All eyes are on the ESPN TV team this weekend in Charlotte. Two key production personalities are no longer working on the NASCAR telecasts. The Sr. Coordinating Producer has moved into the chair and will be line producing tonight's race.
After the problems with college football, the Nationwide Series finally gets some primetime TV on ESPN2 with no scheduling issues. The TV pictures in Charlotte under the lights are wonderful and the field is fast with lots of diverse personalities and agendas represented.
Allen Bestwick has a full house tonight with Ray Evernham, Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace. Evernham is always a welcome presence and certainly deserves a bigger role in ESPN's future coverage. Daugherty and Wallace have been working on their act for several seasons. TV viewers know the drill.
Marty Reid is on his first full NASCAR tour of duty for ESPN and he has been having a tough time since the Sprint Cup Series coverage began. ESPN has Reid double-up on both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races. He also handles practice and qualifying. Even with some relief provided by Allen Bestwick, it's been a struggle.
All the regulars are on pit road. Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Dave Burns are covering both races this weekend. ESPN puts the emphasis on the stars of the Cup Series that cross-over to race in on the Nationwide side. That often leaves some key stories of the race untold.
Tonight in Charlotte the racing is going to be fast and furious. The ESPN approach of zooming into one or two cars racing is simply not going to work. Reid is often caught watching the TV monitors, especially when something happens on the track out of camera range.
This is going to be a great opportunity to see if ESPN is going to change their style of coverage after the change in production personnel and the struggling ratings. CMS is a great track for TV to step back, show the racing and let the drivers worry about putting on a show.
Commercials are tough at Charlotte, especially under green flag racing. Pit stops are key, so it's going to be a challenge to get the commercial breaks in without missing some key racing moments.
This post will serve to host your TV-related comments on ESPN2's coverage of the Nationwide Series race from CMS. 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 The Daly Planet.
178 comments:
Hey folks, Nationwide Series time as it gets cold at the track.
Good Evening Planeteers <3
Anyone wearing their Danica hat? Just checking...
LOVE that track - should be there - shouldn't have changed jobs so now reduced vacation - sulk
Having watched since I got home from work (at least with one ear), I find I'm tired of Brad already. Hope I can hang in there without throwing anything!
To say nothing of Rusty LOL
Hope everyone enjoys the race! :)
Poor Rusty....that guy just can't buy a break. Everytime he has a good telecast, his kid wrecks someone or himself.
Kile Busch will win. Now I and my BGFE are going to dinner.
OK, I hear Rusty in the background blathering away about how "he doesn't agree with wrecking someone because they're mad". I'm glad to hear the booth guys calling him out on that hoo haw nonsense.
Yeah, I remember him fencing Jeff Gordon at Richmond, too!
hypocrite!
Hi JD and everyone, unfortunately, this is probably all I'll be able to post -- spending the evening with my brother and we'll be watching the race downstairs with NO computer! Agh, I don't know how I'll stand it.
Just wanted to pop in and say hello to all my Planeteer friends!
So if you have another GinaV24 posting -- its an imposter! LOL
Danica overload much? This is a nonstory IMO. ESPN has been overblowing this from the get go I felt.
I hate the yellow walls by the way...
I bet you have your Danica gear on JD you should tweet a picture :D.
This is gonna be all Danica - all night long.
Hang in there Gina! You need a smartphone!
That was the discussion about Danicas wreck that we should have heard last week. Glad the infield guys called the wreck the way it was. Wish the booth had done that last week. The booth gets more vanilla as we go. Rusty should have left out the comment about wrecking people.
Love how they were trying to squeeze every ounce of Danica payback hype out of the pre-show.
Aren't the yellow walls left over from the All Star race in May - they used to repaint them - guess its $$ constraints.
As for Danica coverage......
Mary....Marcus Smith is no Humpy Wheeler...that is for sure!
Mary, supposededly they are "gold" walls and this seems to be Bruton's kid's idea to have them stay that color....
