The NASCAR on ESPN team had a long day yesterday and tonight they end the on-track coverage from the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The pre-race show begins at 7PM on ABC.
Allen Bestwick has Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty in the Infield Pit Studio. Yesterday, it was tough for these four to get airtime with the active racing on the track and all the unfolding stories.
Tim Brewer continues in the Tech Garage. Lately, Brewer has been quickly updating things that go wrong on the track. The problem is, he is often the one who is proven wrong when the driver or crew chief is interviewed. Brewer is in a tough spot, but perhaps suggesting what may be wrong as opposed to telling viewers might make more sense.
Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch are the pit road reporters. It is always interesting to see the personal on-air dynamics between these four and the drivers they are assigned to cover. Little and Welch are "in your face" style reporters while Punch and Burns are more low-key.
Embattled Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree are playing on a very big stage tonight. First, this is a home game for the sport and second the telecast is on ABC up against a key MLB playoff game on FOX and college football on ESPN.
"Sell it" is a term heard in TV when producers try to encourage the on-air talent to get excited about the sport they are covering and relay that excitement to the viewers. In the middle of a ratings slump and up against stiff competition, tonight the entire NASCAR on ESPN gang is going to have to "sell it."
Saturday night, the ESPN director continually cut to tight shots and missed action or incidents on the track. He missed key moments on pit road and even used an in-car camera shot on the final lap. In terms of directing a live TV sports event after four years of covering the sport, it was dismal.
If ESPN decides to present this event with the same style of coverage that leaves viewers in the dark to the stories and racing on the track, it is going to be the end of the Chase for many. Wideshots under the lights on TV from CMS are some of the most spectacular in the business.
Everything is right there waiting for the TV team. Good stories, a great track and a nice night for action in primetime. What ESPN chooses to do with those pieces of the NASCAR puzzle will be something we will watch and discuss right here tonight.
This post will serve to host your comments about the Sprint Cup Series coverage from Charlotte Motor Speedway on ABC. 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.
317 comments:
1 – 200 of 317 Newer› Newest»Oh joy. A nite race being aired on ABC. That means I won't get to see the pre-race show because my local affiliate (WDAY) would rather show the local newscast. The last nite race on ABC, I missed the first 7 laps because football ran long and they still showed the full half hour newscast. I sure hope football doesn't run long. I don't wanna miss another green flag.
My daughter who lives in Charlotte is at the race tonight. So I'll get some txt messages and hopefully a few pics of the action. She and a friend are up in the suites. Wish I was there too.....
Watching the Texas/Nebraska game, noting that Brent is getting the bulk of the promos for his Wisconsin/Ohio State game than.
Doing promo's for the race on the Michigan/Iowa game too.
Happy Race Night Planeteers!
That's a shame Becky :(
Yo Vince
Have you ever been to Charlotte Motor Speedway?
Big night for the ESPN guys. Lots of good storylines.
Love how Bud Moore always calls the race a show.
Hey Mr. Daly
Nice picture of Kylie
Becky we have a Football show instead of pre race here in Philly area so you're not alone
He's the spoiler tonight. Fast car with nothing to lose. Chasers and racers going to be looking for him. Be interesting to see how ESPN handles him.
SBTF, last time I went to a Nascar race in Charlotte was about 1968. Got some nice closeup pics of the cars. REAL stock cars. And I did some pit crew work there for a friend at the regional IMSA races on the road course in the early 80's.
i like how raceday does these quick interviews before driver intro's
John
Three things i want to gripe about
1) I hate the chaser vs Racer crap, you are either a racer or you are not a racer, bottom line.
2) Brian is at his bipolar tricks again calling a press conference and not talking about ny issues affecting NA$CAR. Just taking questions on the fuel change.
3) I hate what ABC affiliates are doing to the pre-race show. It is like ABC tolerates this crapola. If NBC afiliates preempted the pre race show they would be flabbergasted.
Fans get screwed while the networks and NASCAR bloats their treasury
Dillusional tactics at it's best
Thank you very much Vince
I watched that. Brian is just following the crowd. ESPN's David Newton tried to ask him about Chase changes and he said no issues but the fuel today.
Some folks are not getting the pre-race due to local programming.
Dude, you have got to learn some new swear words. You have worn these out.
So, do you even watch the races?
Baseball starts at 7:30PM and that is a huge game. Going to slam racing tonight if it's a good game.
Now JD, be patient with our little troll. He's hanging out with the adults, trying to grow up and have something worthwhile to say. He can't help it if he's a bit slow.
Did Bestwick just say, "...our NBC stations?"
