Here we go with the tandem racing Nationwide Series style from Daytona. ESPN has Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace working the pre-race show. The task is going to be setting up for primetime viewers what in the world this kind of racing is really about.
Jarrett then joins Marty Reid and Andy Petree to call the race from the TV booth high atop the Daytona tower. These three are the lead announce team for NASCAR racing on ESPN and will be handling the Sprint Cup Series Chase races once coverage switches to ESPN at The Brickyard.
The TV task today is to follow the different strategies of teams that have planned ahead for this tandem racing. We may see some top teams drop to the rear of the field like the Sprint Cup Series races have featured. Then, with only a handful of laps left in the race, they come to the front having never contended once during the actual event.
Reid is having a tough season and it seems to be getting tougher. He is just not up to speed on this sport and it has begun to show. ESPN moves Reid back and forth between NASCAR and the network's five IndyCar races. Reid's professional history in motorsports does not feature NASCAR. He has been prominent on both NHRA and IndyCar coverage over the last few years.
Both series have finished qualifying and the 30 minute pre-race is scheduled to start on time. There is not current threat of rain, but this is Florida in the summer.
This post will serve to host your comments about the ESPN coverage of the Nationwide Series race from Daytona. To add your TV-related opinions, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for stopping by.
95 comments:
Yes folks, she is back! Danica should win tonight right?
I mean, if she has the best pusher, she could win.
Wow. Dave Burns just interviewed 4 drivers in one interview. There were Fox pre race shows where they didnt even interview 4 drivers total. And Dave did a good job with the interview. Kudos. The espn pre race show is about the only thing espn has going for them. If they had some real analysts in the pit studio that would be killer
He sure did!
Awesome interview segment!!!
Best all year!!!
Hope the Danistar show er the Nationwide race is good tonight :).
Agree Roland!
Tony is in such a good mood today! He was a hoot during the press conference earlier today!
The free scanners are the key to this race.
Hey, they spelled Ken Squier's name wrong.
No clue what this is about.
That was fluff for the casual fan. I apreciate the trip down memory lane, but this new "moments that changed nascar" series should be for the future cup broadcasts.
It made no sense at all! Nothing to do with this series.
But it was fun hearing Children of Sanchez. Had to look that one up or it woulda bugged me....
oops, troll alert....
Uh...someone started his 4th celebration a bit early, I'd say....or....maybe he just ain't stopped since his "flip" in 1991
BSPN is determined to blur the line between the two series so that it looks like they broadcast them all. The casual fan is easier confused. After all, they all turn left and go around in circles.
No excuse for that kind of marketing.
Grade B on the National Anthem
I'm still just floored. ESPN is the exclusive home of the Nationwide Series. This is one of the biggest races of the season in primetime.
During the pre-race, rather than promote Nationwide drivers, teams and highlights, they ran Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series memories including the Donnie and Cale fight.
Huge mistake.
MRN feed at tunin.com WYSH 1380 AM. Oh yeah it's 110 outside. I sure hope this is a good race and not a ride around till 5 to go.
in a way, seeing as how many Cup drivers are in this, it was ironically appropriate. But yes, they have plenty of years of Nationwide action they might have shown.
Jeez...why not show the clip of the earliest HUGE wreck.....40 cars in turn 3-4, in order to pander to the newbies who are looking for "excitement"????
I guess I don't understand why ESPN won't promote the Cup race but they interview exclusively Cup drivers at the Nationwide Race?!?
Love DJ and hope he has a good night calling the race.
Debby, Sadler's not a Cup driver now.
Just reinforces that ESPN does not care for the Nationwide Series. It's a mere buffer to Cup.
Worse yet, it seems there is an effort it is just completely misguided towards gimmicks. They pick their 4 or 5 Nationwide drivers and talk about the "Dash 4 Cash" or other quick promo line such as "Opportunity races"
My guess: KHI will dominate. Probably going to be a snoozer compared to Feb.
Hope I'm wrong.
David--the first one from way back when lol
Marty said Brian Scott's 11 was the pacecar!!!!
Random fact: I went to the NASCAR school with that tire changer....
I suppose everyone gets tired of me mentioning this but at the beginning of the NW pre-race show, there ESPN is interviewing full time cup guys!
