It's a very different weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Other than Marty Smith and Shannon Spake on-site for NASCAR Now, there is no ESPN presence at the track. SPEED handled the Nationwide Series race Friday night and FOX will produce the Sprint Cup Series race tonight.
Darrell Waltrip is a busy man. He is clearly the personality that both SPEED and FOX want on as many NASCAR shows as possible. This has pushed Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds toward the back burner.
Waltrip once again will be the star as he kicks-off the pre-race show with Chris Myers and Hammond from the outdoor infield stage. Hammond and Myers then move inside the Hollywood Hotel for the rest of the event.
Waltrip heads upstairs for the race telecast with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. Richmond needs the excitement that we used to see from Joy, not the current level of information being offered between Waltrip outbursts of emotion. Friday night, SPEED's Rick Allen kept a tight leash on Waltrip for the truck series race and it worked out quite well.
There are lots of stories tonight including Denny Hamlin racing at his home track and Kyle Busch continuing to grow-up before our eyes. The reality is that the stage is set for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to continue his resurgence at a track where he has a history of success. An Earnhardt win would a huge shot in the arm for the sport.
FOX has choices tonight on how to present the race. Last night, SPEED used wideshots to show groups of cars racing and keep the TV viewers in the loop of who was where and how they got there. This season FOX has been enamored of in-car cameras and "hyper-tight" coverage. On a short track, it could be a disaster.
Tonight will also shine the spotlight on the pit reporters. Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda, Matt Yocum and Dick Berggren are the best in the business. FOX has allowed them to fade as the race telecast rolls on and Waltrip takes over. With all the different fuel and tire strategies we will see tonight, it will be important to make all four pit reporters an integral part of the telecast.
Richmond under the lights is exactly what NASCAR needs to shake the "lovebug" racing out of the minds of the fans. The Nationwide race featured two-wide racing and fantastic restarts. While the Cup drivers are concerned about tire wear, the story of the race may be fuel if long green flag runs are the order of the day.
This post will serve to host your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Richmond, VA. 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. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
312 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 312 of 312@slander...that carefully groomed scruff isn't enough to twirl. :0
Park him? What happened to BOYS HAVE AT IT ?
Maybe they're confusing the yellow line rule with the restart rule. Nascar, that is.
@RWar24:
Durrl has BZF's cellphone #?
Geez. What was the #48 doing? He was a lap down and he was WAY below the yellow line going under Logano. Joey's season has been just AWFUL! I noticed the guys in the booth refused to place blame. Lets see if they go back and comment. This has not been a good night for them. The pit reporters must either have the night off or are at the bar!
That reminds me - I need to trim mine. I know it's getting long when I have to suck the beer out of my 'stache when I take a drink.
I wonder how frustrating it is for the pit reporters to bust butt getting the stories, knowing they won't see the light of day.
Love the Bowman Gray reference. ;)
The replays for FOX are just like the ticker. A TV crutch that allows for the continued bad "hyper-tight" coverage.
What is Mike Joy watching??
Er... did Father-of-the-Year just switch lanes before the S/F line?
Sally, I could not agree with you more. Once DW gets rolling, the pit reporters just go away.
Best in the biz and sitting on their hands.
@Slander, I was thinking the same about the 17. Looked like he was still cleaning the tires.
Yeah, it was pretty obvious on that restart that it was actually Edwards who made contact with Reutimann.
And RootBeer's front bumper, as well.
Got to laugh, Bowman Grey had largest car count and crowd for an opening night tonight. They are all DVD'ing the race and watching real racing live.
"Best in the biz and sitting on their hands" -- exactly JD. The more I watch, the more I'm convinced that it is because Mike Joy has either given up or been told to give up the lead role to DW. This broadcast is badly in need of a traffic cop who understands a race broadcast. DW isn't him. Mike Joy is. Alan Bestwick was before he was banned from the booth by the other network.
I am not enjoying "The Darrell Waltrip Variety Show starring Darrell Waltrip with a cameo by the Sprint Cup Series" as well as I should. I think the fifteen hour drive to Winston-Salem would have been well worth the trouble this weekend. Oh, well. Expect more of the same next week at Darlington. Pass is at South Boston and CRA is in Anderson. Hmmm. Both sound better than NASCARonFOX and the AKfest. I am opening a bottle of wine and will step out on the back deck until the post-race twelve-rounder. I'll wager that JPM will hold his own against Noneck Newman:-)
A missed green flag. What a topper to a horrible night of coverage.
