Thursday is a big day for SPEED as the network gets to cover two Sprint Cup Series races, even though they are not for points. The highlight of the day are the Gatorade Duels. There is, however, lots of other TV surrounding those two sprint races.
ESPN2 slips into action with 10AM coverage of the Nationwide Series practice. That will put Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree back on the air. Jarrett will later be joined by Ray Evernham and Nicole Briscoe for a post-duel edition of NASCAR Now on ESPN2 at 5:30PM.
The spotlight shines squarely on SPEED as the network kicks things off at noon ET with a one-hour telecast of the Camping World Truck series practice. This will be a first look at the cast of characters fans will see on SPEED this season. In the TV booth it's going to be Rick Allen and Phil Parsons. Ray Dunlap and Hermie Sadler will handle the reporting duties.
Next up at 1PM is a one-hour edition of RaceDay that serves as the preview show for the duels. John Roberts hosts with with the full RaceDay crew of Kenny Wallace, Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty on the SPEED stage. Wendy Venturini, Matt Clark and Rutledge Wood are the reporters.
Krista Voda looks awfully good in the Hollywood Hotel and she will once again host the pre-race show for the duels with Jeff Hammond from that location. Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds will call the race from the TV booth. Steve Byrnes and Dick Berggren are the pit road reporters.
SPEED will air the duels live at 2PM and then replay them both starting at 8PM ET. There is no other scheduled re-air, so set the DVR.
Post-race both TV partners will go head-to-head. SPEED will offer Victory Lane while ESPN2 offers NASCAR Now both at 5:30PM. Victory Lane is a signature show for SPEED after every race while NASCAR Now has been struggling with bad timeslots and no re-airs for two years now. Roberts, Petty and Hammond will handle Victory Lane with Wendy Venturini and Bob Dillner as the reporters.
The telecast day wraps-up with another Camping World Truck Series practice with Allen, Parsons and Waltrip and 6:30PM. Then, the re-air of the duels follows at 8PM.
Please use this post to offer your TV-related comments as a big day of NASCAR TV rolls by. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below.
We will also be providing a comment stream on Twitter at twitter.com/thedalyplanet that is always entertaining. We expect many of the TV personalities, reporters and NASCAR officials to take part in that. Have a great Thursday of racing!
The duels are a waste of time now. They used to be important parts of the event, but with all of the guaranteed starting positions, they're just glorified practice sessions now. There are only a small number of teams that it matters to and the rules about who gets in and who doesn't are so complicated that there's no way the TV people are going to be able to explain them to the people watching.
ReplyDeleteSince when are the Duels arranged by odd and even owner points standing positions instead of qualifying speed? Duel 1 is all odd-number owner points, except for polesitter Edwards, who was number 2 in points but won the pole, meaning the slowest car that would have raced in Duel 1 is going to race in Duel 2 instead.
ReplyDeleteI thought NASCAR was working on clarifying its rules. I don't even know when this one came into place. I greatly preferred having all the cars with an odd qualifying rank in Duel 1 and all the cars with an even number in Duel 2.
I'm really excited for the Duels themselves, though. I missed them last year, and I'll at least be able to catch Duel 1 this year and most of Duel 2, depending on the race pace. When's the green flag supposed to drop for Duel 1, and how long is the break between the two?
Thanks for all the info JD! Appreciate being able to get it all in one spot! See ya on Twitter, where you are correct, it's always entertaining!
ReplyDeleteZetona its been that way for years now
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the answer is no...but..
ReplyDeleteMy daughter can't get SPEED on her college cable system...any chance the Duels are streamed? (legally)
Yeah Nascar gives the cup teams so much practice and poor Truck Series & NW series drivers are hardly seen this week. And I just heard that TS is going to be the in-car reporter for the NW race. What a shame!
ReplyDeleteMichael Stoffel said...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the answer is no...but..
My daughter can't get SPEED on her college cable system...any chance the Duels are streamed? (legally)
search for justintv or something like that.
JD, do we get Race Buddy today on Speed? That would be nice.
JD, if I'm trying to follow on Twitter during the race, do I want my browser on your Twitter page or mine?
ReplyDeleteI will be at race today. I am heading into the speedway now. Won't be able to comment on the tv coverage but i will have headphones and scanner tuned to the tv frequency so i can listen to the race telecast on speed while watching live. I am going to follow this blog and twitter on my iphone. Weather is warm. Hoping for an underdog to race into the 500.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of qualifying races, although I wish there weren't so many cars locked in and so few for whom it really matters. I recall hearing the IRL is going to try it a couple of times this year.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see longer races broken into two qualifying races and a shorter main event with smaller fields. Take Darlington, for example. Instead of 500 miles, run two qualifiers at 75 or 100 miles each, and move 20 cars from each to a 250 or 300 mile 'A-Main'.
I'm getting better at reading the Capcha words. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad one.
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteAs these are quals we are not live blogging, but I will have comments coming at me on Twitter.
Race Buddy is up!
ReplyDeletehow many times will we see mikey's in car? and shots of danica?
ReplyDeletei agree the duels serve no real purpose. just way to wreck more cars
SPEED is having audio issues. Sounds staticy. But hey, let's go racing boys!
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the PBP audio?
ReplyDeleteI think Danica just had her "Welcome to NASCAR" moment!
ReplyDeleteThat was a big hit.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing Ann Ominous, also wonder what the odds that Fox will put MW in the HH
ReplyDeleteWow. SPEED is having all sorts of issues. And black screen during the Danica interview?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Danica, what a hard hit. Wow. Glad to see she walked away ok after that.
Who is running audio? Let's hope they find a new crew Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAudio way off and some of the mics are creating static.
ReplyDeleteAudio and video are off by like 5+ seconds. I wonder if the reair will be the same way? Probably.
