Nothing can describe the post-race chaos that happened to the NASCAR on ESPN team last weekend in Daytona. The audio failed on the Nationwide Series winner interview, then the network suddenly started a Daytona 500 preview show.
There were no interviews of key Nationwide finishers and a long delay of almost twenty minutes before a replay of the Nationwide winner interview with sound this time. It was just awful.
The icing on the cake was veteran broadcaster Marty Reid calling the wrong car dramatically crossing the finish line as the winner. Channeling his best Rick Allen, Reid tried to call the side-by-side battle, but wound up being embarrassed on national TV once again.
ESPN returned the same cast in front of the camera with the exception of Ray Evernham, who left to work on a project with Rick Hendrick. Jamie Shiftan is the new line producer and was a popular choice with the crew. Ultimately, the network returned to exactly the same type of coverage and ended the first telecast with a thud.
Phoenix is going to be a challenge for the ESPN TV director who likes to shoot the races tight and show only one or two cars at a time mixed with in-car camera views. PIR demands keeping a perspective for the TV viewers and that can only be done by effectively mixing wideshots with low-angle camera views.
The race off pit road is going to be key all night long and it will be important to use and hold the triple-split until all three cars are done with service. Otherwise, the viewer perspective will be lost. As we know from past telecasts, pit road at PIR both on the way in and the way out can be tricky.
Reid needs to rebound with a strong performance and cut-out the nonsense and hype. The Nationwide Series race looks to be dominated by three or four Cup drivers who are crossing-over and racing despite getting no driver points for a win this season.
It should be very interesting to see how ESPN handles two stories. The first is Danica Patrick, who is at her home track (Arizona resident) but struggling in the series and secondly keeping viewers up to date on the driver points race. That is, focusing on the drivers who have declared to run for the championship.
There is no catch-can man on pit road, so watching teams make adjustments on cars will be important. With the gas man busy, it will be up to one of the over-the-wall gang to get it done. It may be that the rear tire changer carries the first tire with him to free-up a crew member. Hope we see this on camera.
Allen Bestwick will handle the pre-race with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Wallace is feisty already, mixing comments that are clearly motivated by his own perspective as a team owner with items like sponsor mentions. Daugherty has nothing to add except his enthusiasm and without Ricky Craven things may be a little less exciting in the pit studio.
There are plenty of good names in the field, which was short so no one went home. Several are still expected to start and park, while there are some new faces in the rear of the field who might make it interesting once lapping begins.
PIR makes for a beautiful aerial shot and has a ton of scenery. Hopefully, ESPN makes use of this for bumpers into and out of commercial instead of pre-packaged content. Dr. Jerry Punch, Dave Burns, Vince Welch and Jamie Little should be busy with pit stops but little else unless a multi-car incident happens. The red comes out quickly here as the track can be blocked instantly.
This post will serve to host your comments about the ESPN2 coverage of the Nationwide Series race from PIR. To add your TV-related 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.
164 comments:
Even before coverage begins, I must say that this blog been consistently negative and hypercritical toward both Rusty Wallace on ESPN and Darrell Waltrip on FOX. These two former NASCAR champions were hired by their respective networks exactly for their extreme personalities. Therefore to constantly harp on this issue for several years simply because you are opposed to these personalities serves no purpose in any attempt to adequately critique and comment on television coverage of the series.
Thank you
JD, thanks for all of your hard work!
Just wanted to say hello to all and hope everyone has a great race!
Happy Race Day Planeteers ;)
Hoping Marty Reid will get better is like hoping Derrike Cope will make the chase. Hes is awful and embarrasing to listen too. He and Rusty are the reason I listen to MRN for these races. And I find myself looking forward to these races more because of MRN than espn. Maybe one day when he can put together coherent sentences ill give him another chance.
Justin, I hope that made you feel better. Shame you can't handle talking about those issues or give us your viewpoints.
Does US Fidelis ring a bell? How about Digger? Seen a lot of Steven Wallace on ESPN coverage even though he never wins? Heard DW change his mind three times on the final lap to make sure he is going to be right about who wins?