Whoops!
If all the networks would show the replay and get to the commercial, then they could babble when they get back until the restart.
Stop pontificating and get to the commercial. Just like wide shots, it's lost on these TV people.
And then we miss a pass because we are showing a non-issue bump.
Geez.
And the wheels keep falling off...
DW says "If I was watching this race...."
If this race telecast was in your resume and you were proud of it, would you get hired.
That's two for Digger tonight!
They just did it again! They made a big deal of the #18 bumping Bowyer from behind. Then they show Gordon ahead of Bowyer. They said nothing that the #18 was AHEAD of Gordon and Bowyer! Unbelievable! Kyle blows by two cars at the front of the pack and no comment. These guys needs glasses.
Wow. Since I'm watching on DirecTV's driver channel, I could see Kesolowski spin right in front of Johnson's car while amazingly the Fox coverage was showing a promo with Chris Myers talking...so they were live and STILL missed a spin/caution and didn't get to the replay of it until 30 seconds later.
Talk about a MAJOR fail.
@Charlie:
Heh - I'd use it as the other guy's résumé. I'd get hired for sure.
You just see all that racing going on behind the leaders.
Come on Joy - like Brad K has any idea what he is doing...
JD, this is so mundane. For once I totally agree with you about Rick Allen. Hr tocks. Fox needs to shake it up and wake it up for 2012 and put him in the Booth with Larry and ?.
When they were showing the lead cars if you looked at the top part of the screen you could just see some good racing.
At least the booth still has some energy - usually by this time on night races they are half asleep.
I wish I had kept count of the number of times the phrase "Short Track Saturday Night" has been uttered.
I think Mike still has it, just does not or cannot use it.
DW is the show this season. Has a little big to do with the Hall of Fame deal I guess.
Rick Allen, Larry McReynolds, and Ken Schrader in the booth.
Mike did the Hamlin charity race on Thursday night and was great with Kenny and Kenny.
Has Carl Edwards just been biding his time? I got another look at the right rear quarter panel of the #22. No doubt in my mind that he never touched the wall that resulted in that caution earlier. Another bad night for the #2 car. The little publicity Miller Lite is getting appears to be negative. Maybe the mics in the booth will go dead?????
I'm getting the feeling the race takes on a different complexion now.
Mike was great Thursday night. He would pause just at the right times to let the other Kenny's go then step in if needed.
Wish they would give the fighting deal a rest and just cover the daggone racing.
How did they not wreck going three wide? Spoke too soon. Big Wreck at Richmond.
Now FOX is happy.
Larry with the "meat in the sandwich" reference.
Now wouldn't it have been nice if they would of just kept the blimp shot more then a half of a lap and back to a roof cam before the 1st lap was done.
Looks like Bowyer was the biggest contributer to that mess!
Where the hell is safer barrier? Jeff explained it perfectly. He keeps hitting non-SAFER barrier walls. Pocono is finally doing something about it, but all walls should be SAFER Barrier unless something happens.
@Anonymous 10:10
You spelled "Kenseth" wrong.
Ragan running good tonight go David!!!! Go JR!!!! WOOOOO
The story now has to be following the different pit strategies and how they're going to play out.
Now it gets even tough to cover. Lots of different storylines.
What's a fuel run here? Can they go 92 laps?
90 - 105
Love that AT&T ad in the Sprint Cup Series telecast.
Thanks Adam.
I say 105 as a pushing it. However, since they said 103 is right on the border, it makes sense.
FOX better interview Montoya and Newman after the race.
"battle scarred" "soldiering on" GIMME A BREAK
So there not allowed to say a sponsors name, like they just did on the #43.
AHHHHHHH the crew chief swap crap AGAIN !
Charlie, welcome to NASCAR! Tangled web of sponsorship.
Kurt Busch is trending on twitter right now.
here we go again! crew chief stories. blah, blah, blah.
DW cannot let this "Denny and a crew chief change" stuff alone. Mike and Larry are playing it down as what it is - a rumor. But DW keeps it alive. He's a moron, sometimes.
That is a new NAPA Commercial there. Never seen it before.
Sometimes?
Terrible crowd for the Richmond track - tons of empty seats.
Ha Ha you got to be kidding me - Ride Shotgun. That sure made me want to buy a phone.
Did someone say they had a flat? Sounded like Jr. or something during that ride along shotgun thing FOX does.
Over/Under on the debris caution?
30 laps?