Or a brain...
Upset alert: #1 Ohio State already trails by 14. That won't help Nascar ratings either.
It's actually just a little tween who came here a while back and made some racist comments about a topic.
I called him out and he has done nothing but show up once and a while and make an idiot of himself.
I haven't even figured out if he is a NASCAR fan.
Takes all kinds to make a world!
Ok, any bets on what lap the first commercial will be?
Anthem MUCH better tonight ... the difference was like day and night or --- black and white...
My thanks to KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs for taking NASCAR seriously and NOT preempting any of it.
I'm rooting for anyone not in the chase. Go Ambrose, Montoya, Dinger, Menards, etc.....
Jeff Gluck said a NASCAR fan from the UK who follows us on Twitter came to the Tweet-up at CMS today.
How cool is that?
This is going to be a hard sell tonight.
I actually think it will be a pretty good race but it's on ESPN asto what they want to show us.
JD Nothing cool about the UK we're gonna have to go back there one day = Nascar deprived and a slew of other nasty stuff to say nothing about weather....
Before the race, can't somebody tell me what the pre race accident was in the stunt??
GREAT ANTHEM on the Phillies game! AWESOME field presentation of the flag, too@
Tweeps have lap 9 for first break. I still think it could be earlier if there is a wreck.
So you have gone international!
Lap 8
When anthem singer started singing her own twist on the song, we had to mute it. Rusty has been screaming at us for a couple of years it still is awful! And I see TB has a nice watch on tonight.
Sally, we have readers in UK, Australia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and that weird country up north!
I'll be optimistic and say lap 12 for the first commercial break
You're positively insidious, JD!
Bottom line needs to go away
"The fifth chase in the race..." Not a good start for Vince.
Not even close.. LOL
Just got in from 1yr olds birthday. Hope tonight is better than last night. Just as i type that crash on lap 2. here we go!
Oh no, not Newman.
Noooooo Newman!!!
guess you called it JD, what is this lap 2
You always set up pools. Trolls age, first commercial.
You always amaze me Mr. Daly
Hate it for Denny too.
These early wrecks keep messing up our betting pool.
JD wins
So who had Lap 3 in the poll?
wow Marty had another dorky green flag call. Just say the race is under way and end it. AB woulda got that call right thats for sure. Hope it doesnt set the tone for the remainder of the broadcast but it probably will
I've bet you've never been told you were insidious, huh JD?
I bet he has. A lot of the Nascar toadies think he ( and those of us associated with him) are insidious as all get out!
So Kenseth and Hamlin got close calls there. Wild way to start this one. We got lucky they were kind of wide-ish there
Vince, I had to look it up....
Listening to Brooks & Dunn on the radio and watching the race, can't get much better than that.
Roland, Marty did that on the IndyCar telecasts and it drove me nuts.
We are GREEN at Motegi! Or however you spell it.
Thanks Tim. The quarter panel is really important. Who knew??
Tim Brewer.........one of my buddies used to live next door to him. I could tell you a story or two. But not here.
You guys seeing the NASCAR.com leaderboard as screwed up?
No update on Bill Elliott's troubles?!
yeah the leader board is all jacked up tonight!
@David...he's running slow. Not a 'chaser, so that's all we need to know.
Yeah JD. Leaderboard has a bunch of Patrick's. Somebody hack them? Named Patrick?
Good evening, Planeteers.
Trying to make sense of the leaderboard at N..com. Who the hell are all the Patricks? There's even a Patrick Vickers listed.
As a side note, my Montana friend is having a coniption fit. She's having to watch a local college football game.
If Elliott has a problem in the engine, that's a chase-related story. All the Ford engines are the same.
JD Its driving me nuts every week!
Yes Vince, it was Patrick Sheltra...
LOL.
Pathetic they can't even update the Wood Bros. problems on the week Pearson gets into the HOF...
I was a big fan of putting Marty in that slot, but these longer Cup races are killing him.
He gets lost on what to say because he just does not know the history of the sport.
Might be Bestwick time in 2011...
DJ only one looking out the window...
Do you think ESPN would finally get smart enough to use AB where he could do the most good?
Is it me or are there audio issues tonight. Their balance between the booth volume and the track volume is waaaaay off.
Marty's green flag calls are way too over dramatic and silly. Bestwick in 2011 sounds great!
@TexasRacelady
What's the affiliate in Montana with the football game?
Ok why is there a CONSTANT crawl on the TELEVISION on ABC??