They haven't had white walls there for a non All-Star Race since '08
Hang tough, guys. You will get your 'KyleCarlBradJoey' overload later this evening.
Are we giving odds on whether the race ratings will skyrocket with the race on ABC on Saturday night? Anyone? ESPN hopes se!
Attendence for both nights will be poor. They overbuilt this place bigtime.
I wouldn't say "skyrocket" but the drop won't be 26%.
Going up against Ohio State/Wisconsin. Not good for racing.
I wouldn't say "skyrocket" but the drop won't be 26%.
So the big Tuesday NASCAR Nationwide Series meeting with owners / drivers was pretty much a non event with nothing solved.
So.... they are all fired after Gateway then.
KHI must be a tough enviroment to work in. He has been through alot of personnel - especially in truck series.
Having been to Charlotte, YES it is massively overbuilt! Never should have built the stands in 3-4. They are obstructed view and as a result turn 1 never sells out neither does 3-4. Stupid call by Bruton Smith there. Just because Texas can jam close to 200,000 in every race doesn't mean Charlotte or his other tracks can...
AB pretty solid so far. Wish he would call a race though. Glad to see him back also. Sorry haven't been on here much guys, real life got in the way lol
@David, it sounds as if they may have 'overbuilt' the HOF too. Laying off people already? Guess brian has overestimated many things.
You should have to audition before being allowed to sing the National Anthem for these events.
That has got to be one of the Scariest looking singers and worst anthems EVARRrrr!!
The Star Mangled Banner rolls on!
HOF ? just another fine example of NASCAR's poor decision making. It never should have been built in downtown Charlotte. And the selection process for members is under alot of scrutiny.
It looks like the HOF is suffering bigtime.
Are they? Had not heard that but really haven't been paying to close attention to it. NASCAR has overestimated their reach for years.
That anthem was HORRIBLE
That was a horrible rendition of our nation's song ... absolutely pitiful!!
@David 2008 - wow time flies when you're not having fun LOL thought they repainted them last year.
JD Humpy is a very very sad loss
Every track needs to take a clue from Martinsville. The high school band nails it every time. That would eliminate the horrendous anthems we hear every year.
Statistical fail on Dave Burns' part. The 00 team have run the new car before. Ran at Michigan with Ryan Truex
NASCAR doesn't own the HOF. The city of Charlotte does, and the taxpayers are footing the bill. Do you actually think NASCAR would spend their money on it? The employees are NOT NASCAR employees. They work for the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau.
I wonder if NASCAR actually auditions those who would sing the National Anthem, and then chooses the worst of the lot?
Mary, keep this in mind. Humpy's daughter Patti was just put in charge of the programming and production of all shows at SPEED.
Remember that Humpy talk show? It was her idea and her TV company that produced it.
I have a sneaky feeling we are going to see a LOT more of Mr. Wheeler on SPEED soon.
Does NASCAR have enough pit road officials?
That was probably one of the most intelligent decisions made by any network that covers racing in a looooong time. Actually using someone who has the background and (I assume?) a love of the sport...brilliant!
Humpy Wheeler for President!!!
As long as they give her a long enough leash and empower her - yes.
JD - Humpy show was the best for a long time - look forward to lots of Humpy on Speed soon!
Steve Harrison had a nice piece about the Hall of Fame financial problems on the 13th. If you go to thatsracin.com and type hall of fame in the search box it is about the 3rd or 4th story. The problems are pretty astounding actually.
Went to the HOF. It is very nice. One visit is enough - no need to go back for another 5 years or so. The folks who work there are clueless however.
JD, Danica gave a great interview on the ride around. That'll be in the script and what she does near James Buescher. And Carl is the inrace reporter. No one else wants to do it!
OK, onto the race. Got HoF updates coming next week.
Brian France going to address the media (and even guys like me) Saturday afternoon.
