Sunday afternoon rained out and things were not looking much better on Monday morning. Shortly after 10AM, NASCAR announced that the Daytona 500 would move to 7PM and be carried live on FOX.
This was a memorable moment as the FOX local stations in all four US timezones had to make a hole for a live sports event where normally entertainment program series and local news would be scheduled.
On the East Coast, FOX lost the winter season finale of House and a new episode of Alcatraz. In addition, the length of the race would mean at least one and in some cases two local newscasts would be preempted on some FOX local affiliates.
It was a big statement about the commitment of FOX to the Daytona 500. Ironically it comes in a season when the network is about to begin negotiations with NASCAR on a new TV contract. The current agreement expires at the end of the 2014 season.
As there was no room for a pre-race show on FOX, sister network SPEED was used at 6PM with a one hour version of the Race Hub program devoted to just that. Mixed with some content from SPEED's Charlotte, NC studio the NASCAR on FOX team in Daytona did a good job of updating the situation as it stood.
Once the race got underway, an early incident took out former series champion Jimmie Johnson and dropped newcomer Danica Patrick from contention. Once again, Patrick did not speak to the media while repairs were made on her car in the garage area.
In this incident, FOX used an in-car replay showing Jimmie Johnson's car being hit hard right in the driver's door. While Johnson was then shown slowly moving around and disconnected the steering wheel, it certainly was not clear that he was not injured. Minutes later, FOX could have safely used that footage as Johnson was interviewed outside the medical center and confirmed to be uninjured.
Michael Waltrip and John Roberts manned the Hollywood Hotel and it was clear from the start that FOX got from the younger Waltrip exactly what they expected. He is an unabashed supporter of the sport and offers opinions and explanations freely. Since he is not in the role of lead analyst in the TV booth, his position as a team owner did not really play a role. Waltrip's presence was certainly a change of pace from Jeff Hammond.
Fans checked in after Darrell Waltrip's comments about Jimmie Johnson learning to take his hands off the wheel in an accident by watching Danica Patrick. Waltrip also tried hard to sell the fact that Patrick's driving skills were on display in the incident. That was a tough sell as the replay and spotter comments did not agree.
In typical Daytona style, now that the tandem racing is gone, FOX was back to covering pack racing even thought it was only two-wide. The director mixed in more aerials that we have seen in years past and the smooth production extended to pit road and restarts.
As the race went along, the fan comments turned from production of the event to the frequency of commercials. Since this was the first full Sprint Cup Series race on FOX of 2012, it was quickly a reminder of the heavy commercial load the network has to run. These events come with a big price tag and lots of commercials are the only way for a broadcast network like FOX to pay the bill.
Prior to the event, FOX announced that the final scheduled hour of the race would feature side by side commercial breaks that both TNT and FOX had used with success. Instead, the effect was rolled out during the big red flag for the jet dryer fire.
Once racing resumed, it appeared that FOX would only use this effect when the field was under the caution flag. Commercials during green were run in full-screen mode. It's frustrating to know that the TV network has the potential to do this for the entire race, but FOX was clear on the fact that sponsors are still not sold on this approach in terms of continuing to pay full price for an ad run in side by side mode.
Montoya's wreck with the jet dryer began a sequence that saw tired fans, media and drivers just want the race to end. Instead, several more accidents after the restart stretched the program well into Tuesday on the East Coast. This is clearly not what FOX wanted.
The overall production approach was similar to last season. FOX is less story-driven than ESPN, but loves the tight shots, especially from the in-car cameras. On this day, there were no complaints of single cars being followed mainly due to the pack racing dynamic.
At the finish, FOX used a wideshot and allowed all the lead lap cars to cross the finish line before cutting cameras. Graphics of the finish were also present, but tough to read due to the continued use of team colors. Perhaps this will change and the network will use an easily-viewed drop-down style graphic.
Where the FOX team really put on a show was in the replays. Incidents were replayed from so many different angles people were asking just how many cameras do these guys have? It was an impressive display of TV technology used in the right way.
After a long night of racing, we want your opinion of the NASCAR on FOX TV team's efforts. To add your opinion about the telecast, just click on the comments button below. Thank you for stopping by The Daly Planet.
79 comments:
Too many commercials I felt. Also several seemed ill-timed. The few green flag lead changes that did transpire were mostly during commercial breaks.
They made lemonade out of some pretty bitter lemons IMO.
Tight shots aren't my favorite.
Under the circumstances the coverage was very good. Maybe not perfect in EVERYone's opinion, but very good indeed.
The broadcast said that Jimmie Johnson was out of the car and OK well before they used the in-car replay. They quite often go to that replay too quickly - Danica in the Duel being the latest example - but they did wait this time.
Going to full-screen commercials during the last 30 laps was ridiculous after the pointless use of split screen during the red flag.
Fox did a good job, especially considering the long hours logged the past two days.
Mike Joy is a great addition to any broadcast, as is Larry McReynolds. Didn't really understand going to commercials (after close to 2 hrs of red flag) 2 1/2 laps into resumed racing. And not using side-by-side at that point to boot. Mike Joy apparently thought side-by-side was appropriate since he announced going in to break, that's what would be happening. Fox has the best video crew of all the NASCAR b'casters. They also have the best audio production. It is sad that ESPN/SPEED/TBS don't invest the manpower or the mind-power that FOX does. Aside from all the various problems DW brings to an announcing crew, they did a fabulous job tonight. Even with the lackluster, underwhelming finish.
