"NASCAR Now" Moves Its Hype To ESPN

Last week, The Daly Planet celebrated the fact that ESPN had made some significant changes to its NASCAR Now program. Out was Erik Kuselias, and in was ESPN's own Ryan Burr. Race fans were upbeat, and the programs were outstanding.

This week, viewers could not believe that Kuselias was returned to the airwaves on a key week for both the network and NASCAR. The results have been a mess for both parties. On Wednesday, ESPN telecast a special version of this ESPN2 program.

The one hour version of this program began with the "merger mania" that is sweeping the under-funded NASCAR team world. As opposed to Ryan Burr, Kuselias is a "reader" who has no knowledge about the sport, and reads questions "in order" to his reporters. It changes the dynamic of the entire program when the host cannot speak freely about the sport with some authority.

Once again this week, feisty reporter Marty Smith talked over the host and added his feelings as a "tag" to a scripted question from Kuselias. The deer in the headlights look on Kuselias face always tells the tale. Someone has deviated from the script, and this is a big problem. Because Kuselias does not know...anything about NASCAR. This time he got off easy because no one asked him to provide an answer.

Over the past six months, The Daly Planet has referred to NASCAR Now as "bi-polar." This show was no exception. Kuselias was literally screaming from the opening tease throughout the show. Someone obviously told him "more excitement" and he interpreted that directive as "move volume."

Last week, the professional Burr was smooth and calm while delivering news and information at a rapid pace. Its almost tough to believe that this is the same network.

Both Terry Blount and Shannon Spake were put in uncomfortable positions on Wednesday by ESPN. Blount was forced to comment on the possible future contract restrictions that ESPN has decided are now needed for NASCAR drivers.

This has all come about because ESPN discovered that Carl Edwards got his thumb out of joint, literally, in a Late Model race last week. Blount took a deep breath and towed the company line while laughter echoed in the background since drivers are "independent contractors" and racing to most of them is life itself, not an optional behavior to be negotiated. At least he did it with a straight face.

Spake was forced to "hype" the theory that NASCAR events have to be "ranked," which is something that ESPN loves to do. She then was sent on a snipe hunt to ask around about what four NASCAR races are the "majors" of the sport. This feature showed a lot of racing types offering their opinion, and concluded the exact same way it started, with nothing solved.

Instead of the Blount and Spake reports, perhaps ESPN could have told viewers that there are three events this weekend in Indy. Friday night, the fantastic and exciting Craftsman Truck Series will be live on SPEED from O'Reilly Raceway Park. Saturday, the Busch Series takes to the same track live on ESPN2. This might be the best racing of the weekend.

Unfortunately, none of this matters to ESPN even in a one hour preview show on a Wednesday. They are obsessed with NEXTEL Cup, and will not lower themselves to deal with these "lesser" series unless they are forced to do so. It is the height of arrogance that ESPN shuns these two series, and the height of hypocrisy that NASCAR lets them get away with it.

This week, Ryan Burr and co-host Allen Bestwick have been absent on NASCAR Now. As the network leads up to its key NASCAR weekend, the executives have made the conscious decision to use the struggling Erik Kuselias during a week where many new NASCAR fans are being courted by the network.

Following a week of quality programming, NASCAR Now returned to the "screaming hype-fest" viewers have come to know so well. Another one hour special of NASCAR Now on ESPN follows on Thursday. One day out from the Indy on-track activity, it will be very interesting to see who the network chooses to lead the band. Thursday and Friday are the most important NASCAR Now shows of the season to date. We certainly will be watching.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.

SPEED Channel Signs Randy Pemberton To TV Deal

This season has marked the comeback of one of The Daly Planet's favorite NASCAR TV personalities. Randy Pemberton has battled back from some bad breaks in life to return to a featured role this year with DirecTV's Hot Pass package. In addition, he has made some very spirited appearances with Kyle Petty and John Roberts on SPEED Channel's excellent Tradin' Paint program.

Today, SPEED has announced that they have made an investment in Pemberton by signing him for the remainder of the NASCAR season. The network will feature him on shows like NASCAR Live! and the new series Go or Go Home. SPEED will also allow Pemberton to step into some hosting roles in NASCAR practice and qualifying sessions.

This is a very positive step by SPEED, a network that already boasts Wendy Venturini, Krista Voda, Steve Byrnes, and John Roberts as "multi-functional" on-air talent who can provide the network a wide variety of support both in the studio and at the track.

Good luck to Randy in his new role, and kudos to SPEED for stepping-up and making an investment in someone working very hard to return to a full and normal life.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.

Time For ESPN To Make The Donuts

There has rarely been a week like this for ESPN. The normal stick-and-ball sports that dominate ESPN on a daily basis are about to be "one-upped" by what many in Bristol, CT believe is not a sport at all.

After more than five years, the top level of NASCAR racing returns to ESPN. While the network may believe it is more important than many things, there is absolutely no doubt that ESPN is dwarfed by NASCAR racing.

