It was a rough Saturday for ESPN in Phoenix. College football ran 35 minutes longer than scheduled, covering the entire Nationwide Series pre-race show. As this was the next to last race, you would think ESPN would have some plans in place, but nothing happened. ESPN2 joined shortly before the National Anthem and the race was on.
After Sam Hornish won, ESPN2 switched immediately to a college football game without any interviews, including the winner. Announcer Marty Reid told viewers that the entire post-race would be done on ESPNEWS. Eventually, the Hornish interview and one other was shown. It was not a stellar day for the only NNS TV partner.
Today, ESPN faces another challenge. It rained hard during the night and the weather forecast continues to call for an 80% chance of rain through 4PM. PIR has lights, so it could be a very long day on the air. There are no live program conflicts on ESPN tonight, so the race window can continue until NASCAR postpones until Monday.
Nicole Briscoe lost her pre-race show yesterday, but hosts an hour today with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Rusty's son Steven had quite a moment in the NNS race on Saturday. It should be interesting to see if that race is recapped.
Allen Bestwick is once again teamed with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. The single-groove track widened out in the Nationwide Series race to allow for passing and strategy. After the rain Saturday night, the newly-repaved track should be the topic of conversation.
Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch, Dave Burns and Vince Welch are on pit road. Tim Brewer is in the Tech Garage. Little had a rough outing Saturday, including a memorable interview with Jason Leffler. Punch has changed gears and tries to work his own agenda into interviews. Joe Gibbs and Elliott Sadler come to mind.
ESPN's producer and director made a decision to shrink the PIR Nationwide Series pictures sent to fans to a single car at a time. If there were two cars in the picture, it was tolerated. ESPN missed every incident but one and used replays to explain the happenings on the track.
If this approach is taken to the longer Cup race today, it may simply prove to be a reason for sports fans to switch to NFL games. Instead of selling the racing action, ESPN has followed the "storytelling" script where announcers talk overtop of the action as if they are watching a movie. It's very strange.
The new dogleg on the backstretch has given drivers the option of cutting low and then sliding up in front of those still on the track. This angle will have to be covered on every lap and it will be tough to do. Even getting the right replay angles recorded will be a challenge.
Once again ESPN has to cover the Chase, the race and Kyle Busch. In his first race back, Busch is racing without the M&M's sponsorship. The Chase now features only two participants and the race is absolutely anyone's to take.
Throw in the rain delays and this is going to be a very interesting race telecast. This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN coverage from PIR today. To add your TV-related opinion, just click the comments button. Thanks for stopping by.
280 comments:
1 – 200 of 280 Newer› Newest»I'm guessing our moderator is watching Chris Myers. Redskins and Dolphins.
Was at DD getting a pre-race Cup of coffee. See we still attract the same classy crowd!
Well, Giants are on at 4 anyway. I've got Monday off...so rain rain rain.
You should be happy, my two teams are Redskins and Dolphins! Playing right down the street and no one is going! #Awful
Hello Friends! Settling in for a long day in the recliner.
Stuntbusters!!!!!!
Even though I haven't been watching too closely and even ran out for some errnads, Race Day keeps on repeating the same old stories & wants Tony to win the championship it seems to me. OK let's see how many times ESPN mentions Stewart in their Countdown show!
Here we go.
Got the story line already. Only two guys left in it. All the focus on them.
Chase, race and Kyle.
Brad......Rusty......enough.
The good news is the line of showers moving north is falling apart.
I smell a Tech Garage feature coming up explaining how these machines need gas to run.
Should say enough Brad and Rusty.
Kyle Busch is a clean driver?
I don't know where Brad Daugherty gets his opinion, but to call Kyle Busch a "clean" race car driver is laughable? And to say that we need to stop talking about Kyle Busch's situation? It's the media who is doing so. I guess you, Brad Daugherty, has lost touch of reality!
really?? what planet are Rusty & Brad on that they don't know KyBu has burned every bridge he's been over?? unreal..
Something weird is happening at ESPN. They interviewed Morgan Shepherd!
Brad.....the fireman.
I broke my rule of not listening to pre-race shows. Speed and Espn were just insulting. My opinion of Nicole hasn't changed in five years. Ignorant....
Brad says a lot of people are not happy with the PIR reconfiguration. How about some examples of who they are.
Oh for the love of god, enough with tires Tim. They bring you a whole freakin car every week and all you talk about is tires, shocks, and brakes.
How long till Chad Knaus retires?
ROBBY GORDON!!!!!
She isn't ignorant. It's a script.
I'm anticipating some quality nap time today.
