio or Tim Brewer.
Yes, have the A team do the B race. /s
NO, NO, NO, JD.
Cup drivers must run. I have an amount with InTrade on when KB will make it to 201. Not letting them race will screw it up. I say no championship for them, but they can race.
Well, thanks to everyone who came by. This was not exactly a stellar race on TV.
Should be interesting to see if college football did today what the NFL did to the race last Sunday.
New column up later tonight. Live Cup race blog tomorrow.
Thanks again for being patient.
JD
ESPN's Cult of the Celebrity with Danica.
I read that Danica made $12 Million last year. Dover was a 200 lap race. Kyle lapped her on lap 18 which means if all remained constant, he'd lap her 10 times during the race. Her car is a top five car. Sounds like she's a bit overpaid. If you listen to her after the race,she is totally clueless about what she's attemting to do. Probably needs bigger sun glasses!
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