Live Blogging Nationwide Series From Phoenix (4PM ET - ESPN2)

This is really the final telecast that can be used to judge the ESPN Nationwide Series team. Next week in Homestead there will be lots of extra bells and whistles, along with special TV programs and lots of ESPN executives on hand.

Today at PIR there is just the hardcore crew that has worked on these telecasts for the entire season. This is the only NASCAR series where the ESPN family of networks handles the races from start to finish all year long. Daytona to Homestead, the races are all on one media source.

Allen Bestwick anchors the coverage from the Infield Pit Studio. Bestwick is solid and has been a master at dealing with his duo of Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Wallace is a walking conflict of interest where this series is concerned and Daugherty continues to be a NASCAR cheerleader on any topic.

Marty Reid cut his teeth on the Nationwide Series before stepping into the bigger and longer Cup races this year. In Phoenix, Reid is going to be happy at PIR that he only has to track the race since the NNS championship has been decided.

Dale Jarret and Andy Petree have been doing double-duty again this season and it is the Nationwide Series that suffers. Rather then bring in Ricky Craven and the still suspended Randy LaJoie to generate some excitement down the stretch, the network continues to use the announcers now focused on the Cup Series telecasts.

The good news is that PIR is a great track for the Nationwide Series. The drivers and teams are going to be running all out for this win and the series has lots of good things happening for next season.

ESPN is again working with the NASCAR Media Group to make great pictures and deliver outstanding audio. The lack of any technical troubles in the Nationwide Series telecasts this season has been a fantastic tribute to the television engineering and technical folks involved.

This post is going to serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 telecast of the Nationwide Series race from Phoenix International Raceway. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by!

Krista Voda Leads The Team For SPEED

Saturday starts with Nationwide Series qualifying on SPEED at noon ET. Krista Voda will call the action with Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds in the TV booth. Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini are the reporters.

That TV team continues at 1:30PM with coverage of the first of two practice sessions for the Sprint Cup Series teams. It should be interesting to see who has dialed-in their car after a very dynamic qualifying session on Friday.

ESPN2 has a college football game at noon as most NASCAR fans already know. The good news is that the Nationwide Series telecast does not start until 4PM with the pre-race show. The bad news is that ESPN2 is slated to carry Happy Hour at 3PM.

We all know college football runs 3.5 hours and sometimes longer. It should be interesting to see if ESPN2 slides back and tape delays coverage of Happy Hour or if the live practice is just joined in progress in order to get to NNS at 4PM.

Either way, the legacy of college football directly affecting NASCAR telecasts on ESPN2 has continued for the fourth consecutive season. It's a tragic situation for the struggling Nationwide Series that routinely loses the pre-race TV shows for Saturday afternoon races after September.

This week, it's the Sprint Cup Series that is affected with only two races to go in a ten month season. Should ESPN decide to join Happy Hour in progress they may have missed something that happened on track or in the garage that may well affect the Championship. If they delay the hour, they risk losing the entire NNS pre-race show yet again.

We will use this post for comments about the daytime coverage on SPEED and the situation with ESPN right up to the transition point for the NNS event. We will open our normal live blog for TV coverage comments that that time.

To add your opinion on these topics, just click 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.