It's overcast at Dover with a 50% chance of rain. After a hard crash shook-up teams and crews on Saturday, the Sprint Cup Series races on one of the fastest mile tracks on the circuit.
Clint Bowyer got turned on his side and almost rolled it into the inside wall on the final laps. A rear spring from his car struck one of his pit crew members. It gashed his leg, chipped a bone and put him in the hospital overnight. Dover is one of the most dangerous tracks on the circuit.
The NASCAR on FOX trio of Darrell Waltrip, Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond appeared live during SPEED's RaceDay show. They were inside the Hollywood Hotel, so it looks like there will be no outdoor pre-race set this week. Rain is the likely reason.
Two items. First, veteran NASCAR reporter Mike Mulhern passed along that he heard Waltrip was pushing FOX to bring Micheal Waltrip into the FOX booth and move Larry McReynolds out. Secondly, Jeff Hammond joined Twitter and it should be interesting to see how he interacts with fans during the live race.
The new SPEED and FOX executives have fully enabled Waltrip as the star of NASCAR TV. Love him or hate him, Waltrip has four more seasons at FOX and SPEED and the contract is signed. After his failure to describe Kyle Busch's actions last week vs. Kevin Harvick, it should be interesting to hear Waltrip's comments in the pre-race.
Mike Joy sat back last week and the long periods of silence were a commentary on just how awkward these FOX telecasts have become. Despite his best efforts to communicate what is going on in the race, Joy is constantly trampled in the booth by Waltrip. This happened again on the final lap last week.
It's been a long fall for Larry McReynolds. Removed from his Trackside program. NASCAR Performance became a show taped during the week. FOX ended his "Reach up and pull the belts tight" catchphrase. Now, the rumor that he may be out at FOX in the booth.
The corps of pit reporters are waiting in the wings to step-up and get more involved in the telecasts. Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda, Matt Yocum and Dick Berggren are experienced and incredibly underused. With all the potential for mayhem at Dover, this crew may finally get some quality air time.
Say it with me: Tight shots, single car views, in-car cameras, lack of field recaps and no aerial views. FOX made a decision of how to produce these races and they are sticking with it to the bitter end this season. So, here we go again.
This post will serve to host your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Dover. 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.
332 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 332 of 332As far as I can tell, Junior seems to be doing well today, even after hitting the wall. He's hanging in there pretty well. I think. No real info, of course.
Bill, Jr's child has not been a good steward of his empire. Pretense is not a good business model.
Where did Kahne & Bowyer come from?
I just don't understand. Tight shots all the time. This must mean tight shots are what is bringing people to their Tvs to watch a race. Why else would they do it. Someone is telling them that tight shots is the way to go and make money.
I'm learning far more from monitoring twitter tweets than TV provides. That is just wrong.
Just talking with some sports media folks. They just don't understand what FOX is trying to do.
Tells us to be positive and talk up the sport and then slacks on coverage and basically mails in it.
It's the four hours of the week when they actually have to deliver and they can't. Both SPEED and ESPN produced good solid telecasts from this same track with much less stellar fields.
Nice time for an All-Star break....wait...that's DW and Mikey in the booth!
So far I am calling this race the "just about boadcast"
There are camera stands at the junction of 1&2 and 3&4 at Dover and they are pretty high up so they can see a lot. Dang truck gets some good action going when they use them, but HEY! we cannot stay with one or the other as stuff develops, can we? Nope we cannot. It is a frustrating use of good shots as a tease and then back to follow the leader tight.
"Just about" got it, but unfortunately, not getting it IMHO.
At one point in time, television employed their own spotters to alert the booth and anyone in the truck that cared to possible upcoming events of interest as the race progressed. Has that practice become history as well?
Do we all know now that Dover is going to be one of the crapshoot races? I think they've only said it 20 times so far!
The ownership of this Dover group CANNOT continue operating with crowds like today. They have already lost the Memphis and Gateway tracks and Nashville is not doing any better. Look for Bruton or ISC to make an offer to buy Dover. We cannot afford to lose this fast one mile concrete oval. But it obviously needs better management and promotion. It is less than 1/2 full of fans - terrible.
I've already had enough with the Chase. I don't want to watch a test session for the fall, I want to see the race now.
On a Sunday afternoon would Fox make more money is they showed some other show.
Precip very very close. Might scoot by the race track.
Small rain cell.
If they zoom out, you can't READ the sponsor's name on the car...tight shots show sponsor's name. These aren't 'race cars', they are travelling billboards.
With the way Fox tends to limit their coverage to just certain drivers, on has to wonder if they are getting paid extra to cover certain drivers more?
