Friday, December 2, 2011

Champion's Week TV/Online Guide


Once again this year, both SPEED and NASCAR.com will be offering a slate of televised and online programs during Champion's Week in Las Vegas, NV.

Friday

7:00PM ET
- SPEED will air tape delayed coverage of the combined Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series banquet that took place last week from the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach, FL. SPEED's Rick Allen and Krista Voda host with comedian John Pinette and music from the band Simplified. Note: this show is condensed and is essentially a highlight show of the actual multi-hour function.

9:00PM ET - SPEED will present four hours of coverage of the Sprint Cup Series banquet. This presentation is broken-up into several pieces on TV, due to the actual format of the banquet.

The television program will start with a red carpet show hosted by Steve Byrnes and Jeff Hammond. Rutledge Wood and Marianela Pereyra will be handling the interviews with the attendees.

Once folks are inside, SPEED will use a mix of time-shifted and pre-produced content to essentially cover the actual dinner portion of the event. One hour of people eating just does not make for good TV. During this time, Wood and Pereyra will continue on Twitter and Facebook live interacting with fans and offering real time social media content.

When activity begins, it will be Krista Voda and Mike Joy handling the duties on the stage with Reba and Kid Rock as the musical entertainment.

The TV for this portion of the event will not match the actual live banquet. SPEED has to mix-in commercials and does not want to drop any awards content. If you are active online, you will find that just like watching a NASCAR qualifying show on SPEED, all of the content will be presented but not live. Just like under green flag racing, there are no TV time-outs during the actual banquet.

This has led to fan frustration in past years, as reporters and PR reps have been tweeting and putting pics on Facebook of the champion's speech while it has not yet even begun on the TV presentation. Hopefully, this post will help some fans to understand why this is the case.

The SPEED telecast is scheduled to end at 1AM ET, but starts to re-air once again at that time. The network does a good job with this event. The evening is not "made for TV" but is designed for those attending the function in person.

We will be live blogging the Friday telecast and will be able to answer questions and help with other issues that may arise. In the meantime, you have been warned that once again this year the real time social media stream of information coming from the banquet will not quite mesh with what is being seen on TV.

We welcome your questions and comments on this topic, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

48 comments:

Jonathan said...

awsome last year was a lot of fun I remember watching Carrot Top on Nascar.com and he let a bunch of F bombs out bet that wont happen this year. I like how Nascar.com streams most of the events, always a fun week...

RPM said...

Kid Rock... Yes.
Reba... No.
YMMV

Zieke said...

I never watch any "puff & fluff" TV award shows because of all the pandering etc.
Altho Krista is a terrific person, I'll just stick to watching her cover the real races.

PammH said...

How uncomfortable is the head table going to be at the banquet w/Darian already have been replaced as crew chief? Going to be interesting for sure...

Stick with the Biff said...

Kid rock...definite NO. Whoever thought this guy had any talent?

I expect Reba will do a good job with her hosting experience. She has good 'TV Q'. It's just that typically these shows have corny scripts that just fall flat. I haven't watched for a couple years, but maybe I'll tune in and do some stuff around the house while I'm at it.

GinaV24 said...

thanks for the info about the coverage, JD. The entertainment sounds better this year than some of the rather painful efforts from previous years.

Speed usually does a good job of coverage, although I'm sort of like Zieke, I'm not that much on award shows.

AncientRacer said...

I like the show even though it is kind of campy here and there with the attempts to make it a mock-Oscars broadcast.

It is also, I have found over the past couple of years, a good place to do a bit of NASCAR Kremlin watching. Last year, for example, the more subdued role for BZF in the upcoming season was telegraphed. It will be interesting to see what happens this time.

CM 24 fan said...

I generally record the banquet and watch it later as I speed through the features that include singing, dancing etc. This show does not need all of that! I am most thankful that the Busch bros will not be taking the stage. No one wants to see them anyway.

LVI56 said...

What a surprise... the victory lap will be from inside Carl Edward's car. Hope they bring extra batteries this time.

OSBORNK said...

I don't know how you can sit through an Awards show when the results are already known and nothing new will be presented. My season ends at the last checkered flag of the year for each of the series. It would be different if there was any mystery.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Come on big O! Got wives and GF's all dressed up. Sweaty drivers reading from teleprompters. Rutledge wood in a pink tux. Best of all Brian France trying to interact with real people.

