ESPN's "NASCAR Now" Still Searching For Perspective

All eyes are on the Monday night one hour version of ESPN2's NASCAR Now. This show was expanded from thirty minutes to one hour earlier this year.

The ESPN press release said this was to "provide more time for recaps and analysis of the weekend's NASCAR races." Viewers tuning into this show have walked away scratching their heads and asking themselves one simple question.

Is the Monday edition of NASCAR Now about NASCAR racing, or just about the NEXTEL Cup races on ESPN and ABC?

Over the last seven months, The Daly Planet has suggested that NASCAR Now include The Busch and Craftsman Truck Series on these Monday shows. We have also asked for the results and highlights of NASCAR's regional touring series. This would include items like the high-profile Busch East Series and the build-up now underway for the Toyota All-Star Showdown.

The strong answer to these questions has been a resounding no. This week is a great example. The Busch Series raced under the lights in Fontana live on ESPN2 with Jeff Burton holding off Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. In ESPN2's own one hour NASCAR show, the network was not able to show highlights or interview the winner. This could have taken less than two minutes.

One of NASCAR's other three national touring series, The Craftsman Trucks, raced at Gateway on Saturday live on national TV. That race featured some future stars like Regan Smith, Chad McCumbee, and Josh Wise. It also showcased veterans like Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Jack Sprague, and Johnny Benson. The racing was great.

Once again, even in a one hour show, ESPN could not find time for highlights or results. The bottom line is, the Trucks race on SPEED Channel. Only when Craftsman purchases advertising time on NASCAR Now do we see the Trucks mentioned. To ESPN, the Trucks simply do not exist because they do not race on an ESPN network.

By the way, many regional touring series drivers are livid with the network. NASCAR Now has recently asked Modified and Busch East drivers to come to ESPN to be interviewed live in the studio. Since then, ESPN has never followed-up with their series race highlights or shown one page of results. ESPN also interviewed by satellite some high-profile regional drivers including Ricky Carmichael and Jeremy McGrath. Since that time they have never mentioned how either one of them is doing, or where they are racing.

This is the first year that ESPN has approached the big NASCAR "NEXTEL Chase for the Cup." This is the first year that ESPN has been back in the NASCAR business of televising races. This is the first year of ESPN's studio program NASCAR Now. Sometimes, it has looked like this is ESPN's first year in TV.

Add Kevin Harvick's name to the list of drivers not too happy with the endless ESPN hype about The Chase. Harvick's comment into an ESPN microphone after Fontana was that despite reality, ESPN "would jerk everybody around and make them think its a good story." As the ESPN associate continued to babble, Harvick said "I think you ask stupid questions." NASCAR Now, of course, used this on the air.

Over the weekend, we have seen Dale Earnhardt Jr. be very pointed in his relationship with ESPN reporters. His words are carefully chosen, and he speaks very slowly in a tone that borders on disgust. Last week in Bristol, ESPN's Mike Massaro made Earnhardt repeat for TV an earlier comment about his step-mother Theresa. The look on Junior's face told the tale. ESPN had pissed-off the biggest name in the sport.

Tony Stewart is now invisible on NASCAR Now. Stewart's comments that dealing with ESPN's news and pit reporters was like "a sharp knife trying to dig for dirt" really dented the network's ego. His further question of ESPN reporter David Amber was "do we always have to leave with a dagger in our back from ESPN?" That one made national headlines.

So, instead of a fun hour of NEXTEL Cup, Busch Series, Craftsman Trucks, regional action, top news stories, and analysis...we get NASCAR Now. The thrust of this week's hour was to pump viewers to tune into the Cup race at Richmond. Host Erik Kuselias told viewers it was "the deciding race" for The Chase. Unfortunately, no one told ESPN studio analyst Stacy Compton who said the race for the top twelve spots was over after Fontana.

Now, the network heads toward Richmond with a group of drivers who do not quite know what to make of their new TV partner. Some of ESPN's NASCAR Now reporters are quietly ending the good working relationship between the media and the drivers at the track. The days of casual conversation are going fast, and the trust level is falling quickly.

This ESPN NASCAR Now situation is a shame. We all know that racing money is tight, and the Busch and Truck Series teams are struggling for the very dollars to continue operation. This lack of exposure on a big one hour Monday NASCAR TV show is not going to help. Even the success of The Chase is being affected by the endless hype and seeming lack of racing knowledge by the host of this show.

I personally believed that this episode of NASCAR Now was crucial for ESPN. Next week, the Richmond races are at night, and will wrap-up on Saturday. NASCAR fans can then choose from any of the SPEED or ESPN News programs that show race highlights on Sunday. By the time Monday rolls around, the lure of NASCAR Now will be long gone.

Everyone will already know who is in and who is out of The Chase, and that news will be two days old. With the Internet a click away, this Monday show needs to broaden its wings to have any appeal. In an ironic twist, only true NASCAR diversity can right this ship.