Dave, we watched in real time as the wreck unfolded. Johnson never got out of the car as the live camera showed him taking off the wheel and grimacing in pain as the replay was rolled.
This is a "FOX thing" and it has to stop. Respect for competitors until they are cleared from the medical center has always been the key.
I'm here for the racing and understand that accidents are part of the overall equation. Exploiting those in this YouTube world might be all the rage, but I think it's going to bite FOX before this season is over.
JD
Too much Waltrip and Danica. Thank goodness my driver was on Directv Hotpass. The thing is you could still hear them in the background.
Yes Michael comments freely. Too freely and often inaccurately. I am so tired of hearing about his Daytona 5oo wins. We will hear about him and how wonderful he is quite a lot in the future. Well, some will. I will not put myself through that
Due to other things I had this evening, I taped the race on my DVR and watched it starting at 11:00 PM Central and finished at 1:30 AM Central. It amazed me how fast I got through the race fast forwarding through the commericals. (Delay due to jet fire noted)
I loved the coverage presented all weekend by FOX, ESPN, and SPEED. This was a good broadcasting weekend. The one thing I will note is I didn't like the commerical break from laps 93-97. I think that really disrupted the drama building up to the lap 100 payday. I would like to have seen it go commerical free from the Lap 88 restart until the next set of pit stops were done under the next yellow.
But overall, a good broadcast by FOX & ESPN on Saturday.
Considering the circumstances, I think Fox did a good job with this race, aside from Waltrip overload. I really like the heavier use of the aerial shots. There was an obvious miscue when Mike Joy said they were going to side-by-side commercials and then a Budweiser commercial came up full screen. I hope Fox can eventually get all of their advertisers to go along with the side-by-side, because it works well with ESPN and TNT.
As I suspected, despite all the hype, that the race would be boring. DW was too much to take. I often used the mute on him and Mikey. DW was shamelessly shilling for Danica, suggesting it was her skill that threaded her skidding car between two others on the infield. When Newman spun, DW proclaimed he was hit on the left rear bumper. Video showed he was all alone when he spun. Any honest person watching Mikey 10-15 years ago would conclude he was not a good driver. He only won on plate races when he and Junior raced for DEI. At the time, their plate motors were significantly better then the competition and won virtually every plate race....until Rick Hendrick spent a ton of money on its plate program. Glad Daytona is over.
Two complaints about the commentary. Much too much was made of the $200,000 half way bonus. And no one seemed to ask the question, how is it that a racing car at too much speed and 200 gallons of jet fuel are on the track at the same time ... put another way, NASCAR once again blew its signature moment. Isn't relavant to ask why?
Mr Editor -
Production team did well with more aerial and wide-angle shots ...still, no excuse for lack of respect with live in-car shots of drivers in potentially life-threatening situations (i.e. - wrecks, fires) ...with Twitter/HOT PASS/MRN live-streaming another Waltrip-free night was enjoyed ...the inherent arrogance of DW and Mikey reflects the 'hero worship' of FOX management and was not missed by me
Walter
Overall production was pretty good. Seems like every year that Fox starts off strong and then weakens toward the end of their alloted time.
My complaints are several. One was the bad timing of the commercials. As one person already said, they build the drama for the halfway money and then go to commercial a few laps beforehand. They finally go to split-screen during the red flag period, but leave it full screen during the first break after returning to green flag racing. And commercials during the latter part of the first half of the race were too close together (a series of commercials, 4 laps of racing, more commercials).
My biggest complaint of the night has to do with DW's comments about Danica Patrick and the constant attention she got in the garage. After the wreck that collected Patrick, Johnson, and others, DW noted Johnson learned to take his hands of the steering wheel from watching Patrick's crash in the Duels. He is wrong about that. Other drivers have been doing this for years, especially those with open wheel experience. He did later backtrack on that, but it back to his original comment today on Twitter.
The other comment about Patrick was about her maneuvering through the other cars. She didn't do anything great, most of it was basically luck. I'm glad it will be a while before Patrick is in a race on Fox.
I understand the commercial load ok it pays the bills.
What I do not get is-
> ill timed commercials. Is any one watching the race? Better timing please
> DW (&networks) creepy pre-occupation with DP. No just stop, now. She did not "teach" any driver anything.She is over hyped Leave her be & lets see how she does. Cameras followed her to pee? Too much hype
I really enjoyed the aerial shots, wide shots & night racing.
Other than the Waltrip brothers making stuff up as they talked and the Danica overload, I though Fox did a pretty good job considering the challenges they faced. If they would only broadcast the accurate information that comes out of DW's mouth, he would be speechless.
Ill timed commercial leading to Half & obvious miscue when Mike said sideXside & Full Bud came on.
I dont think Darrell meant Danica went up to Jimmie & said "hey Jimmie you want to do this during a wreck." Im sure what he meant was Jimmie learned it from Danica by watching and analyzing the Duel races. Smart drivers do that. Yall are reading WAY too much into what DW says.
Ive never noticed a stock car driver do that during a wreck in my 15 yrs of being a fan.
I had a long review to post, but with five hours of sleep, I'll just keep it short.
Thank you FOX for sticking through the rain and fire to broadcast the Daytona 500 from start to finish. The entire crew deserves praise working through the rain and the long night last night.
