Saturday, June 5, 2010

UPDATED: Live Blogging Nationwide Series In Nashville, TN (7PM ET - ESPN2)


Update: For those tuning in at 7PM, the live women's college softball game before qualifying ran long. For that reason, ESPN shortened the pre-race show to 30 minutes and will run qualifying until 7:30PM. Allen Bestwick and company will be on at that time.

It's hot in Nashville, but the NASCAR on ESPN team is ready to go. This week, veteran pit reporter Vince Welch gets the chance to handle the play-by-play duties for a live ESPN2 race telecast.

Welch has a long history in TV, combining local and national duties in the sports world. Friday, he worked with Dale Jarrett to call the NNS practice and did quite a good job.

Alongside Welch it will be Jarrett and Andy Petree. On pit road for this telecast will be Dr. Jerry Punch, Shannon Spake and Jamie Little. Allen Bestwick will host from the Infield Pit Studio with Brad Daugherty. Tim Brewer will be in the Tech Garage.

ESPN has been revamping itself this season with a very different presentation of NASCAR racing. Marty Reid has led a very nice change of pace in the announcing and Welch may well become Reid's back-up as the season progresses. These stand-alone races offer an opportunity for some perspective and serve to show-off the series regulars.

This one should be fun to watch. To add your TV-related comments on the telecast, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Saturday Daytime TV Comments


TNT's on-air crew knocked the rust off by covering the early session of Sprint Cup Series practice on Saturday. Adam Alexander, Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. were in the TV booth. Lindsay Czarniak and Larry McReynolds were in the infield. Marty Snider, Matt Yocum and Ralph Sheheen on pit road.

Second session will be the regular SPEED team of Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds. SPEED continues at 4PM with the ARCA race. Rick Allen and Phil Parsons flew from Texas to Pocono for this race. Wendy Venturini and Jim Tretow are on pit road.

At 5:30PM, the ESPN2 guys handle qualifying from Nashville, TN. Vince Welch has his chance to lead the team with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside. Dr. Jerry Punch, Shannon Spake and Jamie Little handle the interviews.

This should be an interesting day of TV coverage. Please feel free to leave your comments right here by clicking the comments button below. We will be live blogging the Nationwide Series race later in the evening. Thanks!