Daytona: The Review

SPEED:

• Fantastic Craftsman Truck race with outstanding technical pictures and sound, beating Fox Sports at its own game. The Truck race was the highlight of the week because of the continual action throughout the event. Phil Parsons is at the top of his game, and continues to show the class of the Parsons family. Krista Voda is simply wonderful, welcome back.
• Raceday is too long, too loud, and too over-the-top...and that is why we love it! No one can make you nuts like Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace, who represent either everything that is wrong with this country, or everything that is good about it. This is the franchise for SPEED, and John Roberts is the best TV traffic cop in the business since Brent Musberger on the NFL Today. Does that make Wendy Venturini the new Phyllis George?
• Victory Lane continues to be a quiet little jewel of a show that many people miss. The immediate winner interview, the emotion of the car owner, crew chief, family members, and the actual on-scene location cannot be beat. More interviews should be done, and the program should be as casual as possible, but it certainly has the potential to be what NASCAR needs, a live TV window into the post-race activity.
• Inside NEXTEL Cup needs some fixing. Either everyone is going to play nice, or this is going to be a repeat of the 2006 stand-off between Michael Waltrip and Dave Despain. Time to sort out what the network wants, and make the changes needed for this show to continue its long run.

ESPN

• NASCAR Now was interesting with Erik Kuselias, and a disaster with Chris Fowler. Why did the network think that the College Gameday host would be a better fit for Daytona? Credit to Rusty Wallace, Shannon Spake, Marty Smith, and Alan Bestwick for hanging-in regardless of the level of knowledge on the set. And often, there just wasn't much.
• The Daytona Busch Race was a nice solid performance by Jerry Punch to shake the rust off a long break from NASCAR. Rusty Wallace was solid, informative, and a good counterpoint to Andy Petree. ESPN delivered a strong technical performance, and clearly set the table for their future NEXTEL Cup debut. This is a network that wants more of NASCAR.

Fox Sports

• The Daytona 500 on Fox was a mixture of strong performances and strange happenings. Mike Joy is clearly the best at his craft, and Larry McReynolds remains as intense as ever. The surprise was Darrell Waltrip. Though he should be banned from discussing any aspect of Toyota or Michael Waltrip Racing before the event, things changed when the racing began. Darrell Waltrip has grown up. His focus was strong, his comments interesting, and his composure never wavered. This was his strongest color commentary performance since he joined the network. The downside of the race was the TV directing focusing endlessly on the leaders, this has to stop. Also, the reluctance to use the in-car audio because a Fox sister company, DirecTV, was selling the "Hot Pass." The lack of driver, spotter, and crew chief chatter left a hole in the telecast that should have been filled.

SPEED: Inside Nextel Cup

SPEED brought the studio debut of Inside Nextel Cup to the air Monday night without explaining what had changed since 2006. While host Dave Despain jokingly mentioned the fact that the set had new chairs, he failed to mention why Brian Vickers was no longer on the show, or why Greg Biffle was alongside the nine year regulars Kenny Schrader and Michael Waltrip.

This show has changed everything but Schrader and Waltrip over the better part of the last decade, and the 2007 version appears to be struggling. From the moment the first video of the studio appeared, Waltrip's body language betrayed his disgust with Despain continuing as the host. Michael has made no bones about his displeasure with the demise of Alan Bestwick in mid-season after a change in SPEED Channel management. Original panelist Johnny Benson was also dismissed during that shake-up.

Without Vickers, Despain seems to be the odd man out as he tries to lead a highlight discussion over the course of an entire hour. The three drivers barely even acknowledge his presence on the show, which begs the question of why he is still the host? The series was much better when the drivers were allowed to speak freely without interruption, a concept which Alan Bestwick understood and Mr. Despain cannot conquer. Clearly, the drivers must allow Despain to read his highlights and ask his questions, but the content of the show comes from the interaction between the drivers...period.

From the delightful Wendy Venturini to the noticeably absent Ralph Shaheen, SPEED has many other Charlotte area personalities who could step into a less formal and more cooperative role as the host for this weekly series. With the elimination of Vickers, a change at the host position is the one tweak this series needs to step-up to the level of the fun Raceday and the informative Victory Lane. SPEED needs to pay attention to this franchise, as all the other NASCAR-related programming that used to fill Monday night on the network is gone, a victim of NASCAR Images and SPEED's inability to cooperate for the overall good of the sport.

This is a pivotal year for NASCAR on SPEED, and the senior management needs to sit down and troubleshoot the problems with this former all-star performer.

ESPN: NASCAR Now - Midnight at Daytona

Leave it to Jeff Burton, speaking to reporters at the Media Center, to be the sole voice to discuss the single most pressing issue after the Daytona 500. Why did NASCAR violate their own rules by not putting out the caution flag when cars began spinning on the frontstretch at Daytona?

Regardless of the drivers involved, regardless of the track, and regardless of the race, NASCAR owes it to the integrity of the sport to remain true to their own rulebook. The sanctioning body likes to describe itself as a rival to sports like the NFL. Does any sports fan believe that the NFL would not call a penalty because the final pass of the game was in the air? Would they watch the clock run out but let the final field goal be kicked? This is exactly the type of quandary that NASCAR finds itself in all too often. They chose entertainment over safety, and then put pressure on the media to deflect the topic. And ESPN buckled like a snowman on a hot summer day.

During its last appearance at Daytona, ESPN used Kenny Mayne as the infield studio host, a person who had absolutely no understanding or experience with NASCAR. Now, six years later, the network brings Chris Fowler to Daytona with exactly the same level of NASCAR knowledge. Why? Fowler was a grinning and head-shaking host who occasionally acknowledged his basketball partner Brad Daugherty, who once again interacted with, and interviewed, no one.

ESPN Analyst Rusty Wallace said "there was nothing to gain by throwing the caution" about NASCAR's decision to delay the yellow flag. Luckily, he said that to race winner Kevin Harvick who was seated on ESPN's NASCAR Now set. Perhaps, Mark Martin, Ryan Permberton, Bobby Ginn, and the remainder of the 01 team might have disagreed with Wallace had they been present.

Tim Cowlishaw has worked hard to build-up his TV credibility with his Around the Horn appearances, but during his NASCAR Now post-race segment he avoided any journalistic issues, as if he had been told to tow the company line. Cowlishaw, like Daugherty, has no defined role on this program and never raised one hard news issue during the entire Daytona SpeedWeek.

ESPN has tried to put ten pounds of TV announcers in a five pound bag. Mysterious figures like Angelique Chengelis and Jeremy Shapp appeared from no where, only to report briefly and never be seen again. Who is Ms. Chengelis and why is she a "NASCAR Insider?" Why is former "Insider" Marty Smith now a pit reporter type? What did he do to lose his "Insider" membership status?

Hopefully, ESPN will tone down their on-track presence to a manageable number of experienced anchors and reporters. This sport does not need the TV hype of College Gameday and the high-profile of ESPN anchors. The network needs to concentrate on the reality of the daily grind that ten months of hard work and travel demand from hundreds of NASCAR teams and crew members.

At Daytona, SPEED Channel rolled out their successful Raceday and Victory Lane programs with overwhelming fan response. ESPN is playing catch-up to an established and appreciated SPEED and Fox combination that played a significant role in the current success of NASCAR. No matter how insulated things are in Bristol, Connecticut, ESPN needs to re-tool their NASCAR Now effort prior to the next race in California.