Here Is "The Insider" Link To The Bachelor Story

Here is the attempt by host Lara Spencer of The Insider to catch-up with four NASCAR bachelors. Click here to see the entire video.

Thanks to NASCAR fans, the video has Kasey Kahne's last name edited out because the announcer originally pronounced it wrong. Thank goodness for email.

Please feel free to leave your comments, new column about the Truck Series banquet tonight after the show. Thanks.

Truck Series Banquet Officially Closes TV Season

It seems somehow fitting that SPEED would be the NASCAR TV partner to close-out the 2008 season. NASCAR coverage first began this year with SPEED's John Roberts anchoring the January testing coverage from several tracks.

We sometimes get caught-up in comparing the different styles of the three NASCAR TV partners who cover the Sprint Cup Series. That allows SPEED to fly under the radar.

While that network covers practice and qualifying sessions for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series, it is the "support programming" like RaceDay and Victory Lane that most NASCAR fans remember.

The only NASCAR series totally served by SPEED is the Craftsman Truck Series. With the Camping World sponsorship set to begin next year, SPEED is delivering to both NASCAR and Camping World the only national racing series with significantly higher TV ratings for 2008.

Contrasting the style of SPEED while producing the Truck Series races with the three Sprint Cup TV networks is always interesting. ESPN ended the season with four announcers in the infield studio and three in the broadcast booth for a total of seven. SPEED used three during the year.

ESPN used four pit reporters to cover the teams while SPEED used two. By including Tim Brewer on the team, the ESPN total number of on-air voices during the actual race was twelve. Since Krista Voda stepped aside after the pre-race show, the SPEED number was five.

As TDP reported many times over the season, Truck Series Producer Keith D'Alessandro chose to keep things simple and focus the coverage of the event on the racing. While this concept seems basic, it was the key problem for all three of the Cup Series TV partners. During the races, there was always something else going on.

SPEED was helped by a good cast of characters who raced in the Truck Series last season and the racing itself was fun to watch. Play-by-play announcer Rick Allen and color analyst Phil Parsons have bonded with the series and made this a real franchise for SPEED.

Added to the booth line-up for some spice was Michael Waltrip. At first an unabashed Toyota cheerleader, Waltrip found himself this season and decided to complement Allen and Parsons. The results can be seen quite easily. A tremendous rise in the TV ratings and a fantastic season of NASCAR racing on TV.

It will be Allen and Voda who host the post-season banquet coverage on SPEED. The program airs on Monday at 8PM and will once again be the casual "talk show" format that worked so well for Allen Bestwick and Shannon Spake during the Nationwide Series TV show. Click here to read that review.

The Truck Series holds the banquet almost immediately after the season at a hotel in the South Florida area. The post-produced presentation of this banquet has actually been fun to watch on SPEED for the past couple of seasons.

Popular comedian Tom Papa is returning. In the past, he has brought the house down with his personal style that involves those attending the banquet and really helps to break the ice for the nervous drivers and teams. The musical guest is John McLaughlin.

Unfortunately, SPEED is not preceding the banquet program with the Truck Series year in review program. The network remains firmly focused on filling the weekdays with reality-based "lifestyle" programming. On this night, NASCAR is following PINKS, Pass Time and Unique Whips.

There will be a full column up about the Truck Series banquet shortly after it concludes. To add your thoughts about the Truck series coverage on SPEED this season, just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. Comments will appear shortly after they are submitted. Thanks for stopping by.

Digger Makes It All The Way To The "New York Times"

Richard Sandomir is a veteran writer and handles the sports media beat for the New York Times. Click here to read his story about our friend Digger and the plans Fox Sports has to grow the Digger franchise.

Here are some brief excerpts:

Digger’s evolution took a grand leap after Fox’s NASCAR season as Chairman David Hill developed the gopher’s back story, as if this were a commonplace task for TV sports executives. Digger was one of the “woodland folk,” as Hill wrote, initially terrified by the sudden creation of NASCAR tracks, but who, with the badgers, prairie dogs, rabbits and beavers, came to love the spectacle.

Hill’s Life of Digger is now expanding beyond cameo spots in the corner of the Fox screen to six two-minute episodes during Fox’s prerace program in the 2009 season. Digger lives comfortably beneath the Talladega Superspeedway in an apartment filled with NASCAR mementoes and a widescreen TV.

Digger’s life is rounded out with, among others, a girlfriend, Annie, (named for Hill’s daughter) and an archenemy, Lumpy Wheels, a badger security officer (inspired by Humpy Wheeler, the former president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, with a personality like Barney Fife’s).

The revelation that Hill is going to feature Digger as a stand-alone animated character during the NASCAR on Fox pre-race shows is perhaps the most interesting piece of information in that excerpt.

On one hand, it is easy to understand that Hill is trying to create something to appeal to the youngsters who watch the races. On the other hand, Digger has become the most invasive sports television presence in recent memory as the Fox Director uses him endlessly.

The insertion of Digger under yellow or once on a restart is bearable. Unfortunately, as fans can attest from the 2008 NASCAR on Fox season, Digger became the story and took attention away from the flow of the race and the action on the track. As we documented this season, Digger often got more airtime than teams running in the top ten.

If Hill can work to establish how and when Digger is used in the coverage the results can perhaps be tipped in the positive manner that he intended. If he lets the Fox Director use Digger without restrictions, the results with the adult NASCAR fans are going to continue to be negative. One thing is for sure, we will all be seeing quite a bit more of Digger in 2009. That is, if fans choose to tune-in.

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