This sport has flourished in its time away from the network, and this success will be the "measuring stick" by which NASCAR fans will judge ESPN's efforts for the next four months.

Simply put, its time for ESPN to make the donuts. Six months of hard work, practice and rehearsals behind-the-scenes have set the stage for one key day in the history of this network. Make no mistake, Sunday is huge for the entire ESPN/ABC/Disney corporation.

While ESPN is confident in College Gameday, confident in Monday Night Football, and very confident in SportsCenter, the entire network is about to be put under a level of scrutiny that many at the company have never experienced before.

NASCAR racing was ill-served by NBC Sports. This group of arrogant New Yorkers made it clear from the start that NASCAR was a "fill-in" for their loss of the NFL, and they would be exiting from NASCAR "as soon as possible." That was told to me in-person back at their first race in Homestead. These were not racing guys.

NBC paid the same level of service to NASCAR that TNT recently did in their disastrous and self-serving "summer replacement" tour. That my friends, was lip service. NBC fled back to Manhattan as soon as possible and the sport is better-off without them. TNT's website has eliminated all mention of NASCAR, and on the Turner-owned NASCAR.com site, the TNT page sits...frozen in time.

Now, ESPN steps-in with a full six months of solid Busch Series action under their belts. They move from the relative obscurity of Saturdays to the white hot spotlight of NEXTEL Cup at a key time in the history of the sport.

Fans have high hopes for the continued good chemistry of Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace, and Andy Petree. The pit reporters have been just fine, with Allen Bestwick and Mike Massaro being the heavy-hitters in experience. ESPN's team calling the on-track action has a great opportunity to be very good this season. Like him or not, Rusty is always excited and gets across a vibe of energy that sometimes requires Petree to get things back on an even keel.

What fans dread most is ESPN doing to NASCAR what they have done to The Indy 500. These days, there is so much extraneous "TV junk" built around the race that it seems the on-track activity is actually a relief for the viewer.

From bad "TV hosts" to rock bands playing to awkward tear-jerking driver profiles, the network loses so much credibility that you somehow expect the play-by-play announcer to begin with an apology to race fans.

ESPN has already told us that for some unknown reason, Brent Musburger will be "the telecast host" at The Brickyard 400. They have already told us that NASCAR newcomer Suzy Kolber and the struggling Brad Daugherty will handle both the complete pre-race show and the in-race "Infield Studio" segments. Back in the Bristol, CT studio, they are continuing to use the "mis-cast" Erik Kuselias as ESPN's "daily national face of NASCAR."

This week, Kuselias has already done the Monday and Tuesday NASCAR Now shows. Aside from the credible news items from the non-Bristol based reporters, both shows were horrible. This gentleman is just lost.

Imagine asking Bobby Labonte how he would race his brother Terry at The Brickyard 400 if it came down to the "last couple of laps" for the win. As Kuselias would say, "are you kidding me?" These brothers are both multi-millionaires with twenty plus years each of NASCAR history under their belts. Just once this season, maybe some normally polite NASCAR driver will just answer back, "you're kind of a jerk, did you know that?"

Kuselias was once a lawyer from Hamden, CT who wanted to get into sports radio. Now he finds himself being handed the keys to the most high-profile NASCAR program on American television. While he has "skated" for six months amid the confusion and chaos of this program, he will skate no more after Monday, July 30th.

By that day, the network will have covered the Busch Race from ORP, and The Brickyard 400. NASCAR Now will instantly become the center of attention as the sole source of information about ESPN's own races. Fans will expect much more from this program than the single reporter "stringer" style coverage of NEXTEL Cup that the show has offered this far.

If "ESPN General Assignment" reporters David Amber or Wendy Nix appear simply to "wrap-up" the Brickyard 400 for Monday's NASCAR Now, heads should roll in Bristol. For the next four months, the faces on NASCAR Now should be ESPN's own "faces" at the track.

NASCAR Now has completely fumbled ESPN's coverage of the Busch Series this season, simply because they were mesmerized by NEXTEL Cup. As noted in earlier Daly Planet columns, they actually refused to run Busch highlights on Mondays because the race was "back on Saturday." Veteran race fans had to be helped-up from the floor after seeing this naive approach to racing.

So, this week ESPN will air sixty-six hours of NASCAR, comprised mostly of the excellent Ultimate NASCAR series. Then, the Busch race at ORP will serve as the warm-up for the big day. The main course will be served with Sunday morning's NASCAR Now, then the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show and finally The Brickyard 400.

From Fox Sports to TNT, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup TV package has seen its highs and lows this season. Now, ESPN takes the helm to steer this ship all the way into port in November. As we build toward the weekend, there will no doubt be more information to discuss, and more opinions to read.

Please feel free to add your opinion of ESPN's coverage to The Daly Planet anytime. There will be a new column available for your comments every day through November. It should be interesting.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Rules for comments are posted on the right-hand side of the homepage. Thanks again for stopping by.