Told it might be a new fuel or other news...but he will take questions from the media.
Keep ya posted on that one.
I already asked one reporter to bring up the new hair color. He said no! LOL!
No wonder they reduced the Nationwide purses. There is nobody in the stands to pay the bills. What about next week - a stand alone at Gateway and then the track closes up.
I hope the media rakes him over the coals. Hit him with the hard questions and make him stutter.
Well Kligerman just killed everybody with the over on 1st commercial. Didn't have to wait until lap 10 tonight.
Gettin a big reaction on Twitter to DJ's wardrobe tonight.
The chicks dig it.
Anybody want to bet we still hit the lap 10 commercial??
Anon at 8:19 - I thought that's why the cup guys are racing in the NW races, to bring out the fans! Hmmmmmmmm
Kligerman messed up the betting pool.
Camera missed that one.
They were obviously not watching the race for that crash. How could they miss that from the booth?
If the wreck isn't on the monitors, the booth don't see it.
They thought it was one car then the shot changed and it was 3.
I guess they'll never figure out that watching the race on the monitors instead of looking out the window makes them look stupid, huh?
The booth saw the wrecked car when we did and nobody told them about the other two. It appears they are watching it on TV the same as we are.
Swing and a miss......
This NW series needs Randy LaJoie in the booth he's watching out the window!
crashes on lap 2 and lap 10. The folks in the ESPN production truck must be doing cartwheels. and on a side note this is gonna be a long night if they don't keep cars running straight for a while.
STAND UP AND CALL THE RACE LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW. Very simple, guys. Try it.
Brand new cars - all torn up. And they say they can't afford this change to the new car.
There is no energy in the booth tonight. The fake energy at the start of the race fell flat. It's like nobody wants to be there. They are just putting in their time til the race is over.
He was so totally bagged looking at the monitors.
1st impression of the new car at Charlotte? They have run 7 green flag laps as a field. Come on DJ dang.
Carl must be pulling in some good $$$ from ESPN. In car reporter, does post race recap after the cup race.
okay, here's my tidbit for the nite. DW wears on me quickly during the Fox stint, but at least he looks out the FRIGGIN' window & calls the crashes! done.
I think the booth is actually located in the parking lot!
Sigh............
Marty is not having a good race.
Marty "just ain't it" had a bad week last weekend too.
Maybe the booth is bound and determined to look at the monitors whether we get good updates or not! And we'll like it!
If possible Marty should let the cameras follow his play by play, not Marty following the cameras.
@David--I'm smelling "overbuilt"with the changes he's making to Kentucky. Let the people come to Cup FIRST and then if there's the demand build for it. If they sell out good for them but I'm seeing a lot of empty seats unless something magic happens with the economy & not holding my breath on that. IIRC someone mentioned that even when things were good a lot of tracks didn't come close to selling out.
Well I'm dumb...I read that and missed that Patti was Humpy's daughter! I hope the Humpy Show comes back! I liked it :)
Lucky you JD look forward to hearing how that presser goes! Hope he gets REAL questions and not softballs!
Hope the wrecking is out of their system now.
Stinking goofy split screen. WHY did I buy a 55 inch TV? So ESPN can cut it up and use much of it for graphics.
Oh man, that was funny!
Maybe they are on the plan of telling us what we are seeing on the screen rather than calling the race. That strategy didn't work for NBC back in the day when they tried it either.
They are already slobbering over kyle Busch. Joy.
Save some of that slobber for JJ tomorrow night.
I'm sure they have an unending supply.
There is no reason for the booth to be anywhere near the track to do the broadcast as they are doing it. Think of the money they can save.
Texas 3 - Yankees 0 already
Sounds like the Apollo NASA moon landing. Were they REALLY there?
Just realized our David Starr is in this race and have not seen him or haven't heard his name mentioned yet! C'mon ESPN.
CMS still makes good pictures at night after all these years. Thanks MUSCO!
