Tough Topics On The Monday TV Menu

Allen Bestwick is back in the saddle as the host of NASCAR Now on Monday. Each week, this one-hour ESPN2 program takes a look at what is going on in the stock car racing world.

Since there was no Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Bestwick will instead lead a team of reporters in a discussion of NASCAR topics. The show's Lead Reporter, Marty Smith, will be on the panel. Also along for the program will be Jeff Gluck, the veteran reporter from NASCAR Scene.

The most interesting twist in the Monday line-up will be former Kansas City Star reporter Jim Pedley. That is Pedley pictured above. NASCAR fans may have stumbled across the Racin' Today website, which recently opened for business.

The site features Pedley and four other veteran journalists who now have some spare time on their hands. Here is a summary of the situation from The Stock Car Gazette:

Five auto racing journalists who feel “discarded” by the ailing newspaper industry are writing the next chapter of their careers themselves. Racin’ Today, a website that launched recently, aims to cover major U.S. motor racing series with Jim Pedley, John Sturbin, Rick Minter, Larry Woody and Bill Fleischman — all of whom either had their beats downsized or eliminated during cutbacks at newspapers in Kansas City, Mo., Fort Worth, Atlanta, Nashville and Philadelphia. Pedley, the managing editor, wrote “your newspapers have let you down” in an opening salvo to his former industry.

“It seems to be thumbing their noses at auto racing fans,” says Pedley, 57, who started Racin’ Today after being laid off at The Kansas City Star. Pedley says Racin’ Today is an online magazine of features, analysis and opinion that “hopefully will break a little news once in a while” by staffing at least one major event each week. The site has no financial backing but hopes to build an advertising base.

While past NASCAR Now shows featuring reporters have turned into nothing more than team-by-team reviews of the Cup Series, this show promises to deliver a lot more.

TV ratings are down this season for tracks of all sizes. Key teams have started to fall by the wayside due to financial issues and even the racing empire of Bruton Smith has been called out by The NASCAR Insiders for shady dealings.

If Pedley wanted some important topics to discuss in his TV debut, there are plenty on the table from which to select. Gluck and Smith are both straight-shooters and Bestwick has been the key to reviving this Monday TV hour. Fans who are not able to view the original airing at 5PM ET or the re-air at 12:30AM may just want to set the DVR.

Shaking things up and getting the energy back in the sport may be a good topic, but simply discussing the current reality for all three of NASCAR's national series may wind-up being the main menu.

Update: Click here for the link to the Monday story in the Wall Street Journal about the millions of dollars Sprint Cup teams spend on research in the engine oil category. Add that to the NASCAR Now menu.

TDP welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

Happy Easter To All

ESPN's Shannon Spake used her artistic ability to win the media Easter egg coloring contest at Nashville Superspeedway.

Happy Easter to all and thanks once again for helping us with this third season of talking about NASCAR TV.

Nationwide Series Needs A Good TV Showing

Like it or not, the Nationwide Series is ESPN's baby. While some of the practice and qualifying shows are produced by SPEED, the Nationwide Series races are on the ESPN family of networks.

Fans of this series for the past several years know that races like the one this Saturday in Nashville are few and far between. Rarely does the Nationwide Series get to be alone in the spotlight.

Normally, the entire Nationwide Series TV presentation is a smaller slice of the Sprint Cup Series with some backmarkers thrown in for good measure. The TV focus is on the Cup drivers and the racing often resembles "Cup drivers unplugged."

Somehow, the big guys can let down their hair and just race for fun when it's on Saturday. The pressure is off, the field is thinner and there is no Chase to make down the road.

Friday in Nashville, ESPN unveiled the network's interactive approach to practice. Basically, it gave the producer a license to continue to avoid what was really happening on the track unless it involved a chosen driver or storyline. The ESPN2 coverage was strangely twisted toward tech features and additional content that did not follow the real story of what was actually going on in the session.

ESPN2 returns at 11AM Saturday with qualifying coverage. There are 48 cars trying to make the field and they range from big names with powerhouse teams to rookies with backyard efforts. Certainly, the stories are within the cast of characters who will take to the track.

In the past, ESPN has surrounded the car actually qualifying with electronic graphics on the TV screen while offering other interviews and content in a second video box. The thrust of the coverage is not really focusing on the qualifying laps themselves, but continually talking about the network's chosen topics.

For TV viewers, the clash in styles between SPEED and ESPN where qualifying coverage is concerned could not be greater. SPEED makes an effort to show every car's attempt and follows the efforts of the teams equally. ESPN puts the emphasis on the Cup drivers and avoids putting time and effort into the other competitors.

The actual race airs at 3PM on ESPN, with Allen Bestwick and Brad Daugherty kicking things off from the Infield Pit Center. Tim Brewer is in his Tech Center while Marty Reid, Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree will call the race. ESPN has done a very good job of covering the Nationwide races with a stripped-down broadcast that has put the focus back on the on-track action.

It should be interesting to see how the TV team approaches qualifying and the race this Saturday. This post will serve to host your comments about the TV coverage from Nashville. To add your TV-related comment, just click the comment button below.

TDP is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking time on this holiday weekend to drop by The Daly Planet.