This should be interesting! There have been a ton of announcements about the drivers and teams in the Nationwide Series for next year made this weekend in Texas. Instead of a lower level series struggling to survive, suddenly with a new car and names like Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Brian Scott racing fulltime things are looking up.
These stories should dominate the pre-race show on ESPN2 at noon ET. Allen Bestwick will host with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside in the Infield Pit Studio. These three have had a rocky season, with Rusty's emotional outbursts and Brad's endless cheerleading balanced only by Bestwick's patient approach to the sport.
With the season winding down and the NNS being pushed to the back burner again by ESPN, it should be interesting to watch just how much of this program revolves around the current Sprint Cup Series drivers racing on Saturday.
Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree have been having a nice and relaxed weekend so far. ESPN has not done much of the TMS coverage, leaving the heavy lifting to SPEED once again. This trio is struggling on the Cup side but still has a good attitude about the Nationwide Series races.
Jarrett and Petree are both former team owners and they seem to be genuinely interested in the young drivers making their way in the sport through this series. These two have a ton of potential, but Reid does not have a lot of NASCAR knowledge and his descriptions of the Nationwide teams and drivers are often a bit off-target.
The positives that ESPN has to work with is the spectacular weather at Texas that has resulted in a amazingly fast track. The racing should be great with a mix of Cup drivers, Nationwide regulars and some one-timers to spice up the show.
ESPN is the exclusive TV network of the Nationwide Series and promised back in 2007 to make it a showpiece. As this season ends amid ongoing college football problems and boring races dominated by a handful of Cup drivers, at least there is hope on the horizon for 2011.
This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 telecast of the Nationwide Series from Texas. 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 join us today.
134 comments:
Hey all, nice day in Texas!
Between F-1 and football, it's going to be a lonely day for the NNS guys.
Hi Everyone! :)
Getting set for the race here.
Wishing all a green flag day!
early, early start. I wonder why?
Good question. Had to be TV driven.
I guess when you do have these "rooster" start times in the morning, you don't have the problem with another event running long.
It's probably football driven! Get the race over before the 4pm games start!
This is rough. Loses the West Coast for sure.
I liked the singing. Much better than usual.
Cut away from the flyover. Come on man.
And 11:55 local time to start the opening ceremonies, instead of either at the top of the hour, or the half hour.
Those 5 minutes must be very valuable to someone.
I don't mind the early starts here in Calif. I'm just eating breakfast instead of lunch for the start. A lot better anthem than last night!
The fall NNS race was early in Texas last year too. I don't think it's football related, but I do wonder why.
I actually thought we had an answer last year...
You listened to the singing? I'm impressed. I haven't listened to the SSB in years after Fox started bringing their "Idols" over and effectively trivializing what many think is a sacred moment.
Are we ready for another day of Marty hugging the monitor??
I don't hear anything on the Free Scanner today.
Goooooooood Morning everyone! Wow im up early but hey its time for some Nationwide racing!
Hope this is fun and not brutal!
Charlie, No problems here with the free scanner. Drivers are loud and clearn.
Got it. Did a refresh on the scanner page and it is working now.
JD
Thanx for the pic of Johanna yesterday. She's a Pensacola girl and a good racer. Our crew has raced the Old Beater against her at Blackman and P'cola. We had a party last night to watch her. Too bad it was cut short.
@ Buschseries61
You asked what KyBu is trying to prove. Well, Kyle is record racing. BigBro has a cup but nobody has >200. That and sweeps and etc., etc., etc. we on the Team Eminem are after. Cups will come, but if you are going after Babe Ruth 'tis easier to get a good foundation under you while you're young asnd strong. BTW have you ever noticed how much Eminem and KyBu resemble each other. A certain cable news host could make a conspiracy out of that.
@ GinaV24
Of course I don't want EVERYONE to be for the same driver. Just the people who are right:) BTW, at Talladega last week your boyfriend was cussing up a storm. His favorite phrase was FDB, but I cannot get more specific or JD will foul me!
Scanners are working. In-cars already. Ugh...
Kyle took the lead. Race over.
hate to say it but that sure looked dirty by Eric D he turned right into Danica what was that
Camera work is a bit choppy and no flow.
No caution? For that? WOW! NASCAR must really be under pressure to get this race in the books!
That was a weird no call!
They must have a hard end time. Forget red flags and GWC for a minor matter.
Well duh hold on let me look cause I have no clue.... The big game is on next, we wouldnt want anyone seeing Nascar on so hurry hurry get this race in We wouldnt wanna miss any of the great action from Northwestern at Penn State or Washington at Oregon comeon now
lol
What is Espn trying to accomplish with in-car cams under green?
