It's been a rainy day in Dover. Nationwide Series qualifying was rained out. There is a break in the precipitation and the frontstretch is drying. That photo is courtesy of scenedaily.com reporter Bob Pockrass.
Rusty Wallace has the weekend off. Allen Bestwick is in the Infield Pit Studio with Brad Daugherty and Dale Jarrett. Marty Reid will call the race with Jarrett and Andy Petree. Vince Welch, Dave Burns and Jamie Little are the pit road reporters. Tim Brewer is on-site with the Tech Garage.
Green track and threatening weather means drivers will be racing carefully with the intention of getting to the halfway point that makes the race count. As that point approaches, teams will play their hands in terms of tires and fuel.
The truck race on Friday had few surprises. Top Sprint Cup cross-over drivers dominated and Kyle Busch ultimately won. Some of the series regulars made a strong showing simply by being careful and staying out of trouble.
Rusty Wallace is off because his sponsor is heavily involved in this race. He also has a third car entered today. ESPN documented the insider trading deals where three "start and park" teams were bought out of the event so the final Wallace car and two others with sponsors could start. Welcome to the new NASCAR.
Coverage should be interesting, especially if it is extended because of rain. ESPN has been making great progress with picture selection for these live events, but Marty Reid is just having a struggle in the TV booth. It should be interesting to see how today works out in the long run.
This post will serve to host your comments on the TV coverage by ESPN of the Nationwide Series race from Dover. 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 taking the time to stop by.
69 comments:
"ESPN documented the insider trading deals where three "start and park" teams were bought out of the event so the final Wallace car and two others with sponsors could start. Welcome to the new NASCAR."
Good Grief
Pretty common AR, esp with S&P cars. They are just there for the money, despite the BS you hear from some TV types.
Hearing rain starting again. Quick format today with 2:03PM start if possible.
Yup that happens a lot AR. They've always had behind the scenes deals where if someone with no sponsor makes it someone with a sponsor makes a deal so the sponsor can race.
NASCAR says they have lost the track to rain. At least one hour delay.
Cheating is a part of our sport, and this I know, but dang it, I do not like "pay to NOT play"
Which could lead me into a full blown diatribe about "locked in" cars and why I think, and always have thought, you really ought to race your way in every race: No Run -- No Dough. And why (like in the case of Front Row Joe) I support S&P cars as a way for small teams to keep going I think there should be rubber on the road. Not chits in the bank.
But I'll spare you that. For now.
Hehe...thank you!
MRN has gone off the air until 3p.m. Eastern.
Well I'm using this time to go ahead & run to the store :) even if it stopped raining it'll be an hour to dry. Nice thing about concrete doesn't take 18 billion hours to dry
The pre-race ceremonies will again not be on my DVR copy, as Dover moved them up by about 10 minutes. Remarkably, the Globemaster C-17 did the flyover despite very heavy weather conditions.
That was great, those boys are used to flying through the soup!
The networks always talk about the "history" of the sport.
I often wonder why (espn classic) doesn't air, on a regular basis, OLD Cup races.
JD, that ESPN tape library has to be full of races. Including the old Wide World of Sports races on ABC.
Many "newer" fans really need to see some races without Gordon, Johnson and Junior.
I'd love to see Greg Sacks winning the old Firecracker 400 at Daytona.
Bobby Hillin,JR winning the 86 Talladega 500. Bill Elliott coming from 2 laps down under the GREEN, to win at Dega....etc
You were probably attended and worked a lot of those races.
Is there a contractual reason they cannot show them ??
Is it NASCAR's call to release those tapes and allow airing them?
Always wondered.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the first rain-delay for any race this season. Dover seems to have become the track that's annually rain-stricken on its NASCAR weekend. Used to be Pocono.
I'm pretty sure CBS turned over all of their archived races to NASCAR. I'm not sure who owned the footage of TNN's & TBS' races (if it was those networks or Wheeler Productions)...not sure if those got turned over or not. I believe ESPN kept most of their footage. Classic used to show a number of those races. Makes me wonder if they only kept certain ones because it seemed like they showed the same ones over and over.
Oh, look; anonymous got a name.
Green flag for Grand Am in the rain. Live audio on their web site, or you can watch later on Speed.
Here is the latest! 3:15PM start time with a competition caution at lap 40. Basically, racing to halfway!
Hiya troll, how about just commenting with the rest of us on the racing?
All that weird hate has to get old after a while.
Ken-Michigan--I think we remember many of those old races through rose colored memories. The production and quality were not as good as we selectively remember. I especially remember the 'Dega race where Elliott made up the two laps under green to win. I loved it at the time because I was a big Elliott fan and I was watching history. However, I also remember a lot of the race was a camera pointed just at the one car as it was traveling around the track at 10 or 15 miles faster than the rest of the cars.
I think our expectations have increased a lot more than we have received. What makes it frustrating is that we know how to fix a lot of the problems but the "powers that be" won't do anything to resolve the issues.
Our rose colored memories were made with the best equipment available and the telecast was presented as well as technology allowed.
Ken, the networks owned the footage but there was no use for it in the 60's, 70's and even 80's.
Sunbelt Video, a independent company in Charlotte kept a private library of all the TV races and all the ENG footage shot at the tracks for teams and sponsors.
I worked there as the VP for a bit. The footage was used basically for a TNN show starring Ned Jarrett and sponsor videos.
ESPN owns the rights to the races that aired on that network back in the 80's and 90's in terms of showing them on air.
The NASCAR Media Group bought Sunbelt Video and has a fulltime staff dedicated to preserving as much historic footage as possible in a digital format on a huge hard drive in Charlotte, NC.