Off to find internet station...sheesh. Thought I might watch since it was Charlotte but the bottom ticker for a CUP race is bloody annoying...how is the cam work so far? Otherwise, tv in this room is staying off.
Why don't you ask your in-car reporter a e-mail question.
Didn't they change the rule that if you speed on pit road to avoid losing a lap like the 2 just did you would be held for a lap? I may be wrong but i really thought they changed that rule.
I naively believe that some day, the ESPN crew will learn the difference between "0" and "-" in the Race off Pit Row graphic. I mean, it only took me one or two times to learn the difference between a "0" tire (fuel only) stop and a "missed the pit box completely" "-" tire stop.
(If it turns out Blaney got gas, I'll happily retract this complaint.)
I think that call was speeding off. But yes it will be interesting to see how NASCAR rules that...Looks like they won't be holding Kurt though
Brad I thought the same thing
I tweeted Nate Ryan about the speeding thing and he is seeking clarification. he had the same reaction that it should be illegal.
Kyle Busch called it. McDowell never cleaned his tires off, spun em.
I guess I should have added, "not that we'd ever get an update on Blaney anyway."
Jr. went from 9th to 21st...no comment from the booth?
Man, I hope they stay wide all night long.
Crowd goes wild!
Good grief! this is looking more like Bristol than Charlotte!
Hoorah
Now we can spend the night having ESPN watch JJ come thru the traffic.
48 didn't hit anything? unbelievable now watch him come back and get a top 5. sigh
I think it's a great broadcast. I don't know what you all are talking about.
Got some good storylines to follow early.
The coverage has been good so far for me.
I wonder if they give race updates during the football broadcast.
@ Sally -
JJ IS the 4 time Champ of this series.
Like him or not, and evidently you do not, the network deserves to follow what is going on with the team that has won this championship 4 years in a row...and NOBODY has ever done that.
48 should be followed thru the field.
Can't believe it ... not a scratch on the car...
Every single 3 wide, Marty has to say "meat in the sandwich". Annoying.
It's a meat in the sandwich kind of night.
How lame was that? Marty says "Let's see another view from Stewart in-car" and ESPN cuts to commercial before the video rolls. Are they trying to get rid of him (Reid) before the end of the season?
I still want an update on the 21...
NOT a start and park btw...
@Ken...I have no problem with JJ. I would just like the opportunity to keep track of more than 12 drovers per race. I don't think that's asking too much. Do you?
Shall we count how many times Marty says "meat in the sandwich?" I just heard it...
LV156 I noticed that Marty saying about the meat in the sandwich. Poor JJ, guess ESPN will show him passing the field to catch up to the front!
I think Marty asked me to move Johnson up to 31st, so I'm going to do that.
Later, I may move Johnson up to 30th if Marty commands it.
Marty is having a tough time because he just does not know the sport. He keeps saying the same things over and over again...
Yeah, I'm over that whole meat/sandwich thing...
oldnewenglander said...
@TexasRacelady
What's the affiliate in Montana with the football game?
October 16, 2010 8:10 PM
*****************************
Sorry it took so long to answer. Was having 'net problems.
Her cable comes from Great Falls. It's the ABC station there. It seems to be a telecast from Arizona. Bozeman State is playing.
Hot dog wrappers? Oh no! A meat-filled sandwich!
This is painful to watch. Not that the images are not great, they are. But the disconnect between the PxP guy and the truck is so, so not good, it is almost criminal.
Kind of like they have two announce teams. AB and the infield gang vs. Marty and the guys in the booth.
Booth vs infield. On the job try outs??
And AB and gang are much much better
I dont recall seeing the "high" camera position above Turn 2. Looks like it's on top of the suites complex in Turn 2.
Real nice angle, especially on re-starts.
Love the wider angle shots tonight so far.
"Does tonight be the one" for Kyle?
I dunno. Can you ask it in English, Marty?
Sorry, just fighting off the trolls. Some folks have no life! LOL!
Newman back in the race, course he isn't a Chaser so you wouldn't know that...
I'm liking the camera work so far tonight. The booth, not so much.
Good pictures tomight, lots of wide shots with more than 1 car. Bravo! Someone (Ms. Wheeler, per chance?) knows how to show a race on TV. Now, if the booth could keep up...
No probs, it's all good! At least because of the action on the track we had a period of wideshots.
Love to see the aerial shot and/or wideshots of the track.
Well, Petree can stay, IMO. Swap DJ with his Hall of Fame dad, and pull anyone out of the stands to replace Marty.
David, thanks for update on Newman you are right, we won't hear from the booth about him being back on the track. They haven't mentioned Matt yet so ESPN thinks he's out of the chase and won't give him any luv tonight.