There were some specifics during the race that FOX could have improved on. I enjoyed the first AT&T RaceBreak, Roberts (experiencing the strangest orientation of his life) was quick to move through the highlights and get back to the race. Things got sour as each RaceBreak became longer and more annoying.
FOX seemed to mail in laps 50-150 except for the halfway bonus, which began the commercial rapid fire. FOX was like a passive observer, not chasing many stories.
Danica-mania was another issue, that thankfully will be gone for a while on FOX.
But the FOX crew really shined after Juan Pablo Montoya hit the jet dryer and the unimaginable happened. FOX made the most of this unforgettable moment in the Great American race. We saw a casual side to the drivers fans have been missing. We saw the best pit reporters in the business finally able to stand out and do incredible reporting. I loved the fun the drivers had with Matt Yocum, a complete contrast to the stiff, distant relationship the drivers have with the ESPN team. It reminded me what I loved about FOX in the past, once the gimmicks and hype are shoved aside. Hopefully everyone will get some much needed sleep now.
I enjoyed the race except, as others have mentioned, the Waltrip overload and Danica, Danica, Danica (the camera following her on her way to the loo was the capper for me in that regard)
The pictures were good, and The Rodent kept to a minimum. #DiggerMustGoAway
The only commercial pod which really irked me was the one just before halfway. Puhleeze! Was the Truck watching the race then?
The #TDP1 Twitter thing was fun, but I think Twitter need more capacity. It got waaaay slow sometimes {yes, World, now we @ #TDP1 have something new to complain about :)}
Also referencing Twitter. I hope all Planeteers will start including the #TDP1 hashtag on their Tweets. Takes 5 characters tho. I know it easy, easy to forget the hashtag, but I found if I got myself in the habit of puttin it FIRST I did not forget it. And, from Planteers I picked up for my AR account more than 100 people to follow. Great sources of info. But I would not never had done it at all if not forced to by JD's executive decision to eliminate the live blog. So thank you, JD
Finally I loved the 500 at night and since I do not watch "House" is did not miss it ;-) I think our sport is big enough to carry in Primetime -- especially for this race -- and I am waiting with bait-like breath for the overnights. I have a VERY good feeling about what they will show!
Since I found much of the FOX audio annoying, I tuned in MRN on the streaming feed and watched FOX video while reading Tweets. Wow, now I'm tired! Love the helicopter shots!
Glad DAYTONA is over.
Last night was a black eye for the sport.
It starts with Sadler taking out a bunch of people on lap 2.
Unacceptable...plain and simple!
We always preach he we have the best drivers in the world and then this....Really?
We've known for weeks that you can't hit the left rear of he guy in front of you and what does Sadler do?
Then drivers riding around from that point on. They rode around lap after lap until the half way point and only Hamlin and Truex made it exciting.
Then Montoya hits the Jet dryer.
But we are supposed to have the best drivers in the world.
Montoya can not drive these cars.
I dont care what kind of resume he has.
His Nascar proof is a FAILURE!
He's F1 this and that lol
Then Stenhouse wrecks, then McMurry's car starts the next one.
Then Biffle is yet gain just riding around.
Doesnt challenge for the win, Hamiln backs off, Burton and Harvick give up and no one does anything to show the regular tv observer we are great race car drivers.
I wanted last night to grow the sport. Fox did a good job considering but there were great opportunities to show the world our drivers are the best and we didn't deliver.
Is that what it's come to?
By the way poor Larry Mac gets quiter and quiter every year.
Wonder why that is lol.
Off to Phoenix.
While I enjoy most races, they tend to fade in my memory with an unsettling rapidity. This is a race I'll remember for a long, long time.
With all the delays including the rescheduling of the rescheduling, I wondered if the race would be on Tuesday.
So pleased the race finally got going but the commercials were really too much. If NASCAR really wanted to do something for the fans, they'd put a limit to the number of commercials in a broadcast. Then, let the networks bid for the rights accordingly. But, of course, this isn't family entertainment. The fans are not important. All words spoken by NASCAR to the contrary, the only thing that matters is maximizing the money NASCAR receives. How flipping rich does the France family intend to get?
I thought the racing was half-decent. Some of the cars were able to push to the lead. The camera shot selection including more aerials was better than in the past.
I turned down the TV and listened to MRN for a while and liked that. Really wish Fox would quit with the stories and tight shots during green flag racing. If they want to update us on various drivers, please do that while having the cameras show us the battles on the track. I don't need them to show the car they are updating.
Of course, the most memorable part of the race was Juan igniting the jet dryer. Never say anything like that. It showed how important having a full size fire truck at the track is. Seemed to take a long time to get it over there. Also showed that NASCAR has managed to find a material to repair the track. I was rather proud of them staying with track repairs so the race could run full distance.
I'll give FOX a pass on any imperfections there might have been with the broadcast because of the very stressful and difficult circumstances they were working under. Major thank you to the network for airing it on the mothership in primetime on Monday. That's big.
Big time Kudo's to Fox making Nascar prime time!!!
This certainly was a marathon Daytona 500. Now onto Phoenix.
There's going to be no rest for anyone. Think of how all these camera's and miles of cables are being pulled up and loaded away to be transported to Phoenix.
Love Monday Night racing. I also love Fox, mainly because of Mike Joy.
I also deplore showing driver in the car too soon after a wreck. I also really like the side camera on the cars....at least at this track. My only gripe would be that they completely ignored Kurt Busch. No shots of his car being fixed, no mention when it came back on track...I guess he's not pretty enough. My only source of info on KuBu was chatting on FB.