Is ESPN on drugs? ... Another profile on Jimmie Johnson? What did Lowes or Jimmie Johnson pay to the network?
I am skipping pre race for figure skating. Gotta be more entertaining.
It's our pet troll! He's early today.
Did anyone hear if we are on schedule for a start or if this is just a fake ramp-up to a wet track delay?
Mom went out shopping apparently.
Correction, JD. You said chase, race, and Kyle. 'race' should be at the end of that list, since it's the last thing ESPN cares about.
I think they had all the Jimmie stuff saved up for his championship run this year. Now that the unthinkable happened and he wont win the championship, it seems out of place.
yesterday evening JJ posted a picture on twitter and asked if he should try this. It was a picture of a bronking bull that they have in a bar.
Sally, I let them know that SPEED kicked their butt with one pit reporter, two talent and less than ten cameras on the K&N race last night.
Even Claire B ripped ESPN for leaving without speaking to Hornish.
NASCAR's Steve O'Donnell said on Twitter he was hot about it.
Charlie...then he read his contract!
JD you wrote:
She isn't ignorant. It's a script.
ESPN should just let Nicole bring the facts and not scripts
Looks race ready to me JD. Also, I do not see any safety trucks circling like tey usually do to speed the drying process.
Yes ha ha He tweeted back later and said he might try it in a couple of weeks.
Marty is at Junior's gas station!
I feel sorry for Sam, he finally wins a race and ESPN left him!
I predict that ESPN will a longer interview with their boy Carl than Tony!
Anon....good eyes!
Junior has Union 76 at his gas station? Don't tell Sunoco.
OOPS! M&M logos on his firesuit!
They are still sponsors, just not primary on the car these two weeks. Still did hospitality and everything.
Just not "feeling it" for this race. You guys getting the same thing?
Think of this - pre-race coverage
As we close in on the end of the 2011 season stop and think of the drivers in the field who never saw one minute of pre-race TV air time.
Its quite a lengthy list, isnt it ?
Wish that would change for '12.
I really don't like this guy and these features and especially don't need to see the same one twice in an hour.
should be all excited that JJ is out & it's a close race, but ya know what? I'm just tired & want the season over. And knowing we won't see jack of the race on TV bums me out too...:(
I wonder who does Ron Perlman's hair.
I'm feeling it. In two weeks there will not be any racing. I think slow and steady will win this one today. Beats cookie cutter Texas. Too fast to actually race. Switching over to MRN helps too.
One thing Espn doesn't get is that the fans don't change drivers once the chase starts.
Espn thinks all of us are cheering for either Edwards or Smoke and we don't care about the other drivers.
Yet another reason the military should always do the National Anthem.
Lame
Hi ya Planeteerz!
Still waiting on RaceBuddy.
I'm feelin' it JD !!
For some reason, this race has me pretty fired up. NNS and K&N were entertaining.
Interested to see if the "jet blowers" will actually clean off the dogleg apron or allow marbles to build down there.
Jimm57 said...
Yet another reason the military should always do the National Anthem.
Lame
Hi ya Planeteerz!
November 13, 2011 3:05 PM
Next week: Roseanne Barr
JD,
will be watching the race for awhile but if the tv coverage is the same as i read on the live blog of the n'wide, it will be NFL(not for long) on this broadcast and to the NFL NYG and SF. sad it comes to this, but that is the way it is
Lou, that was just awful yesterday. If I was an NNS sponsor I would flip out. No pre-race, no post-race and crappy coverage.
I'm with you, JD. This ridiculous 'chase' has left me cold. With all the emphasis on it instead of the actual racing, I'm losing my connection to the sport in general. When I con't get wrapped up in each race each weekend, the end of the season is just going to be a relief. I won't be in front of my TV hopin that, just once, I will be able to wach the actual race on the track without all the 'storylines' and extra crap.
sbaker, Rosanne and Mooshell O. I may be busy till lap one.
"Tools for today?" that's a stretch.
No surprise...Ragan the Weapon...1st caution
A little delay between scanner and TV, maybe 10 sec....so far
Big delay today between live and TV
As I was trying to log into trackpass, I was thinking that if NASCAR.com makes it any harder to find it, I would pull out my hair!
Hi JD and the planeteers. I got a lot done outside today and it's clouded over, so I decided to see if the race will be worth watching.
I've got the game with Philly and Arizona on Fox today, so I will probably flip back and forth.
Surprised the track didnt repaint the walls and clean up all the speedy dry. Well I guess thats ISC for you.