Quarter of the way thru the race.... good time to update the rest of the field.
Think of the drivers you HAVE NOT seen at all yet tonight.
Much more split screen could be utilized.
I bet is commercials after the pit stops cycle.
wow... pit stop coverage was awful last night & it continues tonight.
It's as if ESPN has never done a race before.
Pit reporters did alot better years ago when they would actually MOVE from pit to pit.
A shame that they huddle around a monitor.......TERRIBLE PIT COVERAGE
definitely not the smoothest of nights for the ESPN gang. up in the booth or down in the pits.
Does Espn think that you can't pass anyone on the track for position if other cars are pitting under green?
Showing pit stops are ok but there is a race going on out there.
Kyle unhappy. Throttle is hanging
wait a minute, wat happened to the 88?
Throttle hanging for 18, has to use cutoff switch to make the corner
Decided to load the leader board again and teh Patricks are gone. seems to be alright now.
Wow, win a trip to meet Kevin Harvick and Miss Sprint Cup! What a thrill that would be! NOT. I have a problem with Miss Sprint Cup being on Race Hub every week and having to listen to those boring driver tweets.
Have they said how the 88 got a lap down?
That E-15 ethanol announcement made Brian France proud. But they still refuse to address any of the real issues.
Uh oh
Kylie is going to have a temper tantrum
I guess Brewer didn't listen and hear that Kyle is using the cutoff.
I swear that tech center is USELESS!!!
David, amen
from a producer standpoint, i'm thinking....
show me the 18's lap times graphically.
last 10 laps vs laps before the problem
Awful segment. Cut from green flag racing to show a guy spilling fuel on a pit stop for a team running in 30 something, then once agian not show racing by doing the "news and notes" that you were supposed to do in the pre race show, then finally some drama for Kyle and the booth and the tech garage get into it. Tim Brewer correcting Marty Reid or vice versa is just freakin comical. Neither one of em knows whats going on. Then go to commercial. Grade A quality coverage.
Ken, the only issue is that you don't know when it started happening. They were 5 laps late reporting it ESPN was.
Kyle will be fine by himself, the real issue is getting to pit road, keeping pit speed, and trying to work traffic. He has lost over a second since he caught traffic
Brewer is a gem. He is gonna tell you what he thinks is going on even if what he thinks is completely wrong. It might pay off to listen to the broadcast so you will know what is going on. They just said he was using the cut off switch before they went to Brewer.
I just watched that Brewer deal again. It's hilarious.
What would happen if AB had Evernham and Craven down there with him.
Kyle reports pedal is fine now. It came back to him.
Rogers says will inquire. Perhaps a piece of rubber got stuck and is gone now? Thats their theory.
ESPN is falling into the Fox rut of showing cars going fast rather than racing to prevent viewers from seeing all the empty seats. Maybe NASCAR is pressuring that point?
Charlotte partially solved that dilemma by having opposite dark/light color seats, making the absence of fans less obvious at quick glance.
What is Marty blathering about????
Marty "How is the stuck throttle situation gonna affect Kyle's pit stop". Andy "Well its not going to be good". Enough said
Kyle's pedal was back long before the TV booth found out. Just sad.
Jimmie was the meat in that sandwich!
Dammit, Marty, I am really tired of you having to be told by the producer when things happen.
Stand up, look out the window, and you'd see the contact on pit road yourself.
Can you imagine football being called this way?
He said he got it back about 2 laps before the caution. Lap times really picked up or at least the margin between 1st and second grew.
Not great pit stop coverage IMO
Is Marty watching anything other than the TV monitors? Come on man.
I think Kyle just makes stuff up to make himself seem like an "underdog" and then he miraculously recovers.... Not the first time he has done that in the last few weeks....
CM
JD-
During your own years with these broadcasts, how much bitchin' is done on the IFB ... or do they simply save all that for "later" ??
just curious to know... do they actually try improve thru out the telecast ?
"I'm being told the center has snapped the ball to the quarterback, the quarterback is moving around in the pocket, now he is standing around...WAIT the ball was thrown to the receiver who FUMBLED and the defense returned it for a touchdown!! We'll try to find a replay for you."
Did anyone else hear Vince Welch report that one driver "just didn't have any insecurity" in the rear?
Or do I need to clean out my ears?
Ken, it used to be screaming and profanity until it began to be transmitted and fans could scan it.
Now, it's part of the problem.