Oh boy, you guys are making me laugh! Am not watching the race (Pittsburgh Penguins VS the NY Islanders game over the 'net radio), but seems like the same ol' NW series broadcast.
If espn's lead guy for the Cup series can not call a Nationwide race without sounding like an amateur, he is in over his head and should be replaced.
Vicky, these guys are just dead meat since they started doing both the NNS and Cup races.
No recaps, no stories, no excitement. At least Andy corrects Marty and tries to interject some good content.
I really never thought I would see Marty at a loss for words. But, he just can't seem to shake the "two wide or thee wide" screaming.
You think the network would get a different team during their Cup run, but when has ESPN ever done anything right as far as NASCAR this year.
I suggested Allen Bestwick with Ricky Craven and Randy LaJoie for these races. 30 min pre-race hosted by the pit reporters.
No Tech Garage, no infield studio.
It's the NNS series!
If the announcers aren't watching the screen they can't call the race we are seeing - basic concept of television folks ...
It's the spotters' and director's job to catch the wrecks, quickly relay that info to the booth via IFB and also give the announcers ACCURATE info. Then it's video's job to cue up all the angles they have of the incident and the director again to quickly call the TD to get the replays on air for analysis. They had the wreck covered - the director just blew the call....
Just more proof that we the folks posting here with JD were right from the get go. ESPN needs a seperate announce team for the Nationwide Series. It will keep the Cup crew fresh and they can have their own identity. The announce crew just seems to taper off as the year goes on.
OK Tim - thanks
Danica and Buescher are running close to each other on lap 52. Could be interesting. Green flag pit stops coming up.
Alan B makes pitstops more exciting when he calls them. Why won't ESPN put him in the booth where he belongs!
Lot of dead air during this round of pit stop reporting.
JD, we get better info from the track via twitter than these guys in the booth tonight!
Phil, I think you would find some folks who have different opinions on that topic.
One of them would be named Mike Joy.
One eye on the monitor and one eye on the track is something he always says and did in our chat with him.
How in the world did ESPN miss Carl Edwards stalling on pit road!!!!!!
back in the day when they put Allen on pit road instead of the booth, I mentioned my disappointment to a friend. He said he read websites had a lot of posters who hated Allen's pxp. I didn't get that then & still don't, but apparently they were vocal. But so are we. Maybe if we just hang in there.
Ya know, this is not a good omen for tomorrow night.
and while we were away another caution during commercials.
Just between us, the guy who did not like AB is the one who just got arrested and then terminated by ESPN.
Things change when ratings are bad and the network is not happy.
Going to be interesting....
They could slide AB into the booth and they could eliminate the infield studio all together. Just let Mike or Nicole handle the pre race from Bristol like all the other sports do.
JD, in ESPN's producer case, what goes around comes around (to AB)!
Low class JD. Very low blow there dude.
I think the 21 touched the 09.
There is no excuse for calling the race this badly/inaccurately. The Speed guys call the F1 race ffrom a different country, and do a better job, for heaven's sake!
JD, you give us hope! Having AB back would be so awesome.
anon 9:00pm
Poor Danica.....again.
Missing you on that one longtimeracefan.
The producer has a hand in picking who does what. ESPN has lost not only the Cup producer, but the NNS producer took a leave of absence as well this season.
Jill is producing for the rest of the season.
Sorry if you took something the wrong way.
JD, poor David Starr, haven't seen or heard of him tonight!
Speaking of omans.. Combine tonight's effort so far and the way the race was the last time it was on ABC and it, it could be an early night for finding something else to watch.
well DJ was watching that one. he called it pretty quick.
When you shoot this track wide and just let the cars run, it's one of the most compelling images in NASCAR.
Not going to see that tonight apparently....
I've turned off the race...no Nationwide drivers have a chance to be on TV. It's all cup drivers. G'night y'all.
I really don't understand how anyone can think that closeups of one or two cars at a time is the way to relate to fans watching on TV the speed and excitement of a race. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist, should it?
