It's raining at the Michigan International Speedway. Driver introductions are on hold and the day looks like it may be a long one. The stories of the day include tires, engines and Kurt Busch.
TNT faces an interesting challenge as the network goes on the air at noon ET. They did not replace Lindsay Czarniak as the infield host, instead opting to make Adam Alexander handle the pre-race and then call the race itself. Keep an eye on how the network handles the rain and if they move a veteran like Ralph Sheheen from pit road to the infield set.
While the Lizard Lick Towing skit was a disaster, the rest of the TNT pre-race show is solid. Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds are a good panel for NASCAR topics and each week a different driver joins the show. This week, it's Brad Keselowski.
NASCAR brought in hard left side tires after blisters developed from the heat and high speeds after practice. Now with the rain, the rubber that caused the original problem is gone. It should be interesting to see TNT follow the tire story today.
Two Hendrick teams changed engines before the race, including Jimmie Johnson. Several other teams were talking about potential engine issues. MIS has a long acceleration period and is one of the hardest tracks on engines due to the high speeds. If a problem develops, it often develops for all the teams running the same brand of engine. This could be a big story.
Kurt Busch and ESPN's Marty Smith got into it after the Nationwide Series race in the Infield Media Center. Smith made it clear to Busch he does not take any guff from drivers like the very patient Bob Pockrass did last week. On the AM edition of NASCAR Now Smith provided a rundown of the moment and was not a happy camper about it.
"He can help a race team, he just can't help himself," said Darrell Waltrip of Busch on the morning RaceDay show. Keep an eye on how TNT treats this topic and follows Busch during the day in monitoring his radio traffic and his temper.
We will be live tweeting as usual using the #TDP1 hashtag. Twitter is easy to use, simple to operate and you control the content from start to finish. Drivers, officials and NASCAR personalities interact with us during the day. I would urge you to start an account for free and come on over.
There will be a "Race Wrap" post here right after the TV telecast is over for your comments. In the meantime, please feel free to leave TV and media comments during the race on this post. Thanks as always for stopping by The Daly Planet.
11 comments:
How does TNT handle rain delays? Will TNT stick with the race after the broadcast window ends, or does it get booted somewhere else?
Stays on TNT until the bitter end.
I hate to sound like a cynic, but this race has a high potential for being a throwaway. There were a lot of unhappy campers last night after bolting on the new(2005?) left side tires. The rain washing off the rubber, a number of engine changes and high speeds probably ian't going to help. The saving grace could be a downpour at the halfway point. I'm not going to turn on the TV until 1:00 pm EST. I'm not going to listen to a bunch of trivia I've listened to since Friday.
Wow, can NOT watch this race. What happened to TNT's production truck?
Last week we saw fabulous wide cams that helped us to see and watch the race.
Today looks like Fox race :-(
Will DVR & maybe try later. What an extreme change of camera work compared to last week.
Guess TNT does not like compliments?
I don't feel that trackside connection today.
The in-car cameras are just killing this. The groove is about one lane off the white line. If you're not in that groove, the car goes flying up the track. We can't see that with roof cam or bumper cam.
Alexander is just awful right now, he's not calling the race.
Holy crap! TNT knows what a pitstop stopwatch is! Side by side no less.
Where are the pit reporters? We've ran 5+ laps now since the restart, we have to have some info on the tire situation.
My God, still no update on the tires. Instead we get Larry McReynolds on screen showing me how a spring rubber works for the 98th time.
Let's hope we get a through the field before lap 100.
Suddenly now TNT notices a number of tire issues? Where the hell were they the last cycle?
Ambrose about lost it there, and Alexander's voice remained as flat as could be as he read the promo. I just don't see the passion in him like I see in Mike Joy and Allen Bestwick. He doesn't have to scream or shout, but it's his job to develop and transfer the mood & emotion.
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