This should be a good one! Darlington under the lights should make for some great racing and some super TV pictures.
Allen Bestwick starts ESPN2 off from the Infield Pit Studio with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Wallace then moves upstairs to call the race with Marty Reid and Andy Petree. Dale Jarrett is off this weekend.
On pit road are Dr. Jerry Punch, Dave Burns and Jamie Little. This should be a very challenging race for the pit road reporters with the potential for a high number of accidents and cars out of the race. Watch and see who ESPN decides to speak with when this happens. Cup drivers only?
Darlington makes great video from up high or down low. The low-angle stationary speed shots are just as dramatic as the high cameras that follow the action. Once again, this is a track where it is tough to use the in-car cameras live.
This post will serve to host your comments about the Nationwide Series coverage from Darlington on ESPN2. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for joining us tonight in the live chat.
109 comments:
Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by!
So many of the top starters are cup guys and the others will fill the bottom of the field. JD, the pre-race just started and Rusty is already screaming at me.
What did you see that upset you Anon 7:04PM?
Rusty tonight upstairs as Dale Jarrett is off.
Anon 7:04PM says:
Thrilled to have Friday night Nationwide Series racing on TV. Looked forward to it all day.
Just amused how many people will bitch about the coverage here. See now why Pete Pistone disses on the negativity here.
With the exception of Tim Brewer, be thankful you have a race to watch tonight.
You could be stuck watching Wife Swap or some crap on ABC.
Lots of Cup drivers up front, S&P's out back and approx. 24 guys stuck in the middle.
S&P:
#56 Lepage
??#61 Wise (Suprised they parked last week)
#70 Green (Jay Robinson entry this week, not ML Motorsports)
??#73 Cope (There were supposed to be no S&P's for this team in 2010, but they currently find themselves in a financial hole)
#90 O'Quinn
#91 Gilliland
#92 Setzer
Hey Anon,
Where have you been? TDP has been here for four years now.
ESPN made major changes before this season. Isn't it amazing that those changes were called for by us?
Now, the ESPN Nationwide telecasts this season have been fantastic!
How sad a commentary is it that you have to come here and act as if your opinion is superior to ours?
A very sad commentary on your life.
Maybe you can watch the race with us and actually learn something tonight! Wouldn't that be fun?
Looking forward to your comments.
JD
Umm, we have been positive on ESPN most all year. Rusty Wallace has been a miss with this booth, I feel he works better with Randy LaJoie rather than Andy Petree because LaJoie will keep Rusty honest where Petree won't really give it to Rusty and backs him up.
Rusty with backup is dangerous and tends to shoot off.
No reason to misconstrue that as us complaining.
We all have opinions, and you know what they say about those...
Alan has led a solid pre-race. I liked the lead into Keselowski's interview
Nice to have Punch back, did you see his Larry Pearson interview?
You know, I *want* to like Rusty. When he first did those broadcasts on the IRL--I actually thought he was pretty good. Now I think maybe he was more subdued because he knew he was out of his element. The cliches get on my nerves..."I tell you what' and 'hotrod' get a little old after a while. I am less bothered by his having a team than some of you, but I get the point.
that's a pretty good crowd for NW.
I heard parts of it but was playing a computer game during the pre-race
Hoping for a good race and a NW regular in the win column.
Loved the shots of the anthem. Captured the singer and the surroundings quite naturally. Felt like you were almost there. Can we please keep whoever that director is on the coverage for the rest of the year
Glen, he really came into his own once they moved him into the infield. AB took good care of him and he could get all jacked up and let it fly.
This year, ESPN had to choose between Craven and Rusty in the booth and they went with Rusty.
After all that time in the infield, it just does not work for him anymore.
Think about Craven in the booth and Rusty and Brad in the infield. Now, that would be some fun!
JD
I would LOVE Ricky in the booth over Rusty! That race he was in I could actually listen too! :)
Glen, like you I am not as bothered by his team ownership but what made Rusty look really bad was the week Ricky Craven was in the booth. He was so smooth and seamless that it just makes perfect sense to have Ricky there if they split broadcast groups later this year.
Where is everybody today?? It's sparse "all over" ...
Wow! On the crowd shot....wow.
Did you ever work at ESPN with Keith Olbermann?
cool choice for in-car reporter!
Cool, Jason Keller was the choice. A little love for the regulars.
Wow. They chose a Nationwide 'regular' for their in car. Great idea!
Jason Keller, good choice.
No sir, left ESPN back in 1989 to start Prime Network. Remember This Week in NASCAR when it was Eli Gold on TVwith a guest and live viewer/caller questions?