Sally, they just has Mike Wallace in trouble with cars scrambling out of the way....so....they jumped back to the front of the field and the Cup drivers.
I guess the foreign network that broadcasts F1 has better knowledge of how to follow the action on the track, thus making the announcers look pretty good.
Have I missed a 'thru the field', or have they just given up doing them entirely? At least it would get a mention for some of the 'regulars' in the race. and their sponsors....? With $ so tight, wouldn't that be a good idea that would benefit everyone?
Never. They said "read the ticker."
We have been going at it over that topic for years. Getting a moment on national TV for a NNS regular, even under caution, is huge.
If ESPN went "thru the field" they might actually have to show regular NW drivers or even that one Truck Series Regular. Who is that again?????
That's one key reason why folks turn off the TV audio and listen to the radio.
Good racing tonight, tough to pass but good TV pictures.
Newsflash Marty; Carl did go a lap down. He took the waive-around. Ugh!!
Really Dave?? an awesome pass. Why did you have to stop giving your report to call the pass?
I can just hear Marty talking - Hello boys and girls, lets watch some car racing on my monitor. Isn't this fun.
espn is lost, like they are trying to put a square peg through a round hole. I am switching over to football. MC
Just checking in. Flipping from ALCS to the race. Camera work for baseball is really great. Bored with the bits of the race.
Too bad. Wish I could stick with the race.
Glad ESPN is updating us on Danica every 7 or so minutes, but what about the other drivers running back with DP?
I think a lot of folks are gone to football, baseball or entertainment shows.
Just like you said, it just does not fit the ESPN agenda.
I'm still around, JD. :)
Just saying, "What?" to my TV a lot tonight.
Is the reason for the 4 announcers in the infield used is because they have a special knowledge of the race that the people in the booth don't?
Why does Brad hoot and hollar about a pass? Has he not seen one before so he makes it sound as if it's a hairy deal?
I dont like the infield studio and I am not a big fan of Brad in it but he and AB have a ton more excitement than the booth. Even if it is fake I appreciate the effort to energize the calls.
This whole deal is an ego battle. ESPN wants to do it the same way they do the other pro sports.
NASCAR needs good basic coverage with folks who know the history of the sport.
The two rarely meet. Ray, Rick, AB and maybe Andy have it. The rest are just a mess.
JD, we had such high hopes for Marty and for the NW races, he did a fine job! Too much going on each weekend is doing him in that's for sure!
I've taken about all I can tonight. As usual thanks JD. Be back tomorrow night to see what kind of debacle ESPN feeds us.
To bad Espn forgot how to do a telelcast.
If you were watching this same race with the back in the day Espn, there would be about 20 posts up to this point in the race. You would be so much into the race you wouldn't have time to type.
Later Brad!
Yep, these middle aged guys are out of gas tonight just like we thought they would be.
Can Nascar really think having all these cup guys in the race be good for this series? Finally seeing Colin Braun & Trevor Bayne haven't heard what's up with Danica in awhile? Hey guys, where's DP?
The dream telecast for Espn would be for the cars to get so strung out that there is continuous pit stops.
oh boy I just checked out the race and the booth seems to be out of energy.
The cars look great, now if they could just change the drivers to make it a unique series, it would fly.
Anon, same TV team worked all the practice and qual shows today and now the race.
Totally gassed right now.
JD, I think Blue Bloods will be much better than this. Will check in tomorrow night. Thanks for all your hard work.
It seems odd to me that they are pushing a college football game with the #1 team opposite the race tomorrow night.
No one in the booth is looking for new stories.
I think it's interesting that the powers that be (and the media) can say people are tuning out the Cup series because JJ is winning too much, yet they seem to think that Kyle doing the same things(except that he's stepped down a level to do it) is the greatest thing that happened to the Bus..eh, Nationwide series. I see a major disconnect here.