Gordon just said on his scanner that he had NEVER seen a first lap that slow - ever!
OOPS...that shoulda read...Regan and Ragan the Weapons....my mistake on theirs...
Roland, it looks awful! I was thinking the same thing.
I read that michelle obama is going to be one of the grand marshals at the race next week.
That should be interesting.
Jimm57
Mooshell on the campaign trail. Florida is big. I'm waiting to hear how she and Big Guy have been a fan of NASCAR for years
The caution record at Phoenix is only 10. We could very well see that broken at this rate.
Also since my guy started in the back, he won't get any camera time, so I can listen on the scanner and get as much info as ESPN will give me.
At this point I just want the 24 to survive this race.
Starting to look like the beginning of the Nat Wide race yesterday, cant figure out the track yet under race conditions. Practice is one thing, race is much more aggressive
Charlie, she and Biden are part of the diversity program that NASCAR is also involved in.
At least it works in other areas, but money is king right now in this sport.
Be interesting to see how many Cup teams are left if Red Bull goes bye and RCR drops a car.
Roush is dropping one car also, aren't they? Probably means more S&P or short fields.
Kyle Busch is up to 29th.
No official word yet on Roush.
Yes, add another bar to the Tv screen. Who needs to see a nice wide view of this racing.
PammH, you said earlier that we should be excited that someone else besides JJ would win the championship (and I agree). Like you, I am tired of NASCAR at this point - esp with the lousy race coverage.
I watched Fox's Gameday program today and it was amazing to me how much I enjoyed it. I compare it to what Fox does on their pre-race shows and it is not even in the same league.
I don't even bother looking at ESPN's pre-race stuff or raceday any more. It's a waste of time.
So what do you want to bet the only 2 cars we will see today are Stewart and Edwards -- and anyone who wrecks?
Storytelling mode in full effect.
well I stand corrected, they are actually showing cars racing in the back. Nice. Considering that McMurray almost wrecked his teamate - maybe he doesn't like JPM either.
I thought they would have that 3 bar at the top of the screen only on for a bit of the race.
Guess not. We really have to know if the season ended now on this lap who would win.
@Charlie....it is like sitting way up under the overhang of the grandstands....jeez what a dumb use of the screen.
They caught the #22 sideways and the #42/1 contact when they searched for the racing. More of that and less of the #14 by himself.
well that ford commercial was on during the football game, I switched back to the race and darn, there's that same commercial again, so back to football.
Hmmmm.....what to watch. The race. The Giants game. UNC basketball. Thank goodness for PIP on my TV.
I like having points as they run, but not every lap. They could easily put that in the space above the ticker where it shows whos leadin'. Ive never seen such a narrow viewing window in my life. Get rid of that bottom ticker too.
Do they Really need a non stop graphic of the points taking up more of the screen? That's really obnoxious.
racebuddy says there has been one leader and 1 lead change. How is that possible. Shouldn't it say 2 leaders, 1 lead change.
Matt is ruining ESPN's script that they want a duel between Tony & Carl and Matt is leading right now!
I missed it, why was there a caution.
hi charlie! competition caution lap 40.
Thanks Red
Loving the backstretch cam on RaceBuddy!
Besides Tony & Carl, there has been very little coverage of the battles for 3rd-12th in the championship. Our past complaints of the Chase vs. Race seem irrelevant this season.
JD, I decded not to use RB this weekend. I'm tired of trying to watch the pics on the TV, listen to RB and keep up with this blog (the best part!), just to try and get enough information to enjoy a race. I'ts not worth it anymore.
Look at all the racing and the camera director is lost on what to show.
Allen sounds like he would rather be doing something else.
You mean like actually calling the racing? I agree.
Kyle right behind Harvick. Wonder if he'll try bump and run.
Thats right JD.
Backstreach cam is the best every week. Good racing on race buddy, on the four letter, not so much. Again.
I have a 9 inch high screen and 2 1/2 inches of the screen is taken up by the bottom and top bars.
I think that is about 27% of my screen is just bars.
I don't have a big screen TV, BSPN is killin' me w/all these scrolls.
why did they move pit cam to mosaic 2?
Oh they moved it to mosaic 1.
RB has mixed up pit and backstretch feeds.
thanks, jerry! i was working my way thru the various cameras and it would have been a while before i found the backstretch camera on my own!
btw, the white roofs is a Coca Cola promotion...save the Artic, tied in with their polar bears. Jamie Mac has a different suit also.
They switched pit cam and backstretch on RaceBuddy when I wasn't looking (and then didn't switch the labels) - probably just to annoy me.
