The Nationwide Series again has the smell of a Cup-dominated Saturday. The fast Chicagoland Speedway has lent itself to the more experienced drivers in the past.
Rusty Wallace will be on the pre-race show with host Nicole Briscoe and Brad Daugherty. Dave Moody from Sirius Speedway reported that Wallace's current NNS sponsor, 5 Hour Energy, is leaving next season and moving to the Cup Series with Michael Waltrip Racing and driver Clint Bowyer. That topic should be interesting.
Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will call the race. There are a handful of NNS regulars still trying hard for the driver's championship. Unfortunately, ESPN is star-struck with the Cup drivers and once again they will be given center stage on TV.
The racing is typical aero track style, with little passing and lots of importance on pit stops under both green and caution flags. TV has no choice but to follow the groups of cars close to each other as passing has been at a premium. Restarts yield the excitement in the race and should once again tell the tale of the race.
It's tough to get excited for this coverage as ESPN squeezes the NNS into a hole between college football games. The network has covered nothing from Chicagoland today, including qualifying for both the NNS and Cup Series.
One good story has emerged, as talented young driver Brian Scott has the pole for the event. This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN2 coverage of the NNS race from Chicagoland Speedway. Just click the comments button below.
138 comments:
Keeping an eye on college football game for time.
Rushing to get home early:
#03 Riggs
#04 O'Quinn
#41 Chapman
#46 Miller
#48 Setzer
#49 M Green
#71 Carter
#75 Long
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DNQ's that would have raced:
#13 Cobb
#44 Cope
Trollster, you have got to get some new material!
If you're going to troll a site, at least be creative.
Long way to go, three point game. I'm going for coffee.
Happy Let's Get To Race Day this Century Planeteers <3
Doesn't look like their gonna use classic for he pre-race.
Tennessee/Florida game at 3:30, Nationwide race starts at the same time. Normally Id pick the race over anything and record the game, but I cant because the ticker on the bottom will tell me who wins. So Im gonna watch the game live and record the race. Peace out. See ya tomorow.
Rusty will have to bite his tounge until tomorrow.
The real issue is what happens if they tie it up?
I bet Rusty lost his mind. What is he going to do for next season?
If only Steve had actually won something.
i'll be watching cnn until race time. catch everyone then.
While we wait, I have a suggestion for how to solve the start & park problem. It's a little complicated.
What if you were only eligible for the percentage of prize money for your finishing position that's the same as the percentage of laps completed.
The rest of the money would be split among the rest of the field.
So, if you're a full-time competitor, you'd lose money the week you blow an engine on lap 20, but would get a share back through the season when other teams have issues.
well, that should take the tie out of the picture.
What is the lesser of the two evils? Start and park teams or races with less than a full field?
Heres another solution to solve the start and park problem. #1 award the prize money based on finishing position, not the stickers behind the right front tire. Make 40th worth more than 41st and so on. And #2 find a way to make the tires more affordable. If they had money for tires they would race. Nobody wants to start and park. Look at Tommy Baldwin. Its not a choice, its a necessity to stay afloat
@Erik
I'd say start & park, since it is keeping teams that are slower in qualifying but plan to run the advertised distance out of the race.
here's a wild and crazy plan: let everyone who shows up, whose car meets requirements, and who has full pit team start, based on qualifying run. once the S & P'ers drop out, we'll likely be back to a standard field. if less than 43, oh well: still race with whoever stays on the track.
18 minutes lost.
I was out today and just got home a bit ago and hubby was watching cup qualifying. Too bad our guy didn't make the race when we know he would race the whole thing, when some of these S&P'ers will go out for a lap or two and pull in. Glad the football finally finished up.
@buschseries: funny, i was just thinking "wow! we've been spared 18 minutes of non-information."
5 hour energy can't say they didn't get exposure on Tv. Seems all the networks made sure of that.
Wonder if they will ask Rusty what he will do.
If you want to make tires cheaper, track owners can cut the purse money and use it as as subsidy for the tire price. Though, some would call that socialism.
Come on Rusty....speak up.
agreed, JD: yet another example of why owners do not belong in the booth. it's a big story w/ramifications for various drivers and teams. here we have the owner involved in losing the sponsor and we get . . . crickets so far.
lol Red. I'm already waiting for them to finish so we can get to the race.