I guess a "we messed up" caution is as good as a debris caution to add "excitement" to the race.
Hey, JD. Did our own little troll just get home from his JV football game?
Folks on Twitter were saying that.
Did ESPN just promo a college football game that airs against the Cup race? Um...yes.
Sally,
He even looked up some new words! Our little man is coming along....*sniff*
Sally, I totally agree on Kyle. It's just odd. Jimmie & Chad are 'theoretically' doing nothing wrong. But Kyle beating up on lesser funded teams, he's a hero. Oh, kids are outta school...kinda late.
Zoom out
wow this is so bad
I'm still around JD :) sadly not much good to chat about :(.
And Brian Scott spins to bring out the caution......
wow they cut from commercials to show us the final pit stops, im kinda impressed
Now if they had done that as Scott was spinning through the infield.......I would be too!
Zoomed into the leaders again and missed the action in the pack.
Painful. Chronic. Awful. Horrendous. Did I spell that right?
I've been watching since 40 to go. I really want to press mute. The booth doesn't seem to care, Vince still can't report and camera shots are TIGHT.
Typical NNS race dominated by Cup drivers. The gigantic elephant in the room nobody wants to look at.
ESPN , YOU WANNA KNOW WHY I DONT WATCH THE RACES??? IT'S BECAUSE A THIRD OF THE SCREEEN IS DEDICATED TO STUFF THAT IS NOT THE RACE!!!!!!!! I HATE BE DISTRACTED BY ALL THE SCROLLS AD GRAPHICS. I'D RATHER WATCH A MOVIE WHICH I NOW DO!!!!!! ( THAT OF COURSE IS INBETWEEN THE 50000 COMMERCIAL BREAKS IN EVERY RACE. I'M SICK OF IT!!!! I'M DONE!!!
Hey, thanks for your patience tonight. Good racing under the lights, but a truly terrible TV presentation.
Man, this is a rough year for fans.
Have a good night, let's try it tomorrow with the big boys.
JD
OMG...Kyle didn't win! I find I'm not as offended when Brad wins. at least he's way down in Cup points, and only running his furst full year.
Anon 10:42
Don't usually respond to all caps but I FEEL your pain. Got in an hour ago from listening to a blues band & got blues all over again.
This is another race where I DVR'd, read comments here first, turned on tv & CAMERA WORK STANK as usual.
NO ONLINE radio that I could find to listen :( ,,so I checked tv off and on.
Holy Toledo, where were all the wide shots of cars coming at us last week in CUP race?
Imagine how they will kill, ruin, butcher Dega.
Well, at least I didn't INVEST HOURS in watching the tv. Off to watch SEINFELD Dvds from library.
Shame keeping up with NASCAR only on twitter these days. I'm also done investing time.
NASCAR should be held accountable for the trainwreck camera work we've bitched about since FOX back in spring. TNT was our ONLY saving's grace.
Sophia
So Sally what you're saying is that you hold double standards just like many Nascar fans? Well good for you, I guess.
The coverage of this race was pathetic like usual. The booth was dead for most of the night, and the camera work was not much better.
JD...you said "Have a good night, let's try it tomorrow with the big boys."
I thought that's all we saw last night...the big boys...That's why I turned it off early.
I will now check Twitter to see who won.
Kudos to the guys in the booth that ridiculed Rusty for saying he wouldn't intentionally wreck someone. They need to get rid of him. Looks like Trevor paid back Steve Wallace at the end of the race for some past actions(?). Evernham always does a great job of analysis-no b.s. with him. DJ and Andy were fine,but Marty was his usual awful self. It's painful to listen to Danica. You'd think she was never in a race car before. At least she got rid of her genuine Martian sunglasses!
I forgot to give credit to Rusty,Brad and Ray for being honest about Buescher intentionally wrecking Danica. Espn showed all of Buescher's 'encounters;. I had forgotten how many incidents he had been involved in.
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