And thank goodness for my DVR. I was able to watch the finish with my morning coffee!
Yawnnnn... is it over yet? Oh... I have to say that despite the length of the event, the racing got the blood going. The pack racing always did... though I'm concerned for what might appear to be the overheating issues.
Daryl, Daryl, Daryl... crediting Danica Patrick for NASCAR drivers letting go of the wheel while wrecking... seriously?
And for Daryl to suggest on a live telecast that someone should get in the burning truck and drive it off to save the concrete was almost too funny.
I'm "starting" to wonder about Daryl's spot on the team.
And Brad K. is now up to 207k followers... I bet this starts a driver trend of cameras and Twitter.
You know, this red flag thing had a lot of interesting pieces come out of it.
Good on Fox for staying with the race from start to finish. I have come to the conclusion that Fox told DW that he must play up Danica whenever he can. They need to rethink that marketing push because it is causing blow back. Real racing fans know when something is skill, something is luck and something is a flat out mistake.
As has been mentioned above, the visual side of the production was mostly pretty good. I also agree with most everybody else that has already commented...DW was just too much. He was already over-blabbing Mike Joy (who was in good form). As for Larry Mac, it seems we are in for yet another season where he is almost an afterthought.
On the pits...it was not as bad as most of last season on Fox but I thought the pit reporters were again under-used during actual racing. I can only assume this is to allow more blabbing time for DW and Mikey.
In the infield studio...I sort of hate to say this because we all know the tragic circumstances that made it happen. Still, I will take any heat as I have to be honest...having John Roberts guiding that portion of the telecast was an immense breath of fresh air.
As for Mikey, I shudder to think about the continuing drivel he is going to spew out for the remainder of Fox's races.
In summary, while most of the telecast was good, I do not feel we are going to get anything significantly different from Fox and that we're going to spend yet another season here on The Daly Planet complaining about pretty much the same things we have been groaning about for the past few years. What a shame to see NASCAR finally reacting to fan wishes while Fox still trots out useless yakkers and that reviled rodent.
P.S. Also, thumbs-down to whatever Blogger has done to change its commenting system. It would not allow edits or the following of comments via e-mail and was generally all fouled up when I was trying to leave this comment.
I think Anon @ 9:34 is right. Before Danica wrecked on Thursday, the only time I think I'd seen a NASCAR driver take his hands off the wheel in a wreck was Edwards in the NNS at 'Dega in 2010. We saw both JJ and McMurray do it in the 500. Maybe it's one of those things that I didn't notice until it was pointed out, but maybe DW had a point.
It was great to see the race under the lights & bummer the early wreck.
I also note how quiet Larry Mac is and want to hear more from him! & Mike Joy, please.
Same jumpy camera work. The wide shots we got I loved. the 'crank it up' only works for me on the wider shots as well. At one time the cars sounded like jets driving by while in a long shot. the bouncing around from camera to camera in a car or from a fender annoys & junks up the continuity of engine noise.
With all the cameras I've this question:
Why did we only see Juan skid skideways and go out of camera view then a puff of smoke/glare of light as truck burst into flames. Thankfully nobody was hurt or worse but the long google shot was hard to see. That poor truck driver had to be freaked. That was my biggest question at first.
2nd, why did it take so long for a FIRETRUCK to reach the track. That was a huge fire to expect men with extenquishers to work on.
We missed the huge inferno but Fox could find Danica on her way to the loo, to quote AR. Immature.
I loved Keselowski tweet & getting over 100,000 followers but sorry he got in trouble having a smart phone in his car but understand it's a rule.
For a two hour delay I thought Fox did a great job of filler but sometimes turned on MRN radio instead & kept tv muted. Same w race so I could 'hear the action I could not SEE on the tv' due to increasing bumper,in car,fender shots, lipstick cam or the super blurry finish line shot (?!)
Twitter was entertaining though I only found a few from the group online since many use different names. My eyes were super tired after the long night.
Can only imagine how tired the tv folks/radio guys & car teams were.
Thanks
P.S.
JD, Anyway to get the
"comments to collapse" like they used to or did blogspot change something?
Soph
Interesting you chose to compliment their number and use of cameras. I though the biggest event of the night was effectively missed (Montoya and the Track Dryer) Is that because it's a caution and cameramen run to bathroom under caution? and I guess no one with an in car camera was following him to bail them out on the missed shot? I was hoping for Helicopter or blimp type replay at least...i just saw the two locked off shot down backstretch both of which missed it just off camera and the one long shot from the front stretch that you could barely see it (can't they ZOOM the shot after the fact so we could see it better?)
Overall I actually enjoyed the coverage...was just very frustrated they didn't have a better shot of the incident (reminded me of the awful crash in Busch years ago at Nazareth where it happened in the section they had zero coverage of and the announcers had no idea what happened, a car went in and just never came back into camera shot) and was also disappointed we had camera shots of the drivers out of their cars on backstretch but it took almost an hour before they got a reporter back there to talk to them. And that they didn't send someone (Jeff Hammond) to Turn 3 to talk about the work being done. I wonder how much of these shortcomings is from being short staffed for it being a Monday race. When ESPN has done monday races we get a whole different feel to the race because lots of crew seem to go home, this felt like a full-up FOX broadcast team, do we know if that's true?