Brewer.....come on man, it's September and you are talking restrictor plates.
FOX may put former Dallas Cowboys in an NFL broadcast booth, but they don't have Jerry Jones doing color commentary. There is a line somewhere.
He could have said "That is news to me." Anything but avoid it.
I see on twitter they said Watch Espn has this race on-line.
I have Charter cable and I get Watch Espn. I can watch any of the college football games on there right now but when I clicked on this race it said only Time Warner, Bright House and Verizon have it.
Charlie, all the Watch ESPN subs can now get NNS races under the new deal.
Give your cable company a yell.
I am getting the same thing. It appears the NASCAR races will be only available to a very limited online audience. Its not the same as their other online broadcasts.
Those grandstands look terrible. The attendance was 75,000 people back at the 2008 Dollar General 300. The summer Nationwide race here had 28,000 people in attendance.
Just existing Watch ESPN users.
Access to this network is available at no additional cost from select television providers. To watch, please choose your provider from the list below.
How many lead changes Marty?
No scanner for Kenny Wallace they switch channels I guess and the scanner has not made that change.
Add #27 Yeley & #50 Bell to the S&P list.
I think the Blues Brothers could have sung the anthem better. We are jealous of all that green grass around the track all Houston's grasses are brown and dead!
Did Marty just say it looks like everyone is staying out as car come down pit road?
Marty is kind of a mess today and ESPN has done absolutely nothing other than this on the air.
I am getting something on Kenny Wallace scanner and it is not Kenny. Just mainly one voice and I am not sure who it is.
JD, watchespn doesn't usually show commercials, so tomorrow will NASCAR Nonstop be part of only the TV broadcast or will it be on watchespn as well?
Anon, two different issues.
Told NASCAR Nonstop will be for TV only because the commercials are still seen.
Breaks will just be blocked on Watch ESPN as they are now.
Big issue showing TV commercials online. Not a good thing.
I switched my scanner to the Officials channel and it is some driver.
If Nascar can't get a scanner right will they be able to get the live feed on the internet right?
NASCAR.com is the Turner Sports dudes, they are a mess.
I'll tell ya what, Rusty's cars are off today
If we all pitched in for a thesaurus for our troll, do you think he could figure out how to use it?
To me Up to Speed is just a filler where then can do tight shots and not show the racing.
A good broadcast would be able to keep you informed what is going on without this Up to Speed thing.
Only 44 laps in and there are 20 cars on the lead lap. And the media can't figure out why, even with 'bumps' on the track to make it 'different', the cookie cutters all produce the exact same types of races. Duh.
so we have cup drivers in nationwide, we have cup pit crews in nationwide, and i believe we have cup crew chiefs in nationwide. remind me again why it's considered the feeder series into cup?!?
Sally, that is not even a good made up word!
Come on trollster, what have you been doing in all those middle school classes?
We might have to encourage him to go pre-med. He seems to like body parts.
Considering what the attendance looks like, its not like fans are packing the stands to see cup guys in the nationwide races now.
Of course, with his 'malapropisms', we're not exactly sure what sort of body he's referring to! Must be a Kurt Busch fan.
@Erik...seems as if someone should have noticed that by now, don't you think?
If the racing is 3 wide in the middle of the pack why not zoom out and show it.
anybody seeing video glitches? There was just on a few sec's ago
Erik I have been saying that all season, the cup guys racing in the NW series is not bringing out the fans! We/They need more full time drivers and sponsors.
erik: agreed on attendance even w/cup regulars running. at some point, this series needs to determine why it exists and then how to market that decision to fans.
wouldn't it be interesting if n'wide series tracks would give away tickets to prospective fans? how about a charter bus worth and transport college kids to/from the track? make them VIPs for the day: full access passes, special meet 'n greets, swag, the whole deal. have a few die hard fans with them to explain stuff. then give them discounted tickets for the next race at that track, free tickets if they bring a friend who hasn't been to the track yet.
i'd put $$ on getting some new fans that way.
Whew, I think this type of racing is going to make it tough down the stretch to get and keep a TV audience when college football is hot and heavy.
caution car in the wall, and we watch NFLs tinker bell!