As an aside, Junior just passed Kenseth, has been moving up steadliy, yet hasn't had much coverage from Fox. If he is the Most Popular Driver, and The Savior Of Nascar, shouldn't they be 'documenting' his running well (for a change)? just sayin'...
On MRN it sounded like they called the weather forecasters out. They said a lot of people base their daily activities with the weather forecast. It was like they were trying to imply that's why the crowd is down today. Saying the weather forecasters created a lot of "stress" for people with their forecast for today.
If the race is promoted right, the tickets are already sold and paid for and fans will show up.
Track needs Bruton to buy it - do some improvements and run it right.
Sally,
They have made all kinds of excuses over the years.
In 2007, they refused to show any car other than the winner crossing the line. One way my blog became popular was because I rallied fans against them.
The were NOT too happy that fans had a voice for TV coverage and were not saying nice things.
This is a good example of having all the tools and manpower but being unable to organize it.
The TV guys that came in here told us FOX would just laugh at us and do what they wanted. Few were into NASCAR and most could not wait for the NFL to start. This was just passing time.
That kind of talk made me pretty made. Even though NASCAR still says no to a dedicated TV network, they have to be open to it after this failure to deliver compelling TV.
They sure can organize an Emmy voting block though!
JD
Fox takes a commercial break, then comes back and shows another commercial during live racing, then after that shows tight shots of the leader, then a replay of what they missed because of tight shots.
It may work for Fox but not for me.
Anon 3:25PPM,
Two words: Humpy Wheeler.
Can you imagine that guy on the loose with a casino, horses and an Air Force base?
hahaha, that's a new one - it's the weathermans fault. I went to Pocono for years, and there was always the risk for rain. Most of the time it did rain at some point. But the stands were still packed.
Bet the casino is busy.
Along with a big monster named "Miles" and some crab cakes. YEP - Humpy Wheeler could turn it around.
JD - don't you agree that after 2011 they need a major change or to sell ?
Fox is corrupt and the fans are being held hostage.
End of story.
After the financial hit this week, it should be interesting. That company lost their other tracks.
It would be a crying shame to lose one (or both) Dover races. This is one of the non cookie cutter tracks - very fast, great racing.
OK. What happened to junior onhis pit stop? Anyone involved with the broadcast know? Would you like to tell the fans watching?
Sally, these dudes are gassed and packing for the airplane.
"larry said...
If they zoom out, you can't READ the sponsor's name on the car...tight shots show sponsor's name. These aren't 'race cars', they are travelling billboards."
TRUTH!!!
And the camera work is nothing but a paid for "Video game looking deal" that turns real fans off.
But Fox doesn't care.
Reds just got another HOME RUN & I get to see it LIVE (Mute tv) & GREAT RADIO for free.
NASCAR charges too much for OTA Radio stations I guess. SHAME.
p.s. It's raining here again or I'd be planting more flowers in yard while LISTENING to the Reds.
Speaking of finances....
I noticed earlier this week that the purse money for todays race DECREASED for the first time in many many years when compared to the previous year.
I'll bet Larry has spoken up about the quality of the broadcast to the Fox Execs, as knowing him fairly well, he will always say what is TRUE and on his mind.
He's got to be sick of what is going on as are many of your bloggers.
He is not afraid to say how he feels and also may not want to be a part of something that reflects poorly onto him.
The chatter is also mentioned a house cleaning at the Hollywood Hotel and that does not mean bringing in any maids. Just fresh talent. JD, you know who they are.
That's one on the reasons that one of those announcers has jumped onto Twitter all of a sudden so he can be cool, interact more and maybe save his job. We are all laughing.
I apologize for being an anon. But I have posted before and have to be careful as I work in the sport.
@Ken-Michigan - that is not a good sign
BUT - they re signed DW for 3 more years. That was a huge error on FOX's part.
I'm going to state the obvious: this is brutal.
As much as it pains a New Englander to say this, Dover is a better Nascar track than Loudon.
But even when it was privately owned by the Bahre family, Loudon never had these issues.
Why not just pair DW with Joe Buck?
That was the crappiest bumper in the history of television. FOX's thumb in our eye.
So does everyone know where their driver is and why.
Has your driver been in a replay yet.
They can't go a segment between commercial breaks without showing and talking about the #18 car.
Dover can make it - needs a new garage area revamp and a tunnel. Great area - lots around to do, fairly good access roads. I bet Bruton Smith is on the telephone right now and salivating.
Wham bam lets see a replay because u were showing us dang commercials again!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone know what Dover stock is worth these days? The stockholders might have to force a sale!