Anytime you want to suggest a topic for a blog post we will put it together and then let fans talk about it. That has been the format of TDP since 2007.
Have a nice day.
JD
Still 3 minutes and change left in the ESPN2 hoop game. NASCAR is next.
great, blow out collage game, can't they leave the game??
Lame...
Ten minutes late, not bad for a hoop game. This might be another Cup driver domination fest.
Let's see who ESPN interviews first - let me bet it's a cup driver.
When it became clear that Kyle was stinking up the Truck race, I lost interest. Its hard to believe with this many Cup drivers that it won't be the same for Nationwide. I can always hope. Wouldn't it be more honest to have 2 Cup races per weekend. One Saturday and One Sunday (both shorter). Then you have a "farm" system that is really for developing drivers. You don't see F1 drivers in GP2 cars, or Indy drivers in the IndyLites the same weekend.
I tried, but I just can't handle pre-race shows anymore.. Doesn't matter what network they're on. Maybe it's because of the internet or social media, but I feel like I already know what I need to know before the races. Just like now ESPN is going to spotlight Trevor Bayne and rightly so, but I already know that he wond the 500 and that he can't believe and that he's happy as all get out about it. It's probably just me, but anymore, I'd be happy with a couple of storylines, an interview or two, and let's start racing.
JD, Yes I made a comment about bias on this blog against Rusty and Darrell. Thank you for demeaning what I said with a bit of a snarky opening. My larger point regards this bias which has been consistently shown in multiple posts. It is okay that you do not like Rusty or Darrell, but we all know who Rusty and Darrell are, and so does ESPN and FOX; they are abrasive personalities who bring strong opinions and passions to the coverage. To continually rehash your disapproval of their personalities over time does not help the blog as a forum for critiquing the television coverage.
Thank you
OK I was wrong ESPN showed the Daytona 500 and Trevor Bayne winning. I don't really consider Bayne a cup driver so that's ok.
Last night's race was good IMHO.
I hope this one is.
And, of course, KYBu will win and that pleases me.
But I'd keep an eye out for JenJo and DuckBoy.
Justin, you again try to put on me some sort of personal agenda where these two men are concerned. That ain't gonna fly.
They have both made their beds and are currently struggling to maintain a shred of dignity with fans.
Rusty lost his play by play job after one year and was moved to the infield. I supported the move and encouraged it until he started using it to leverage his own team and sponsors for TV exposure.
Waltrip is a story of staying too long and my recent post about his issues can be read by simply scrolling back a few pages. You will not find one personal reference or discouraging word.
These men are building their own TV legacies and it will be interesting to see how they handle this season.
JD
Brewer says that cornering is an asset at PIR. My goodness! Who Knew!?
@Justin
Golly. This is the best place to come for folks who really like racing and have to watch it on TV most of the time. I go to several per year, but I think JD does a great job
Rusty is definitely not on his game today. A number of his sentances made no sense. As with Jimmie Johson and Danica, the Networks are going to beat us over the head with Trevor interviews. I love Trevor, but give us a break! I guess by voicing my opinions, I'm exposing myself as having 'biases' and an 'agenda'. Me thinks not. I think I'm like most TDP'ers who love racing and call them like we see them--good and bad. I for one, am not interested in a bunch of in car shots at Pohenix. My opinion is that we need the wide shots for perspective.
Just a reminder, NASCAR.com does have free scanners today. Link is on front page right under the big picture. Have to sign-in but it's free.
It's no wonder Nationwide teams can get sponsorship. I do find it ironic that Roush is one of the teams having that sponsorship difficulty. Nascar has done a great job of destroying the series which is a shame.
Danica's scanner should be rather entertaining.
JD,
You need to keep a tally on how many times the nationwide pre-race show starts on time.
Great opportunity to listen to Danica for free and see how she is doing.
Are there any rules that pit reporters have to wear firesuits, or is that just the network putting them in a uniform?
The stands look so empty. What a shame. So much for Trevor drawing them in.
I like the way the booth is quiet for a time and you can just hear the cars.... for a change.
