Saturday, May 7, 2011

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Darlington (FOX - 7PM ET)


There are only four races left in the NASCAR on FOX television package for this season. After the next race in Dover, FOX takes a break for the All-Star race.

Darlington is a grind. Drivers tend to race the track and pass carefully. Now aero-sensitive as well, the old bump and run style is long gone from this historic track. Inches from the wall, drivers settle into a rhythm between stops for tires and fuel.

As television viewers discovered from the ESPN2 coverage of the Friday night Nationwide Series race, perspective is everything. Unless there is the ability to see cars in relationship to one another, Darlington race coverage can quickly look like practice.

This racing is different. Drivers pray through the corners, try to get a run down the straight and then get the pass completed before the entry of the next corner. He who is on the lowside heading into the turn normally wins.

This season FOX has chosen hype and drama as the theme of the coverage. While Darrell Waltrip rambles on from the TV booth, the director shows pictures of one or perhaps two cars shot as tightly as possible. Then, the coverage hops to another car and Waltrip begins to talk again.

This week, Waltrip will once again be with Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond on the pre-race stage to begin the coverage. This outdoor show has served to allow Waltrip to dominate the conversation from start to finish. His "Revved Up" segment allows him to tell adult fans what to think. He actually expresses anger with those who have opinions other than his.

Hammond is so far in the backseat this season he might as well mail it in. Rarely heard from once the racing begins, Hammond is not featured at the cutaway car, does not get questions from Mike Joy in the booth and is basically MIA after the green flag.

Larry McReynolds has been working on TV for a long time and this season has brought some very interesting twists. With his NASCAR Performance show now recorded during the week, his removal from the popular Trackside series and the ending of his signature "Reach up and pull those belts tight" phrase, you have to wonder what his future holds with FOX and SPEED.

Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum, Krista Voda and Dick Berggren should have an interesting night. Darlington mandates four tires with a fuel stop and this season has seen few caution flags. If the race strings-out to single file running, there might not be a whole lot to talk about from pit road.

Expect the Ryan Newman and Juan Montoya story to pop-up in the pre-race show. One item to look for is how FOX handles the denial by JD Gibbs of the item reported by Waltrip last week. That was the apparently fake story about a pending crew chief swap between the 20 and 11 teams.

The sun will go down about 20 minutes after the race starts, so there should be a nice transition to pictures under the lights. At this track, low-angle speed shots and aerial views can serve to relay the perspective of the actual speed of the cars. That is a challenge as the mid-race portion of the event starts to drag.

Tonight has all the parts to be an outstanding event on the track and on TV. With Dover pending, a strong performance tonight in primetime would be a good way to get sports viewers back to NASCAR and focused on the stories of the season.

This post will serve to host your TV-related comments on the FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Darlington, SC. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

367 comments:

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Anonymous said...

Speed will be NASCAR TV. JD. That is also a rumor.
Fox kept DW on for that very reason to help secure him for the change over to Speed/Nascar

Anonymous said...

Hey I was # 201. I thought for a moment I was talking to myself like DW does.

Daly Planet Editor said...

You think they lock the booth windows to keep Joy from jumping?

Anonymous said...

Or shoving DW out....

Anonymous said...

Or to keep the producers out.

Charlie said...

Why show the pit stop windows on single cars if they don't let you follow the whole pit stop.

Anonymous said...

and the fans

Daly Planet Editor said...

From Twitter: I think it was sweet of Jimmie Johnson to let his mother drive tonight.

Anonymous said...

Good shots of JJ BIG wreck! BIG Wreck. LOL

Anonymous said...

"There are more than 200 professionals" bringing this race to us... Really????
Cathy

Anonymous said...

Took forever for the producer to change shots.

Anonymous said...

Did everyone hear what he said?
200 professionals on board to bring you this Broadcast.
Plus
Barry

That still leaves it at 200 Professionals.

Sally said...

No replays of Kurt B's radio tonight, eh?

Anonymous said...

Fox pays Darrell Waltrip for THIS? He is not so much providing analysis as he is keeping his boothmates from doing their jobs.

Anonymous said...

"What's goin' on here?" - Mike Joy

Good question Mike, we couldn't see either.

Sally said...

Holy cow! Vicker's car is toast! Can't wait to see the replay.

Charlie said...

They had the right camera shot as it was first starting and all they had to do was zoom out but they instantly changed to another camera.

Anonymous said...