Let's hope that a driver wins that wasn't in ESPN's script! That would really be something! C'mon Jeremy Clements or Tim George.
at least Marty stopped saying 'green' like Tony the Tiger.
@Glen - realize Sadler is not a Cup driver anymore. He may be one of the few Nationwide drivers they interview. You have to agree that they go overboard on the Cup guys. There are many good stories/interviews they are missing out on. Hopefully, some of these guys are future Cup drivers.
Man, this ain't racing.
You have two screens, one large, one small. You are watching 8 cars in one screen and one car in another screen.
Now which screen do you think the 8 cars are displayed in?
If you said the small one you were right. Not sure why.
Danica and Tony???? 2012???
Just want to go on the record - I'm already sick of Carl Edwards.
So is this entire race going to be a Danicathon?
I don't think pack racing was racing either. I'd rather see this as the lesser of two evils. Or course, I'd rather see a different race altogether where one car actually passes another car by himself. Or herself.
Debby, I agree, just making the point on Sadler. I did see them interview some during qualifying, at least.
No more four horsemen?
Need to open the engines JD. Or take massive grip away. Only way your going to fix it. Gonna be interesting to see what they do when they have fuel injection.
Listening to #18 radio, drivers radio hopping in NW too.
I'm with glen. This is the lesser of the evils. Pack racing was bogus racing too IMO.
Marty is lost. I like how he said Logano was trying to catch Kyle to push him when Kyle was 18th and Joey was 13th. Logical right?
The booth is so confused right now!
No scanner again?
Jimm57
I would prefer packs to this. Just my opinion.
I would really like to see DP win this race or a full time NW driver.
JD, maybe we are just seeing what ESPN wants us to see not the actual racing on the track.
Why was there a caution. He kept going.
Vicky - if Danica wins tonight, there will be no media tomorrow.
Hey guys anybody know if the nationwide scanners will work on an iPad?
I agree. I'd rather see a pack jostling around rather then this game of roulette. You could have the fastest car and if you lose your partner, you drop back twenty positions. That's not racing. Marty helped a lot when he said that Kenny Wallace would start at the back of the pack because his car failed post-race inspection??? That's kinda hard to do.
I would completely concede that many fans loved the pack racing. I think this is driving NASCAR nuts. I'd just rather see a couple cars wreck than half the field.
I wonder if Tony wants to see how 'teachable' Danica is.
Wow...honest comments from the fans.
I like this better than the pack because of less cars wiped out in a huge crash. Be interesting to see what happens with fuel injection. That was a cool use of vasoline.
I would put Danica as a contender to win tonight, having Smoke behind her may be the best thing for her.
Anyone for surprise winners? Clements, the two Wallace brothers, Timmy Hill, Danica. Thoughts?
If you don't like this kind of drafting just wait. As these tracks age they won't be able to do this.
Glenc1 I agree!
This "Love Bug" racing is a novelty. Shades of the WWE!
I saw that Kenny Wallace move, surprised it took till the penalty to get a mention of it.
We all saw that KW move before the stripe. Marty is an idiot.
Good move on ESPN to stay running when McClure wrecked.
Also look at this Top 10, Patrick, Stewart, Sorenson, Leffler, Allgaier Busch, Sadler, Harvick, Nemechek and Conway
^ Did anyone really expect that?
It's amazing how much the cars running at the back of the pack influence the outcome of the race. At Road America last week, all the mayhem on those late restarts started with a car at the back hitting the wall, for the third time that race. I only hope that Danica doesn't wreck in front of the field.
In February here, I didn't expect Brian Kesolowski to go really fast. But this kind of drafting will move slow cars to the front if you're paired up with the right partner.
I'd like more of a NEMCO follow-up. Where did they get their engines for this race seeing as both him and Conway have been fairly fast all night.
I still think the dynamic of this race is fairly interesting.
AB trying to catch up on it all and fill us in. Just cleaning up SUCH a mess left by the booth.
Gotta figure Tony is just playing right now, KHI as a whole seems to be laying coy. Toyota's seem weak tonight too.
Poor JJC =(
Marty she didn't make it back to the pits because they told her to stop.
I am so glad that ESPN is showing us how good the cup guys are running tonight.
About to ditch this thing and go watch Jair Jurrjens go for the no hitter. A few years ago I would have never chosen the braves over nascar.