We have been writing and talking about the problem with NNS pre-race since 2007.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed.
The networks choose to have reporters in either firesuits or not. No NASCAR requirement since they do not come over the wall.
The same thing is happening this week with the scanner for me . . . the scanner will work fine during the cup races but it doesn't work for the nationwide - a microsoft error page pops up. I wonder if the scanner program they use for the nationwide races are just not mac compatible.
Lessee, um I got to keep a window for the Planet open. I got to keep Twitter open I got to kepp NASCAR. com window open for scanner. I got to keep a window for MRN on. I got to keep the TV on.
Jus askin, but didn't watching cars go in circles be easier to do?
Like, you, know as late as last year?
I don't understand why over the years Allen Bestwick has been shoved out of the booth. He would be a far better play by play announcer for ESPN than Marty Reid.
ink, you have to clear your cache and then reboot. It is a small program that should work just fine.
I've been pleased with the wide shots covering quite a bit of the field. They didn't waste much time getting into their tribute to Stephen Wallace. I thought I saw Danica actually pass someone!
The producer who left ESPN was the key reason Bestwick was kept in the studio. Many of us were quite surprised after Marty Reid's struggles and the ratings disaster that Bestwick was not put into the booth and Nicole Briscoe into the studio.
5 parked already, geez..why not just run 36 like the trucks.
ink, it's your Java cache you have to clear and then restart.
Bestwick does his best work in the booth. That would be the best move since moving Dr. Punch...
All Cup drivers at the front of the field. Yup, making a driver 'declare' a series has really helped, hasn't it?
Ok thanks JD I'll try that . . . otherwise I'll just have to lurk around on twitter for bits of audio.
Sort of off topic but I read a column today about the mission in Mexico that Bayne has been involved with. He became involved in that thru the McDowells. Michael McDowell and his wife (Jami?) are adopting a baby from Ethiopia. Strange that Nascar ignores things like that. (human interest stories)
Ancient...I agree! Something is drastically wrong when you have to use 4 hands and at least 2 pairs of ears just to be able to watch a race. It really shouldn't be this way.
Anon, ESPN dropped the ball. The story of this race is that for the first time there are two different groups racing.
One group is racing for the driver points and a championship and the other is now without points and just racing for owner points and sponsors.
It's the most historic change in the history of this series. Instead, we get more Bayne-mania.
That't the second time I couldn't hear the scanner chatter they played, is it just me?
Looks like I'm not the only one having scanner problems *ahem* espn
Imagine my surprise to tune into ESPN2 to watch commercials and I discovered there is a Natonwide race in progress
This is so stupid. Races like this why you can't grow a series. Also somebody needs to tell ESPN that you can't hear their radio talk they are trying to broadcast.
Bayne. Bieber. I'm with Ozzie on all of that as in "What's a Bieber?"
For those of you listening to the scanner, Danica is already getting PO'ed. Could be good if she gets fired up and starts actually racing.
Gee only 18 people on the lead lap, does anyone actually think there was debris?
You know that issue is going to pop up after the race with the media types.
You are not actually shilling for DP are you JD?
Last good word from KyBu scanner was, "Yeah, cruise control."
That's my boy.
Seriously, looking at the stands, does anyone really think that having the Cup drivers dominate these saturday races is doing anything good for the series? How great is it going to be if the driver 7th in points is the ceries 'champ'?
Only thing surprising about the phantom debris caution is that it didn't come a few laps earlier when Danica Patrick went a lap down. I guess they think they're being slick because she is now the first car a lap down and they were probably hoping for another caution on the restart.
Why would viewers tune in to see this? Busch builds a one second lead within the first lap and from there it's not much of a race.
All of you out there that find this in any way exciting, raise your hand.
JD ... Thank you for the info on the scanner availability!
@ Sally ~sitting on my hands~
IMHO, what TV should do is leave the lead and show the drivers racing for the NNS championship.
There is an entirely different race being run aside from the Cup guys and that should be explained.
It's the only way to creat another storyline that can be paid off at the end of the race.