@Cathy - they did not 200 professionals in what field. They could be 200 professional Clowns from the circus for all we know. Yup that explains it....

Rambo M. said...

"What is going on here?!" TRUER WORDS NEVER SPOKEN!

Good trick on Wreck'em Ragan's part, though, lol

Sally said...

At least we know where the debris is from!

Daly Planet Editor said...

They cut cameras instead of going wide.

We missed the entire thing live.

How does this just keep going on week after week for years?

We see everything on replay.

Sally said...

Jr is up to 7th now? Wow. Wish I knew how he got there.

Anonymous said...

Asleep at the switch.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Sally,

When Jr was in 10th they missed him. Those guys have been working it all night long.

FOX is out to lunch. My email is full.

Anonymous said...

@Jojay - thank you for the explanation - professional clowns makes more sense.

Sort of off topic - does FOX's "Animation Domination" weekend start with NASCAR? Stupid gopher needs to go away. Unreal.
Cathy

Rambo M. said...

So then, their procedure in The Truck when anything happpens is unvieled: button mash, hope the right angle is found eventually.

Anonymous said...

How does this happen week in and week out? It is an inside joke with all the employees -they'll never be fired because no one at the Head Office knows what SHOULD be happening on raceday.

Anonymous said...

That was wild with Brian's car! Don't think I've ever seen something like that :(

Anonymous said...

I'm telling you. The folks in the truck despise this sport. There may be 2 out of the 200 that have a passion for it.
The rest only care who wins when it is there driver winning in the compound pool.

Anonymous said...

What is DW talking about?

Anonymous said...

The cars are fragile.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Bush, my dad is 80. I recognize that from DW. First true tangent of the evening.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me the only thing the booth guys are keeping their eye on is the #18 car.

Anonymous said...

Sally--what's going on on the track is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. They only tell us what they deem to be our business.

Buschseries--nobody knows :(

Roland said...

Yall gotta try listening to the radio broadcast. MRN knocking it out of the park tonight. They have made this race fun and enjoyable.

Rambo M. said...

Gymmie:
I bet that's a really fun one to explain to the sponsors!

Sally said...

Between the extensive coverage they give him during the races, and all the times KyBu is interviewed as a guest on air, M&M is making a fortune in free advertising!

Anonymous said...

Please folks and I am serious. DW may be challenged a little and there are some signs. Let's be gentle and respect him for his age.

Sally said...

I'm at least as old as DW and I can do a lot better than he is doing tonight!

Anonymous said...

Jeff Cut away spot was awful. It explained nothing. He should have done a sheet metal explanation of how thing it is.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Hammond has to be kicking himself for that one.

Anon, 64 is old? That might get the attention of some folks.

Anonymous said...

thin sheet metal

Charlie said...

Is there any stat that shows how many people tune in at the start and how many are watching at the end.
Be interesting to see this one.

Sally said...

@Charlie...I think most of the stats I've seen have shown that viewing peaks during the last 50 laps of the race.

Anonymous said...

Let's face it JD. I do respect DW a bunch. BUT---
They have all lost it.
Lost the zip
Lost the drive
Losing their luster
We agree to disagree?

Anonymous said...

@Charlie - no stat for people who have fallen asleep, I bet. There's a reason we call it "NAPCAR" in my house....

Rambo M. said...

Where was that whistleblower who was on here a few weeks ago? Claimed it was a new egomaniac producer micromanaging everything that was the problem, or something?

Anonymous said...

Was it his comments that set off Fox and cause them to threaten the crew if they even looked at this Blog?

Anonymous said...

Rambo--LOL! Yes yes it would be :(

Anonymous said...

These guys sound dead as they move through the field until they get to Kyle Busch. It's pathetic.

Daly Planet Editor said...

No, we agree. I feel so bad for Mike Joy but they have been out of gas since the event after Daytona.

Those TV guys are here, read the comments. Just don't tell!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Rambo, he is not very new. Just like a talented pit crew that is in trouble, they just need some change.

Charlie said...

The whole Fox crew is just going through the motions.

Anonymous said...

They are also afraid to speak to David Hill about ANYTHING.

Sally said...

Junior up to 5th.

Anonymous said...

You cannot imagine the cussing, yelling, threats and slander on the TV headsets. I've heard it so many times I don't want to put a head set on.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Hill has SPEED to fix, new prez of Fox Sports has a little learning curve.

Anonymous said...