I think saying the third pack back rather then 5th place makes more sense for this kind of event.
I defy anyone to tell which car or cars are the fastest of the first 15 positions. This is getting boring. Theres no rhyme or reason to it other than who your partner is. I hope its a clean finish.
gee, we got to see 3 laps of racing between commercials
Hey Shannon, if two cars are on pit road along with 30 other cars, I think they're on the same pit sequence. Standout reporting there.
The necessary field reset.
Alan Bestwick in the booth calling the race....PLEASE
Do not count Danica out.
It is totally beyond me what the criteria is for throwing the caution flag. I can understand if the cars keep going but dropped debris, but I don't think that just happened.
Danica might just win this thing
Those were "quick draw" cautions. New thing NASCAR trying tonight.
Roland, that would not be a bad thing. She earned this one if she can pull it off.
If I didn't know better I'd say that Stewart purposely backed off SDadler so Danica could go out front?? THere was no reason for tony to drop back a car length.
You're doing a points update with 2 to go? WTH!!!
Points update with 2 to go builds drama....right?
It was hard to determine the winner guess our fav didn't win again. It doesn't pay to have any favorites in Nascar!
yeah, Danika could win! HA!
Jimm57
And that graphic on the last time Sadler won blocked a nice chunk of the action
This is why we need cup drivers majorly restricted. This is ridiculous.
like joey. wish he would slow down when he speaks. he and ron hornaday i can not understand.
Well Congratulations JoLo! What a cluster at the end but that's Daytona for ya :(
Marty killed that. Points with 2 laps left, lost on the big wreck. Man is in the wrong job.
I like Joey, but he often doesn't come off well in interviews. As a whole, the Nascar drivers are excellent public speakers,in my opinion. My desire for a clean finish didn't happen. No surprise.
Joey just has the heavy New England accent going on. Only way to cure that is a dialogue coach. I can understand him, but I get that it's not easy.
Nascar just opened a can of worms by letting Kenny Wallace keep his 7th place finish. I don't care either way.. but precedence says he should've been the last car on the lead lap.
Reid started off so well in this role a year and some change ago, but he really has fizzled out. Better than the good Doctor in the role but AB is still the best guy for the job.
Can someone tell me does he just not want the job or what?
So much for the "Four Horsemen". And so much for the pre-race prognostications of the "experts"!
If Kenny Wallace finished 7th could you show the top 10 again so I could see how it might have changed.
RWar, what about when Ragan finished 5th in the 500 some years back by plowing through the grass?
Avoidance of a wreck overrules yellow line and in that case, I'm okay with it.
Joey has more then a problem with his accent. He talks way too fast and needs to crisp up whatever message he's trying to covey. As I said...I like Joey. Just one person's opinion.
anon--I think talking fast is *part* of the accent. But I agree that the message doesn't always come across well. Randy LaJoie has the same accent, but his is more directed and slower. I still think some speaking lessons could help. Surprised Tom didn't consider this in his 'make my kid a star' scenario.
Very impressive run by Danica. I really thought she would win that race. Stewart did a good job drafting with her. Good run by Danica. This 2-car "tango" is awful. I really hope it is only a fling and it goes away soon and we see the pack racing.
Well, thanks everyone. Parts of that were awful, parts were OK and parts were fun.
If they want excitement at the finish, it works. If they want excitement during the race, it stinks.
See you Saturday night for more tandem racing, this time with the big boys.
JD
Ah my tv related opinions...Well ESPN did a pretty good job of capturing the event. Seemed like numerous track events happened while at commercial break,but how to control that. They did have the replay that showed the action.Commercials a necessary to pay the big bucks. Informative pit reporters during the race although underutilized(meaning more pit info with crew chief strategy is always better than less).Post race interview that was ok but maybe disappointing.Nothing from KHI drivers and a few others. What can I say, I watched and I wanted more. Switching between ESPN & MRN feed does,for me, add to the on track information. I get it though,one is visual and the other is a vocal presentation-each with inherent limitations. I didn't watch ESPN pre race however MRN pre race was on top of driver interviews as always. With all that said,I'm out.
Nascar did something right tonite
....NO COUNTRY SINGERS for the
Anthem. No matter how bad Mr
adam alexander is tonite ( and he
will be ) all is not lost.
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