Speaking of on-screen graphics, didn't there used to be an overlay graphic showing the up-to-speed car's position on the track relative to the leader? Did that get outsourced for the "Tony and Carl's points if the race ended right now" banner?
Kenseth might have a problem
Welcome to The New Age of Sports Broadcasting. What we at ESPN say and think is much more important to viewers at home than the event viewers tuned in to watch.
Mystery NASCAR Theater 3000. Bah!
I honestly dont feel like Im watching a race. It feels like Im watching a reality show. Lengthy commercials, promos coming back from commercial, annoying Sprint thing, then constant focus on Tony Stewart. I feel like I should go watch football, and I dont even like NFL.
Funny when Sprint sponsors their own Ride Shotgun where viewers get to select who we want to shrink on the screen. Are they trying to kill their own series?
They should add another bar that tells you the newest news going on around the world.
Did Bodine bring money to Baldwin? Can't figure that one out.
you know, that bottom bar doesn't even have a purpose, it's just a solid line below the ticker. Likewise, the top bar has more layers than necessary. Even on my 37in, it's annoying.
Timely comment Jerry. Bowhine in the wall.
Just like ESPN to be on a commercial break for this caution.
Yes Jerry, brought a multi-race sponsor
commercial = caution
I wish RaceBuddy would de-emphasize, or remove completely, the engine noise in the in-car feeds. It's hard to hear the radio traffic.
Got RB sorted out, they had some momentary issues.
Thanks Buschseries.
Why would a sponsor want to spend the millions of dollars to sponsor a car when it is seldom if ever shown on TV? I can see why sponsorship is dropping with so many cars that can't find sponsors.
Maybe thats Bodine's strategy. Spin to get on TV.
Are they trying out a different director this week? Except when they did thru-the-field we've seen racing, wider shots, non-chase drivers (Dinger, Jamie Mc, Burton) and on lap 20 they even held on a high shot and let the field go thru the shot. Sure has a different look to me than usual. Wow. 3 wide as I finish this.
Seems very different. No double boxes with in-car of drivers, no single shots. Might just be because of the accident potential.
Let Bestwick call the race!
What's with tracking Jimmie Johnson who is not even in the top 20? Something is really wrong.
I also aqree we are getting wider shots so they might catch a wreck.
Not that far to halfway. Expect a major commercial overload till then.
Gordon is now taking the name of the lord in vain - usually it's just the F word, so the car must be really bad. I can only tell this by the scanner feed and pit command.
Ok. Is Sprint now making up a bunch of new categories for their shrink the picture moments or have I been catatonic this season?
Gotta have brakes, back to you AB!
New ones!
I've championed "NASCAR on ESPN" for a long time despite being criticized. But the coverage today is just bad. As thankful as I am for ESPN helping this sport become prominent, they need to go. It's just not working anymore.
It's taken me a lot of time and effort to admit this, but ESPN's coverage is awful. I can't wait for their contract to end. This is so frustrating to watch. I'm still struggling to understand the new configuration. They need to show it, not talk about it.
No, don't cave into the tight shots! Come on guys, stay wide.
Damn it, four cars racing for position, you leave that to show JJ running by himself. Give me a f$%^ing break.
Yep, same knucklehead. Tried to post that stuff on all different columns. What's the point of wasting time doing that?
Maybe I am just a tad too old to get it.
That backstretch cam is just great on commercial breaks.
well between the commercials and the tight shots, I am left wondering if there is a race today or not?
ESPN needs to give me more than this if they want me to watch.
Anyone from NASCAR watching this, do you suppose?
why is there an ad for the race that we are watching?
"Every lap, every lead change, every pit stop could make the difference" Ironic considering we are missing green flag racing for that very promo.
"In a quest to make the imperfect... perfect"
The imperfect? Oh, you mean ESPN's script?
Time for the old man to retire again.
G. Bodine subbing for Vickers this week causing wrecks! I see our friend without a volume control on his TV is back again thi week. Still can't find it, eh?
3rd times a charm. Adios Bodine..
Bodine did what Bodine's do.
Jamie says they have changed everything that they can legally do.
She is always looking for a story to promote herself to a higher place in the broadcast.
I think Geoff is better off riding bobsleds than trying a NASCAR comeback.
Time for the Cup Series to institute the short track "2 spins and your out" rule
Do we really need to know that were Live in Phoenix, AZ? Why no, so lets get rid of that graphic so we can have a slightly bigger box.
She had a rough day yesterday. Leffler called her right out on the air after she twisted his comments and tried to make it confrontational.
Wow, just made it back for the green flag. Impressed!