Nice camera shots at the start. You could really get the feel how fast those cars are going.
yes, I thought Ricky was excellent too. He's very smart for a racer, lol. Just saying, some of them know racing but don't communicate it well, but Ricky does, in a way that is easy to understand.
Nate Ryan from USA Today just sent a picture of the ESPN production truck in Darlington doing the pre-race show.
I have posted it as the picture on this post. When you go back to the main page, just click on the pic to see it full-size.
Thanks Nate!!
Cool picture JD. A lot of moving parts there. Thanks Nate.
Indeed thanks Nate!
So, is this an example of 'the NEW Kyle?'
Great job ESPN following up on the Kyle Busch comments
Nice to know that Jerry Punch has Kyle's pit. Keep an eye on that.
Great follow up and camera angles on the start complaint!
Kyle had a point. Flagman starts the race not the pole sitter.
He's been on the start/restarts since Phoenix. Really was on Gordon last week in Richmond.
Very solid start by ESPN so far. Had the replay angles, got the 18's side of the story, explained the rules. FOX, take note...
They'll be plenty of times for RL and RC to be in the broadcast booth since DJ takes lots of vacations. Good race so far and I liked the follow up on Kyle's displeasure with start.
Man, you really take a chance with live in-car cams on this track.
I think Kyle's complaints come from the fact that he's trying to use the start to snooker people...and it's not working, lol. But he has a point; they should know the rules. But a follow up, imagine that!
Scanner folks, anyone starting and parking yet?
We just ran too many laps under caution 4 laps into the race, and we have another long ad break? This doesn't look good.
gotta love that Marty, on the ball with the S&P's...
Kyle lost positions on pit road. This should be fun on the scanner. See if they use it.
No scanners JD
Hate to see what Kyle would say if Brad K would have pulled a 3-wide!
yikes, why are they driving like this so early? Booth's going to have a hard time if we keep having these cautions...
Setzer parked. Looks like Cope down several laps
Man, what was that kid doing driving on the apron?
Hope ESPN follows up and asks him.
I wonder why KB races there in the NW car if he hates it that much?
Looks like this might be a long race with the early cautions and wrecks. Maybe we'll have a red flag or two to top it off.
no interviews from garage?
Yeah, where's the interviews with the cup guys that are out of the race?
With one less pit reporter-may not have interviews unless it is a "cup driver"
Vicky they did a story with KB a few weeks back and it pretty much stated that the sponsors make alot of the calls. Drivers have such short memories anyways that I think all of them are complaining right now since the tire and track are making for such a narrow groove it's hard to make ground.
What happened to Gator, I was in the other room?
90, 91 parked
not a fan of his, but I think Kyle is one of those guys that just likes to grumble a lot. Mark Martin used to whine and go on & on about his car being junk, and then they'd end up with a good finish.
With the timing of the cautions and ads, we get a long ad break, come back to see the caution flying, then another commercial break. Hope this means they're front loading them to show more of the end of the race.
It does feel like a lot of commercials happening so far in this race.
Does anyone know if the Nationwide guys use the same tires as the Cup cars? During practice this afternoon, they were complaining about the tires Goodyear provided. And tonight, these tires seem to be doing the same nasty stuff. BTW, this has been a pretty good broadcast, but way too many gooshes.
Average finish for Ricky Stenhouse through 8 races this year is 27.6--don't think the Cat in the Hat is going to put up with the wrecking anymore. JWT average finish in his first 5 races was 20.8, Clint Bowyer's average finish since he took over for JWT is 18.7--not a big improvement so far.
Maybe Chicken Man will move to Rousch!
Sure would like to have seen some interviews.
chicken man came from Roush. Remember the 09 truck? Roush wants nothing to do with him.
Kudos to Mark Green for still chugging along.
Roush just dropped the ball putting those 2 kids right into the fire full-time without getting their feet wet.
Yes, these are the same tires as the cup car. Very touchy cars + very touchy tires = evil
Yeah, David. I don't remember so many drivers having to go to backup cars during practice.
Sheesh, more commercials and not even a yellow flag.
good job covering stops and pit out. Hope they follow up Kenseth's decision
Lets show a few laps then a commercial, then come back, caution and show a few car do a pit stop then commercial.
Now I remember why I hate when my Steelers are on ESPN---incessant commercials. They come back from a commercial, do a commercial about the NBA, show a crash and then go to more commercials. This is wayy too much.
All right, Kyle. Tell em like it is. You hate Darlington.
Thanks Rusty for telling us that the drivers go sailing into the corner! Reminds me of JP.
