John Kernan Returns To ESPN Motorsports

Just a quick note for veteran NASCAR fans. Former RPM2Night host John Kernan has returned to ESPN as a field reporter on ESPN's coverage of the NHRA tour.

Kernan is currently the host of The Driver's Seat, a daily morning radio program on Sirius Satellite Radio.

This ESPN assignment puts Kernan back in the ESPN family of motorsports, and may set the table for future assignments. Your comments are welcome.

"Trackside" On Friday Was Just What Indy Needed

On a dreary Friday in Indy, NASCAR was absolutely stalled at the gate. The clouds were overhead, the rain was coming, and everyone knew that the on-track schedule was going to be out the window. It was the first day of a big three day racing weekend, the first day of a seventeen week stretch, and the first NEXTEL Cup race on ESPN in seven years.

Somebody had to step-up and inject the fun back in this day. Something had to get race fans back to being excited about this race. It had to be someone who can poke fun at himself, play well with others, and keep a sense of humor under any circumstances...including a day of rain.

This situation called for the one man who has quietly established himself as a NASCAR TV favorite among both the fans and racers. Someone who perhaps will be seen a lot more on NASCAR TV in the future. That man is Steve Byrnes, and his show is Trackside on SPEED.

Unless you have been living in a basement without cable TV, you should probably still be laughing from the Chicagoland version of this show. Panelist Elliott Sadler, who is an outstanding athlete, threw a fastball to "batter" Jeff Hammond to show off his major league arm. Unfortunately, even in full protective gear, Sadler's pitch beaned Hammond like a Nolan Ryan fastball.

In typical Trackside style, Hammond opened the Indy show with half a baseball pinned to the back of his head and still complaining of a headache. Larry McReynolds and Byrnes could not get enough of this one. The best part of this show is the fact that these four guys work well with each other, and each one is given an opportunity to shine in their own right.

Steve Byrnes has been hosting Trackside, along with NASCAR Live, for the entire season. Like any good host, he builds on the stories and experiences of the previous race. Watching Trackside is a double whammy. Viewers get the current news and information while also looking back on the past races and keeping things in perspective. This has been a tremendous struggle for other NASCAR TV partners.

No one evokes more eye-rolling among the NASCAR TV gang than Kenny Wallace. "Herman" has countless jokes out there about his ability to talk non-stop until the people around him beg for mercy. On Trackside, infield reporter John Roberts gave "Herman" a chance to talk, and the Trackside gang took full advantage.

Nothing was funnier than seeing Hammond, Sadler, McReynolds, and Byrnes pretend to be asleep on the SPEED stage while a "Kenny clock" runs on the screen. Without being able to see what was going on, Kenny kept talking and talking and talking. It was hilarious. This is why fans have come to enjoy this program on a regular basis. They have fun.

On this one show, the panel welcomed Casey Mears to talk about his Indy connections and his family history. Then, Kasey Kahne stopped by to talk about his year and the Evernham team's progress. He also took a good-natured ribbing for his now famous "Yak" commercial. Finally, Max Siegel from DEI stopped by to explain the DEI/Ginn merger and update the fans on why and how things took place.

What more could viewers want on a dark, dreary, and rainy Friday from Indy? On stage was Larry McReynolds, the savior of the TNT race package and NASCAR guru. Jeff Hammond always has a good opinion and a solid race perspective. Elliot Sadler has turned out to be a good TV personality, and his gaffs including falling off the stage in Charlotte and beaning Hammond have been hilarious.

Finally, the heart-and-soul of the program is Steve Byrnes. He has moved himself up a notch in the NASCAR pecking order, and now finds himself poised to step-up to a play-by-play role on a regular basis after his hosting of NASCAR practice sessions on SPEED. His versatility in the studio, on the infield stage, and in the broadcast booth have made him a sought-after property for next season.

If you haven't seen Trackside, its a good program to put on the DVR and view before the race. Its also a blast to watch live, and contains a lot of the good-natured fun that SPEED has captured in their RaceDay program. As SPEED and ESPN continue to share the NASCAR spotlight for the rest of the season, Trackside is a home run for the network and a blast for the fans.

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ESPN Surrounded By SPEED Channel At Indy

Over the last six years or so, there has been a TV dynamic at work in NASCAR that was quite unique. NASCAR's NEXTEL Cup Series was carried by Fox Sports, TNT, and NBC Sports. Most of the "support programming" like practice, happy hour, and qualifying was carried on SPEED Channel.