Great
And half the last 10 races are on 1 1/2 mile tracks. Boy, that makes for excitement, doesn't it? Guess that's what happens when you just pretend the last 10 tracks on the schedule make for good 'playoff' tracks. YAWN.
And I hate those ED or bigger commercials!
The audience will be minimal. The coverage is not exciting and encourages viewers to change to the other ESPN channel.
Love me some Jimmy Johnson in a firesuit pimping fake pills.
That aughta get that 18-34 age bracket on board, right JD?
I think NASCAR would love to move the NNS races to SPEED once ESPN starts covering Cup.
Having a network like ESPN2 geared around college football all day long and jamming a NNS race in the middle is never going to yield good results.
Could Dale Jarrett be more dry?
I know people complain about follow the leader coverage, but when there is a close fight for the lead, I want to see that, not a battle for ninth place, or a lock-in on a car being talked about by the pit reporter. Especially when the commentators are going to talk about it without showing it to us.
I think DJ is sooo over the NNS series stuff. I don't think he likes working both series and he is very clearly not prepped for these late season races.
I don't mind Chris, it's been the only thing that energizes Marty. The 3 of them are just dull when it comes to the regulars.
Charlie, are talking about the Trackpass Scanner? I'm trying it for the first time but can't make head or tail of it. Sometimes it looks like I've selected mutltiple drivers (more than one name turns yellow, more than one speaker icon shows active); sometimes only one. As you noted, the voices don't seem to match the channel I've theoretically selected. Can other Planeteers tell me if it always performs this poorly?
Palmetto, it's broken. Usually, you just click on a name, it lights up and the audio starts.
Pretty free and easy. No clue why it's a mess today. Most of the drivers are OK, but no officials channel.
scanner is weird today. The 31 seems to be on the 32 channel for me.
JD, thanks. I checked the required specs and met all of them. I tried IE and FF, both with similar lousy results. Since this is my first attempt, it's reassuring to have confirmation that it's not me. Well, not JUST me.
Again, thanks.
Explaining spring rubbers in September. Sigh.
DJ, since RL was suspended, he hasn't been able to get back on ESPN but I think he could really help these NW races instead of DJ.
Just called Charter about Watch Espn and the NNS race is not on Espn3, it is on Espn2 in the index at Watch Espn which they say means I cannot get it. I can see football, etc but only if it was selected to be shown on Espn3.
Be interesting to see what happens next Sunday.
It sounds like Petree doesn't care either. Marty is on his own up there.
JD on my previous post I put DJ instead of JD. Hope you realized it!
Palmetto, you have to admit it sooner or later. You hate technology! Hehe....
Got it Vick!
This is beyond brutal...so can't take it anymore...If you're a fan of a driver that doesn't drive in cup or drive for a cup affiliated team or Stephen Wallace then there is no reason to watch. My wife is a Stremme fan and although she gave up watching a while ago I decided to go into this race as a Stremme fan and other than seeing his name a couple times on the ticker I wouldn't know he was in the race.
To add insult to injury his scanners not working either. That's only a couple of the hundred things wrong with just the broadcast.
To not be a complete downer at least the quad box pit cam thing is pretty sweet
Thanks TB, you need fuel to run the car in this race. Back to you Marty!
JD, I can't hate it much; I'm a network analyst by trade! I just don't use much consumer technology and don't 'get' social apps.
Petree lit up when Edwards had the fuel problem and did a nice job. Then Brewer repeated everything he said.
JD, I think there is a
tech overload' point. When I have to have the TV on with no sound, the computer fired up to try to follow what TV won't cover, and the radio tuned to the race, it's ridiculous! Why can't I just turn on the TV and get decent coverage of the race I'm trying to watch? What is so difficult about that?
13 left on the lead lap.
Wow. The track is in the middle of not much. Very like MIS.
The lady at Charter read me from her screen that said Nationwide race was available but I told her it doesn't work. She said she had no idea what to do. She could not even go to the web site to see what I was seeing.
She said only shows listed on Espn3 were what I could get.
Wish I had gotten someone at charter that knew more about what was going on.
Nicole is a mess right now.
OK, i am likely just not processing well today but why does cooler temperature use more fuel per rusty?
Think everyone is so distracted byt 'the chase' that they can't bother with this race?
Wow. Ninth position is still in the top 10. Great insight, Rusty.