It's must-see TV!

glenc1 said...

lol...sometimes there's actually some humor. Anyone remember the time Kyle called his girlfriend at the time Eva by mistake? And Mark Martin thanked his wife and said 'it is Arlene, isn't it?' Not to mention the infamous Tony Stewart/Hutchens device incident. Jeff Gordon kneeling at the table because they were short one chair...Bobby Labonte reading the sponsors off his diecast car...

The trouble is sitting through the boring parts and goofy stuff. And Brian.

Roland said...

I normally watch this thing every year but decided this year to pass, but I guess now that Kid Rock is performing Ill tune in for that. And I would like to hear Keselowski's speech.

Thing I hate about the banquet is #1 the music usually blows, #2 the comedians arent funny cause they know nothing about our sport, #3 the drivers just read PR crap off the teleprompter for their speeches, #4 ITS WAY TOO LONG, and #5 it starts and ends too late for my liking.

If they turned this into a roast that would be awesome.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree. A roast would be great.

You guys know this all clashes with The 44th Annual Snowball Derby, right?

tle said...

If you set your DVR, set it to run long last year the ceremony ran long and cut off the end!

Anonymous said...

Well I was going to watch the Cup banquet but now that I see that Mariella chick is involved....guess that'll free up my night to watch something else!! She doesn't have a clue about Nascar OR the drivers!! Get rid of her already!!!!

glenc1 said...

I know this doesn't belong here...but did anyone notice as they're rerunning the Shane Hmiel piece on Racehub, it's scrolling across the bottom that it's being reported that Steve Hmiel was let go by EGR? Talk about yer bad timing...almost as awkward as Darian Grubb at the head table, as PammH noted....

West Coast Kenny said...

J.D.,

I'm very glad some people are upset about Speed Channel delaying the NASCAR awards banquet. I hate spoilers too. NOT!

****SPOILER ALERT!*****
Hey, Tony Stewart is the 2011 Sprint Cup Champion! He beat Carl Edwards!

Now you don't have to watch!

WCK

Anonymous said...

Reba... hosting, sounds fantastic. She's a beautiful lady, she also has a son racing now, so she will have a little knowledge. Sweetheart in my eyes. Could not understand why they had those lame "A" comedians. Kid Rock, a little...., I don't know ???, but believe he is genuine. I'm looking forward to it. You people realize, this is the last of NASCAR til "2012", I'm already in #NASCARwithdrawal
lovingnascar

DaveM4210 said...

For anyone that is interested, SiriusXM will broadcast the NASCAR Victory Lap, After The Lap and the Stewie Awards Thursday starting at 6pm EST. Friday they will broadcast the 2011 NASCAR Champions Show at 5pm EST, and the NASCAR Awards at 9pm EST. I have no clue if they will a mix of pre-recorded and live broadcast similar to Speed TV for the Awards banquet. Claire B Lang will broadcast her Dialed In show from Las Vegas at 7pm Wednesday.

Bobby said...

And Speed may forget (gasp!) that there are three major motorsports events after the Sprint Cup banquet but before testing!

* V8 Supercars at Sydney Olympic Park. Why are they relegating the V8's back to weekday dates to show the endless consecutive reruns of lifestyle shows instead of airing the V8's in their next or second week after as usual except for the Great Race and the Surfers Paradise Race #2 (both are live)? For reference, the race on the 2.1 mile track is Saturday and Sunday.

* Chili Bowl Midget Nationals (second week of 2012). A who's who of racing starts.

* South America's legendary Dakar Rally (New Year's Day -- a 15-day affair through Argentina, Chile, and Peru). Robby Gordon has raced in Dakar in the past.

And of course, there's the FIA Prizegiving banquet in India next week, and major news is expected there, with the developments in Austin coming to a showdown at the World Motor Sport Council meeting. Austin is likely to be pulled from the schedule, and construction on the circuit will likely cease. Bernie has said F1 should be an Asia and Middle East series, with Europe having only five races. In 2009, F1 didn't race in North America.

Also, this weekend is another motorsport event that counts to the short-track fraternity, the Snowball Derby.