What baffles me is how Marty & Co can call a race like this and not be totally embarrassed. You'd think the first time they had to say they were "being told" something had happened, they'd start looking for themselves.
ahhh ok....Thanks John for taking time to answer that.
Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie Jimmie
Espn's theme of the night.
When the Cup races began, it was clear that Marty was working off the monitors.
Just like tonight, when cautions came out that were not on TV...he had no clue.
Camera work is going the wrong way.
For those wondering earlier about Kurt Busch speeding into the pits to avoid losing a lap and not being held. Nate Ryan (USA Today) said he was told it was Nascars discretion whether you were speeding to stay on lead lap or just speeding. sounds like another we will use it when we want to kind of penalty to me.
..although I do believe DJ called the Kahne/Hornish wreck when it was not on camera yet.
TexasRaceLady Yes, Vince told us that Jeff Burton has an insecure rear end. To be honest, I think that's something between Jeff and his wife.
Absolutely! It seems that DJ might be the best of the bunch in terms of watching the track.
Now, if he would stop being so polite and PC!
OMG, they cut away from a commercial to show the pit stops. I may pass out!
From some of his updates, I do think DJ is looking out the window. I miss his new look from last night though!
Nice commercial flow there.
What was that, Marty in mid sentance and off to commercial. This is a mess
The truck and the booth can not even sync to go to commercial. Pitiful.
The "Looking Out The Window" scenario is a very dangerous thing to do.
If you (the play by play person) start calling stuff "out the window" you will eventually throw your Director and T.D. under the bus & viewers will gripe that the Director was "late" getting to the incident.
Either way a lot of viewers are going to be upset that either the Booth was late calling it OR the Truck was last getting the shot.
I believe "this booth" has been instructed to watch the monitor. Which is a safe way to do it.
Experienced "spotters" in the booth AND in the truck should be more helpful.
Oh boy, wheels might be coming off. Hit a local break and Marty just kept ongoing.
Remember that they even tried DJ as the play-by-play announcer.
OMG! The cut out of commercials and came back early for pit stops! Last night they came back early from commercials for a wreck! I thought that just was not possible. Somebody check - did hell freeze over? Are pigs flying?
They really didn't have a good shot of KK hitting Sam.
PRN is 2 minutes BEHIND TV?? Just turned on tv for restart... Wow. why such lag? House mate watching Phillies on the big tv.
Not sure how long I'll last with TeeVee. Judging by booth comments...is cam work decent? I hope..was earlier but ate dinner & now checking back..
Happy to report there is a very happy fan in Montana --- LOL
Football is over and she has the race!
However, now I'm going batty trying to keep up with who is doing what.
SOMEBODY HAS to do a better job on SPLIT SCREEN regarding real estate..on the 52 in HD or my 31 SD= LOTS of wasted space.
LUDICROUS.
Racing is small but huge 'wasted space' on all tvs? WTH??
The only thing that will save this marque event is if the drivers put on a heck of a show from here on out. Good luck guys.
Agree ltrf,
If TV just follows the best battles on the track without all the infield and tech garage BS the entire thing would be different to watch.
TRL - so is the booth, therefore it must be catching!
The race is not even half way over yet.
Get excited booth.
MotorMouth "what would I do without a monitor" Marty is horrible today...
BOB JENKINS in 11!!
RE: Looking out the window screwing the crew...
Not if you have a good director.
You are suggesting the quality of the product should be sacrificed because it is easier.
That shouldn't be the way the Worldwide Leader does things.
By the way, let me point out that Fox, for all its failings,calls the race by watching the track and the crew (i.e., director) is capable of keeping up.
OK... I'll help the Producers.
Lets hear about these stories.
Harvick ( now running in top ten) has not FINISHED in top ten @ charlotte since 2003.
Earnhardt,Jr has not been higher than 19th...... whats up ?
Kurt Busch - swept May @ Charlotte and not higher than 15th so far tonight ?
Ken, they are happy to just skim the cream off the top. Top 10 are all that matter and the stories that they have prescripted
Bob Jenkins is the BEST EVAR!!
Anyone think maybe Junior spent too much time at Whiskey River last night?? he's sucking worse than usual tonight...
Wait, it is already 9:45pm est and this race is not even to the half way point? That means a finish around 11:45 pm est.
Now I love, love my NASCAR and all, but I'll probably miss the finish. Do these (Nascar) people realize that the vast majority of their fans work regular hours for a living?
Sorry a.. reasoning indeed. Go figure.
Race on ya'll.
Is it bad when halfway can't come soon enough?
Lets be real here, there are barely any passes except on restarts. So its not always the broadcast. This car is part of the problem too.
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