Viewers got quite comfortable with seeing TNT announcers like Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach doing the early on-track sessions live on SPEED. The same was done for the NBC package. Lots of early parts were on SPEED. With Fox Sports, SPEED is actually a sister company also owned by Fox, so the announcers simply bounced back and forth between the two networks. Often over the years, many practice and qualifying crews were a combination of announcers from SPEED and the network broadcasting the NEXTEL Cup race.

In addition, SPEED literally surrounded the NEXTEL Cup events with a strong line-up of on-site programming including NASCAR Live, Trackside, RaceDay, and Victory Lane. While the NEXTEL Cup racing was on a non-SPEED network, fans knew to turn to SPEED for everything else.

On Friday of this week, all that changes. Enter ESPN, ABC Sports, and Disney. There will be no "sharing" of announcers for the rest of the season. You will not see Jerry Punch doing play-by-play on SPEED. You will not see Andy Petree offering analysis on SPEED. Add to that list Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty, Brent Musburger, and Suzy Kolber. The lines have been drawn.

This is an awkward situation for ESPN. There is no other venue where the network does not control almost everything on-site. There is no Fox Sports pre-game show before ESPN's Monday Night Football from the stadium grounds. There is no USA Network post-game show right after the last pitch of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. There is no two hour live preview show from the X Games venue on MTV or SpikeTV.

At Indy, ESPN will be up against a network that has worked hard to gain credibility in NASCAR by doing it the old fashioned way. They worked for it. Along the way there has been success with Trackside, RaceDay, and Victory Lane. There have also been failures like the memorable NASCAR Nation. But, SPEED hung-in there, produces a solid Craftsman Truck package, and even features NASCAR prominently on shows like the SPEED Report and WindTunnel.

When ESPN looks around at Indy, they will not see the College Gameday set with Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit. They will see the SPEED Stage with Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds. When ESPN looks again they will see John Roberts, Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace staring back at them. That crew will be doing a two hour pre-race show at an "ESPN track" before an "ESPN exclusive race."

SPEED viewers are used to Wendy Venturini roaming the garage area for two hours during the RaceDay program that is telecast live just before the NEXTEL Cup race. During the 2007 TNT package, RaceDay actually overlapped with TNT's own ninety minute pre-race show. ESPN would not, and will not, ever permit that sort of thing to happen with SPEED. Just how far they will permit Wendy and RaceDay to roam in Indy remains to be seen.

ESPN has its own fleet of TV trucks, and its own army of technicians. But, at NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races, the TV compound is controlled by NASCAR's own official television and media production company called NASCAR Images. ESPN will have to nestle-in beside DirecTV's Hot Pass package, InDemand's Pay-Per-View in-car package, and the NASCAR.com RaceView package. For NASCAR Images, ESPN is just another client in this racing season. That's right, just another TV client in the NASCAR package.

All these issues have been given lip service by NASCAR, ESPN, and SPEED. Everything is going to be just fine they all say. Well, talking has been the only way to deal with these potential problems because until Friday they have not been real. There have been no conflicts, no problems, and no egos colliding into a screaming television mess. Rival fraternities have not been forced to live in the same frat house...until now.

As you go through the many live hours of NASCAR TV this weekend from Indy, try to appreciate the new dynamic in play. ESPN's previous coverage of the Busch Series has absolutely nothing to do with this. The network had been the "bottom feeder" to the NEXTEL Cup broadcaster. Now, with the click of another day in time, they are instantly the big fish in the NASCAR pond all the way through Homestead in November.

For veteran fans, the most interesting moment may be when SPEED begins to tape its Victory Lane show. This program begins taping when the winning car crosses the finish line in the NEXTEL Cup race. SPEED announcers watch over their shoulders as the winner comes into Victory Lane, gets out, and does the mandatory live TV interview. Then, almost immediately, the winner goes to SPEED for a Victory Lane interview with John Roberts and his co-hosts.

Imagine ESPN on-the-air live with the winning driver interview while SPEED tapes a TV show right behind them. Can you see ESPN allowing their "exclusive" winner interview to be shown later in Victory Lane as "background?"

Best of all, with ESPN SportsCenter, NASCAR Now, and the ESPN News Network waiting for interviews, can you really see ESPN giving up the winner of "their" Brickyard 400....to Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace?

Stay tuned fans, this is going to get interesting...and probably by Sunday afternoon.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.