Live Blogging The Nationwide Series From Richmond, VA (ESPN2 - 7PM ET)

Here we go with what should be a very exciting race for the Nationwide Series from the Richmond International Raceway.

Allen Bestwick starts things off from the Infield Pit Center for ESPN2. Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty will join Bestwick from that location. It seems strange that Wallace would not move upstairs and join the broadcast team. Wallace has been working a lot of the Nationwide Series races as an analyst.

Instead, it will be Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the booth with play-by-play from Marty Reid, who returns to the series after a hiatus. Reid should add some spark to this night race that tends to get rather intense for this series.

On pit road will be Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch. Jeff Gluck of scenedaily.com related earlier that Spake has just announced she is pregnant with twins. ESPN's Ryan McGee suggested that Marty and Ryan are good names for the new additions.

There is a very diverse field for this race. It is the time of the season when there are very different agendas in the Nationwide Series. Some drivers are trying to get recognized for next season at this big race where all the Cup Series owners are watching. Some are trying to keep sponsors while the Cup-whackers are mostly just aiming for the win.

This is a very fast track for the TV Director. The challenge is to blend the track level cameras with the high shots and the in-cars. The action is so fast that the easiest thing to do is stay wide and let them race. Should the ESPN coverage again tilt toward tight shots and in-cars, it could be a long night for TV viewers.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the Nationwide Series from Richmond. To add your TV-related comments, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

ESPN's Afternoon TV From Richmond, VA

ESPN2 is on the air with coverage of the Sprint Cup Series practice, Nationwide Series qualifying and finally Sprint Cup Series qualifying.

Jerry Punch will handle the Sprint Cup Series action while Marty Reid has returned and will call the Nationwide Series activities. Both play-by-play announcers will be working with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree.

This is going to be a long day for Jarrett and Petree. They will also stick around to handle the Nationwide Series race later tonight.

Richmond is a huge race for the sport and the tension level is high in the Sprint Cup Series garage. Keep an eye on the interviews from the pit reporters in these sessions for who is having a good day and who is struggling.

This post will serve to host your comments about the afternoon TV on ESPN2. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. We will update news during the day on this post as well. Thanks!

Updated: Tough Two Weeks For "NASCAR Now"

Note: With the fact that NASCAR Now did not appear in its scheduled timeslot again last (Wednesday) night, we are going to continue this post for one more day. In addition, even more big breaking news will be pushed to the overnight shift with the RPM and Yates merger announcement. It turns out that this really was a rough two weeks for NASCAR fans wanting news and interviews on TV.

This is the first season of US Open tennis on the ESPN networks. The live coverage forced several daily shows to move off of ESPN2 during the weekdays. One show was called Sports Nation and the other was NASCAR Now.

On the weekdays, Sports Nation was moved over to the ESPNEWS Network and kept in its 4PM timeslot. NASCAR Now was simply cancelled. The late night re-air of the show was now the only time to see it.

Fans setting the DVR to record NASCAR Now then found that tennis had often run long and pushed the entire TV schedule back. Instead of trying to hit NASCAR Now on time, ESPN ran all the scheduled shows before it got to NASCAR, even if those shows were re-airs.

While the US Open is a great event, NASCAR deserved better treatment. It would have been easy to move NASCAR Now to ESPNEWS. The 5PM timeslot would not have been a problem. The Sports Nation show is an interactive talk show that features an ESPN radio personality and a female host. NASCAR Now is a program that documents a major American sport.

ESPN paid hundreds of millions of dollars to NASCAR in order to get in a position to show the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series races. These two weeks are crucial in terms of getting interviews and information out to the fans as the dramatic Richmond race approaches on Saturday night.

Fundamentally, this was a bad time of the year to move the sport's only daily TV show to the overnight shift for two weeks. Kudos to the ESPN.com staff who tried very hard to put as many NASCAR interviews and features online as possible, but it certainly is not the same as a thirty minute TV program.

ESPN has worked very hard for the past three seasons to revamp this TV series. NASCAR Now has become a very watchable and respected program. Changes in on-air talent and the format of the program have paid off.

Perhaps, ESPN will put this learning experience in the books and realize they took away the best promotional tool for the Chase in their possession. The Thursday version of NASCAR Now airs at 1AM ET Friday morning...hopefully.

TDP would like your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.