Hey JD
Sorry for that last comment.
I thought that was the real David Hill but apparently not.
Once again, I do apologize
That was confusing.
nothing but long replays as they come back from commercials this is disgusting at best
Why doesn't Fox show this race tape delayed so they can combine all their replays into an ok race.
Would ISC be interested in this track?
I dream of the day my drivers are featured on a FOX replay.
Anon @ 3:40 PM:
And what of that incident before Daytona where he sort of passive-aggressively lectured media members about painting NASCAR in a negative light?
My station (KAYU-TV) is having technical difficulties and as a result, is not showing the race.
There's debris on the track....they'll probably wait until we're on the edge of the pit window to throw it. Set up some drama on who can and can't make it on fuel.
WOW...twitter is really lighting up by the nascar list...fun reading.
The scope of the field narrowed from 25 to 10 cars over 200 laps.
3.51 per share - lower soon !
@charlie...I follow my driver on RaceTrax.
Hey, JD
Have you ever been to Dover Downs Int'l Speedway to telecast races.
Can we expect anything new and exciting from TNT ?
Not part of the ESPN package for my days back then, but went later for both Inside Winston Cup Racing and then This Week in NASCAR.
Weird place with the combined facility. Love to see the casino sometime.
So the 33 is in position to win.
Is there just one or two laps to go until the end of the race. Must of missed that the race is about over.
Does FOX Sports have some lacrosse directors or maybe some curling producers they could reassign to NASCAR.
And Fedex is officially in the bottom of the TV commercial barrel with the Christmas ad. #Insult
after last commercial break...1 minute of replays, then 4 minutes of live race before next set of commercials... and THAT was while they speculated incorrectly about the problem with the car causing the caution.
TNT is Wally, Kyle and Adam. Good features in the pre-race with Lindsay. RaceBuddy for 5, Wide Open coverage for Daytona.
Downside: Lots of TNT program promos and commercials. They carry a heavier load than FOX.
Big shocker, Montoya cuts up in front of someone on a straightaway.
Hey Anon: Got the wrong stock symbol.
DDE is the casino business. It trades for $3.51 a share.
The car racing track operation is DVD. That's $1.99 a share and stockholders’ equity was reported as $51.1 million at the end of Q1.
I've had enough. Will see the highlights on the Kenny Wallace show tonight.
Wow. Been listening to the race until a few minutes ago. Turned on the TV and am shocked at the empty seats. There wasn't anyone there for the Nationwide race yesterday either. Ugly.
Tough luck for Regan Smith. Glad Joy told us, since he has been invisible on FOX for 150 laps.
So DW are you saying that Carl should not try to pass Johnson. It is to dangerous.
Carl could've taken Jimmie out and DW would've made sure to explain to us folk who don't know about Nascar that it wasn't Carl's fault.
Does anyone else feel like DW is in the Championship Provisional stage of his broadcast career? It feels like it to me.
I thought showing tail pipes wasn't a good idea. Camera 101.
They missed the 42 spin doing tail pipe shots but who cares - We have replay.
Well, this will be interesting.
Mike Joy has apparently stopped listening to DW (along with the rest of us) since he repeated DW's casino comment almost verbatim.
At least we got a little drama down the stretch.
My wife, who is not a racing fan, just saw the stands and said "that proves they need a change".
Like every other week - let's just run the final 50 ;aps each week.
@OSBORNK
This broadcast is brought to you by Tabasco Sauce, Speedblock Builder's Square and Route 66 (only at KMart).
Buschseries--yup they're over his win quick :( he received some love in the beginning then their ADD went back to the usual suspects :(
Kyle Busch is in contention, so the booth decides to wake up.
Why did they leave the racing of the 4 cars with the 18 in there to go to showing the 48 and 24 for a second then go back to the pack racing with the 18. Who makes this call.
That camera switch made no sense.
You seeing what I am seeing?
uh.... what just happened? FOX went to split screen commercials?!!!
WHAT!!!side by side ad?
side by side???????
Side-by-side commercials?!? What?
Oh my god, side-by-side splitscreen during commercial. Talk about random! This a beta test or what?
Side by side-GOOD
OMG!!!
What?!?!?! Sorry guys I haven't been on here all year but what the heck is going on?!?!??!
Is this going to be something new for FOX?
Holy Crap!
love the side by side comm during green
what the heck just happened?
A commercial in a 2nd box.
Hurry, hurry !!!!!
Amazing modern technology. A split screen. Fox just discovered it!
Just got home...saw the side-by-side commercial & racing. have they been doing this all day??