ReplyDeletehow hard is it to fix the audio delay? Its been like this a while now.
ReplyDeleteMichael Stoffel said...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the answer is no...but..
My daughter can't get SPEED on her college cable system...any chance the Duels are streamed? (legally)
MRN is straming their radio broadcast at http://www.motorracingnetwork.com
Fortunately the car turned itself around to where she hit on the passenger side. Head on or left corner or driver's side would of really been horrid!
ReplyDeleteI was tending to my laundry and missed some of the after coverage. I know with Danica's crash I never heard them say who transfered. I was really surprised when Krista put up the graphic that Robby transfered in! Had they said that before? Did they ever interview the two transferees? (and what happened to Trevor?)
So glad Danica is ok. Scary crash and inside response with her hands was interesting to see. I'd never seen that before. Wow...glad she's safe.
ReplyDeleteThe Audio problems were very annoying...hope they get fixed.
the delay is fixed, but theres still a static noise on some lines
ReplyDeleteOne to go
Thank god for MRN streaming! I got to listen to the end of duel #1 as I rode home in my car.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, professional broadcasting.
Now I'm watching SPEED and just annoyed. It's the freakin' Darrell Waltrip Show featuring some play-by-play by Mike Joy. Just like the Bud Shootout, the booth conversation is disconnected from the race as DW moves his jaw. I've tried to start the year with a fresh look at FOX, but this is frustrating.
I'm not sure how I feel about Michael Waltrip wearing his team t-shirt with sponsor logos on it as he sits in the Hollywood Hotel. SPEED shouldn't have a shortage of collar shirts and blazers.
ReplyDeleteMike Joy's play by play made the last few laps of the second race. He didn't get trampled on by DW or Larry Mac either. Still the best PxP in the sport.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what Speed's problem is today. The garbled audio and pixelation is driving me crazy! (And yes, it is going to be a short trip!) I don't think it is Solar Flares. So far, no peaks reported today.
ReplyDeleteBuschseries61, I'm not sure how I feel about DW making excuses for his brother.
ReplyDeleteThe audio problems again are on Victory Lane too. Odd that out of the blue, Mikey would go into the Hollywood Hotel and Hammond would disappear. No one knew until now that he was doing Victory Lane. You would think SPEED would mention that. Wish they had all the problems on any other day except for today.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:21, better today than Fox on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteThe Duels - formerly a fun event, now marginalized by the Top 35 rule. I didn't bother to watch.
ReplyDelete@ CaseMoney - Totally agree with that. I had to force myself to find the excitement in duel #2. Even the battle between the GOGH cars was dullest I remember.
ReplyDeleteNASCAR is returning the Bud Shootout to it's original format in 2013, hopefully NASCAR goes back to provisionals & the former Daytona 500 qualifying format too.
What we learned.
ReplyDeleteMikey wrecks himself lmao!
Danica got wrecked by Almo something...
Nascar threw the yellow to quick.
Finally JPM got pay back for
wrecking KK in practice.
Hendrick cars are running HOT
Toyota is slow
Ford engines are cheating
Robby Gordon is smart...Everythings for sell lol
Speed has had since Dover last year to get ready for this week.
They need back ups for back ups for back ups.
This is Superbowl week..failure is not an option.
I think everything is in full gear now. Race 1 was great listening to the live stream as with race two. Really stunned there wasn't more accidents in race two. Money is the ford camp for Sunday. Even Stenhouse ran strong
ReplyDeletejust turned on camping world series practice. haven't seen booth but Miguel somebody interviewed & NO AUDIO at all & booth did not comment.
ReplyDeleteWho is ruining the sound on SPEED? Last year they had tech issues & the lip sync is just nuts.
that was Miguel Paludo. There was audio at the start, then it cut off. I haven't been home but it appears SPEED's been having some kind of issue.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, a couple times on ESPN the last few weeks the sync was off on something...I think it was PTI.
@DJ BK
ReplyDeleteFox tuned down Larry Mac before the 2011 season, and it looks like DW is a bit more subdued so far in Speedweeks. Hope it stays that way.
Great. Both the blabbering idiots missed the race. Now we can listen to the Kenny and Michael blabber blabber blabber. Nascar, the only sport where you can do nothing in a career and they'll document it in 1080p. Welcome to cup Danica. Fox booth=numbskulls.
ReplyDeleteWow. Even on the reair they are having problems. The screen for the last 5 minutes has been stuck on Paul Menard and his girlfriend during the anthem. Audio is good, but the video is like frozen.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen the Kenny Wallace "all access" special? I watched 5 min and deleted from DVR. Too much. Between him and MW not making the race today, I thought I would start singing "Don't Cry for me Argentina". OMG. Otherwise coverage and the races were good. I'm glad racing is back.
ReplyDeleteps here some cbs shows have been out of sync for weeks on all tvs. I notice it subtle on Y & Restless!
ReplyDeletemust be some japanese dubbed movie virus :)
Fox/Speed is still having problems covering the race finishes.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone notice the poor camera angle at the finish line of the Bud Shootout? It wasn't until the replay that we saw KB in front of Stewart.
Today's 1st race was over for almost 10 minutes before we learned McDowell and Robby transferred.
Need more blimp shots. The overhead shots are the best angle, especially at the finish.
ReplyDeleteI really hate it that KW and MW didn't make the race. It would have been so much quieter without them near a microphone.
ReplyDeleteJD,
ReplyDeleteWhat is up, still, with the artsy fartsy camera on a movable swivelling boom? Even my girl asked why I was not interested in looking at the D grass?
What good is split screen when you show KW in-car on him, and other side showing his slow but car in the pits? Why waste the D split screen?
Not about TV, (even though I have many more comments) Does every driver hate ole "bug eye idiot"?