Overall I thought it a fine broadcast,nothing great, nothing lousy. A few things though. I saw somewhere Monday that Fox would owe advertisers free ad time if viewing numbers were not met, so the deals between Fox sports and Fox Entertainment, and clearing 100% of stations was probably as much driven by the Fox moneymen, as there were a bit many commercials to show. As to lap 100, MRN also ran a commercial package leading up to halfway, and did not come back up till lap 99 was about to begin, so the half way thing was not a high drama priority for either it seemed. And as was talked last week, I am okay with incar after the netting is lowered. Yes there is a chance of injury after that, but since the COT arrived I'm hardpressed to think of a significant driver injury(Brad K at a non NASCAR track exception), so FOX has a pretty confident feel for in car use. And a big thanks for all coverage during 2012 Speedweeks to all, especially the grunts behind the scenes who had some long days.
Thank goodness for MRN, no waltrips for the race was great.
Since TSN2 in canada does not have the 7 second delay like fox the radio matched the pictures.
And the picture was letterboxed so both sides were not cut off like fox. A pretty good race and fox did an alright job showing.
mike
I feel like the only reason we had decent coverage was because they had packs, so they were forced to have wide shots, but still to much racing was shown with in car cams. We'll have a better idea of what to expect next week. DW and Michael mostly sounded like idiots.
I agree with JD on showing Jimmie. I understand that the teams agree to have those cameras in there, but I really, really do not want to see some guy fighting to catch his breath....at least not till I know he's not sitting there with broken ribs or something.
Generally speaking the commercial break times are pretty consistent from year to year, have to wait for CawsnJaws to say. I thought going to the break just before the halfway was bad timing though; if something had happened getting there they'd have missed it.
I'm fairly certain I've heard Rusty or someone talk about crossing your arms before a wreck long ago. Just because we haven't seen it doesn't mean some don't do it.
Overnight ratings are out, and the 500 beat everyone (although the numbers don't account for the west coast yet.) Interestingly enough, for as impressive as that is, it still was below the lowest-rated Monday Night Football game on ABC ever (which was in 2004).
It would not surprise me to see them try to schedule a Monday nighter in the future, probably in the summer when they aren't facing the heart of the primetime schedule. Maybe the Bristol night race under the lights on ABC?
Yawn is right. Not enough sleep. I actually liked the idea of a race on Monday night.
Watching the 79 Daytona 500 on Sunday from start to finish on Youtube got me thinking that all the broadcasters need to look to the past. Some of the shots the CBS team got were fantastic.
Showing the cars fly down the back stretch into turn 3 from a camera on the front stretch provided a great perspective. It showed the scale of the track and speed of the cars. You actually saw some fans in the infield.
They even used one camera to show the lead pack go all the way around the track. Such an easy shot.
Its obvious the close up shots that make up current broadcasts is purely for getting car sponsors their 15 seconds.
Granted the 79 race was pretty spectacular and things were different then but I really wish the coverage was a bit more stripped down.
People aren't as ADD as the media think...
JD
Well the weather was good last week and the Daytona 500 had to move to February 26th due to a possible conflict with the Super Bowl which never happened. And if it did it would have not effected the race because they race in the day and not at night. Because there was no super bowl on the 19th why couldn't they move it back to the 19th when the lockout was settled. Realize tv is an issue but I would rather stick to that traditional third Sunday in February than have the mess of the weekend
saltsburgtrojanfan, these races take months and months to plan. You can't just change things; you have to order things and schedule people and make travel & lodging arrangements. I'm guessing they waited as long as they could but their timeline was up before the lockout was.
But there are no guarantees that next year it won't rain at the earlier week...even NASCAR can't predict that. :)
The problem with Monday night NASCAR is that the races are lengthy enough without delays like we had last night. I wouldn't schedule a race for Monday night. A postponement, however...maybe all postponements of Sunday races should be for Monday night if the forecast is good and the track has lights.
And I forgot to add earlier. What the HELL was Digger doing on that broadcast?! He was part of every commercial break, and there were too many of those. The rest of the coverage was good, though.
JD always talks about Social Media and Twitter specfically.
If you don't believe him just read this link about how Twitter took over Nascar.
http://jalopnik.com/5888944/how-twitter-took-over-nascar
I can't believe Fox used split screen commercials under red & yellow but went back to normal commercials when the race went back green. Not one green lap was shown in the split format.
Hotpass was an absolute necessity; way too many commercials. The lap 93-98 commercial break was pure insanity; FOX is lucky that nothing happened then.
I'll give FOX a break on missing the Montoya/ServiceMaster Clean Caution truck contact. Those cameramen probably had a 5am wakeup call and maybe the backstretch operator climbed off the scaffold and took a nature break.
There was more humorous "better not show THAT sponsor" machinations. Even though he was stationary in third place for two hours, FOX tried as hard as they could to NOT show the 26 car (sponsored by Santorum for President)," and of course they never interviewed Tony Raines. Also, do you think maybe FOX could at least HINT at what Ollie's Bargain Outlet is? Of course it didn't help that Dave Blaney and Tommy Baldwin didn't mention OBO either.
And what's with FOX including the GoDaddy caricature with the "10" on their leaderboard graphics? I didn't notice similar treatment with any other copyrighted car number.
I've said it a hundred times...does NASCAR want to know WHY you're losing sponsors?
