In-Progress At New Hampshire: Nationwide Series on ABC

The Nationwide Series race at the newly-named New Hampshire Motor Speedway will signal the return of Dale Jarrett to the ABC broadcast booth and finally give Rusty Wallace a weekend off.

While Jarrett was off on his planned vacation, Wallace has done double-duty for ESPN. He has appeared on the NASCAR Countdown program and then gone upstairs to call the races. Give credit to Wallace, he has improved dramatically this season and fans have noticed his ability to present himself on TV in a very professional manner.

It will be Allen Bestwick starting the coverage with NASCAR Countdown at 2:30PM Eastern Time. For this edition, Bestwick will be joined by Jarrett and Brad Daugherty. There are plenty of topics to discuss this week, and it should be noticed by fans just how many relate directly to the Nationwide Series and how much attention during this thirty minute show is given to the Sprint Cup gang.

Jarrett moves up to the broadcast booth where he will be working alongside of Dr. Jerry Punch. This track is not the type that Punch enjoys and the lack of passing combined with the flat and slippery track should be a challenge for this former pit reporter. Look for Jarrett to give Punch a lot of help during the later stages of the event.

ESPN has begun to heighten the profile of Ray Evernham. Still undecided as to his plans for 2009, Evernham will step-in for the vacationing Andy Petree and handle the analysis with Jarrett. Still well-spoken, Evernham is trying to decide his future on-and-off the track.

For the next three weeks, Evernham will appear on the one hour Monday NASCAR Now program that Allen Bestwick has made so successful this season. In addition, Evernham will be the studio analyst for the NASCAR Now show before the big Daytona Sprint Cup race next weekend. ESPN is giving Evernham a variety of assignments, and it should be interesting to see what direction the network and Evernham choose to go for next season.

Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Shannon Spake will report from pit road but there will also be another change on the ESPN TV team. Tim Brewer has the weekend off, and it will be the #24 crew chief Steve Letarte stepping-in to handle the TV duties from the Tech Center. Letarte is a Maine native, and a well-spoken NASCAR personality with good knowledge of the ins-and-out of the sport.

One final note. With the NCTS racing later Saturday night in Memphis, TN perhaps Bestwick will ask Daugherty about his plans to operate a NCTS team for 2009. Since NASCAR Now dramatically hosted NFL veteran Randy Moss and NBA veteran Daugherty to announce that both were going to start their own NCTS teams, fans have not heard a peep out of either man about those plans. Emails to Daugherty about this topic were not returned.

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In-Progress At Memphis: Craftsman Trucks On SPEED

The one-day action will be fast and furious as the Craftsman Truck Series takes to the track in Memphis, TN on SPEED.

Action begins with coverage of qualifying at 6PM Eastern Time. At 8:30PM the network returns with the pre-race show and then coverage of the race at 9PM.

Rick Allen and Phil Parsons will be calling the NCTS action all day long with Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander patrolling pit road and the garage area. Krista Voda will host The Set-Up pre-race show before turning things over to Allen. Update: Doug Richert will be joining SPEED for the NCTS qualifying and the race.

SPEED has consistently delivered a quality product for fans with few gimmicks and lots of good solid racing. The focus of the broadcast follows the real story of the race, and that is not always who is leading. The coverage of pit road and the critical final lap of the races has been outstanding.

There is no doubt that not only is the NCTS the best racing of NASCAR's three national touring series, but the coverage on SPEED is also consistently solid. This series benefits from having a full-time TV production crew who only steps-aside early in the season when the Trucks race at the same track as the Cup Series during the Fox coverage.

Now, with TNT and then ESPN in the mix for the Cup races, the SPEED gang will be handling the remainder of the series. Look for the trademark qualities of Phil Parsons that include a smooth and personal style that compliments the play-by-play abilities of Allen. Dunlap is having a good season, and Adam Alexander is about to break-out for SPEED and tackle bigger TV assignments.

