Wall-To-Wall SPEED On Friday

Once again SPEED gets to have fun on a Friday by covering all the on-track action from Fontana. ESPN is producing only the races, so SPEED steps-in with wall-to-wall NASCAR coverage.

John Roberts is going to anchor NASCAR Live to start the day. Hermie Sadler and Randy Pemberton are his reporters from the garage area. This trio has proven to be very effective at getting the interviews needed to set-the-table for the day. This first edition of NASCAR Live hits the air at 2:30PM Eastern Time.

One of the hardest working trios in NASCAR is up next, as Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds begin a very long day with Sprint Cup practice at 3PM. Helping with this live telecast will be reporters Wendy Venturini and Bob Dillner.

At 4:30PM, Roberts and crew return with another NASCAR Live to track-down any stories from the first session. This show is a flexible bridge to the next on-track activity and has been very good in wrapping-up loose ends.

The Nationwide Series cars take to the track for practice at 5PM and once again Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds will be on-hand. After a brief break, so will Dillner and Venturini.

Even though there are only 44 cars trying for 43 slots, Sprint Cup qualifying always has its share of drama. This session should start at 6:30PM and feature some interesting names like Mike Skinner and Johnny Sauter. Byrnes and company will stay on-the-air and work this telecast.

Bob Dillner get a change-of-scenery next as he is hosting the Nationwide Series live practice session. Dillner will be joined by Hermie Sadler and Phil Parsons. Randy Pemberton will move-over to patrol the garage with Wendy Venturini. This one hour session will start at 8:30PM.

The evening ends with a bang as SPEED's three amigos host Trackside along with Elliott Sadler. Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds welcome Brian Vickers and David Ragan as guests to this 9:30PM program.

For West Coast viewers, stay tuned. All the sessions will be repeated again once Trackside is over. Friday features eight hours of NASCAR programming on SPEED and should serve quite well to set-up both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races to come on Saturday and Sunday.

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Bristol TV Ratings Get NASCAR's Attention

It had the shortest laps, the most excitement and was live in East Coast prime-time. It featured the top stars in the sport and came when the scramble for Chase spots was in full-swing. ESPN had all their TV stars on-hand and covered the racing action from start-to-finish. In the end, that wasn't enough.

National TV ratings for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race from Bristol were down. The numbers show viewership fell from 5.7 million to just under 5 million homes. A 3.5 rating this year as opposed to a 4.1 last season.

Numbers aside, the final night of Olympic event coverage certainly played a role in these results. So did the growing availability of alternatives to the ESPN coverage. DirecTV's Hot Pass, NASCAR.com's Sprint Race View and live radio coverage all use other pathways to deliver the same racing content that ESPN is producing.

The transition of Bristol from a gladiator-style crash-fest into a two-groove racetrack had to play a role as well. Even though ESPN promoted the race as a "slugfest" and "full contact NASCAR action," nothing could be further from the truth. Accidents happened because of spotter error, blown tires and the limited visibility in the new COT.

After watching the racing action for so many years from this tiny oval, it seems ironic that one or two bumps at the end among the leaders would cause such a stir. ESPN has a tough challenge on its hands to try and bump-up the ratings, but at least they are secure in the knowledge that this will be the final Fontana race in the heat of the summer on a Labor Day weekend.

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TV Bumping Gets Probation For Busch And Edwards

On Wednesday NASCAR did what many veteran observers predicted. That would be nothing.

Following the post-race festivities between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, NASCAR placed both drivers on probation for the next six races. There are no fines involved or any kind of point penalties.

This is NASCAR's way of saying "don't do that again" but we understand that things sometimes happen after a race. At the beginning of the season, Brian France emphasized that the sanctioning body was going to be more lenient of drivers who expressed themselves in public.

The "TV bump" of these two was the best gift California Speedway could get for its final race in the heat of the summer. Although ESPN will once again not be involved in practice or qualifying coverage, you can be assured that "the bump" will have a life of its own in promos and on NASCAR Now as the California race approaches.

ESPN will be on-the-air at 7PM Eastern Time on Sunday with the one hour NASCAR Countdown pre-race show and then race coverage. This is the final race on ESPN before coverage changes to the ABC Broadcast Network in Richmond.

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