Now these guys will liven up some. This is the caution that gives the #18 a chance to make a comeback.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Lots of danger in the pits.

glenc1 said...

watching tonight from a friend's...can't stay, but this has just been awful. Only way I knew where Jamie is that he has been top 10. Missing MRN & my PC.

Charlie said...

You could see the casey mears car smoking on the right part of the screen on that restart but they went to a tight shot of the leader instead.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Glen, name another pro sport you can watch on TV and not know where the participants are in a multi-hour live telecast?

Anonymous said...

David does not have the ability to fix either one of the networks.
He has proved that to us all.
Need I remind you about Digger?
That was about the most brilliant idea since "New" COKE. LOL

Anonymous said...

I still can see pretty good but really, showing an incident from the blimp 18 billion feet in the air :(

Anonymous said...

Green flag for this race needs to be 7 pm. This is a long race.

Anonymous said...

Green flag for this race needs to be 1PM on labor day weekend.

Anonymous said...

We are racefans. We like long races. Means we can drink more beer.

Rambo M. said...

Nice chop block, Shrub. Bets on whether or not they'll bother to penalize...much less warn him?

Anonymous said...

@Buschseries - Amen on Labor Day 1pm start

Anonymous said...

Did FOX ever report on Robby Gordon? This DNF puts him dangerously close to 35th.

Sally said...

@RamboM...I thought the same thing. when JPM does it, it's dirty racing. when Kyle does it, it's brilliant driving? But, no cheerleading here, right?

Daly Planet Editor said...

Never mentioned him. Wonder what is going on with his new sponsor?

Anonymous said...

Yeah - and DW talks about how mature Kyle is right after they show a blatant chop block down on Regan Smith.

I can't believe there are still 63 laps left.

I still have no idea where my driver is - the ticker is so slow they keep stopping it to show another replay or advertisement.

DewCrew88 said...

No mention of Brad K running 12th or Regan smith running 11th

unreal

Anonymous said...

Is there a Digger cam here?
I have not seen Digger all night.
Have you?

Anonymous said...

I like the excuse DW gave for why Kyle smacked the wall. Not because Kyle did anything wrong, but...."it was the air off the car in front of him"

Anonymous said...

how many of you have ever been in a tv truck?

Anonymous said...

DVR is on, this is awful & I'm tired.
Good luck all -& good night.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 11:04 - I thought the same thing! The air upsetting the car, give me a break. The man was driving over his head.

Anonymous said...

I have been in a TV Truck.
Please don't fire me Barry.
whoooooo

Charlie said...

It takes 4 laps for the ticker to go from 1st place car to the last place.

Sally said...

We all know that kyle is the most brilliant driver to ever take to the track...according to DW, that is. After all, he's the only driver whose every win is counted as a total, unlike every other driver.

Sally said...

Can't be;ieve Jr.s luck. Rats!

OSBORNK said...

Sally- Luck had nothing to do with Jr's problem.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:07, don't try to blame this hot mess of a tv show on us!

Anonymous said...

Couldn't see it from the incar and couldn't see it on the replay. TOO TIGHT! C'mon!

Anonymous said...

They caught a lead change live! I'm impressed.

Charlie said...

Darn, eh. The pass for the lead was getting in the way of the commercial break.

Daly Planet Editor said...

And the screams of NASCAR fans echoed across the land!

Daly Planet Editor said...

Family-friendly here, easy on the profanity. No matter how richly deserved it is!!

oldnewenglander said...

That pass for the lead was the best advertisement Aflac could ever have.

Anonymous said...

That was painful.
Music came up for break and a lead change help it up long enough to mess it up in the end. Mike barely had a sec to take it out. Brilliant truck peeps. Pathetic call Barry. LOL

MikeC said...

Way too late in the race to take a commercial break. Not gonna be many laps remaining by the time it's done!

Anonymous said...

i'm sorry. i just got slightly upset over this broadcast.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Right there with ya!

Anonymous said...

"I just wanna' get this over with" - DW

The FOX motto.

Charlie said...

15 Laps to go.

Anonymous said...

ah, just ignore the garbage on the grill

RWar24 said...

I don't understand why all the love for Kyle Busch. This for a guy who on a number of occasions has disrespected the media by blowing off post race interviews, or short smart-a** answers. But yet DW and others just love him up one side and down the other.

Anonymous said...