I thought the booth guys did a good job of describing a race to a prime time audience that may have had a large number of casual fans and first-time viewers. Had they called regular Sunday race that way, I would have been insulted at best. But this wasn't Sunday, and I thought they did an outstanding job explaining concepts a Monday night audience probably weren't familiar with.
There's only so many ways you can fill a red flag delay. This one was made easier by the bizarre circumstances.
Big points to those fans in the stands. I've been to four or five rain-delayed races. Usually the stands are much less than 50% full. Last night the crowd looked like the race was being held at the regularly scheduled date and time. I don't know they were all locals, late-comers, and BZF's Christmas list, but it looked like a pretty good crowd for a postponement.
Oh, and I'm glad to see the return of the halfway bonus money. Anyone know if that was a Daytona-only special or if it will continue all season? I'd love to see a sponsor pick that back up; it always provided a burst of action during that long mid-race period when they're making laps.
A bit of Tuesday morning quarterbacking if you please:
1) Jim Rome was ON FIRE this morning talking about last night. He could not stop raving about how great it was - "Better than any Monday Nigth Football this past season"!
2) Lee Hamilton ("Hacksaw") at Peoria, AZ for spring training says you cannot bump into any ballplayer (Padres, Mariners) who doesn't have a comment on last night.
3) Hamilton also replied to a San Diego caller who complained about the commercials, especially red flag side-by-side: FOX has commitments to advertisers that certain commercials MUST run at certain time periods; they made the best of a "bad" situation.
4) Look at the ratings.
I stayed up to the bitter end (kind of divided attention due to another event that started at 9), but I had on MRN.
While the dryer fire (of the track kind) was attention getting, IMO it's the wrong kind of attention. Y'know, the 'wreck 'em' kind.
But I stayed, and there were some talk of what they might do as far as the rest of the event after the fire. Thank goodness they were able to finish in it's entirety.
Oh, and the guys on the blog I was on last night mentioned that they showed DP during the delay... blech! "She's going to the port-a-potty"
Just seen the ratings: Up to 7.7 share over 6% last year. Totally dominated last night's programming... Could be the Monday night thing, could be the primetime thing, could be that it was the Daytona 500... I don't know, but the networks and NASCAR can either chalk it up to an anomoly, or they could consider primetime showings for the Great American Race...
C'mon people, who's going to dedicate a camera to following cars playing catch-up under the caution? All the action under caution centers around pit road. Otherwise, something happening away from there occurs maybe once a decade. There are plenty of poor camera decisions to critique without beating Fox up over this one.
The commercial overload was unreal. A lot of them were ill timed. Coverage just wasnt that good in my opinion.
Two Thumbs Up!
DW fawning over the media hyped female has got to stop.
Dw needs to retire.
"Mikey" needs to go away.
I mute the Tv.
The Danica thing is backfiring on long time fans, we know a real racer when we see them. I do not drink Kool Aid, quit trying to tell us she is great. Everybody I know and I know alot of race fans are not fans of hers..period. They plain can't stand her. And no thats not a good thing.
Coverage of after crashes is horrible. We need to know asap if these guys are alright. Follow up.
And don't ever dare show us the Princess running to the bathroom or have a live in car camera with her dead last on the track for a minute without seeing any other drivers, it was like she was driving alone in the Richard Petty Experience car as a tourist or something..
Oh and another one last..Do not interview her again finishing 38th a zillion laps down where there were plently of road warriors who finished on the lead lap who needed the airtime as well as their sponsers.
As corny as my comment may be and at the risk of geeking out, here's what I thought the moment the broadcast opened and the camera pushed in to reveal Mike Joy and company.
"I'm so glad Mike Joy is heading up this Primetime broadcast and that FOX is doing the show." Why did I think that? Well, Mike Joy is soooooo good at what he does, I knew that whatever would happen through the night, he would represent the sport and FOX in the highest of degree. I cannot say the same about other networks broadcasting NASCAR....not even close. The combination of Mike, Larry & Darrel has always had a quality chemistry and they handled "primetime TV" and all the many facets of the night wonderfully well. Mike Joy and team brought NASCAR to America in Primetime in the most professional of ways! Both FOX and NASCAR need to thank these guys.
Last night was great proof of what I always say gets trivialized by majority of the network TV when they make the race into a rock star event and or a digger advertisement. The sheer danger of racing and the incredible amount of fortitude that those drivers had to go into turn 3 after the jet dryer fire and not know if they would be able to control their cars or have a suitable racing surface at 199 mph.
Too many commercials, and side by side of the drivers walking wasn't the side by side racing we thought we would get.
Now that MRN is streaming, I am doing it to get away from the ignorant Waltrip brothers. It's amazing how many people are now streaming the races for just that reason.The comment about only broadcasting DW's accurate statements would render him speechless is right on.
JD,
Any word from the Fox people about their view of a Monday night race? I loved it. It was clear to me from Twitter that lots of people that don't care for NASCAR were watching last night.
IMO, NASCAR should consider this as a regular thing. NASCAR should have the Daytona 500 in primetime every Presidents Day (Monday), the Coke 600 in primetime on Memorial Day (Friday), and the season-ending race the day after Thanksgiving in primetime (Friday) so it doesn't get swallowed up by America's football obsession. I think that would create more buzz and energy and, yes, viewership than all the Sunday afternoon racing does. I would be interested to see what Fox would think about doing that.
Overall, great job by Fox, but Hammond seemed to disappear early in the broadcast. They need to figure out a better way to utilize him because what they did with him last night didn't work.