@Sally
Not me. But I really liked the trucks last night. I do not believe Phoenix has the fans to support this race. I'd like this race to go to AMS where I am already missing the spring race. Which is gone, but was the one race I attended more than any other.
You'd think espn would realize that their in-car audio playback sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher the first time, but nope, they continue to make that same mistake. 3 times now. That new producer is really making a difference!
Listening to Danica is great. Last week, after Clint pushed her to the leade at Daytona and then wanted to switch, it was clear Tony Jr. had never explained it to her or had her practice that with her team mate.
She was ripping mad!
You have to wonder if the audio clips are being heard in the truck and then screwed up in transmission.
Why else would they keep trying? Well, it is ESPN!
So you ARE shilling for Danica, JD!
What they should do is have the cup drivers start in the back. At the local tracks when the "names" show up they get sh**y cars and can't beat the local heros. Putting them in the back might make N'wide more fun to watch for the up and coming. Invert the field even, good for the fans.
OK I've had enough off to do laundry, scanner is fun but not enough
No, I was amazed at the attitude the JRM guys had. It was like, just don't hit anything and finish.
She was not having it.
why is it that for the most part the truck series can get sponsorship for the trucks with only the cup drivers showing up every now and again but with the nationwide series it won't last unless there are cup drivers involved?
I can't believe how many cup guys are in this race. Really disappointing for the series I think. I can't really get excited about KyBu being in the lead.
Better yet, limit the Cup drivers to 10 races per year. Then it's special if they race. Or, put the Natiowide cars abck on mostly shorter tracks, far away from the Cup tracks! I find this absolutely ridiculous.
When you put a Cup guy in equipment is far better equipment this is what you get. At least Ryan Newman is running for a Nationwide owner.
Hey everyone, sorry I missed all of you last night -- had company for dinner and they seemed to think it was rude if I wanted to be on the computer, instead of talking to them.
AR-- I thought of you when I saw KyBu won last night!
Justin -- well, you're entitled to your opinion and those of us who disagree are entitled to ours. I'm just glad that JD has a site where we can talk about the various issues with the TV broadcasts INCLUDING the personalities in the booth and how they affect whether or not people enjoy the race on TV.
I skipped all the prerace stuff -- they simply don't say anything I feel I need to know and when it is said by cRusty and Brad, I don't care.
AR - I see KyBu is leading today which probably makes you a happy man again today! Although looking at the leaderboard and considering the number of commercials I've sat through already isn't making me want to watch a lot more of this race.
I see Bayne is in 7th, which is nice.
The Nationwide Series is still in DEEP trouble even more so than last year.
1. Short field
2. Terrible crowd & attendence
3. Cup drivers still running away - an extreme lack of competition.
4. Start & parkers a plenty
Does Kyle really get some sense of accomplishment out of this? Really?
Anon@6:30
There is a simpler solution. A AA AAA ball clubs do not play in the show. Move NNS to different tracks. Ya know The Toledo Mud Hens do not play at Yankee Stadium against the Tankees.
But the Mud Hens, and my fav minor league team the Rome, Ga Braves have their own venues and very loyal followings.
Works for baseball. Would work for cars
@AR...it did work for many years, didn't it?
Welcome home GinaV24. Hope y'all had a good time!
Tim Brewer: "When we say a tire is flat it really is only flat on the bottom. Back to you, Marty".
Ancient -- my cats don't seem to understand not walking on the keyboard either.
They really don't like the scanner!
Anon at 6:36 - good input on TB.
It only took 100 Laps but Petree finally talks about someone who will actually get points after this race.
JD - your right about Danica's scanner chatter. The spotter is pretty passive and they don't seem to be asking for her feedback.
Do you think the cc wants 4 tires?
thanks, AR -- nice to be here. listening to Danica's channel will serve no purpose since she's a couple of laps down, I switched to Bayne's.
I agree that having too many Cup drivers in this series doesn't make me that interested.
I love it when Andy says Danica is really doing quite well. Sure, a JR Motorsports car running 20th 2 laps down is doing quite well. I wonder if Junior was stinking out all the races like Kyle does, if people would ask if he was feeling any sense of satisfaction?