Just to make me lose my mind personally. It's an awful formula that avoids the racing and highlights their choice of topics to chat about.
Horrible since 2007.
ESPN has the 3:30 college football window after the race. I guess they don't want to miss that.
We have GOT to get the NNS races starting in September to another TV network for next season.
It's going to be a great year for that series.
What do you mean by that JD? September? Isnt there a contract until 2014?
ABC was supposed to have all the chase races throughout the contract. NASCAR allowed that change. Nationwide needs to be moved somewhere else.
I would think the tradeoff of a channel that isn't as widely distributed versus a guarantee the broadcasts won't be pushed around would be well worth it.
Good example. I think NASCAR and the TV partners know that Sept to Nov NNS races are mostly a wash on ESPN2 because of football.
Time to search for some creative solutions.
Thank you for removing those posts.
I just hope they don't put NNS races on ESPN Classic!
lol @ Tim Brewer
Did Brewer just get confused as to which championship Harvick is running for?
I know its way early but screw it im popin open a budweiser
What a difference between last night's race and today. No flow, tight shots, in-car cams shots. Two boxes to watch an in-car on driver in big box and single car in small box.
This does not show me what is happening at the race.
They would never publicly admit it, but I'm sure ESPN would love to have the ability to air yet another college football game.
I know its a tired cliche, though with a little effort, there could be a 'win win' deal where all parties are better off.
The Danica show didn't last long today. The bobble heads' predictions of a top 15 or top 20 doesn't seem to be panning out at the moment.
What is the purpose to have the infield announcers talk during the race. Are they giving the booth a break to eat or go see the men's room.
@anon 1:59
To your point --
ESPN owns the rights to 7 games happening right now that are airing only on regional television, including Florida @ Vanderbilt and Louisville @ Syracuse.
Just kids being kids. I keep trying to tell him "vaginals" is not a word!
As mentioned earlier NNS needs a new network for next year that will dedicate itself to the series and not have to squeeze the races around other sports that are preferred by ESPN
Although at 12:30pm Pacific I'll be tuning into watch Boise State football. Even though they are a rival of my daughters' school, they be my favorite.
When they do the two box camera shots the size of the big box takes up about 1/3 of my HD screen.
What is the reason for doing two boxes if they can't get doing one screen right.
Streaming races online would make such a difference. That's just one alternative to limited TV distribution.
Charlie, in my mind the split-screen is just another crutch like the scoring ticker.
Now they don't have to update the field or try to cover actual racing. Just stick it in a box.
Brewer is a wealth of no information. do they use him when they can't think of anything to say?
Daly Planet Editor said...
Streaming races online would make such a difference. That's just one alternative to limited TV distribution.
I watched an on line stream of a sprint car race last night from Perris Auto Speedway in So Cal that was excellent, despite the feed dropping out every now and then.
I'll watch again tonight too.
you would think ESPN would look to change up there broadcasts somewhat with these ratings but nope same old ESPN! Such A SHAME they know what there doing though and I think its there plan
I sometimes think Tim hates doing that as much as we hate him telling us complete BS.
That last radio communication from Danica was from about a half hour ago.
When you watch this race the camera shots seem random and you have no idea which of the 6 people announcing the race is going to speak.
It's just melted down to typical ESPN. Jumpy cameras that add up to nothing that makes sense.
I actually turned it down after the last Brewer piece.
These guys don't get it.
C'est La Vie
C'est La vie
Thats just the way it goes
MLB streams, NFL streams their Sunday Night game, Netflix streams...
Seems to be a trend to me.
I think this is what you call "phoning it in". ESPN is just going through the motions just to get the race over.
They seem to pick a driver at random and talk about him (the her is not random). No ryme or reason as to who they are going to talk about next. It's like they are just killing time until the race is over and they can start football.
Once the Cup coverage starts, ESPN could give a damn about NNS.
We have been screaming that since 2007.
Lip service.
JD,
If ESPN is using the split screen as a crutch, I'm surprised they haven't split the screen into 4 or 6 boxes like Race Buddy and expected us to be able to put all the pieces together in order to make sense of the race. If we were really lucky one of the boxes would show wide angle racing only.
As it is now, we are left to figure out where each snippet of two cars racing each other fit into the big race picture.
This reminds me of a Monday make-up race when rain postponed the Sunday race.
Not only NASCAR/ESPN wants to get it over, but it seems like the drivers may have been urged to do so at the driver's meeting.