JD, was that "going to break" mistake a rookie error or not?
That as so stupid when it was obvious they all were lost.
But, they may have created a solution.
Play a music bed during the entire race and no announcing.
It was kind of pleasant.

Anonymous said...

DW doesn't think a caution should come out for the #31, only for the caution to come out. This is comical.

Charlie said...

Don't understand why they would wait with 11 to go to talk about Trevor.
I wish Trevor the best.
With 11 to go you want to know what the cars are doing.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Anon, just a producer call. Should only take a second.

Anonymous said...

See if any cheerleading takes place for the #18 in these closing laps.

Anonymous said...

Thanks JD, I thought so.
I guess everyone is here for a reason. It's true! It's pathetic.

Anonymous said...

THEY CHANGED SHOTS AND MISSED THE WRECK AGAIN!

Daly Planet Editor said...

OK, so we cut AWAY from the wreck. Got it.

Charlie said...

Dummies - zoom out, don't go to single car shots. You always get burned.

RWar24 said...

There's DW making more excuses for Kyle Busch.
.

DewCrew88 said...

WOW ZOOMED IN ON THE 33 AND THEY WERE STILL WRECKING

Anonymous said...

DW says he's not sure what happened why Kyle got into Harvick....said he'll have to look at it at another time.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Man, wonder how many folks just turned this off and walked?

RWar24 said...

Harvick gets spun right in front of the 24, then they use the 24's in-car to look out his rear bumper. What a joke.

Anonymous said...

No criticism of the #18 what-so-ever.

Anonymous said...

That's it for me - cut away from a wreck and then DW says it's ok for Kyle to spin Harvick? Give me a break.

OSBORNK said...

I have never seen such poor coverage of a wreck in my 63 years. YOU ZOOM OUT, NOT IN!

Anonymous said...

DW says he still can't figure out what happened between the #18 and #29

Anonymous said...

Truck had to cut away from the developing wreck early because they needed time to cue up the replays.

Daly Planet Editor said...

DW is just a mess. His comments on that accident were amazing.

Anonymous said...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Roadgeek Adam said...

REGAN SMITH WON SMITH WON. FIRST TIME WINNER FINALLY. HOW GOOD CAN YOU GET IT?

Roadgeek Adam said...

We have Busch and Harvick very angry at each other.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Anyone have any idea what is going on? Just asking.

Roadgeek Adam said...

Harvick and Busch are mad at each other over the Bowyer incident.

Anonymous said...

WTF is going on?

Roadgeek Adam said...

Now that is a first, he gets out of the car, punches Busch, and his car drives away.

oldnewenglander said...

Polish victory lap?

oldnewenglander said...

Can we get a replay of Harvick's car?

Anonymous said...

This is what the sport needed to bounce back. It's a shame the only thing holding it back is the grabage we saw presented by FOX.

Charlie said...

Will they follow up on why the 29 car moved since they showed the first part of that.

Anonymous said...

They never even called the fact that there was a big wreck on the back stretch on the last lap. Dang!

Anonymous said...

These people supposedly are the best Fox Sports has for this job! Ha! What a joke. I am so dang angry. Such a wild finish and TV screws it up so bad. They should all slink home in shame after this.

Anonymous said...

I think the 29 moved because the 18 pushed it out of the way. Dangerous moment for sure.

MikeC said...

They couldn't tell what happened on that accident on the backstretch during the last lap. At least they're keeping an open-mind on the last couple of cautions.

OSBORNK said...

The race coverage tonight was the most confused and disjointed thing I have seen since Australian rules football.

Sally said...

The 'coverage' of the finish of this race was a cluster. The inability of anyone in the booth to call Kyle deliberately spinning Kevin was inexcusable. missing the wreck on the backstretch was inexcusable. OH! And now we know why Kevin's car took off...Kyle dumped it again. If he doesn't get penalized for endangering people on pit road with that move.....

Charlie said...

ok, 18 car (with a driver) pushed the 29 car (without a driver).

Anonymous said...

They failed to tell the story at the climax.
Come on truck people.
Speak up.
Don't be afraid.
You used to be the best!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Harvick know that you're supposed to put it in gear when you park it. Manual transmission 101. LOL

Anonymous said...

Funny item.
Kyle wrecked him once and then wrecked him twice.
Brilliant!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Put him in the wall twice. LOL

Roadgeek Adam said...