ESPN is in a panic to fix the team scanner audio. They cannot figure out why they hear it but viewers do not. Oh boy.
I wish they could fix the in-car video as well as they have the audio.
:-)
@anon6:42....I certainly would. Cup drivers running a race or two occasionally doesn't bother me. Or a Cup driver running for a REAL Nationwide team occasionally. I find the Cup driver/teams running full time in this day and age distasteful.
I am watching golf but reading these post (with Danica on the scanner) and if the cup guys are stinking up the race why not switch the broadcast to the Nationwide series championship guys and just show them.
Sure show the lead car here and there but show the regulars in NNS like JD is suggesting.
I tried using the all team scanner just to see what would happen -- full of static and i hate listening to static so I switched to individual
LOL, about the TB comment -- yep, tires are round and go on the bottom. A fine level of information that all fans need to have.
@Sally
Well put. Nothing in this world better than a lady expressing her dissatisfaction. Capper was how you ended it "distasteful"
Excellent
Anon @630 here....I *like* having the cup drivers. I go to richmond and dover for the n'wide races. I like to watch the qualifying and practice for cup, an. N'wide race and the watch the cup race at home the next day. I like having some cup driversm just not a blowout. Maybe they shouldn't let any cup drivers in the top 10 in points.
Charlie, JD mentioned that earlier in the posts and it would make a lot of sense to me. I don't really care what the Cup guys are doing when they are slumming in this series.
Tell me what the full time Nationwide drivers are doing!
Anon 6:42 and it wasn't that many years ago when that car that DP is driving WAS in contention every week. Now they seem happy to just make the $$
One set of tires for all of NNS practice? How does that help anybody. I understand containing cost and all of that, but Nascar makes some race weekend rules that I will never understand.
@AR...Why, thank you sir.
is there a chance of rain entering the picture? it was mentioned on twitter but haven't heard anything from announcers
Maybe it's time for 'Top Model' reruns.
When I first began attending Winston Cup races, the track crews would drag tractor and truck tires behind the wreckers and pickup trucks to dry the track whenever it rained. I suggest that Kyle Busch be required to drag a tire when he runs off to a large lead like this one.
Oh boy, pit reporter just said they'd be talking a lot about the drivers for turner motorsports -- which except for leffler are all cup drivers -- be still my heart.
Finally hearing some updates on the NW only racers but I think it's a little too late for me. I hate these cup drivers stinking up the show!
Terrible runaway race by a CUp driver - AGAIN.
Start playing taps for this once great series.
And.... a short field no less?
Action? Am I watching a different race than the announcer?
KyBu scanner:
"Whatcha want me tadu, put in in third?"
the action would be watching KyBu lap the field!
Kyle seems to have developed a little bit of a sense of humor on the scanner.
@GinaV, Turner Motorsports has Allgaier, Leffler and Sorensen and occassionally Ricky Carmichael driving in N'wide (they're not Cup drivers). For whatever reason, maybe because Ricky was in truck race last night, Newman was hired to drive the #30 today.
Trying to find a stream of the race since I'm away from a tv at the moment. Downright stupid that NASCAR.com has no streaming.
I don't think Danica Duno is going to make a stock car racer.
Here's an idea. I'd like to see some indication of which drivers aren't running for points in the series being covered. Maybe put an 'X' in front of their names in the scoring ticker, or display their names in a different color.
Just a suggestion.
NorCal, thanks for the clarification -- since they were talking about Newman, it confused me. And you can see the problem that the Nationwide series has the identity crisis since I didn't know who the regular drivers are.
I can root for Allgaier!
Streaming is all I watch. Cut off my TV a year ago, besides racing and football, I watch 3 other shows all week. Haven't missed a thing, and I save $60 a month, as well...
Wow! Danica's down 3 laps! How many millions did she make last year? I, for one, enjoy watching the Sprint drivers in Trucks and Nationwide. There are 6-8 Cup regulars in today's race. Let them go at it! I don't find it the least bit 'distasteful'. Now the whining and sniffling.....that could be a different matter!