Did Joy sigh after saying "coming up on 50 to go?" I must be hearing things.
FOX in Des Moines finally coming in beautifully with no problems over-the-air, still nothing on DISH.
I just love those NAPA commercials. It's so exciting to see a new one tonight!
@Anonymous: But at least they didn't have to cover any sections of seats.
Is it just me or is there ALOT of green flag racing tonight at Richmond? Don't we normally see a lot of cautions here?
Chad Knaus said on RaceDay the key to this race was that cautions are declining in number this season.
He was right!
Count on a late caution. BZF will drunk-dial the flag stand...
Look - a hot dog wrapper in turn 2 - PUT IT OUT
Let us all take a moment and have our thoughts directed at all of our NASCAR friends that cannot watch or listen to the race tonight in Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and all the great Southern States that have been devastated by the Tornadoes and lost their homes, their love ones and their way of life. God Bless.
Hey Mike Joy, Kyle Busch won here from the pole last year
BleacherCreature: and the crowd said "AMEN!"
have re-joined the broadcast. let's see if i can last the final 25 laps.
man I dont want kyle to win tonight grrrrrrrrr
Thanks all for the pause and the thoughts. Amen
Is their anyone here that was affected?
I know David Ragan is always the 800lb gorilla in the room - but it's great to see him running so well they have to mention him.
They'll talk about Truex, but they won't correct their statement about the broken stud. Since he was only in the pit for a few seconds, it was obviously a lug nut and not a stud that was the problem. WE AREN'T STUPID.
wow did all the fans leave or what????
15 Laps to go.
was no broken stud fools - they threw a lugnut on - get it right
Mind numb... must... hold... on...
I dont get it soooo packed at the start and now it looks half full I do not get it why come if your going to stay for the end? Its like going to a movie and leaving before the finish ????? WHY GO
NNS race Larry? Do you mean the Nationwide Series? The series that ESPN can't move around something in their schedule to cover since they are the exclusive home of the Nationwide Series?
The series that SPEED really showed a great broadcast with last night?
Really...why do they think it's good to show the leader WAY out front? Is there nothing else happening on the track? Can't the pit reporters find something interesting to talk about?
Mayve most of the crowd doesn't care whether Kyle or Denny win...again.
Jonathan...have you ever sat in post race traffic? Just wondering. At Richmond it'll take you at least 15 minutes just to get to your car. For some, it's just not worth it. Spoken as someone who has driven on I-95 with a bunch of drunks at 80 mph...if you see 80% it's worth it.
You notice how many cars are going sideways coming out of a turn and you can just catch it on the screen and they never talk about it.
All the speculation and expert analysis and nobody ran out of fuel.
Well, hat's 3 1/2 hours I'll never get back. And they show the top 2 finishers on the drop down? ridiculous.
Montoya ??
Newman ??
What is that word? Anti-climactic? Did I spell that right?
I think they are saluting Kyle Busch-Mike Joy.
Yes Mike. I think they are saluting him, but I don't think they are saying that he is number one.........if you get my drift.
Montoya hauled a** through the tunnel
Juan-Pablo Busch?
that was the most unenergetic race call i've heard in many a day. and what ever happened to the pit reporters? why is their talent being wasted by fox? so sad.
thankfully, i'll be with race fans at a party next weekend so we'll at least have fun mocking drivers.
Montoya = Chicken (or pollo, if you prefer)
That was a dis-jointed finish. They didn't know whether to show the cars cross the line, or show Kyle Busch's in-car, to showing Montoya going down pit road. They were all over the place.
Before you head out, please leave us a comment on the TV Police post that is up on the main page.
Thanks as always to all of you for taking the time to chat with us!
JD:
Well, I guess the booth monkeys' excitement over Kryle is climactic enough... if you know what I mean.
Boy was that a classy move on the part of JPM. The little guy rushes off in a golf cart rather than man up and talk to Ryan Newman. No surprise. Great finishes for Kahne and the #6 car! The #4 car has had a disasterous season.
Thanks JD,for all you do!
The finish was like two people playing tug of war with a switch that changes cameras from the pack crossing the line and the in car. They could not decide. Good work Planeteers!
I'm becoming more and more convinced Kyle is the Fox booth's favorite driver. He could restart 25th and Mike Joy will say "Here comes Kyle!"
You just figured that out? Heck, he's been doing that from the get-go.
Going to move comments up to the TV Police race wrap-up post.
Thanks again everyone!
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