Both SPEED and ESPN2 are on the air today with coverage today from Martinsville. The single thread that runs through the day will no doubt be the fallout from the release of Kasey Kahne by RPM and the apparent unraveling of that organization.
Both "NASCAR Now" and "Race Hub" addressed this issue on Thursday. Ryan McGee offered the details in an update from Charlotte, while Bob Dillner reported on-scene from Red Bull Racing in Mooresville, NC.
With the Chase again struggling for storylines and TV ratings, this new drama could be just what the sport needs as new pieces of the puzzle continue to be added. Kahne is scheduled to speak with media on Friday morning in Martinsvile. Sirius 128 will stream that live while SPEED and ESPN will both update that session in later live coverage.
This entire scenario puts brand new team combinations on the track with plenty of hard feelings and tough words destined to follow. It may be a very interesting Friday at Martinsville for what happens off the track.
As the day goes on, please leave us your comments on the media coverage of this situation. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
17 comments:
well, here's another example of guys with too much time and money getting involved in something that they think is the latest "cool" trend (NASCAR) and then finding out its not like joining a country club-it actually takes experience and work.
Richard Petty has always run his teams with lean budgets. It doesn't take a Phd to see how Richard might be able to wait out the financial collapse of the invesors who bought his business and end up getting it back for free.
Its bad when a driver with Kahne's skill feels unsafe and drives a car with failing brakes. Its unforgiveable. But thats racin.
Remember the old Bill France jr motto. The sure way to make a small fortune in racing is to start out racing with a big fortune.
Bray Kroter
I thought last night's Racehub did an excellent job with coverage. They managed to mix the new reports with the things they'd already had planned and it was very seamless. Even though it was what I'd already read in the news, they made it seem more immediate and brought up all the related issues. Loved Hermie trying to report with the haulers going by behind him. Great job by Steve, Bob, Randy & Hermie.
What an interesting day / weekend it's shaping up to be at Martinsville.
Several questions as we go into Friday....
How will SPEED and ESPN handle this RPM situation ?
(too big to simply "gloss" over)
Will we hear from Richard Petty?
Will we hear from Jack Roush concerning the cash OWED to him from The King?
Will Kyle Petty be more OR less involved on SPEED OR will Kyle stand back from commenting on RPM issues?
Will we hear from some of the RPM crew members who were let go immediately OR are they left out of any air time? (were crew members getting paid)??
Will we end up getting the customary "sweep it under the carpet" coverage or will Petty be called on the carpet ?
The King has a bunch of explaining to do.
BUT, on the other hand, does he even "owe" an explanation to the NASCAR fans & community ?
How close are we to the demise of Petty in NASCAR ?
Personally, I have a huge problem with employers who ask for loyalty and dedication from their workers & then the employer has the audacity to NOT pay the employees.
The media at Martinsville deserves comments from all involved this weekend.
Remember it's only Richard's name on the door. The Gillett's own the team. Richard hasn't done anything wrong except having his name on the door. :)
Sam
Hopefully nobody partners with or lets George Gillet by a sports team ever again.
AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose can't be happy right now.
I would like to comment on Ray Evernham's link to this story.
Ray, who works for ESPN, is also a minority owner in RPM.
How is it that ESPN has an employee with access to all of the financial statements at RPM, not require Evernham to explain what was going on with that organization's finances.
Either he is clueless and has no business being an owner or he withheld this information from ESPN's paying customers (that would be us). I firmly believe he had to know this was happenning and refused to tell viewers because of his ownership.
I for one do not pay for a subscription to ESPN just to recieve sports information that is convenient to report, I want the whole story.
pretty bad, isn't it. the chase is so boring and the sport/media so hard pressed to find anything interesting to talk about that Kahne being released ( when he was leaving anyway) is the feeding frenzy du jour.
Don't get me wrong, JD, it is the story of the day and I'm glad to be able to come here and read about it. My comment is more about MY state of mind. It amuses or depresses me, depending on the day that the championship has so little to interest me this late in the season.
I agree with Sam. Neither Richard, Kyle, nor "the Petty's" as some refer to them, have anything to do with this team. They just paid Richard for the right to use his name and give him an excuse to still come to the track every weekend. That's sad to say, but that's what I've believed ever since they merged.
On Race Hub, they kept saying that NASCAR "needs" to keep the Petty name in racing, but as far as I'm concerned, "the Petty's" haven't really been in racing for a couple of years now.
I thought the coverage last night on The Hub was great and covered in great detail all aspects of it. I am afraid Richard Petty's credibility has been damaged by being associated with this team and if I am correct, Ray Evernham was supposedly bought out and from reports I read earlier today, he has not been paid money he is owed too. This is really sad and cannot blame Rausch for not wanting to give them the cars or engines until he sees cash on hand too.
The only aspect of this story that I'm interested in is the future of Ambrose and Dinger. If Gillette's house of cards falls, I hope those two have some time to maneuver into other decent rides.
Ritchie, not a single person involved in NASCAR TV broadcasts everything they know... they all know a whole, whole lot that they don't air out on TV. No reason to expect Ray to be any different.
Yeah Richard is a figurehead there. He has really nothing to do with how the team operates, he's only a mascot.
Sad really. As for buying the team back for nothing, not going to happen since Roush pretty much operates the team as we've seen this week. When someone can come in and take your cars and engines, etc it shows how little you really "own"
Ray Evernham must be happy though, as someone who I believe is still a minority owner waiting to get out of his no compete clause this might bode well for him.
Amazing the collapse tho
Ritchie-people connected to race teams (and many other businesses) sign agreements that they will not divulge certain information. Ray could probably be sued if he shared the information you suggest. I'm sure ESPN was aware he would not be able to comment on these types of things (nor should he, since he has a stake in it.) He commented briefly on Kasey and disclosed his connection. That is all I would expect.
I just have to note that several of the regulars on this message board could guess that there was more to the story when Kahne was "sick" last weekend.
Though I suppose this may have been inevitable. Ford must be particularly concerned. They could end up like Dodge with only one top-tier team.
Randy Pemberton suggested last night that Ford indeed might step in in some capacity. With sponsors in place, it would be a shame if they couldn't straighten this all out. What a mess.
Could these teams run out the season as start and park teams and stay in the top 35?
To the anonymous posters who point out the non-disclosure clauses in Evernham's contract:
It is ridiculous to hire team owners as analysts if we can't expect them to provide honest analysis on one of the biggest stories of this racing year.
Honestly, I shouldn't have to pay for someone to give me the story that fits the contracts of ESPN's analysts' "other" jobs. What I want is for someone to tell me what is going on. If the guy who owns part of the team in question can't tell me what is going on, then what good is he to me as a paying customer of ESPN?
His contract is not my problem.
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