Leaving the major story in motorsport hanging before denouement at the WMSC meeting is wrong.

Darcie said...

I just want to see the dresses, who looks good, who looks bad and who looks like a hoochie mama. Anyone want to take bets on what WAG will be in the last category?

Anonymous said...

whoever Tony brings.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to be too busy watching my toenails grow.House got painted in Oct.so can't watch it dry.Might be a good time to reread my Smokey Yunick book.

DaveM4210 said...

All you guys wanting a Roast instead of the Awards show should run out to Walmart or Best Buy and get a Sirius or XM radio with a Home Kit so you can listen to the Stewie Awards Thursday evening. I so far have not seen anything saying the Stewies will be streamed online (it's not an official event).I heard about an hour of it last year, what I heard was very funny. Only takes about 15 minutes to set up, but if you get XM instead of Sirius, be sure to ask for "Best of Sirius" when you call in to set it up. It's $2.99 extra per month for XM, which IIRC works out to actually a few cents less than the cost of Sirius service.

I am starting to warm up to Marianella. She is good on some of the other shows she does (I went looking for them after her stint on Trackside was extended), and she is easy to looks at. IIRC she will be doing the Red Carpet talking to arriving wives and girlfriends. I think at Talladega, she did some good (and funny) interviews of the type that Rutledge Wood used to do in the hauler and RV areas of the infield. (If anyone ever meets her, DO NOT ACCEPT ANY OFFER TO PLAY POKER with her, HaHa!

Reba will be doing the comedy this year, so that part should be a quadra-mega-zillion times better than the fool they had last year. And Reba does know a thing ot three about racing. I have seen her in the pits with her son a couple times at (can't remember which) either Rolex or ALMS races this year. You can also expect a couple drivers to fumble their speaches in funny or embarassing ways even though they are reading a teleprompter. And like JD said, watching Brian France trying to interact with real people should be good for a few laffs. The unfortunate thing about the entertainment part of the event is that someone decided to add Kid Rock.

DaveM4210 said...

Anon 6:21, the Snowball Derby is Saturday, and IIRC someone tweeted earlier tonite that it will be on Speed51.com. (Someone please tweet me updates because I have frequent problems with streaming video and audio on my Road Runner that is using ancient cable out in the middle of rural nowhere in Ohio)

Bobby 5:28 I THINK I saw on one of the blogs or columns linked off Jayski that more of the V8Supercar races would be broadcast live next year, but my guess is it will be done with announcers here instead of down under, like is done for the F1 races.

Anonymous said...

The only 'Awards' programming I have any interest in is the Cup banquet. But it poses a dilema. I refuse to sit through four plus hours of that 'content'. I will probably DVR it, but that's a lot of space I may not want to use up on my DVR. I just want this season to end so I can hit the Reset button.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, can't watch

There's paint drying on my wall and its more entertaining

garry said...

The unfortunate side of the NASCAR awards is that the sponsors run that operation as well. I realize they help pay the bills,but geez, twenty three minutes of'I'd like to thank blah blah blah, etc." Get up there accept your awards, have a scrolling ticker of their sponsors, and get the heck off the stage.

Anonymous said...

SD80MAC, watched four hours of Snowball/Snowflake practice today from the grandstands in turn four and it was great! How were the awards?

Vicky D said...

I have never watched award shows and won't start now. I guess I can watch the Reader's Digest version next week in a spare 10 minutes that I might have. These shows are always soooooooooooo boring.

Buschseries61 said...

I miss everyone already, and the season only ended a few weeks ago! I'll try to be here Friday night for the banquet dinner. It'll be great to see someone new at the 'special' table.

Dot said...

@ PammH, Good point about Darian. Awkward to say the least.

Thanks to you JD for letting others know about the TV format. It can be confusing if the TV shows "live" in the corner. From that confusion, dear Sophia coined ESPN as BSPN when they showed the banquet in the past.

Roland said...

Shame all this stuff is online only. Speed is failing us. Hearing theres some good stuff has gone on in Vegas the past couple days, cant see it due to slow internet.

NorCalFan said...

Too bad the Nascar.com live streaming of "After the Lap" kept buffering and the screen freezing (lack of bandwidth??) but not before Jeff Gordon gave way to pressure from fans to breakdance on stage in front of the 11 other chase drivers and a theater full of people. I'm shocked the guy had the guts to do it, amazed he was able to move like that (considering his past back problems) and I'm still proud to call him my favorite driver. He was the highlight of the day's activities.

