Postponed Until Monday By Rain (12PM - FOX)

Update: NASCAR has postponed the Sprint Cup Series race until Monday at Noon ET. FOX will carry the TV, MRN the radio.

The rain is falling and everyone is hoping that the Sprint Cup Series race from Martinsville can run today. That is especially true for the NASCAR on FOX gang. The local FOX TV stations are not looking forward to dealing with a Monday morning race.

Chris Myers will start the coverage at 12PM from the Hollywood Hotel. That facility might get quite a workout today. Myers will be joined by Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. The unfocused nature of the pre-race show continues to amaze.

Waltrip joins Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds in the booth to call the race. On pit road are Krista Voda, Steve Byrnes, Dick Berggren and Matt Yocum.

Weather may change a lot of the TV stories today. Drivers may well believe they are racing to halfway and that will change a lot of the race strategy. Pictures at Martinsville are best from the low angle. The backstretch cam showing the cars racing straight at the camera might be the most dynamic camera placement.

Pitstops are always a story and tough to cover. The long pit road makes incidents almost commonplace when pitting under caution. Staying wide to offer perspective on the race off pit road is important.

Mike Joy has been battling Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds over the issue of who should be talking while the cars are racing. The answer is Mike Joy. This seasoned professional works best when he can call the action and then mix his two analysts into the broadcast. Joy needs control and right now, he does not have it.

So, the big stories are weather and the race to halfway. A sidebar is what a possible postponement to Monday might mean to Denny Hamlin's knee surgery.

This will be your opportunity to offer your opinion during the live race telecast. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly telecast, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by The Daly Planet.

Truck Series Back At The Perfect Track

Here come the trucks again and this time the racing will be more about beating and banging than aero push and drafting. Saturday afternoon, the Camping World Trucks will be running at the bullring in Martinsville, VA. The ultimate payback track.

Krista Voda starts the coverage at 1:30PM with The Setup. Pit reporters Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander provide the interviews. There are some new faces, some Cup Series cross-over drivers and several good storylines unfolding in this series.

Rick Allen comes along at 2PM to call the race. As usual, he will have Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip alongside. It's been an interesting couple of weeks for these two gentlemen, especially where their shared Sprint Cup Series ownership interests are concerned. Waltrip even started and parked one of Parsons' Cup cars in Bristol last week.

Waltrip suggests that spending the weekend with the Parsons crew allowed him to prepare better for Talladega, where he will be racing Parsons' car for the entire event. Money is doing a lot of talking in the sport where these two are concerned.

The trucks need a solid show of good racing to get the series back into the TV highlights and return it to the popularity of 2009. The CWTS schedule for this season leaves a lot to be desired during this early stretch.

The familiar CWTS production team from SPEED is handling this event. That should result in some old school NASCAR TV and get away from what FOX has been offering. Following the leader and overusing in-car cameras has made the Cup Series tough to watch at times this year. SPEED follows the stories, shows the racing and lets the pit reporters provide a lot of information.

Rain washed out much of Friday's activity, including the CWTS qualifying. We will provide updates on this post and on Twitter about the weather during the morning hours. Larry McReynolds, amateur meteorologist, said the rain would clear out well before the truck race.

The big twist on Saturday is the low-key introduction of TruckBuddy. The folks at Turner Interactive, through the NASCAR.com website, are offering the CWTS version of RaceBuddy. Click here for the direct link to the page.

Although slightly smaller and with a few less features, having an online application like this for the race is a big step in the right direction. Letting fans get involved in picking video streams and choosing cameras while watching the race on SPEED is the wave of the future.

Hopefully, the success of this TruckBuddy experiment may lead to the application being sponsored and rolled-out again this season. Dodge is using the Ram brand to pay the bill and let users have TruckBuddy for free on Saturday. Nice move.

Let's use this post to get your comments before, during and after the CWTS race from Martinsville. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks!

Jimmy Spencer Adds Some Friday TV Spice

Martinsville is a FOX and SPEED weekend. The Camping World Trucks run on SPEED Saturday and the Sprint Cup Series airs live Sunday on FOX. That leaves all day Friday and Saturday morning for SPEED to cover practice and qualifying sessions for both series.

Bridging the gaps in this part of the weekend schedule is a show called NASCAR Live. Originally, it was just host John Roberts sitting alone on the SPEED Stage with two roving reporters combing through the garage for interviews and news. Now, it seems that things have changed.

Once again this weekend, the Friday and Saturday editions of this program will be a little larger. Roberts will be joined on the SPEED Stage by Hermie Sadler and Jimmy Spencer. If you squint your eyes a bit, it kind of looks like the RaceDay line-up.

NASCAR Live will be helped by Bob Dillner and Randy Pemberton reporting from the garage areas. In addition, Steve Byrnes will be sitting-in for Roberts on several of the live programs. Roberts has a little two-hour show called RaceDay to prepare for on Sunday morning.

Over the past several years, Roberts has been clutch in his ability to flex this program with what was actually happening at the track and on TV. He has been sitting in the rain, dealing with TV technical problems and and frying in the summer heat while bridging the gap between live sessions on the track.

SPEED is being very smart in ramping-up these programs and trying to bring a top notch level of coverage across the board. The NASCAR on FOX announce team of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds handles all the Sprint Cup Series activity. Meanwhile, SPEED's Camping World Truck Series team of Rick Allen, Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons covers the truck sessions.

Since Spencer was removed from the RaceDay and Victory Lane programs, he has been pushed into an off-balance thirty minute rant and rave show called What's the Deal? Click here to review the recent TDP column where we asked why Mr. Excitement had been buried after line dancing cowboys and a meatball making chef.

Spencer was also on NASCAR Live last week in Bristol. His appearances made one thing very clear. He still does not get it. TV needs Spencer to address an issue, stick to that issue and then be quiet. Adding Sadler to the panel means that there will also be another viewpoint represented and that is very healthy.

Just when Roberts had gotten used to looking over and seeing Kyle Petty, he now gets to see Spencer once again. Both Roberts and Byrnes get the challenge of seeing just what Spencer can bring to this program which was already going quite well with Sadler flying solo.

So, in between sessions on the track, make sure and keep an eye on the new line-up of NASCAR Live. The complete Friday and Saturday NASCAR TV schedule is on the right side of the TDP homepage.

We will use this post to offer comments on all the Friday TV on SPEED from Martinsville. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, so please keep that in mind when posting. Sometimes, comments are moderated before being posted. Thanks for dropping by The Daly Planet.