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ESPN At Fontana: Too Many Voices In My Head

In sports television, some announcers are legendary. Most of them have earned their stripes by being closely identified with either one team, or one network. Just as Harry Caray was identified with both baseball and ultimately the Chicago Cubs, others like Frank Gifford came from professional sports and then transitioned to a franchise like Monday Night Football.

Over the years, NASCAR fans have fond memories of hard-working TV announcers like Ken Squier, Eli Gold, and Bob Jenkins on the play-by-play side of the business. Others, like the late Neil Bonnet, Ned Jarrett, and the late Benny Parsons came directly to the TV world from racing.

In NASCAR, the play-by-play man used to control the action. He was the big fish in the small pond, and everyone else played second fiddle to him. He often had a designated partner, with whom he will forever be identified. He was the focus of the TV coverage, and the face of racing for his network. Not any longer.

This NASCAR season, Fox Sports returned their veteran announce team. TNT threw together a patchwork team from freelance announcers that were the remnants of the NBC package. It was ESPN, however, that faced the toughest task of starting from scratch and putting together a totally new crew for their race broadcasts.

As the Busch Series season began ESPN rolled-out a disaster. The column on The Daly Planet from February 17th was entitled "ESPN Implodes At Daytona." The network debuted with Brent Musburger in the special "host" position. We said at the time that "Brent Musburger in the NASCAR Fan Zone looked like Rush Limbaugh at an ACLU meeting." ESPN actually roped the fans out of the Fan Zone. Nice touch.

Believe it or not, Chris Fowler was the Infield Studio host, seated alongside Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace. After almost losing his patience on the set, Wallace fled the infield to join Jerry Punch and Andy Petree in the booth. Add in four pit reporters, and things were interesting. Then, add in Tim Brewer in the Tech Center and things were a little confusing. Basically, it was over-produced chaos with ten announcers in the broadcast.

As the season progressed, Musburger and Fowler were gone. Hosts came and went in the Infield Studio. Eventually, the network allowed Allen Bestwick to step-in and bring some calm and order to the infield. His presence also calmed down Punch and the gang, and allowed the network to concentrate their efforts on the racing...at last. Then, ESPN stepped into the NEXTEL Cup world, and things got off-track again.

Sunday's NEXTEL Cup race in California might have been exciting on the track. Perhaps, for fans listening on the MRN radio network or DirecTV's Hot Pass it may have made sense. Unfortunately, TV viewers trying to both watch and listen to ESPN were in for a challenge. They heard eleven voices talking to them endlessly for the entire broadcast...eleven people.

The death knell for this event was the presence of Brent Musburger, Dale Jarrett and Brad Daugherty in the Infield Studio. Jarrett is the star of the show every time he opens his mouth, and ESPN allowed him to converse openly throughout the race. Then, everyone decided to get in on that act.

If you have watched ESPN recently, you have seen that they are virtually destroying many of their venerable sports TV franchises by adding too many voices to the programs. What the network has done to shows like Mike and Mike In The Morning and SportsCenter is just criminal. Even as these new age shows like Cold Pizza and Quite Frankly fail spectacularly, the network just plows ahead un-phased.

Sunday in California, ESPN opened all the microphones and just let everyone talk. The result was pit reporters who suddenly knew everything, an Infield Studio gang who had their own inside information, and a very frustrated trio of booth announcers who were no longer the stars of the show. Anything that was said by anyone was suddenly up for "one up-manship" by anyone else. What an on-air mess.

The casualty in all this endless conversation was both the race and the viewers. ESPN's nice pictures in both daylight and at night were over-shadowed by the coverage jumping around between Brent Musburger's on-camera inserts, SportsCenter cut-ins, and the use of production elements when returning from commercial.

No one is saying that ESPN's information was wrong, or that the staff in-place was not capable. But, as with so many things on ESPN these days, there was too much "TV stuff" packed into this race. Just like SportsCenter, it had no focus.

ESPN again showed the top twenty cars cross the finish line, and did a solid job with the winner interview and follow-up with other drivers. The good coverage is there, its just buried under eleven different voices, the Tech Center, Draft Tracker, Full Throttle, SportsCenter cut-ins, NASCAR Icons, the In-Race Reporter and the Infield Studio. Did I miss anything? Oh, yes I did.

Next week, Suzy Kolber returns to the coverage as the full time host of the Infield Studio. If Musburger continues as the "show host," ESPN on ABC has the possibility of having twelve announcers on their next race. That's right, twelve voices on a three quarter mile bull-ring in Richmond at night. Make sure to set your DVR, it might just be a classic.

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 and leave your opinion.

Fontana NEXTEL Cup Race In-Progress Comments

Tonight at 7Pm Eastern Daylight Time ESPN will be showing the Sharp AQUOS 500 from California Speedway In Fontana, CA.

This post will host the TV comments from the race while it is in-progress and the comments from the post-race programming.

Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace, and Andy Petree will host tonight's coverage. The rules for comments are on the right side of the main page, just click the COMMENTS button below to add your opinion.

Thanks again for taking time out of your day to stop-by The Daly Planet and leave your opinion.