Goodyear needs to do something about the tires for tomorrow's race or else we might see three cars left at the end of the race. This is totally stupid. Oh yeah, more commercials. I bet ESPN secretly loves all the crashes.
At least we got to see 6 laps before the next commercial. You know they could talk racing under caution instead of more commercials.
Think they will follow up on the developing tire story?
No real flow in the telecast.
We haven't had many pit reports tonight. Did ESPN show the entire Larry Pearson interview in the pre-race show? I only saw a small portion of it then AB said they would show more later and I guess I missed it.
I agree Charlie. I know there have been lots of cautions, but the commercials are chopping it up even more.
No, John, they won't follow up on the tires. I wish they would because it's a huge story.
Rusty and Andy just don't work well together. ESPN learned that in year one. Same tonight.
The lack of flow of the broadcast is because there is no flow to the race.
I would wager that the tire problem will be far worse tomorrow night with the cars being faster and more powerful.
Little wider cameras. Need to see more cars.
So, little light on interviews with only 3 pit reporters. No tires shown and no follow up on the blowouts.
Rusty said there is no problem with the tires, no doubt about that. 10 laps and another commercial.
Get rid of Rusty and bring in Ricky Craven a real professional with articulate opinions. Rusty needs to be in the infield stuido with Brad and keep him out of the booth because he ads nothing to the broadcast especially with Andy Petree up there.
Have they said how many sets of tires each team gets for this race.
Great to see a field summary and a nice shout out to Trever Bayne and Jason Leffler NW regulars.
alright 4 laps or so with Up to Speed then another commercial.
Man, love some wider camera angles. Missing a lot.
Dave Burns just got some practice doing play by play. He sounded awesome calling that 3 wide move by Harvick!
osb that might be true but these cars have a faster cornering speed due to the tapered spacer. The cup cars are actually slower in the center of the turns. We will see some issues, but thats always been Darlington's MO
Tire story?
If Espn is having trouble with this race, tight shots, no tire follow up, commercials, no flow. Just think what Fox will do to the race tomorrow.
Dave Burns will be calling the play by play for a NNS race later this season.
Vince Welch will be doing four of them. ESPN searching for a back-up for Marty Reid.
We finally see a yellow flag live!
just finished late dinner...glad to read nothing missed on race. Same old lousy camera work issues even with PSPN.
Lather, rinse, repeat. TRULY not missing "Watching" ..reading on line & DVR race while straighten up kitchen.
*sigh*
gonna look for MRN now since I'm resting
Come on Espn, 12 laps to go, you can do another commercial set.
I'm really happy with the camerawork tonight. I still have last Sunday etched in my brain, when Fox decided they would do a whole race without showing two cars in a frame.
Be interesting to see how they approach it tomorrow.
If this were the Cup race, you can bet your behind they would have thrown the yellow.
I really wish ESPN would just have a drop down of the finish order instead of those stupid flying heads.
@Darcie I agree. They would have thrown two.
With all the wrecks and cautions, I thought the broadcast was done pretty well. Fewer commercials and wider shots would have been better but overall it was OK.
two good post-race interviews.
Hamlin crew chief and Kyle Busch.
Jamie's still dwelling on the knee....enough already.
Kyle didn't seem to think tires were an issue.
The guys that pounded the wall might have another opinion. Just sayin...
It looked to me like the tires were blowing up and causing wrecks to.
How long are they gonna milk Denny's knee ???
Seriously, it's getting really old ... It's not like it's his right knee / leg / foot ...
Charlie, I just wanted someone to address it. Crew chief, pit reporter, anyone.
It is like nothing happened and everything is cool.
Not as good as the last outing. Great post-race but a big fade after halfway. Marty did a good job, but lots of commercials. Did I mention lots of commercials?
See you tomorrow night for FOX. Bring your helmets! Thanks for stopping by tonight.
i tuned in with about 40 to go and I have to say I thought the telecase was GREAT!!!! MR did an AWSEOME job of setting the stage with each restart, he even mentioned who was in the first 6 positons on each restart!!!! Wide camera angles, I love it!!!!!
Just wish this crew (minus Rusty) would do tommorows race. ohh given the choice between Rusty and DW, DW, go get in your rockingchair because Rusty's getting the call. To bad ole Ned won't come back on the air....
Too many times last night Marty's play by play consisted of "woaaaaaaaaah.... oooooohhhh look out..." and that was it.
Luckily it's not to the extent of Larry Macreynolds (who I'm starting to think needs a muzzle) but Andy likes to cut in to do his own play by play. There were too many instances when Marty and Andy were trying to talk at the same time.
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