Marty Smith Returns To ESPN In Style

Wednesdays on NASCAR Now have sometimes been a little slow. The weekend highlights are now old, the next race is days away, and there is usually not a lot of news.

NASCAR Now's Lead Reporter Marty Smith returned from a recent vacation with some information that served to spice-up this Wednesday in a very big way. The Tony Stewart empire was beginning to shake, and Smith knew the reason why.

Since the Joe Gibbs move to Toyota, racing veterans have been wondering how Stewart was going to balance his long affiliation with GM and his new high-profile role with Toyota. Smith's news was that Stewart was trying to explore his options to get out of the Gibbs stable at the end of this season.

In the past, this type of story on NASCAR Now would have ended right there. This season, however, ESPN has committed to using all their NASCAR veterans to support this TV series and that is exactly what happened. It was Dale Jarrett who appeared next to speak directly to Smith's report and the Tony Stewart situation.

Jarrett's opinion carries a lot of weight, and he spoke about the fact that Stewart may have been approached by a Chevy team that perhaps put an ownership stake on the table. Jarrett's perspective was that Stewart was now in a different time in his racing career, and his priorities may have changed.

Without missing a beat, host Ryan Burr brought-in Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman with the Talladega Superspeedway looming. Newman continues to be a great interview for this program, and once again spoke about a wide variety of topics with candor and honesty.

The previews of Talladega began with Jarrett talking about the upcoming COT race. He mentioned the new surface and the drafting while calling the racing "intense." He pointed to a key to success being patience, something he mastered in his career. Having Jarrett preview this event was exactly the type of high-profile personality that is going to make viewers tune-in on what is normally a slow Wednesday.

Reporter Jamie Little stopped-by to review her win in the Toyota Celebrity Race in Long Beach, CA. After a brief recap, she moved on to handle the story of Kevin Harvick not racing in the Nationwide Series at Talladega at the request of Cup team owner Richard Childress.

Little also updated the status of Kyle Busch and his possible change in direction to focus on running the entire Nationwide Series. To add commentary to this issue, Burr then turned to Brad Daugherty.

Outside of the Monday one hour version of this show, Daugherty is struggling to find his role on the 2008 ESPN NASCAR team. With the addition of Dale Jarrett in the booth and the move of Rusty Wallace to the Infield Studio, Daugherty is overshadowed by experienced professionals everywhere he turns. Even the best efforts of Allen Bestwick are not enough to help Daugherty with his struggles.

On this show, Daugherty "guessed" that Kyle Busch will run the entire Nationwide Series schedule despite having absolutely no information on that topic. He offered an opinion that Harvick not running the Nationwide race at Talladega was not a problem. Again, no reason why. Finally, he talked in general terms about the Nationwide race and predicted the "big one" would happen and perhaps a young driver would win the race.

Why NASCAR Now continues to put Daugherty in this situation is any one's guess. Rather than let him prepare feature reports and use his owner experience to interact with the top personalities in the sport, he continues to be put on the spot for opinions that almost never turn-out to be accurate. This role damages his credibility when he appears on NASCAR Countdown and on the Monday "roundtable" shows. This season, Daugherty is the new Tim Cowlishaw.

Burr closed out the program by promoting a special one hour NASCAR Now show honoring Dale Earnhardt Sr. scheduled for next Tuesday. It was Dale Jarrett with a final comment who predicted it may well be Senior's son who is celebrating next week, and it may be with a Talladega win.

This program packed a lot of information and even some breaking news into thirty minutes. It was exactly the type of show that will make NASCAR fans think about tuning-in every Wednesday. Maybe Marty Smith should go on vacation more often.

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Who Said? Boris Said Just A Little Too Much

When the NASCAR road course races come around, there is pressure on some drivers to get as much exposure as possible. The road course "ringers" sometimes have a tough time in the sport, and over the weekend in Mexico Boris Said had trouble with a Nationwide Series regular.

Marcos Ambrose has been racing hard in the Nationwide Series, and proven himself to be a fan favorite. He came from the back of the pack twice in the Mexico City event and had a car he thought could win. On the way back to the front, he tangled with Said and ended his day.

Host Ryan Burr brought Said and Ambrose together on Tuesday's NASCAR Now for what was billed as a discussion. It turned-out to be a personality profile of two very different drivers at two very different points in their respective careers.