Have we still only had one caution?
has anyone ever seen GT Vodka in stores? I never see it
Hey, the producer who hated us is gone. The other producer left for personal reasons. Now, the lady whose only experience is truck races a while back is driving the bus.
I heard they were so lost last week during the cup race people listening to the TV scanner were making fun of them.
That is a sad state of afffairs.
What is sad is Espn sees this as being an excellent telecast.
ESPN The World Wide Leader In Sports ha ha what a joke
Hey Tim Brewer, Danica says she may have gum on her brake petal. Maybe you could show us what a break petal looks like.
I've looked at the tv some, but mostly listened to scanner whilst doing stuff around the house. The race is good on scanner. I agree, JD, about the streaming.
Of course, the running order as of now gives me no problems at all...jus' sayin'
brake = break.
I get ESPN complaints from fans of other sports too.
I really think it is a company wide deal. Tight shots, lots of hype and scripted agendas.
Sad to see what this company has become. Biggest show is Sports Nation. What does that say?
JD
You know the ESPN mantra! FollowDBall; FollowDBall. Even if there is NO ball.
In-car cam during a restart only shows you two cars. A wide shot at restart would show you 20 cars.
Carl needs to get the duck outta my race just now. Cannot he go outside and play with Brad?
JD yeah I shake my head everytime i see that show that is sad! But that is America today I guess glad its not me! Ah well Im going to sit back and watch the rest of this go Carl woooo he gave me something to cheer about when he just passed Busch for the lead
See Guys
What did i tell you
ESPN believes their own hype and ego
They will never go back to what they did in the 80's and 90's
That is why i do not ESPN
They are losing credibility but the execs are too busy with their nightlife to care
ESPN The worldwide leader in sports NOT.
It should be ESPN The worldwide leader in hype and ego
@Jonathan
All this talk about woooo (insert mame here) passed Kyle reminds me of talk about somebody else, oh, yeah, I remember that guy...RDE,jr. (the 1st one)
Record low cautions! I fully subscribe to whomever said they have a 3:30 kickoff for some and such
Just waiting for the finish now, the race winner will get ignored if Brad clinches the championship.
look its Marty Reid talking subplots ha thats ESPN
The Espn story lines.
Nationwide Championship
Kyle Bush
Bonus Money.
wooooo lol
Well, I don't like Carl Edwards, but it's pretty amazing that Kyle is not going to win. Guess we'll see the first backflip in a while.
New Race
Oh come on! There's no need to throw a caution for that! The drivers can drive around that mess!
No Jacques Debris today, there is a 12:30 cut off time
Marty is deep sighing like Jerry Punch. He can hardly wait for this to be over.
Beautiful coverage of that spin. The "hard contact" comment was off, though.
@Jonathan:
woooo, yourself! Nobody better on retarts than the 18! Duck Carl! Duck!
Bill if you learn one thing bout Nascar never say never till the leader crosses the finish line!!! Thats one reason why I love this sport
@Jonathan: Agreed! I kinda made that post as a jinx!
Ancient so true this is going to be good!
ESPN mailing it in today
JD, I'm not as hopeful as you are for 2011. Just another band-aid.
We will see if Marty can find a speck of excitement on this restart.
Here we go!!! Enjoy this everyone I know I will
@Buschseries61
Did you read my reply to your question of yesterday? Am curious as to what you think.
Thats what im talking about QUACK QUACK!!! :)
You know its almost Christmas when Jared Jewelry sponsors ESPN's score alerts
thats bs no caution!
how can you not call a caution after that screw the football game thats just wrong Nascar
Nice job, NASCAR! You had to wait to kill Bowyer's car before you call the caution. I'm glad Petree said something.
They let another driver suffer because of the rush to finish the race. TERRIBLE
I guess they want this race to end quick. No caution with parts flying all over the track.
Then they had to do a caution when a car runs into the debris.
What is going on.
showin' the fild comin' otta 4. love it.
How come they can get good sometimes?
...another "Hard Contact"? HMMMMM.
Gotta shut up.... oops NO 21 smokin' Must be the sponsor. Too much salt in the chicken (my experience only; not to be confused with sponsor claims)
GWC; OK. I'll go out on a limb here and remind all of you to repeat after me: "Kyle Busch will win."
Ooo, did you see the SIZE of Sam Sarcinella's engagement ring? It looked like a Buick on her finger.
What an awful call from the tower.
