Friday, March 25, 2011

Friday From California On SPEED


There might be a pesky little college basketball tournament hanging around, but SPEED has 7.5 hours on tap from the Auto Club Speedway on Friday.

John Roberts gets things rolling with NASCAR Live at 2:30PM ET. Kyle Petty will be alongside Roberts with Hermie Sadler and Randy Pemberton doing the reporting. This show has been a solid addition to the SPEED line-up and sets-up the day for fans with news and interviews.

The Cup guys come out at 3PM and Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds will be there to greet them. Krista Voda and Dick Berggren are the reporters. It should be interesting to see how the rainy weather has treated the tricky track and what happens with cars at speed.

Next up is Nationwide Series practice at 4:30PM. Steve Byrnes is joined in the TV booth by Kyle Petty and Jeff Hammond. Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini are the reporters. There are certainly some very hot stories in the Nationwide Series and it should be interesting to see what goes on in practice and the garage.

The Sprint Cup Series gets a nice TV pop with qualifying at 7PM for the East Coast fans. Joy returns with Waltrip and McReynolds for this session. Matt Yocum and Voda are the reporters. This is a good opportunity to get some cars and driver faces in front of East Coast fans looking for something other than basketball.

A solid nightcap to the day on SPEED is up at 9PM with Trackside. Jimmie Johnson is the perfect guest for this venue. Byrnes hosts with Waltrip and McReynolds. It should be interesting to see Johnson as the solo guest for the full hour.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Friday coverage of NASCAR TV from SPEED at the Auto Club Speedway. To add your TV-related opinions or ask questions, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for stopping by.

52 comments:

OSBORNK said...

I don't think the 7 PM qualifying is anything special. It is competing against the NCAA games and it is almost meaningless. Everyone who participates in qualifying gets to race. I can only imagine what drivel Walrip and company will come up with to fill the airways.

KoHoSo said...

Welcome all Planeteers to the city where I now make my home, Fontana! It will be interesting to see how all of the broadcasters deal with the rain that will threaten the action on both Friday and Saturday. Y'all can come over to my house for a little shelter if you want. Just look for the guy wearing the "I kill gophers" t-shirt. >:-)

Anonymous said...

oops meant to say Happy RaceDay Weekend Planeteers <3

Hate when I realize my boo boo after I hit submit :)

AncientRacer said...

@Gymmie

Thank you, and just today the Oxford English Dictionary recognized the symbol <3 as a legit part of the English language. Ain't that cool? I think so, anyway. :D

Stick With the Biff said...

I like watching practice & qualifying. Just seeing where they all line up, and they usually update you on who has a paint scheme, they interview the drivers, etc. And not just the top ten, qualifying forces them to talk about everyone. I don't sit there glued to the TV, but I have it on.

Not everyone watches or even cares about basketball, believe it or not.

Anonymous said...

That's funny Ancient LOL! It should be :)

True Osbornk I don't know how many are into the NCAA so not sure how it would affect viewership. Have no idea what else is on Friday nights I haven't found anything worth watching. And I know networks often adjust their shows to air reruns during things like this.

Last night was the first night I watched because my friend had it on. I signed up for Billy's (Happy's Spotter) Fantasy Tourney thing where I'm in the basement on but it's fun but that's all my involvement. Sometimes I'll watch the final game but not into it.

Looking forward to no drama just racin' this weekend :)

Jonathan said...

CALIFORNIA LOVEEEE!!!!! Time to get this race weekend started :P

looks like everything is delayed but thats ok I dont mind

Have fun everyone

GinaV24 said...

Happy Friday, Planeteers! Well, I always enjoy the chance to see qualifying when its on in the evening. Usually it's on when I'm at work and I don't follow basketball, so I'll be watching - even if I have to use the mute button, I can see the cars on the track.

I'll skip trackside -- I try to never have to look or listen to Jimmie Johnson unless I can avoid it. (personal bias, I know)

sounds like it may be rainy/snowy here in NJ on Sunday which means I may watch at least part of the race. I thought it was funny last week when one of the anons commented that he/she wondered how we'd review the race when we said we weren't going to watch.

GinaV24 said...

Ancient - I have an OT question for you -- oh master of all things cat -- how do I persuade the kittens to NOT chew the edge of the curtains?

Charlie said...

I wonder if Nascar could handle this sport if it were big time and thousand of fans were waiting in line for tickets and the Tv ratings were sky high.

Last week the timing and scoring was down. This week we have weepers. Water on the track. Fontana should have fixed this problem years ago.

To make this sport better we need people in Nascar that care and have pride in this sport.

Anonymous said...

whats NCAA basketball?

Anonymous said...

Far off coverage on KB wreck!!

Anonymous said...

Why does DW try and make things worse with calling the track a JOINT and poor Larry mac unable to pronounce the month of July, JEW LIE.If NASCAR wants to be on par with the NFL and other major sports, these type of things need to be addressed.

Vicky D said...

I could barely tell that was a race car crashing in the replay of KyB's wreck! They were so far off. They'll make up for that during the race with a lot of closeups! LOL

Anonymous said...

What's amazing is that the Truck absolutely refused to focus on that 'weeper' that caused Kyle to wreck. You could see it as they followed cars going through that turn. Looked like a three foot wide swath of wet pavement. I'm not going to dwell on the guys in the booth, but they are all tiring, repeating the same giberish every week. I'd appreciate just silence unless something relevant occurs out on the track. I don't want to hear that Chase Elliot is a Hendrick development driver or Jeff Burton's kid is driving something. Now I promise I'll stop b*****g about the guys in the booth! Lol!

Rainy2228 said...

Oh my..they keep telling of Wild Thing crashing a cup car in practice and rolling out a backup but do they have video of that??...Guess they would much rather have Waldrip natter on about things he THINKS he knows of....(Nattering Naybob of Negativism)....lmao

Palmetto said...