Say what you want, but if there's a restart(s) at the end, the #18 will make it interesting.
That was so random
Got a caution here, so I will make another broadcast obervation. FOX to its credit has not been shy today about showing the empty seats. This is to me, because I am so terminally odd, a good thing. Humpy said a few years ago that "walk up traffic" had died because of the biggus sellouts of the Dale Sr. Era. I agree, but I also believe showing seats are, in fact, available a good thing. The locals will now believe they can, on the spur of the moment, decide to attend.
Show empty seats, increase attendance. It is counter intuitive, but it works.
At least in my thinking.
16 laps to go!
15 Laps to go.
they will stop that split screen nonsense as soon as they learn that the fans like it.
After 12 years I finally saw another NASCAR side-by-side.
BTW this is David...the original lol.
Wow who said no one was listening
Debby:
No, it just randomly happened with 24 laps left.
I'm really curious as to why, out of the blue, we suddenly get side by side commercials? I thought it was impossible, according to Nascar. It certainly got MY attention!
So, odds on them pretending it never happened? :p
holy cow, what was that on the TV?
could it be....a split screen???
Did anybody see that coming?
Come on booth get excited.
FOX...the channel of random & obscure facts...
I paid more attention to the side by side commercials than I do normal commercials. Probably because I was in shock.
the side by side commercial segment has left JD speechless. I'm sure there are others that fainted.
The talked about drivers are not near the top - what to do, what to do.
Can't believe I missed side-by-side commercials
DW says - white flag in the air and kept talking so he wouldn't lose his train of thought.
That was dull. We saw the top 6 finish today.
So - the highlight of the broadcast is side-by-side during commercials? I loved that, but it's still a sad state of affairs for FOX.
Yey!!!!! A good guy won today with another one in second!!!!!
Just got to keep beating that drum for change.
It's not pleasant sometimes, but it's needed.
If I get any more info on that, I will pass it along.
Like I said, those boys don't like me too much right now.
Ben, but we missed the lead lap cars finishing again so it all balances out.
No fanfare for the side by side as well. Was expecting at least an acknowledgement from the both, thanking sponsors for not missing any action during the commercial, etc.
Well, that was a typical Fox telecast. ADD camera shots, too many in car and bumper cams, no flow, very little info. Pit reporters are wasted. I'd rather have real info from them than rambling from DW.
I'm really happy for Jimmy Fennig as well as Mark Martin. Incredible comeback for the #18 considering how the weekend started. A few years ago, he would have wadded the car up before the first pit stops. Couldn't believe the empty stands. I can't imagine TWO Waltrips at the All Star race!
I need to read the blog to see what's going on JD by the statement you just posted. Saw something about Larry Mac?? Will read and catch up. Thanks for your persistency and hard work.
Wonder if those were just "free" make good spots due to the poor ratings.
There were definitely some changes today....which is interesting for it to happen so late in their broadcast schedule this season. #1, the split screen commercial break, with less than 10% of the race to go. #2, they would show the top 5 running order going into a commercial break at the top of the screen, instead of the bottom. And then flashing the top 10 finishers across the top as they crossed the line.
I'm shocked your "inside people" didn't tell you the side by side ad was coming JD. I'd look for more of it in the future from Fox.
That was totally worth sitting thru! (Maybe not but Matt is my driver!)
The SxS was a shock. Agood one, but a shock.
I've asked for years (quoting Pink Floyd) "Is there anybody out there (listening to hardcores like us)?"
Maybe someone is. Someplace.
Mr Editor -
Just got back from a long walk on a nice sunny afternoon here in SW Virginia ...did I miss anything? ...side-by-side ...oh well, maybe someone who reads The Daly Planet hit the wrong button (or was it the right button?) ...another one on the unemployment line next week to afford DW's new pact? ...hope not ...FOX hasn't forgotten how, just not focused right now ...Dovr still a Ford track ...good to see Marcos have a good finish ...ran well all day
Walter
I, too, stopped and stared in amazement at the side by side commercial -- it was a Sprint commercial -- see I even noticed WHAT they were advertising!
I think next year, I'm going to just wait and buy tickets the day off. We're not "local" per se, but a 2 hr drive is doable -- of course it would be nice to see a good race, too. Honestly I don't think I ever find the spring race at dover that interesting. I know it's a fast track but the racing seems to always be a single car parade until they get serious at the 50 lap mark.
Before you guys get on out of here, stop by the TV Police post and leave us a race wrap-up comment.
Tons of page views from that post last week!
Thanks again for hanging in there with us through this rough season.
JD
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