The gripes of the off-season are over as the Sprint Cup Series cars involved in the Bud Shootout hit the Daytona track at 5PM and 6:30PM for practice sessions that will be carried live on SPEED.
Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds from the NASCAR on FOX gang get to knock the rust off from the winter over on the FOX-owned cable network. Steve Byrnes and Matt Yocum are the reporters for the early session. Krista Voda and Dick Berggren will handle the final practice.
Before the first session, SPEED breaks out a cast of thousands for a one hour NASCAR Live show that will try to touch all the bases and get the fans caught-up on the many changes in the sport since last season.
At both 4PM and 6PM it will be John Roberts and Dave Despain hosting from their respective positions. Kyle Petty, Jeff Hammond and Phil Parsons will be working as analysts. Randy Pemberton, Wendy Venturini, Bob Dillner and Hermie Sadler will handling the reporter duties.
Once the on-track action is done, Adam Alexander will host SpeedCenter from the SPEED studios back in Charlotte, NC. The new analyst replacing Ray Evernham on this show is Ricky Rudd. It should be interesting to see how this on-air dynamic works out as the season rolls on.
At 8:30PM the always entertaining and mildly chaotic Bud Shootout selection show is also on SPEED. As host, Steve Brynes tries to maintain order while his "assistants" Kenny Wallace and Rutledge Wood try just as hard to disrupt him. Ultimately, the line-up for the Saturday night race on FOX will be set.
One of the NASCAR Media Group's finest programs is the Dale Earnhardt Sr. episode of the series called The Day. This program ends the NASCAR programming Friday on SPEED at 10PM and should be mandatory viewing for anyone wanting to understand the sport.
We will be taking your Friday comments on this post as the NASCAR TV day rolls by on SPEED. It should be a good opportunity to notice any changes that have been put in place by the network's new president and also to see just where the TV focus will be as we head toward the Daytona 500.
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