DJ and Andy are just deadly now.
Thanks Rusty, a 9th place running order is still in the top 10. Guess Rusty studied math in school!
Sally, the entire TV team has been prepping for the HUGE Cup race tomorrow up against the NFL games.
This means nothing to any of them and it shows.
Scanner doesn't work right, Watch Espn doesn't work right but tight shots with cup guys seems to work.
Kenny Wallace is 7th in points and I haven't seen him mentioned but I could have missed it.
Charlie, I hear ya. I've been to my cable co (Time Warner) TWICE today to exchange HD DVR's. in between I had a tech "helping" me with programming a perfectly good remote. He had me reset it, and then it was DEAD. Now I have yet another box and a new remote, and Im watching the race while wife is programming the remote. I quit. Killed way too much time on it today
ESPN has covered the top 13, plus Allgaier, Logano & Kahne. Everyone else outside those 16 is MIA.
according to twitter Kenny Wallace had the fastest time on the track.
Busch, it's all about perspective and we have talked about that for years now. ESPN's agenda is not the sport, it's whatever they decide to make it.
I'm on Time Warner, and can't get race on Watch Espn. I called the number, and was on hold for 15 min., and hung up. Did not know if
If I had to register, but did, still not working. Has anyone else had a problem?
Guys, this story just broke on Wednesday. I am sure that the cable companies and ISP's involved are still trying to get a clue.
Whatever agenda ESPN is trying to present, it is not appealing.
Thanks JD, you are right.
If Espn thinks they will get more fans by showing the race on the internet they maybe wrong. They may have more people leave.
Garbage in Garbage out.
Kenny Wallace is in this race, Doc? I wouldn't have known from the broadcast.
they showed kenny!
Wow! Kenny Wallace is still in this race!
How about that - Kenny Wallace made it on Tv.
For a moment there they showed 5 cars at the same time.
DJ seems to have gone silent.
Tell ya what, earlier in the thread I said the Rusty Wallace cars were junk today. Annett is now running in 11th without coverage all day.
Guess the RWR teams have run out of 5-Hour Energy. :)
20 laps to go and they don't give the time interval at the top of the screen! What frikkin idiots! I refused to listen to Brewer,Nicole,Crusty and Big Brad. Its bad enough we have to listen to Marty. I expect lots of debris cautions on Sunday
15 Laps to go.
Annett is mysteriously back to 16th now. Pit stop? But ESPN won't tell us, that's for sure!
Will be interesting to see when they do the side by side box if they just show one car in the box and commercial in the other.
single tight shots on a car does not show the race on the track.
"Charlie said...
Will be interesting to see when they do the side by side box if they just show one car in the box and commercial in the other."
I bet it'll be a "chaser" too.
Sorry, it's not 'MY' race leader. That drives me nuts....it's also not 'MY Winner, 'My' champion, etc. JMO
College football in 6 minutes on Espn 2. Be interesting to see how much post race we get.
Marty is packing for the airplane. DJ and Andy are ready for dinner.
I be Ican get a real nicenap tomorrow during the race and not miss a thing.
ChrisK guess the broadcast booth fellas have run out of 5 Hour Energy Drink!
JD sometimes I think DJ goes for a couple of 30 minute breaks during the broadcast and no one hardly ever notices!
Whew, that was a barnburner! OK, maybe not soooo much.
The practice session is over.
NNS winner brad k and they ask him about the chase in the winner circle.
Nice Jamie.
That has to be the worse victory lane interview ever. What was even the point of that? Good Grief!!
Series is broken, drivers don't care if they win or lose. Too many companion races.
That was horrible. Just give the series to SPEED. Maybe they will give a c***.
We started out missing 18 minutes of the pre race. When the race began, Marty wasn't the problem. Dale & Andy didn't seem to have any fun and slowly began to not care. The production truck missed half the field today. I can't imagine being Jeremy Clements or Robert Richardson. No tv coverage, only the 20% filled grandstands can see their car race around all day. Why bother.
Whew, that was brutal. Let's try it again tomorrow at 2PM for the Cup Series.
The Chase is on....again!
See you guys then!
JD
Bang! There it goes!
reading the above comments have made me happy i watched the Grand am race, exciting finish for the lead and championship in the final hour
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