Gina, chili powder does a pretty good job. A small spray bottle of water can be discouraging (and fun, too).

GinaV24 said...

thanks, Palmetto, I will try the chili powder and water bottle methods of discouragment! I had no idea that my curtains would be so tasty for the kitties.

GinaV24 said...

so I'm guessing that Cup qualifying is delayed? Nationwide practice is still on Speed but they haven't updated any info (or at least not when I was watching)

guess I'll go make dinner!

Anonymous said...

Yes I was thinking the same thing Vicky on Kyle's wreck

Stick With the Biff said...

will someone please tweet Kyle that Buck Owens LIVED in Bakersfield, he just wasn't born there, lol. Took me like 2 seconds to wiki it.

Daly Planet Editor said...

What a very weird day in Cali!

Daly Planet Editor said...

This from Bob Pockrass at the track:

Sprint Cup practice will go until 2:30 p.m. PT (5:30 p.m. ET). Nationwide practice 2:40-5 p.m. (5:40-8). Cup qualifying 5:10 (8:10 p.m. ET

Daly Planet Editor said...

Qualifying next at 8PM ET and tonight Trackside with Jimmie Johnson is at 11PM ET.

larry said...

I'm not going to waste my time watching TV. I'll get my updates on twitter and email followups to this blog. Sorry DW.

Anonymous said...

Prediction: Weepers will wreck havoc on the race. It's been POURING in SoCal, and the track is going to have problems.

Besides, who cares? Fontana is the worst track on the entire circuit (by a longshot) and I challenge anyone to name one that provides worse racing, with smaller crowds, more outdated facilities, in a geographic dead zone, in more uncomfortable climate. For the love of all things NASCAR, they need to put Fontana out of its misery.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Larry, you must obey DW or get called all kinds of names! Trust me on that one!

Daly Planet Editor said...

One word: POCONO!

GinaV24 said...

JD, I 2nd that motion! POCONO! I went once (bought my tickets) got offered FREE tickets to go again -- No, no, a thousand times, no!

GinaV24 said...

so far everytime I have been back to look at qualifying Speed has been in commercial.

larry said...

Gina...i keep forgetting to switch back to Speed...darn... ;-)

Daly Planet Editor said...

DW's new saying this year seems to be "elbows up."

larry said...

go Joey...thanks, twitter...

larry said...

IF I watch the race on DVR, I mute it. I guess I'll never hear DW's newest cliche...

GinaV24 said...

Larry, LOL, not that you are missing much. think I'm going to watch Fringe. Based on the on line qualifying, my guy is starting in the back anyway, so I no longer give a hoot who gets the pole.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Juan on pole, Trackside shortly.

Anonymous said...

just saying...every time I turn over to CBS to check the game, they're in a commercial.

GinaV24 said...

Anon, so it's the same with ALL channels/sports/programs. I know when I FF'd through programs, it takes 40 minutes to watch a show, rather than the 50 minutes it used to be.

Anonymous said...

Gina, my point is more that the commercial breaks are at the same time. So those complaining that the racing was always in commercial would have found the same in reverse. Probably has a reason, I just don't know what.

Daly Planet Editor said...

That you Pete?

AncientRacer said...

GinaV24

Go to your Yahoo Mail. My best answer is there

anon 9:40 said...

if you're asking me, JD, the answer is no.

Really. That's just what happened, I was wondering about the NC game (where they were creaming Marquette, yea!.) CBS was in ads, at least three times. I think it must be something about when the networks want to take commercial breaks. Not saying I love ads. Just that it doesn't seem worse on racing.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Just kiddin around!

One thing is for sure, the online world has made commercials on TV the biggest problem for some sports telecasts.

NASCAR and golf are the two worst right now, no way to stop the clock. Even the sports that do not miss any action now seem to stop the flow of the game for TV breaks.

JD

anon 9:40 said...

No question that I don't understand why NASCAR is so insistent about not allowing side by side. Crazy stuff. But I've always found the timing thing funny. Even on regular shows.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Pretty hard to arrange that with three TV networks that do not like each other, talk to each other or cooperate with each other!

Going to take a big change to get that off the ground for 2012.

Jonathan said...

A big change that WILL NEVER HAPPEN :)

anon 9:40 said...

I'm not holding my breath. If we had one network for all....maybe.

I was watching when Mike Massaro was on the helicopter pad outside. It was ugly. Multiple networks have just made it so complicated.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to add that Steve Byrnes, Kyle Petty & Jeff Hammond were great in the booth. Byrnes was taking questions from Twitter, Hammond & Petty took turns answering.

Bob & Wendy were great in the garage. When Kyle or Jeff wanted more information, Bob & Wendy had all the answers. That is reporting at its best.

Mule said...

Anybody notice DW apologizing to Mike Joy when he butted in on Joy calling the qualifying when one of the Cup drivers almost slapped the wall??

Anonymous said...

Alan : it's all been said before ..
He just seems to be on edge .. oh
never mind nothing will change. At
least Jabber Jarret is gone and
we dont need marty reed ..gone.
Happy to see that RW didnt have a
big expense sheet after the race
as in hs kid didnt destroy the car.

earl the pearl said...

To the person who complained about
DW - calling The California
Speedway ... A """ jOINT """"
How much more info do we need
about the person -- to figure out
that he or she....

DOESNT KNOW A THING ABOUT NASCAR ??

Anonymous said...

At one time we really enjoyed all the pre race shows for the Sprint cup series but not anymore. Every one of them is polluted with mighty mouth Waltrips silliness.Thank the Lord for the Nationwide series and TNT and ESPN.
Saturdays Nationwide race was just great with Bestwick and company.