Saturday, August 20, 2011

Live Blogging Nationwide Series from Montreal (ESPN - 2PM ET)


This road course race from Montreal is always interesting. First, it often rains although the weather today is clear. Secondly, there are a lot of Canadian road course ringers, so it kind of makes for a race within a race.

If the final laps of this are run under caution, it sometimes turns into an exercise in who can spin who on the final lap to win. Sometimes, it's just not pretty.

ESPN provided no coverage of practice or qualifying. The B-team of Marty Reid, Rusty Wallace and Ricky Craven will provide the coverage. Down on pit road will be Shannon Spake, Jim Nobile and Rick DeBruhl.

Road course coverage mandates that the director follow the leader and then jump backward to any incidents on the track. Hopefully, ESPN uses a lot of split-screen coverage today for things like green flag pitstops, soundbites and pit interviews.

It's hard to lose track of the leaders and then suddenly snap back to them on-camera. The only thing that helps to restore a sense of perspective is an aerial view. The scenery is beautiful and the crowd at the track is legendary for enjoying hardcore racing.

There are several NNS regulars running for the points championship who will have to be rather careful today. There are many drivers who appear in the NNS only on road courses and their only agenda is to win.

Danica Patrick is in the race, had told the media she will have no comment on her NASCAR future and will start 25th of 43 cars.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN coverage of the Nationwide Series race from Montreal. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below.

Live Blogging Camping World Trucks From Michigan (SPEED - 12PM ET)


The comfortable truck series TV team is on the air from MIS. Krista Voda leads the pre-race show. In the booth is Rick Allen, Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons. Ray Dunlap and Hermie Sadler are on pit road.

MIS today is a short race that looks more and more like another green flag gas mileage affair. It should be interesting to see just how much racing is done in comparison to driving to a specific gas strategy.

SPEED also has RaceBuddy free at NASCAR.com for the truck races this season. This is an event where having some extra angles and elements to use may come in very handy.

This post will serve to host your comments on the SPEED coverage today. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below.