I ended up having to listen to the remainder of the show on Sirius/XM radio. For whatever reason, I experienced no buffering issues during the Myers Bros. luncheon; although the audio could have been turned up a notch. The highlight of the luncheon was watching and listening to a very emotional Darian Grubb give a bittersweet speech in accepting the crew chief of the year award.

Anonymous said...

Oh well, I cancelled Speed two minutes after Carl lost.

See ya next year. Couldn't care less about this contrived crap.

Daly Planet Editor said...

I also had buffering issues and wound-up leaving the "After The Lap" presentation. No comment from Turner Sports on this issue so far.

Anonymous said...

They hired Reba McEntire Blackstock when they thought Cousin Ted had a overly firm grasp on the Championship ... because Reba's son, Shelby Blackstock drives for the Rat in the Hat in the Grand Am-Rolex series ...

They hired Bob Richie when Stewie lead footed his way toward the top of the points ... Bob was also the sponsor for the Busch Series car that was fielded by DeLana and driven by Stewie, which basically expanded KHI past a handful of Truck races for Kevin ...



Seriously ... SPEED needs to DUMP that Marianela chick back into the hands of Disney Poker Stars on Thin Ice ... She adds NOTHING to the NASCAR stuff she's on as she knows ZERO about NASCAR (the sport & drivers & teams) ...

SPEED should hire Lindsay Czarniak away from ESPN ... and dump Danielle Trotta ... Move Lindsay to Charlotte and she can do all of the stuff professionally that Trotta flubs ...


I haven't decided IF I'll watch or listen to the Cup banquet ...

I'm NOT happy with the condensed and combined Truck & Nationwide banquet ... The show stunk last year ... It shortchanges the guys who fought hard to get into & stay in the top 10 in points in both series ... They could do without the band and comedian ... Give more time to the actual drivers ...

Anonymous said...

apparently people need to be reminded *again*. As JD said, the banquet is for the *teams*, not for the viewers. The main decisions about entertainment and such should be based on what they would like, not what we would like.

I doubt Reba's selection had *anything* to do with Roush...talk about ridiculous conspiracy theories. He's a minor driver in Grand Am, big deal. More like her 12 times at hosting the country awards shows.

As for Marianela...does anyone seriously think they need to know anything about racing to ask people questions on a red carpet, or for a fluff entertainment show that features racing? I personally don't have a strong opinion about her one way or the other, but I don't think racing knowledge is required for this job; she's not on pit road.

Anonymous said...

ANONYMOUS SAID: "but I don't think racing knowledge is required for this job; she's not on pit road."

...YET.

Anonymous said...

Question. If the Banquet is for the 'teams', then why Televise it for four hours? Just curious.

Daly Planet Editor said...

The banquet is put in the TV contract. It makes no money, gets no ratings and is actually produced by the NASCAR Media Group.

It's just a final exposure for sponsors.

anon 10:51 said...

anon 10:54...bite your tongue!

No, I would not want that to happen. But whoever thinks Lindsay Czarniak would give up ESPN for SPEED...not gonna happen. Unlimited opportunity vs. racing network...uh, no.

Anonymous said...

Wow I'm amazed. I can't figure out when the show starts tonight. Nascar.com say 6PM but does not give a time zone. Here is says 9PM but does not give a time zone. Lol. Well guess I'll keep searching. And congrats to all the Smoke fans!! Whooot whooo - great job!!

Anonymous said...

Yep, good ole jayski.com. Starts at 9PM east time <--- kinda important info to have ya know. Cheers all, enjoy

Daly Planet Editor said...

Anon, my story and my schedule on the front page of this site tells you the time. I don't undertstand why you needed to post that.

DaveM4210 said...

Listening to the Champions Show on SiriusXM NASCAR. Claire B Lang backstage at the Wynn interviewed several of the #14 team. Her interview with Darian Grubb was very goot. If any of you that have Sirius XM missed it, it will probably be replayed a couple times over the next week.

Daly Planet Editor said...

The new post is up for the banquet TV tonight. Please move your comments to that post. Thanks.