The rain changed a lot of things on Friday and the result was a quick rescheduling of Sprint Cup Series practice. SPEED has added two sessions at 9:30 and 11:30AM ET in addition to the Nationwide and Cup qualifying coverage already scheduled. This means a big day for SPEED leading up to the Nationwide Series race at 4PM on ESPN2.
On this final race weekend, SPEED has a habit of dusting off Darrell Waltrip and returning him to the track. Saturday, he will work both Sprint Cup Series practice sessions with Larry McReynolds and Mike Joy.
There are a lot of stories unfolding and several that may develop into headline news as the series heads into the final race. Crew chief rumors, secret fines and the potential loss of the entire Red Bull organization may slightly overshadow the Chase on Saturday.
Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards have been fun to watch and professional in their approach to almost all of the media this week. It should be an interesting transition for them to go from the familiar faces of the SPEED reporters on Saturday to the over-hyped world of ESPN on Sunday.
Saturday should be all about serious on-track business for most teams as the weather has not allowed them track time to this point. There is a lot on the line not only for this year, but for 2012 when it comes to this final race.
Rick Allen gives the FOX crew a break when he calls Nationwide Series qualifying with Jeff Hammond and Phil Parsons at 1PM. Joy, Waltrip and McReynolds return for Cup qualifying at 2:30PM. It will be interesting to see if Mother Nature allows all this to happen.
This post will serve to host your comments about the Saturday day shift coverage on SPEED. To add your TV-related question, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
Time: Sat, 8:04AM
ReplyDeleteLocation: 6 miles N of the track
Weather: Party Cloudy to Cloudy, Breezy, intermittent showers
Great for SPEED to get the chance to cover everything with style and class. Thank you SPEED for adding the shows!!
ReplyDeleteI'm traveling Sunday and I hope that I can find enough radio stations on the road to listen to the race.
To Funny word veri to go with your post pic: cryle
The weather on Miami Bch this AM is lovely and th only rain showing anywhere in S. FL seems to be near the track. But there is just a little so things should be fine I think for today and tomorrow. I'm betting that anyway.
ReplyDeleteA couple of nifty quotes from today's LA Times
"Shortly [after the Homestead race], NASCAR will shut down briefly, wait a few weeks, and then roll out a new business model for 2012."
...and we will all love the 2012 Edsel. It will be new! and improved!
BZF said regarding Bwad's Bad (I cannot make this stuff up!)
"Happy to have any other criticism, any other complaint, happy to hear them all, but if I own a restaurant and I say, 'You know what? The food in my restaurant is not very good,' we're not going to accept that. It's as simple as that."
Yeah, but what if the food is bad?
Were NASCAR a restaurant I would ring up Gordon Ramsay toot sweet. A more perfect "living in a state of denial" candidate for Kitchen Nightmares could not be found.
Cheers!
Can't believe a red flag for S&P blow-ups!
ReplyDeleteThese guys on Speed aren't paying any attention to practice. All they do is talk about whatever they feel like talking about. Of course, that's pretty much what I expected.
ReplyDeleteObviously Brain Farce and the Beach Boys don't realize that
ReplyDeletecriticism can have a postive
effect. With their heads up their
rears they will never comprehend that the fans know and understand a great deal more than NA$CAR and the TV network execs want to believe. I'm glad we have drivers
like Newman and Brad who speak their minds.
Chris: I just asked on Twitter if those guys are done with NASCAR PR duties maybe we could get some practice coverage!
ReplyDeleteWatch out. You'll get one of those secret fines. :)
ReplyDeleteTrackside.....anyone?
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth did we have to look at a picture of Krylie to read this blog?
ReplyDeleteNo more blah blah blah for me. I'll be back for NNS qualifying.
ReplyDeleteWill watch golf....Presidents Cup......while trackside is on then back to practice. Trackside has become a joke.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing some work at home with the tv on. Have to say, the interview with Austin was good, they asked good questions about his preparations, etc, and a funny touch to have that autograph from Kyle. And that was a great story about the call from Jr about the number 3. Doesn't surprise me that he would do such a thing. Also liked the clips of Austin's 'slide'. But now they're probably going to start on the silly stuff.
ReplyDeleteWill never understand the put down about talking about Dale jr. Business 101.......give the majority of customers what they want.....most popular driver equals best product. Business always make the most of their best product.
ReplyDeleteSome even say if he wins NASCAR let him, COME ON, if that were true he would have won plenty by now. If NASCAR has been helping him then please stop.
No way will I watch Track Side. I turned on the TV to the practice session and had it on mute at least half the time until they showed something that might be interesting. As usual, there was a lot of DW and Mike Joy story telling. Not good, but a precursor of what to expect this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI really like Rutledge Wood and Kyle Petty on Trackside, but I really wish they would go back to the old format of previous years and dump the silly stuff! Just 4 people doing Q&A qith guests!
ReplyDeletematriarch, he is the forgotten man this weekend. Suddenly, he is invisible! Guess TV got the memo.
ReplyDeleteThose matching blazers are still pretty weird.
ReplyDeleteDo we have any technical types on here today?
ReplyDeleteI have seen a lot of comments complaining about NASCAR using old fashioned throttle body fuel injection next year. I saw a diagram of the system on nascar.com and there are eight injectors, one at each intake part. That doesn't add up to TBI for me. TBI usually has one injector just below the throttle plate. This looks like port injection to me.
Anybody out there who really knows?
"Blazergate" is getting way overblown on here. So they want to look professional? Big deal. Its just wardrobe. Its not life changing. Time to move on....
