ESPN's Homestead Battle Plan

Sunday is a big day for the Worldwide Leader. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards have delivered the kind of fan-friendly Chase for the Championship that the sport has needed.

Both drivers will be at a Thursday afternoon press conference for a final Chase update. SPEED will break into a re-air of last Saturday's Nationwide Series race at 1PM ET and carry the press conference live. No word if ESPNEWS will also have coverage.

What ESPN does these days is big things. Lots of big things. The network announced this week that a total of 72 cameras will be deployed at Homestead on Sunday. The usual compliment of equipment will be supplemented with some special bells and whistles.

An "iso cam" is a camera that is used full time for only one purpose. When producing an NFL game, the producer has a couple of designated "iso cams." As the offensive team breaks the huddle, the producer will say "Iso-1 number 88, Iso-2 number 44." He is telling the "iso-cam" camera operators the jersey numbers of the players he wants "isolated" on that play.

That is how TV gets those cool replays of just one player at a time. After you see the wide receiver make a great catch live, you suddenly find yourself seeing a replay of just him running his route from start to finish. You may wonder just how TV did that. Well, he had an "iso cam" on him for that play.

Sunday in Homestead ESPN will have two high camera platforms above the speedway. One "iso cam" will stay with Stewart and another will stay with Edwards from start to finish. That will give ESPN the opportunity to show the race while also keeping a full time eye on the championship contenders.

Meanwhile, back in the garage there is also something going on. Both Edwards and Stewart are going to get additional "iso cams" in their garage stalls. Operated robotically (like the in-car cameras) viewers will be able to get an overhead shot of the teams at work during live practice coverage as well as any crisis repairs that happen as a result of an incident or equipment failure during the championship race.

I don't know if they flipped a coin to decide, but ESPN reporters Shannon Spake and Marty Smith drew the assignment of shadowing the two points leaders from the time they hit the ground on Thursday up through the green flag. Not surprisingly, Shannon will be with Edwards while Smith will spend the weekend with Stewart.

Edwards turned down the opportunity to be an in-race reporter, although his car will have an in-car camera unit with many different angles. It will be Stewart speaking with Dale Jarrett before and during the race in that capacity. Stewart will also be carrying an in-car camera set-up.

This year Allen Bestwick will be in the TV booth for ESPN. That means he cannot be down on the finish line stage to conduct the championship interview and be the TV host for the Sprint Cup trophy presentation. Instead, it will be Dr. Jerry Punch handling those duties. His college football sideline reporting skills may come in handy for this assignment.

Finally, for the first time there is some real innovation in the TV coverage of the sport that is about to pay-off. The RaceBuddy application over at NASCAR.com that is free to any Internet or smart phone user will be on during the race. Six in-car cameras with team radio audio will be combined with a backstretch and pit road cam.

ESPN will also once again be using the ESPN Nonstop commercial format for the second half of the race. This is the first step toward integrating commercial content without interrupting the action. The race continues to be seen on a video box while the commercial airs in another on the same screen.

There have been a lot of changes since ESPN last came to Homestead. This is a perfect opportunity to end the season on a high note with a solid race telecast. The equipment, manpower and storyline is in place. As usual in sports TV, it's just a matter of putting the pieces together in a way that keeps the fans watching.

We welcome your comment on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thanks as usual for taking the time to stop by.

Live Blogging Truck Series From Homestead (SPEED - 7:30PM)

It's been a mess today in Homestead due to rainy weather. The day had most sessions scrubbed, but the truck race looks to be happening on time as the jet dryers are working hard and the rain has stopped.

Krista Voda starts the best pre-race show on TV with The Set-up. No hype, no fancy set and nothing but information. Ray Dunlap and Hermie Sadler are the reporters who join Voda for this program and then work the race.

Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Micheal Waltrip are going to call the final race. These three have a unique chemistry. Waltrip can be a solid third guy in the booth, but if he gets too excited and loud he can ruin the entire telecast. We will see which Waltrip shows up tonight.

The trucks series TV teams kicks it old school. The telecasts are cut very wide, let the fans see packs of trucks and continues to be the best live NASCAR TV presentation. It's easy to watch because the SPEED team knows racing.

If the rain stays away, it could be a fun night of racing on SPEED. As always, we appreciate your comment on the SPEED telecast. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below.

Busy Friday Of NASCAR TV

There will be lots of TV coverage from Homestead and beyond before the Camping World Trucks race on Friday night. The full TV schedule is on the left side of this page.

Latest news is that Brad Keselowski was fined 25K by NASCAR for his comments about the new Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) system being developed for Sprint Cup Series cars. Keselowski's opinion was that the entire thing was a sham promotion and not effective in changing the sport in any way other than increased cost to teams.

"We made it clear to him that these kind of comments are detrimental to the sport and we handled it accordingly with him,” said NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp in a media statement.

That just might be a topic for Mike Massaro and Ricky Craven on a special edition of NASCAR Now on ESPN at noon. This show follows an hour of Camping World Truck Series practice over on SPEED. Craven has been on the money with his comments and this has really been a breakout season for him as an analyst.

ESPN2 hosts back-to-back Nationwide and Sprint Cup practice sessions at 1:30 and 3PM next with Marty Reid and Allen Bestwick leading the TV teams. SPEED is next and keeps the TV ball right up through the truck race at 8PM.

One highlight of the day is the return to the air of the NASCAR on FOX trio of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds for Sprint Cup Series practice. After this long off the air, you know Waltrip is going to have a lot to say.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Friday daytime TV coverage. Feel free to add your comment on the production, personalities or content. If you have a question, post it in the comments and we will get it answered ASAP. This is a big weekend for the sport, we certainly appreciate your comments on the TV coverage.