Just like the Chase, there are two races taking place within this event.
ESPN has failed miserably to present the race for the NNC championship drivers and instead has just phoned it in by following the leader.
Darn, that's a shame for Bayne and of course, someone had to say "racing has a way to bring you down to earth".
Yeah, tire failures will do that. How many others had that happen today, too?
Front Row Joe Scanner:
"Goin good. We'll make our supper today!"
I DO love little teams
JD, ESPN is picking up exactly where they left off last season. No clue and makes it worthless to bother to tune in.
How many ads have we seen today about basketball?
Looks like the usual suspects parked. #41 will the the Ware Racing S&P this season. #24 Rensi will park until sponsorship arrives, #25 will be a season long S&P. #55 parking will help pay for the #89.
JD
Alice Cooper just said something about a concert he's doing for Rep. Giffords. Is that at the race tomorrow. I know Alice always has a spread from his restaurant there.
Just had a text exchange with a NNS sponsor type. Ripped that ESPN does not get it. Wonder what will happen because it cannot go on like this.
These guys are giddy talking about KyBu & Carl! Jeepers Creepers!
Sounds like Bayne's day is done. broken engine mount and an oil leak.
Darn, he had a pretty good race going. Stupid tires.
I don't know why more of the sponsors don't get up into Nascar and ESPN's face about the way they cover the series. It's just plain stupid.
AR - are you in Phoenix? I think Jonathan might be.
Kyle is just messing around.
I thought they HAD to have 43 cars for the TV contract, hence the reason for Start and Parks...what's the deal here?
@GinaV24
No. I was at Daytona. But am home now. Wou;d like to be there of course.
They just need double boxes and to keep telling the story of other teams. This is the problem for years now.
Not everyone is watching for KB and Carl.
ESPN's 'coverage of the NNS series is why the sponsors won't use the younger drivers. with a Cup driver they are guaranteed TV time.
Ancient -- I thought maybe you had followed the sun!
I wish I was there, too. NJ is dark and dreary and is going to continue to get rain for the next few days. If i'm going to get a run in looks like tomorrow afternoon is gonna be it.
Thanks for the tip on your high school. Be talking to them Monday with logs of your comments.
JD, that's really sad. Makes the future of the series very scary.
If Carl don't spin Kyle before the end of this race he don't have...
Yawn!
Terrible NNS race.
Guess my Saturdays will be spent elsewhere.
Whooped di do a cup driver wins. Nascar has really ruined this series!
And all the pretty gitls say:
"Kyle Busch wins!"
Cannot sat I blame them
Would you pay for a ticket to see a Nationwide Series race ?
I sure wouldn't.
Geez, other than talking to you guys on line, watching this race was a total waste.
Someone needs to tell Marty once you take the white flag, you win!
Another race, another Cuo bushwhacker megateam wins. What a surprise...
well that was a waste of a couple hours. ESPN is missing the boat again this year. Good luck giving the NW Series their own identity with this coverage. And by the way booth, if it has been done before (leading every lap)it is not making history.
Carl, did the guys back in the shop work really hard?
so if you put carl in kyle's car, does he dominate like kyle did?
An anti-climactic race made moreso by bad coverage.
JenJo 32 laps down. Bummmer.
Well, folks, there is always tomorrow!
Right now, there is steak and family time. See y'all!
Oh, and did I mention #18 won?
Can't wait till the weather breaks here in the midwest. Now way i'm going to continue wasting time on Saturdays watching this farse. I hope Ky. Busch is thrilled. Seems pointless to me.
Those two Cup guys (Kyle/Carl) put on a hell of a show! Andy/DJ twice seem to imply that Danica was down because of Kyle??? If Kyle wasn't in the Race, she wouldn't have been down three laps? That's what I dislike about "Booth Talk"--- no sense of reality.
Theme for tomorrow is going to be either Kyle going for the triple or Trevor's media blitz this past week.
I know RaceDay loaded up on Trevor!
I hope the cup guys are happy and proud today taking money away from the NW full time drivers.