The square peg in this round TV hole is Krista Voda. Her recent appearances as a co-anchor of The SPEED Report have reminded viewers of her ability in the studio. Somehow, having Voda appear for thirty minutes before a Truck race and then disappear for the remainder of the telecast just does not make sense. Along with Alexander, look for Voda to be offered additional opportunities for 2009 with both the Fox and SPEED families.

Memphis should provide a good contrast in style and substance to the flat and slippery track in New Hampshire. Look for the SPEED gang to have a good show.

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ABC's West Coast TV Mess: NASCAR vs. Kid's Shows

It is always interesting when the ESPN gang produces a NASCAR race and sends it out to the fans through the ABC Television Network.

In theory, the broader reach of over-the-air broadcast TV gives greater exposure to events like the Nationwide Series race on Saturday afternoon from Loudon, NH. In reality, maybe not so much.

Now in the second year of the current NASCAR TV contract, the apparent disconnect between the ESPN-produced NASCAR events and the ABC local TV stations could not be greater. Where NASCAR is concerned, this situation is poised to throw a wrench into what is shaping-up as a critical season for the sport.

One good case in point is the situation with ABC's West Coast affiliates. TDP readers have already alerted us that the ABC stations in Seattle, WA and Portland, OR will be pre-empting the first thirty minutes of the Saturday Nationwide Series telecast.

This continues a long history of ignoring ABC "must carry" sports events by KOMO-tv in Seattle. This was the story about the Talladega race earlier this season that was joined-in-progress. KOMO-tv decided not to move thirty minutes of children's programming to carry the ABC Sports telecast of NASCAR.

Other ABC stations from San Diego to Sacramento and from Los Angeles to San Francisco have no problem adjusting their TV line-ups to catch the NASCAR telecasts that begin at 11:30AM Pacific Time. Why then, would other ABC stations in the same time zone be unable to do exactly the same thing?

The Nationwide Series is struggling, and ESPN has a big investment in this series in a very direct way. The company has many years left on its NASCAR TV contract and the promotion of the Nationwide Series by ESPN is one big reason they landed the final seventeen Sprint Cup races.

Last year, the wheels fell-off the ABC train when the Sprint Cup portion of the season rolled around. This is one TDP story about the mess caused by just a single night race. Many ABC affiliates decided their own local station agenda was bigger than that of either NASCAR or the ABC Television Network. Know what has changed since then? Nothing.

Last season we suggested that all three parties, NASCAR, ESPN and ABC sit down and review these issues. This sport is very different because of the problems associated with rain, red flags and numerous cautions. Veteran fans know a race running an hour longer than scheduled is not uncommon. In the broadcast TV world, an hour is an eternity.

While the problems on Saturday may be limited to some West Coast stations, ESPN is only a couple of weeks away from beginning their coverage of the Sprint Cup Series. Ultimately, the final ten races on ABC will be key to whether NASCAR ends another season on a high or low note where this new TV contract is concerned.

The ultimate reminder for the ESPN and ABC team of just how bad it got last season is this blurb from a TDP column after the final race in Homestead:

Sometimes, the poor ESPN guys just cannot buy a break as they try to navigate their way through the twisted world of the ABC local stations. On this Sunday, KABC in Los Angeles the number two TV market in the country somehow forgot to show the first thirty minutes of the live NASCAR Countdown pre-race show.

Can you believe it? Even with thousands of angry calls pouring into the KABC switchboard, the fans could not convince the Master Control Operator at the station that he probably should switch to the live final NEXTEL Cup race instead of running the children's show the station was airing.

Someone at ESPN is in charge of "clearing" these ABC stations for the NASCAR races. Someone at NASCAR is in charge of making sure that ABC carries the NASCAR events as scheduled in the TV contract. Somehow, it just does not seem all that hard to do correctly.

It is the NASCAR fan who is directly affected by these ABC local station problems. Last season, many fans reported to TDP about their efforts to call and email the stations involved only to be met by a wall of silence.

When we tried to pursue the matter, ESPN told us it was an ABC issue. ABC told us it was a local station issue. Several local stations happily told us they were independent businesses and would continue to do exactly as they pleased.

On Saturday afternoon, the cycle will being again.

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