Glad to hear Chris Myers will be back next week.
Larry B.
As to Brad Daugherty's anti-Twitter statement, many Planeteers may know I'll never be the king of social media, or even the stableboy's shoe cleaner. However, I fail to see anything inherently inappropriate in using it. Brad has forgotten that sports is entertainment, and that drivers today are also pitchmen. If NASCAR tried to put a stop to it, team sponsors would blow up like a Chevy-slammed jet dryer.
This DW and Mikey thing is already out of hand. I felt sorry for John Roberts last night having to try to keep the show moving while being ignored by the Waltrip combo. They talked to each other, not to John or even the cameras at times. They are both rude and far too self important for comfort.
I don't blame FOX for DW's seeming love affair with Danica. DW goes from one persons coat tail to the next instead of just resting on his laurels and experience. His lap dogging of Helton was sad. Could it be that age and those many concussions have taken their toll? He's becoming a sad parallel to the DW of old.
I think it's safe to say that Brad D. is out of touch. His rants today on NASCAR Now were so off, like Brad K was supposed to be fully concentrating on racing at all times, this was during the red. He made himself irrelevant today. But what is also a bit troubling is that I had already read before the show aired that NASCAR was taking no action on the Twitter in the car thing. Yet the NN host Allen Bestwick brought it up like it was still an issue. If I knew it wasn't then ESPN, Allen and Brad should have known too.
Has the look of sensationalism to me. As if this sport isn't sensational enough.
They also showed Dale Jr going to take a potty break...just saying it wasn't just D. I do agree...do not interview her when she finished in the 30s and ignore the other top 5-10 finishers.
I was at the track with a scanner listening to the broadcast and I must say it is amazing the amount of traffic direction Mike Joy does during commercial breaks. He is on top of things from asking the producer and director about updating back markers and cars out of the race, as well as steering the direction of the coversation between himself, Larry Mac and DW. During the first few commercial breaks DW was asking Mike what he thought of the conversation so far and Mike's response was something like (paraphrasing) "I think it's good to a point we just sort of have to try to focus and not jump all over the place from topic to topic so quickly"
Other comments such as "let's not mention the threat of weather until/if we get it"
Also the pit producer when she sent Matt Yocum to the backstretch "No joking only serious reporting please" and she re-iterated that a number of times to Matt. They also sent Steve Byrnes to turn three to report but they were initially discussing sending Jeff Hammond.
That was a loonngg race last night. The coverage was not bad overall except for the previously mentioned too many commercials. My take on Montoya's accident that he was to busy checking all the symptoms of his problem and when he came around the corner said: Oh @#&%*# and hit the brakes and spun into the jet dryer. Oh and great commercial for Tide on the cleanup as well.
I have to add something else..sorry.
What happened to the man in the truck and Juan P. was horrific. Thank god it ended that way..The most important bizzare incident in the history of the race and no up close clear picture of that??? But we sure can pony up coverage of the Princess going to relieve herself? Come on people.
Echoing what every other sane person in America is saying, lose the Waltrips please. From an overwhelming majority of comments in a nutshell..nobody can stand em!
Montoya broke a transmission. Kinda hard to drive without one.
All in all, I will give Fox some good marks for this past weekend. Its not easy to fill four or five hours of show that doesn't occur, so you go to plan B.
Monday's telecast: Thought it was very well done. Didn't mind that within minutes the flag was thrown and the drivers started racing. I just wish that it could happen like that on the regular days as well. I must be getting better at tuning DW out, becuase not once did I hear the dreaded boogers theme. Whenever they went to the hollywood hotel, I changed the channel.
Was so glad that no one was seriously hurt in any of the accidents. That was one nasty accident with JPM and the safety truck, never so glad to see him get out of the vehicle and to hear that the driver was o.k...was a relief.
Not sure that I care for such tight packs, but didn't care much for the two car tandem either-what happens when your team mate partner gets crashed out?-but its very beautiful to watch. Poetry inmotion...
Have to wait to see how things pan out next weekend..but not a bad broadcast. Like to hear more from Mike Joy though...he has a good voice.
I can't beleive that fox spent so much time covering the blown engine of Gordon. I get sick and tired of all the attention they give this guy. It's not like we can't figure it out on our own. The amount of time they spent explaining how and why he suddenly dropped out of the race was total overkill. He gets way too much face time in any race compared to the other drivers that it really messes up the entire broadcast. I don't know if I can stand to watch the next broadcast if all I am gonna hear and see is Gordon all the time. What kind of special power does he have to command such a disproportionate amount of tv time than the other 42 drivers? To make it worse they even showed Jeff Gordon as well.
Now that Daytona is behind us..What other info can Mikey give us?? Darrell feels a need to answer everything Mike Joy brings up with something out of his past.and if they are going to interview drivers who finish in the 30's Id must rather hear Joe Nemechek than who know who. Production wise Fox did a good job, but someone needs to leave a few microphones behind when they load up for Phoenix. Larry Mac is turning into my Uncle Phil......my Aunt Marylou would blather on and on at every party and poor Phil would turn into a seat cushion...tis a shame...another season of Fox misery I think..
It was interesting watching the race without having the 'distraction' of having the computer on for the firs time in years. It made the Waltrip brothers even more irritating. Way too much useless blather. Opinions offered without much insight. While I missed that 'Planeteers', Twitter just doesn't get it for me. The best consequence of the return of pack racing is that Fox was forced to show more than one car per shot.