You know, TV problems aside, that was one hell of a finish. Regan Smith finally gets the win he's been so desperately needing (on a race where he actually had a pretty low qualifying attempt), Carl Edwards is second to a first time winner, again in 2011. Wrecks happen on the last lap and Kevin Harvick & Kyle Busch bring the anger of Darlington, but a lot faster than Newman/Montoya. I can bet you there will be a penalty on Tuesday for Harvick for 1) punching Busch through the window and then 2) His car driving on its own into the pit road wall.

Anonymous said...

Big 10 4 Roadgeek Adam

Anonymous said...

Big 10 4 Roadgeek Adam

Anonymous said...

Stupid move by Kyle, he could of hurt someone. Nascar will treat them both equal when giving out the punishment. They are worthless.

Roadgeek Adam said...

Anon 11:56, I am sure Kyle will be penalized tuesday for following Harvick, but however, Kyle didn't throw a punch, Harvick did. Does Kyle deserve it? Sure? Do you see Kyle throwing another punch back?

Harvick could have hurt someone with letting his car drive away like that.

OSBORNK said...

I would have loved to have seen the race. I guess I would have had to be there. We sure didn't see the race on TV and we got the same information from the booth as we would have gotten if the TV was on mute.

Anonymous said...

Roadgeek, you realize Kyle hit a driverless car on pit road thus knocking t out of gear?

Anonymous said...

All of Fox's people in Darlington were already packed and halfway to the airport when that last wreck occurred and only gave us a half-hearted effort there. They should just return the TV contract to NASCAR and they wouldn't have to pretend to be a sports network any more.

Anonymous said...

About time someone put Busch in his place. I hope they don't punish Harvick too harshly.

CaseMoney said...

Darrell Waltrip couldn't bring himself to admit that Kyle purposely wrecked Harvick. I don't know if that has anything to do with who Kyle's manufacturer is, but whatever the case, that was really unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

Well congratulations to Regan for FINALLY getting that win!

And that was odd with Kevin & Kyle at the end...Kyle pushing Kevin's car out of the way like that. Glad no one was hurt while that was going on :(. Then the crews getting into it

Anonymous said...

Terrible interview by Steve Byrnes.

Anonymous said...

Kyle was being attacked, he had to do something to prevent himself from being in harms way so he choose the fastest and safest way of escape.
Like I said. Brilliant Kyle.
Dumped him twice. LOL

Anonymous said...

Referencing Darlington 2003 DW says: "Kyle Busch and Craven"

DW - K-U-R-T. The man has lost it

RWar24 said...

As much as I don't like Ky. Busch, kudos on the interview.. Maybe he has turned the maturity corner.

Anonymous said...

He should of been a man and confronted him. Instead he chose to be a pussy. Can you see Earnhardt, Wallace or Pearson backing off like that?

Anonymous said...

they will be put on probation thats it because that is exactly what nascar wants to happen, so they can have something to talk about this week

Roadgeek Adam said...

Think about it, Kyle mellowed out quite a bit over the winter. Kevin & Delana have quite the emotions invested in this sport. I think Kevin has a hard time controlling his emotion more than Kyle does. Montoya at Watkins Glen 07 is a good example.

RWar24 said...

Harvick should've went Cole Trickle in KB and made sure he couldn't make it back to pit road.

Anonymous said...

Evidently "have at it" has it's limits.

Sally said...

You do realize that kyle started pushing Kevin's car as soon as he got out of it. Could have backed up, no? Sorry, but with all his talent, Kyle hasn't exactly been the 'cleanest' driver on the track. Guess he forgot that Keving wasn't afraid to take on Carl Edwards, and certainly wouldn't hesitate to talk to Kyle directly. Now that's OLD school!

Anonymous said...

NASCAR is making both of em to do interviews. LOL

Unknown said...

They should of let them duke it out. NASCAR is too PC and it is killing the sport.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Folks, the TV Police post is up. We would appreciate a comment before you leave tonight.

Thanks for hanging with us for a LONG telecast with some interesting twists and turns.

New columns all week, see you later!

JD

Anonymous said...

I like how they make it sound like NASCAR is coming down hard on them in the trailer. Truth be known, they're probably given a "Thank You" as well.

OSBORNK said...

NASCAR loves the Busch/Harvick controversy. It's just like professional wrestling. You have a "good" guy and "bad" guy fighting and the crowd eats it up. We will get a lot of bloviating but they will be put on probation that means nothing and they will count on it putting people in the stands and eyes on the TV.

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