Ambrose was apologetic, and tried to soften the tone by showing-up attired in a "Said Head." Unfortunately, Boris was having none of it. This sports car veteran turned occasional NASCAR racer had only one thing on his mind and that was whining.

A veteran NASCAR PR person might have helped Said to understand that there is a point where you stop talking and let the public be the judge of the situation. Even though Burr and Said are both members of the NASCAR Now team, Burr let Said complain to the point of no return. Said came off in a bad light, and Ambrose emerged as a stand-up guy.

The downside of this interview is that Said will eventually return as a commentator to NASCAR Now. Viewers will now be able to remember this interview as a glimpse of a very different side of Said. He was already on thin ice for speaking to issues connected to Roush Fenway Racing without disclosing his relationship to that company. Only substitute host Marty Reid made this information public before allowing Said to comment. Said's next NASCAR Now appearance may be viewed in a much different light.

Andy Petree was along to speak candidly about the fact that Ambrose had no agenda in wrecking Said. He put Said's antics in perspective, and talked about the fact that Ambrose had a car that could possibly win the race. He never mentioned Said as being in that same situation.

It was Petree that continued on the show to address the recent Nationwide Series race in Mexico City. With lower attendance and high costs for the teams, Petree said very clearly that he thought NASCAR should move this race to a domestic road course venue. This is a strong call for NASCAR to reward a US track with another race in an environment where available NASCAR race dates are a rarity.

Petree continues to have a great year on TV, especially in this new NASCAR Now setting with all three of the show hosts. It seems that the addition of Dale Jarrett to the ESPN team may have jump-started Petree's enthusiasm. Hopefully, ESPN will continue to make good use of his outspoken and experienced viewpoints throughout the season.

NASCAR Now stepped a bit deeper into the reality of the sport with some limited regional racing highlights and results. As the regional tracks begin to understand that this TV series may be interested in highlights, there is no doubt the show will begin to be flooded with footage from the various regional series.

With the Internet a viable way to send video, perhaps NASCAR Now will enlist the NASCAR fans to help spread the national TV coverage of the sport by sending footage. No doubt they will instantly find a lot of volunteers.

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Danica And Diversity Are TV Topics Once Again

This is the link to a Daly Planet column written in December of 2007 addressing the single biggest issue in NASCAR. Before the COT, before drug testing and before bad tires from Goodyear, there was simply "diversity."

Regardless of the circumstances, Danica Patrick has thrown a rock into the pool that will result in a wave of questions surrounding diversity for the drivers at Talladega. Could she win in NASCAR? Would she fit in the new Childress car? Why are there no female drivers in the Cup Series?

How the TV networks will approach this issue as Talladega looms will be interesting. SPEED and ESPN2 have both broached the subject of Danica, including Allen Bestwick raising the issue on Monday's NASCAR Now.

Dave Despain had a nice interview with Danica on Wind Tunnel, who appeared to be as surprised as anyone that she had walked away with the victory. Fuel mileage races are common to both NASCAR and the IRL, but somehow in the IRL the drama is less intense. The extensive electronics, the fuel gauges and the engineers tell a very different story on TV than Chad Knaus simply telling Jimmie Johnson they are going to "go for it."

These days, as NASCAR looks around at the IRL and the NHRA, they find themselves surrounded by a very different breed of star. Ashley Force, Angelle Sampey and Melanie Troxel headline the NHRA series. Troxel has been over 330mph. Minority stars like Antron Brown and JR Todd mix seamlessly into the sport and attract a big fan base.

The IRL now boasts drivers from all over the world, and the Danica Patrick vs. "the boys" rivalry is a dream for newspapers and Internet sites. As David Poole said, this is a time for NASCAR to take a look in the rearview mirror. That "other series" is making some noise and about to head to Indy.

With a full weekend of TV programming being offered by SPEED, ESPN2 and Fox it should be interesting to see what programs bring-up this subject, and how they choose to handle this story and the broader topic. Certainly, RaceDay and Tradin' Paint on SPEED are two programs that come to mind where the issue might be raised. Also, the Hollywood Hotel portion of the Fox telecast during the pre-race. It might be interesting to let DW weigh-in on the subject.

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