Now, ALL the footage belongs to NMG after the race is over.
JD
What a weirdo. Hey, takes all kinds to make a world. We move on.
Drivers into their cars. Might be extended caution laps depending on track dryness.
The free Nationwide Series scanners are working at NASCAR.com
Won't link on Google blogspot Charlie, but thanks!
Why does Rusty's cars or car always get the in-car camera.
Does he buy that to.
Setting the line here:
First commercial: Lap 13
Takers?
Thanks JD....appreciate the explanation.
this is going to be a wild one today.
Surprised that Pit Road is still so damp.
Radar is clear as of now in the DelMarVa area.
Mr Swindell....this aint the Chili Bowl !!
good luck young man !
Some good stories in this tilt!
That guy could not find the brakes!
Man, NASCAR is not happy with that dude. Lap 2!
Godness
Would have taken a bath if anyone had bet the spread on my 1st commercial line. Did not figure someone forgetting what a left foot is for this soon.
made it back from the store in time to see my friend Blake wreck :(
Can't pinch down at Dover, ya know?
by the way JD -
I still have my Navy Blue "Inside NASCAR" Sunbelt Video jacket from the mid 80's.
not many of them around anymore ! haha
Awesome! I have all my old TV stuff, including that awful ESPN SpeedWorld stuff from the 1980's!
Start and parkers dropping like flies.
As a real and true KyBu fan I am becomming irritated. The "storyline" (the truck's storyline) which began in pre-race of KyBu tying MM) now the booth cannot shut up about it. And as I write this the 1st mention of JenJo has been made.
JenJO needs parked. I understand trying to get experience, but down 6 laps in the first 40 laps with 2 cautions is not safe.
She is hanging on by a thread. Not too sure what is next for her.
I think Espn could let 4 people go and it would not make the telecast any worse.
Marty Reed
Jamie Little
Brad in the infield
Tim Brewer
In my option Steven Wallace is an ok driver.
I don't understand why he gets all the Tv time in most of the races.
This broadcast is actually better than the trucks last night. I don't see how JJCobb can keep up with a minimum speed. I don't like the idea of a car having a full time cup team do the pitting for them doesn't seem quite fair to the NW regulars. Poor BScott he can't get a break this year.
Halfway to halfway!
81 pick up speed or park it.
As for jenJo's future I do not know. She is a good little racecar driver, but this has been a tough year for her so far. Going, quite unexpectedly, from what I would consider an, at best, B- operation to what I would consider, at best, a D+ operation. Well, at least she is hangin' in.
Maybe, oh, willikers, not "maybe" at all, she needs to get what Herm has got this year. Love Kenny (which I do) or hate Kenny with some competitive equipment under his heine he has done quite well.
Tight shots and in-car is here to stay.
I don't like it but I don't get the big bucks either.
Swindell going way too fast.
this aint the Chili Bowl !
I commend ESPN this time for getting several angles of the Swindell incident. So much better than the Sadler-Busch disaster of Pocono 10.
Hate that for Kevin! Don't know what Alex &/or his spotter were thinking! Just had to wait for a few cars to get by
Without replay Espn would be sunk.
So much is missed live.
It doesn't matter if Swindell was going to fast or actual caution speed. It's going to be ugly if a car turn if front of you like that. Stupid move by the driver and spotter of the 23.
@Charlie Couldn't agree more
The shot from the "Monster Bridge" does nothing for me. I dont really want to see random people eating food while Im supposed to be watching a race.
Everybody on Twitter is blaming Alex Kennedy for that incident with Kevin Swindell. Last time I checked the race was under caution. Kevin was going way to fast through the accident scene. If he would have slowed down some he could have avoided it. Rookie mistakes on both parties.
I havent listened to this broadcast today. Im so sick of espn. The same disdain everyone has for FOX on Sunday's is about the same as my disdain for ESPN on Saturdays. I really cant find anything positive to say about this broadcast. MRN with the TV muted.
Like Fox is with Kyle, ESPN is stuck on Steve Wallace. That's only time you see coverage of someone outside the top 10.
It takes 6 laps for the ticker to go from leading car back to leading car.
Started good, faded after the halfway mark. Mailing it in now.
I believe this race is done.
Did you notice in that segment it took them a long time to say the word Moisture and why the red flag.
They were talking in car interview, etc.
Still they haven't said the word Rain.
I'm going to have to pull a DW. Looking at the radar, I take back my words on the race being done. May take awhile to get the track dry, though. Whatever this is, it's not showing up on any radars.
"Rain" is not in ESPN's dictionary just a little moisture instead. Maybe a pit reporter can find out what's going on and ask someone in the know how long it would take to dry the track once it stops. Hmmmm.
Also, I do like Josh Wise's paintjob!
What's funny about these rain delays is listening to the broadcasters walk that fine line between not wanting to insult the viewers intelligence, while at the same time, trying to keep that viewer from switching to something else.
Maybe Carl will let Wise win like Jamie Little was asking about when she interviewed Carl with 65 laps to go.
I sure wish the rain wouldn't have stopped and Josh could win. How much longer do we have to sit here and watch this starting and stopping and starting and stopping again.
I see your moderating today, Trolls must be out in full force.
15 Laps to go.
Winding it down.
I don't understand why so many car owners chose the black and red/orange colors with white lettering. A bunch of cars look so similar that you need to read the number or sponsors name to know who it is. I always thought sponsors wanted to stand out and be noticed.
Good point. They sure do.
Reporters at the track saying several cars are short on fuel.
OK, I'm done. Have a great one guys, see you tomorrow.
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