I'm surprised the four letter didn't break away from the four wide racing to interview Bodine.
If this comes down to Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards it's going to be interesting!
JD, IMO, more drivers need to do that with Jamie. She is terrible.
Geoff Bodine is trending on twitter. Never, ever, thought that would happen.
Park the 83?
I wish someone would tell the ESPN producers how beautiful that wide shot looks in HD letterbox.
Have they completely forgot about the race here in February, when Kenseth turned Vickers to start the big one?
Vickernism strikes again.
Vickers really doesn't want a job next season, does he?
After what Nascar did to Kyle, they are going to look pretty foolish if they don't do something about Vickers. Does he think that;s going to get him a ride next year?
ESPN says it's payback for Martinsville but I think it's payback from Vickers for the spring Phoenix race. Vickers is still mad about Kenseth taking him out in that race.
The Nascar non stop sure keeps me watching the screen with the big picture of the track.
Ha ha - I don't think so.
Vickers didn't wreck someone under caution.
JABBER JARRET SHOULD be fired
now . How in the hell does he come
out with a statement...
saying that "" Vickers gave
Kenseth PAY BACK FOR THE ACTIONS
AT MARTINSVILLE ?"
TO a nation wide audience. He should be suspended now and not allowed to be in the booth anytime
soon.
Vickers and Kenseth should be the undercard on the Kyle/Harvick prize fight after the season ends. I'd pay to see it.
ChrisK you got that right - vickerism! Guess Jimmy Spencer will have his crying towel out next week. I hate my favorite driver is taken out by him.
What happened to ESPN's full throttle gimick?
It's starting to look like the outside line is turning into the better line.
Hey troll, you should be suspended from this blog and not be allowed back any time soon.
So why did Espn show us the race with only a bar across the bottom.
Are they saying - see you could have a whole nice screen view of the race and we have the power to do this but it is our decision to now fill that screen up with more bars.
Vickers is still smart enough to pretend it was an accident on his radio though -- even if it wasn't
Tough worlds on pit road. ESPN is doing a great job following stories today.
Send Jamie in to talk to Kyle in the garage. Please. It should make for great TV.
Jamie Little, Kyle didn't "blow an engine" in practice.
Am I the inly one that feels there's some karma going on with Kyle Busch this weekend? Talk about non stop problems! Had to change engines because of an error 'back at the shop'. Hmmm. Wonder if those guys ahave a little resentment about missing out on their bonus money this year?
ESPN threw away almost all the gimmicks, now it's just graphics everywhere!
Sally, did not know you were a mind reader!
As much as I would like to see Allmendinger win, I dont want to see him win like that. You ditch your guys like that and it completely takes the "team" out of this team sport. They never replaced the driver if he spun, did they? Pretty lame if you ask me.
If he was to win which team would go to victory lane?
Sally - I also wondered if maybe the engine shop sent Kyle a message.
(blush). I try to keep it under wraps mos of the time, but I just couldn't resist this one!
So glad that 'the whole team is behind me' from Kyle. Is he sure about that? Wonder what that will do for his temper?
Alright 3 tight shot screens.
Lets play with all the gimmicks we have.
Speed doesn't have all the gimmicks and they showed a nice race last night.
Does anybody know what is wrong with David Ragan? I think I missed that because the only thing I've noticed about him is him being lapped a ton.
Kyle done blowed up. Reason ::
He drove the wheels off of the
car to make it the front from
last place or so.
Now do you get it. ?? This is not rocket science.
championship championship./
championship championship speaking
of the championship...speakingof
the championship
Ragan and Regan Smith wrecked real early - first five laps or so.
Too bad that driving thru the field to get to the front doesn't count unless you're still there on the last lap.
Go AJ
Just tuned in at about lap 200... they were of course at commercial. After returning to the race broadcast, they went about a minute, the covered 1/3 of the screen with a BCS logo and promotion.
Otherwise, they have shown ONLY the 1st & 2nd place cars and a few seconds of the 3 & 4th place cars... NOTHING else. That's enough for me. a useless broadcast.
Just got home and heard my man, Matt, got punted by that idiot Vickers. Did NASCAR park Vickers or are they back to the old "boys have at it" kaka ???
@odsteve seems to have gone silent on Twitter.
Just don't know if I would mess with Matt Kenseth.
@Roland I just got home and put on the race. What do you mean about Allmendinger? Did they switch crews with Ambrose? If so, why?
Ragan crashed out on lap 2.
Thanks for the update on Ragan, I forgot that I didn't turn on the race until lap 20.
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