ReplyDeletehehehe...there was Larry Mac making excuses for MWR letting Reuty go, and there's Mike Joy jumping up in his defense (I was saying aloud, what about the 56 just as Mike said it...). And DW trying to make it sound like Reuty should just be grateful he made money. Sheesh. When Reuty was MWR's 'franchise' DW couldn't wait to rave about how great he was. Anyways, it was about them not having a full time sponsor as much as anything. No excuse for *how* it was done though.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I respectfully disagree. SPEED has spend over a decade branding itself as the casual alternative to ESPN.
ReplyDeleteNow, in the middle of the season, David Hill from FOX puts his Austrailian TV blue blazers to his new SPEED peeps.
He actually covered up the wardrobe SPEED was contractually obligated to wear and sells on the SPEED website.
Appreciate the opportunity to address this issue.
JD
@ChrisK The NASCAR version of Throttle Body Fuel Injection uses a throttle body for air only. I am assuming they are doing that so that they can still use the restrictor plates for Daytona and Talladega.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the fashion police....I don't think they need the blazers, especially if they look like they were sort of thrown on, but I don't mind them on the ESPN guys either. They look like professionals.
ReplyDeleteUm....is it me or are the Trackside guys asking actual intelligent questions? Of course, they're about to get silly with the T shirt stuff, but up to now, it was like the old trackside.
New low for Trackside.
ReplyDeletemissed it-what happened please.
ReplyDeleteWow. This is like the end of the world NASCAR TV.
ReplyDeleteGlen, if they would keep Hammond and Kyle Petty and just give them a smart host it would be a great show.
ReplyDeleteThose two guys ask the right questions and know the sport.
This is beyond cable access TV.
Was wrong. It got worse.
ReplyDeleteTrackside is like The Office. Their both not the same anymore, practically beg for laughs, and should just be cancelled before they get anymore painful.
ReplyDeleteI knew it would be all downhill after Ricky left.
ReplyDeleteI tried watching Trackside. I got through the Stenhouse interview, but then they brought on the Twitter girls.
ReplyDeleteAwful. Just Awful.
I just turned it off.
C'mon, SPEED. Fix this for next year.
My big fear is that Hermie Sadler got dumped from RaceDay so that SPEED could bring in Marianela or Rutledge full time.
ReplyDeleteWe should know about that next week.
Really glad DirectTV brought back one of the all time dumbest commercials.
ReplyDeleteMike Wallace is a class act. Nice to see him still racing.
ReplyDeleteWow. Phil Parsons actually interrupted some of the useless chatter to mention something that happened on the track.
ReplyDeleteSpeed must have reached the limit on their time shifting. Now they are skipping cars.
ReplyDeleteSD80MAC said...
ReplyDelete@ChrisK The NASCAR version of Throttle Body Fuel Injection uses a throttle body for air only. I am assuming they are doing that so that they can still use the restrictor plates for Daytona and Talladega.
The change to EFI, the way it has been done, means that from the middle of the intake runner where the injectors are located and down have not been affected by the change. The air cleaner and it's box down to the restrictor plate (when used) are all the same. The engine doesn't "know" that the distributer or carb have been removed. What this means is cost, no new heads or any other major changes to the rest of the power plant. Cost to make the changes are actually quite inexpensive and will be unseen by the fans at Daytona.
NNS quals or paint drying?
ReplyDeleteGrass growing
ReplyDeleteNot on the list!
ReplyDeleteJust an hour and a half then no more DW until the end of February!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I'm already tired of DW. He can be SO good and informative in the right situation...but that isn't in the booth today.
ReplyDeleteveri:comands!
Mike Joy has enabled him! It's awful. So frustrated.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dirty trick by Speed bringing DW in to ruin the last weekend of racing this year. How come the powers that be can't see people are tired of him. Just listening to him bloviate makes me sick. I'm so tired of him even if he says something descent I still don't want to hear him, guess that's pretty fed up!
ReplyDeleteLooks like Speed must have hired Eddie Gossage to advise on their promotions.
ReplyDeleteHave not understood Dream Ride since they started it.
ReplyDeleteAncient, glad you are there enjoying the races live and in person!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of you with Thanksgiving approaching - remember that Phila station 93.3 WMMR always plays Alice's Restaurant in honor of the holiday.
Hope the weather holds and although I think it is a tremendous long shot, I would very much like to see Mr. Jeff Gordon get a win at Homestead to add another check to the list of tracks he's won a race at.
Love your comment about BZF and his verbal perambulations making the usual excuses for why NASCAR is such a mess and it's silly fines.
I love DW!!!! Best tv crew in the biz right there.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Mike Joy, there were two "final go-or-go-homers."
ReplyDeleteI didn't even bother to waste the electricity to turn on trackside. I washed the windows instead, far more productive and less aggravating. It's a shame because Kyle Petty at least speaks his mind, but I am not putting up with the silliness that this show has mostly become.
ReplyDeleteHere is a scary thought. Regis just retired. Holds Guinness record for most on-air hours: 17k plus. What if this is DW's new goal in life?
ReplyDeleteFound qualifying on speed just in time to watch the HMS guys run.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:33 - perish the thought!
ReplyDeleteJr Johnson was NOT wrong when he nicknamed DW, Jaws -- and it was NOT a compliment.
I'm not sure which to be more irritated with: Spoilers that tweet qualifying results several cars ahead of what we see on TV, or Speed and BSPN for time shifting the qualifying to show all cars.
ReplyDeleteAt the top of the hour, jump back to the main page for the new Nationwide Series race blog!
ReplyDeleteLast one of 2011!
@GinaV24
ReplyDeleteAs a JG fan myself, a win at Homestead would be terrific but I would settle for the #24 to just finish in the top ten in points.
NorCalFan, I totally agree!
ReplyDelete