@ AncientRacer - I just saw. I understand your viewpoint, I just disagree. It is like a major league baseball player looking to break records. He can't beat them in the major leagues, so he does down to the minor leagues. He may beat major league records there, but the competition is much less compeitive and the record isn't as distinguished.
Bill, there is a joke there somewhere....
@Buschseries61
Well put. Well taken. But it is how we count things. Respect is due you (tip of hat).
Yeah, somewhere. :)
Glad that is over.
Yeesh.
I really don't get the radio chatter. Marty is trying to call the end of the race and the radio transmission awkwardly cuts him off.
You know ESPN loves Carl when they hold off the commercial break to see his backflip.. How lame!!!
that was just a weird day all together! Was fun at the end seeing Carl do a backflip was sweet, id rather see that than a bow by Kyle
Congrats Brad you deserve this
wow I just gain more respect for Carl that is just soo cool! Going into the crowd awsome you just made many peoples day
OK so I was wrong. "Kyle Busch will win"...tomorrow.
Great racing. Modestly successful coverage. But it was better than average coverage for a McTrack.
JD why cannot you get in the truck to direct one time? With all us on the computer beside you? You've got a hard card, and if you screwed up you would know in seconds...or less.
See you guys later. I have an effete wine tasting to go to for charity.
not much time for post race
Better wrap up quick Espn. Football is scheduled to be on in 5 minutes.
Congratulations to Brad
and to Carl.
I do wish that the SPEED Truck crew could do these races.
As always, thanks JD.
Looks like nice Carl was out today.
ESPN seems impatient that Brad is taking his time celebrating. Gotta get to that next football game!
Charlie said...
When they do the two box camera shots the size of the big box takes up about 1/3 of my HD screen.
What is the reason for doing two boxes if they can't get doing one screen right.
Just another lather, rinse, repeat. We have big screens and small screens.
SPLIT SCREEN USELESS WASTE OF SPACE & makes things tiny on small tvs. Tried turning on the race 5 times for total of 5 minutes.
#EPICCAMERAFAIL
#BRIANFRANCEIGNORESrealIssue
and looks like they cut that cord early
On my Tv they cut out the end of the broadcast and went to football.
If you were Nationwide, would you feel that you got the bang for your buck from that telecast and presentation? Just sayin...
NOPE!
Oh, I see (just as I turn off the tv) it is a JoePa game.
And somewhere in Leon County, FL Bobby Bowden justturned off his TV too.
Time for wine.
-30-
and Nascar wonders why sponsors leave the sport.
OK peeps! See you tomorrow for more NASCAR excitement.
Did I say that with a straight face? Later.
JD
Espn leaves the race early not to show you the next football game coming up but a football game that is in overtime. Then they switch away from the overtime game that was not finished yet and go to sports center.
So why did they leave the race early?
The whole purpose of moving the entire series to ESPN was better promotion. Plenty of big moments forever missed due to going over the time window. This cannot happen next year.
I was out all day and am just watching the dvr'd race. It's halfway and TB just admitted he didn't know what the driver was talking about a wire hanging down. Anyway, our guy had trouble early so am really disappointed guess the broadcast is doing ok. MR seems better this week.
Bushseries
Sadly this CAN HAPPEN NEXT year just like it's happened the last 3.
I'm stunned the last 12 races aren't on over the air tv like ABC.
In recent interviews GIANT TWIT BRAIN-less FRANCE, has YET to have the guts to say the horrible camera views on tv are to blame for the bad ratings/running of fans. Why? Because he NEVER WATCHES the race from home. OBVIOUSLY too busy out partying to care one whit about NASCAR except to cash the millions he makes on the sport at our expense, to the insult of the cars/drivers on teams big and small...not to mention the sponsors.
It's why I gave up watching the races since TNT and instead read about on Twitter/online or highlights on S Report & Wind Tunnel.
I've also given up all other nascar shows except for race stumble acrosses on NNow.
Makes me sad but since I've given up trying to view on tv, I'm less aggravated about NASCAR though I miss feeling closer to the sport.
But if the head of the "NA$CAR Kingdom" doesn't care? Why should I?
He reminds me of the Bengals owner Mike Brown. He does not care if the Bengals lose all the time cause he makes MILLIONS every year cause he makes money in the back door of sports. Merchandisizing, food sales, TV rights, city pays for his NEW stadium..but I digress.
:-(
I did watch Talladega sort of, on tv and LISTENED ONLINE & read some comments on Twitter.
I will NOT be watching Sunday as it will be sunny weather, and I've family stuff to do. The DVR'd race will be deleted when I return home, no doubt.
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