JD
You are wrong, wrong WRONG on the in car camera thing.
Had Jimmie been hurt, how does showing it change anything? It doesn't.
I do not understand your position on this
Again, I detest FOX, but they are not wrong on this issue. You are
Bray Kroter
Bray, why are you a race fan? I'm here for the racing and have been for years.
If you are here for the accidents and potential for driver injury, I understand.
Just because TV technology exists, that does not mean you have to use it. Most pro sports have guidelines, like never showing fans running on the field in MLB games.
Sensitivity is a word that is personal to each one of us. Having been involved in multiple TV telecasts where drivers lost their lives, this is something I feel strongly about.
I appreciate your opinion, but saying I am somehow wrong with my own views on this issue is ridiculous.
JD
I just watched Race Hub. I couldn't believe that Elliot Sadler was the co-host for half an hour. The first 15 minutes was devoted to Sadler's dumb move at the start of the race and to Danica.I have to admit that Spencer did make me laugh.
I agree. Thought they might soft-sell the Sadler mistake early in the race but they gave it right to him.
Really sad to see someone with an opportunity like that waste it and affect so many others.
Still not a fan of current drivers or owners in analyst roles.
JD
good race, I still miss Mike Joy, but I leave MRN going so I don't have to listen to the Waltwits tried but already tired of them, it is amusing though, as you watch with the sound off, to see Waltwits, Larry Mac, and Hammond all waving their arms about wildly, just imagining what could justify their movements, not a fan of John Roberts, but a thousand percent improvement over Myers, the few times I did listen, I was listening to the broadcast when Larry Mac was explaining the repairs to Danica's car when he offered this gem, the rear-end housing is located at the back end of the car, can't argue with that!, still glad to be back racing,I know Fox won't lose the Waltwits, but please tone them down!!!
regarding Sadler...I just have to say...we expect a heck of a lot from these guys. Whenever a guy makes a mistake, if it's not your guy, then you hate him. The problem is, sooner or later, it's your guy. When it's Jeff Gordon wrecking a bunch of cars, it's okay. When Mark Martin takes out a guy, oh well. But if it's a part time guy, or a backmarker, he gets crucified, even when it was a mistake any of them could have made. Just saying....they're going 200mph inches apart, and it doesn't take much, ya know? Jimmie tweeted this morning that Elliott called him & they are good. Maybe we as fans should follow. However, I do agree it makes for an awkward conversation on TV.
btw, Spencer was an idiot...the 1 blew a left year tire, nothing more complicated than that. He tweeted it this morning.
As I attended my 37th Daytona 500 I missed the Fox coverage but from JD's post and fan comments, I see I didn't miss much. Except for the addition of another Waltrip voice and that would make me hit the mute button for sure, what I'm taking away is nothing has changed from 2011.
But even MRN goofs up. They totally missed the 22 car getting into the 39 on pit road and didn't know why the 22 had radiator issues. It happens.
One observation about night races and the Daytona 500. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the Monday night running. It was a very long night for those of us in attendance. I've attended night races at Daytona before in July and I was at the Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night, another long night. I'm not opposed to a scheduled night race but not the Daytona 500. For one important reason. Weather. Even though it is Florida, February in Central Florida can be down right cold at times. I've attended day time Daytona races where the air temp was in the 50's and it would not be fun to be sitting there at night, with the way the wind blows this time of year in the 40's or 50's at night. Not to mention if you get a long red flag like we saw and the race stretches to the wee hours of the next morning. It's the chance one takes when they buy a ticket, I understand. But we have enough scheduled night races and those are on Saturday nights for a reason.
I'll be watching this Sunday but I've already resolved I'm not going to get upset with TV coverage this year and ruin my season. By now we all know what we get with Fox, The Waltrips, The Hollywood Hotel, etc. Just sit back, enjoy the pictures they provide, mute the sound and turn up the live streaming of MRN/PRN and lets all have a great 2012 NASCAR season.
Regardless of what I watch om television, I stand ready to hit the mute button. It does wonders for my disposition and blood pressure.The few times I tried to listen to the Waltrips this last weekend, I just couldn't stay with them. If they just reported what they saw on the track, I could stomach them. Unfortunately, they can't help but spew a lot of silly BS. As for drivers/car owners doing analysis, several times last year, Sadler was asked to comment on Harvick's latest "incident" and his prospects for the Chase. What did the Producers/Directors expect him to say? "The guy who signs my paycheck is a hot-headed jerk who will never be Champion until he matures".
The Waltrip Brothers are horrible. I can't take them and their over hyped opinions. From Darrell fawning over Danica all night to Michael proclaiming the JPM Jet/Dryer wreck a "tragedy" it is just too much. Before the final 40 laps even started Michael was screaming about how it was going to be the best racing ever seen in the history of NASCAR. I WILL NOT WATCH AGAIN with those 2 on air. My blood pressure can't take it!!
Of course there is only one thing worse than 1 Waltrip, and that is two of them. They are doing nothing but promoting themselves during the entire race. A real travesty. And why does a car owner go on TV during a race? I believe Jack, Rick, and JD Gibbs have more important things to do. Nothing like telling the world how worthless you are. What was really funny was when Mikey again showed why he is the "worst driver in NASCAR". Clint Bowyer should be enshrined for that one. The radio is so much better for broadcasts. Thanks to them.
Post a Comment