No Reed Sorenson but we got Danica. They may as well just change the name to the "whoever we want to cover series". Nationwide is really happy with what is put on tv for their series?? I wonder if they will even mention who wins the NW championship in Miami?
have a good evening, folks!
probably won't watch the pre-race silliness tomorrow either although i've been enjoying the Bayne coverage.
I wonder how many times the fox booth will mention Kyle's going for the triple? Place your bets!
AR - congrats!
You got Sorenson, Allgaier, Stenhouse, Scott and K Wallace in top 11. Nothing.
Thanks, JD for the heads-up on Race Day. I'm sure that Kenny Wallace will be p'ing all over himself educating all the "Race Fans" about his bff Trevor! I'm not a fan of Carl Edwards,but he deserves a lot of credit for a clean finish. Carl was classy at the end.
Ho hum. That was a snorefest thanks to ESPN's coverage. I'm thinking it will be weird this year if the N'wide champion never visits victory lane.
Oh boy, only Reed Sorenson interviewed what about K. Wallace, B. Scott, Algaier c'mon ESPN.
So, ESPN leaves early and only interviews the points leader of the NNS regulars.
They go to the basketball studio five minutes early.
This is a freaking TV disaster.
I might be shutting down live chat and moving NNS to the DVR starting next week. Thinking about it.
Thanks for stopping by! Sorry it is such a mess.
JD
Kyle won again, led every friggin lap. He's becoming the antithesis of the gospel according to JJ, vis a vie the Nationwide/Trucks series. Not good. No way, no how.
Danica did OK, TBayne not so much. Boo hoo.
Go girls.
From your recent post JD.
"So, ESPN leaves early and only interviews the points leader of the NNS regulars.
They go to the basketball studio five minutes early.
This is a freaking TV disaster."
Why are you so surprised, JD.
ESPN has beeen the delivering the same crap to us week after week for 4 years now.
You got more patience with ESPeeN than i do.
I'm cannot and will not waste my time to a channel that promises quality but does not deliver.
So i will be keeping up with the races via this blog and may watch an occasional peek in but I AM DONE WITH NASCAR ON TV.
JD, does ESPN, Fox or TNT even look at their ratings after their races? I am sure they must.
If I was running ESPN, Fox or TNT and looked at pathetic ratings, I would be on a warpath.
sbtf
JD, mark me down as under "So glad I did not even attempt to watch this much less record it". Both race results that are practically a foregone conclusion and unbearable TV.
Trucks and N'wide are literally dying on the vine here with nobody capable or willing to do what is necessary to stop it.
sbtf,
Because NASCAR and ESPN had a high-level meeting last season and the entire point was how to make NASCAR TV more effective and connect with the fan base.
If these first two races are any indication, it's going to be a very long year.
Okay, I watched the race because I was home due to the rain. After watching this the only Nationwide I can imagine watching for the rest of the season are the road races. Those have been highly entertaining.
It may not be hyperbole to suggest that the qualifying was more exciting than the race. At least during the qualifying you got to see all of the cars at least once.
JD:
High-level meeting of who? Yes Men, professional liars representing each side, or some combination of the two? :p
JD,
I've read your blog for most of the 2010 season and now into 2011. I have been a dedicated NASCAR fan for 16 years of my short life, which in March has a 2 as the first digit.
I've enjoyed listening to Bob Jenkins and the Speedworld gang on YouTube, and watching this evening's walking disaster of a 200 lap race shows how deplorable Marty Reid's announcing was. Yes, Reid was given the job on 5 segmented years of previous NASCAR experience.
The thought that comes to mind for me for a blog post for you to cover, would be talking with Bob Jenkins and Ken Squier on their thoughts about the broadcast coverage today. I realize that may not be an easy task, but I think hearing both of their opinions would be really interesting.
Just my thoughts,
Roadgeek Adam
The broadcast was a joke, just like Brian France has turned the "big three" of NASCAR into. Its really simple, if your in the top 30 of Cup points you cant race in a lower NASCAR sanctioned series - period! Of course, the chances of this happening are about as high as NASCAR dropping that moronic Top 35 guaranteed starters rule - not high at all.
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