Live Blogging Nationwide Series From Phoenix (ESPN2 - 3PM)

The situation could not be worse for ESPN in Phoenix. Sunshine today has made the newly-paved single groove Phoenix International Raceway into an ice rink.

The start of the race and double-file restarts are going to be almost impossible. No drivers were able to run two-wide in any of the practice sessions. Despite being on the track alone, Nationwide qualifying was determined by who stayed on the rubber in the groove and who went high.

Nicole Briscoe opens things up at 3PM with NASCAR Countdown. Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty are alongside Briscoe in the Infield Pit Studio. The track is the big issue but other stories include the championship, Danica Patrick racing today and no Kyle Busch in the field.

Marty Reid is limping his way though this season of disappointment. He was removed from the Sprint Cup Series telecasts and replace by the infield host just days before the ESPN coverage began. He has two Nationwide Series telecasts remaining and his assignment for next season has not yet been revealed. He should have his hands full today.

Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree are the color commentators. They are focused on the Sprint Cup Series, but ESPN refuses to bring in two other announcers for these final races. Petree continues his solid performance, while Jarrett waffles between outspoken and politically correct. It's been an interesting season for these two.

Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch and Dave Burns are on pit road. Tim Brewer is in the Tech Garage. Expect Brewer to be on the spot for the track conditions and tire issues. The pit reporters may be very busy if this race becomes a crash-fest.

ESPN is going to have a tough time staying "hyper-tight" with the track problems. Anytime two cars are double-wide the cameras need to move in that direction. There is simply no way they will make it through the corner. In qualifying, we saw that sometimes one car could not navigate the turns at speed.

PIR is one of the tracks where a red flag is thrown quickly. The track has speed, but there are many locations were a two or three car incident will immediately block the track. NASCAR race control's radio will be live on NASCAR.com today. Look for the Nationwide Series scanner link. You have to sign-in, but it's totally free.

This post will host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the Nationwide Series telecast from PIR today. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

ESPN2's NASCAR Friday Could Be Kooky

It's really great that Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards are in a Sprint Cup Series Championship fight. Unfortunately, that fight will not play-out until Sunday at the Phoenix International Raceway.

On Friday the only network live from the track will be ESPN2 with Sprint Cup Series practice coverage at 1:30 and 5:30PM ET. That means two two cracks at covering the biggest story of the weekend. Tony are Carl are not even on the radar.

Kyle and Samantha Busch may have hidden in Gomez and Morticia Adams costumes for Halloween this year, but there is literally nowhere to hide on Friday in Phoenix. Busch has to participate in both practice sessions and his recent run-in with NASCAR officials in Texas means every lap will be watched.

The news breaking on Thursday was that the M&M's sponsorship had been removed from the #18 car for PIR and Homestead. Busch will be behind the wheel, but the familiar Interstate Batteries colors will be on the car. Earlier in the day it was rumored that Busch being removed for those two races and would be replaced by Aric Almirola.

At 9:30PM on Thursday night, reporter Dustin Long from Landmark Newspapers tweeted that although M&M's would not be involved in the final two races this season, Joe Gibbs Racing had confirmed the company would return as Kyle Busch's sponsor in 2012.

This leaves the NASCAR on ESPN team a whole lot to talk about on Friday. This story has been very fluid, but finally seems to have settled down into something that makes sense. Of course, no one can predict what might happen to Busch in the garage or on the track in Friday's two Cup sessions. He is not in the Nationwide Series race.

The regular media availability for Busch will be 11:30AM ET on Friday. Normally, this is carried on the NASCAR.com website. This is where the media gets to ask questions of the drivers before the events of the weekend. Check the front page of NASCAR.com for the link.

That means ESPN will already have the basics of the story before the cars hit the track for the first TV session. It should be interesting to see if JGR chooses to have Busch, Joe Gibbs or his son JD do a one-on-one interview with ESPN as well.

This is a unique situation, having a driver who is active along with his wife on social media in this position. Kyle and Samantha talk regularly with fans on Twitter and Kyle is quite different in his conversations than the hot-head we witnessed wreck Ron Hornaday under caution.

Busch has been absent from social media for five days, his wife for two. This type of instant communication tool is key for the NASCAR teams, drivers and sponsors these days. It should be interesting to see what Busch, his wife and JGR tweet to the NASCAR fans on Friday.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Friday media coverage of the Kyle Busch story. Feel free to add your opinion of the coverage on the various NASCAR TV, radio and online outlets throughout the day. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for stopping by.

TV/Media Question And Answer Session

It's getting down to that time of the year. Two more weekends of racing and then the whole thing starts over again before we know it.

As usual, there are lots of questions out there about the NASCAR TV partners and media issues associated with the sport. This is your time to ask them.

Here are some issues that have been asked about this week to start:

The current NASCAR TV contract runs through the end of the 2014 season. Negotiations on a new deal, possibly with new TV partners, will be done in 2012. We should know what TV networks will begin to televise the sport in 2015 by the end of next year.

There are currently no plans for NASCAR on FOX to offer side-by-side commercials or RaceBuddy for the 2012 Sprint Cup Series races.

The suggestion has been given that the Nationwide Series add a RaceBuddy application at NASCAR.com and also stream post-race interviews live from the infield media center. We will keep you posted on that one.

Wednesday NASCAR announced Kid Rock will perform his hit "Born Free" to open the Dec. 2 Sprint Cup Series banquet at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

Click on the comments button to ask your questions and we will try to get them answered on Thursday. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.