Steve Byrnes Makes Pepsi 400 Practice A Blast

Early Thursday evening, the NEXTEL Cup gang took to the track at Daytona for their final practice. As with every lap on the track for this series, live TV followed along. This practice was shown on SPEED Channel. During the season, TV viewers will see many different faces on these telecasts. Mostly, it is a combination of SPEED announcers with several of the announcers from the network telecasting the actual race.

This day, SPEED showcased one of the best combinations of booth and pit announcers that can be seen on NASCAR TV anywhere. Hosting the telecast was Steve Byrnes, who has emerged as one of the best on-air hosts for both live events and talk shows. He brings to the table an enthusiasm and professionalism sorely lacking in many other NASCAR announcers. This guy certainly is the real deal.

Alongside of Byrnes were his good friends Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds. This trio in the booth is magic, and the casual attitude of practice really allows them all to show their knowledge. This group is clearly on their game, and nothing escapes them as the practice grind goes forward. Viewers can learn so much from just sitting back and listening to these "voices of experience."

On pit road for this telecast was Matt Yocum and newcomer Lindsay Czarniak. Yocum is coming off his very successful hosting of Tony Stewart's "Prelude to the Dream" pay-per-view race special, and is the ultimate insider. Yocum also produces Stewart's Sirius Satellite Radio program, which is tremendously popular with fans. Matt just seems to always kind of "be there" at the right time.

Czarniak has been a welcome addition to NASCAR, and has proven to be a hard-working rookie who can take her lumps and hang-in there with the big boys. She has a great ability to put people at ease with her casual style, and the NASCAR gang clearly responds. Face it, we like her.

SPEED's great pictures during practice allow the Director to use lots of in-car camera shots and hang with them for multiple laps. When the action gets thick, its almost as exciting as the race. Everyone knows the guys are trying to find the elusive speed at Daytona, and no one is better at telling viewers about the tiny details of fine-tuning than McReynolds. His unbridled honesty is just so refreshing, and he really brings fans the feel of being at the track with your own crew chief.

One of the best parts of Steve Byrnes in the host position is the fact that he freely asks the questions that viewers and fans want to know. He consistently put both McReynolds and Hammond on-the-spot about NASCAR topics, and they responded. The banter between the announcers and reporters on pit road was often times much better than the commentary heard by fans during the actual race.

All of us who have watched NASCAR for years know that live televised practice sessions can be like watching paint dry. This one on SPEED, however, was just flat out entertaining and very exciting. It was a good TV moment when everything just "came together." The pictures and sound were great, the pit reporters had all the drivers talking, and the booth announcers really gave super information about what was going on, and why.

After watching TNT for several weeks, this SPEED telecast also contained another crucial element missing from the Turner package. These announcers respected each other, and had fun while they were working. The jokes were made at no one's expense, and were in good humor. Even the drivers were smiling while being interviewed at practice, and that was because they could feel the good vibe of the show.

Over the past several months, The Daly Planet has considered various columns about the NEXTEL Cup practice sessions, but they just did not live up to anything exciting. The best part of the last several weeks may have been the horrible green-ish "puffy shirts" that TNT makes Weber and Dallenbach wear when they are doing a broadcast on SPEED. Those should go immediately to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame when the TNT part of the NASCAR package is over. A Seinfeld moment if we ever saw one.

So, hats off to SPEED for hosting a killer practice session at high-speed on the high banks. They had a rock solid line-up of talent who made something normally boring into something very interesting and fun. Kudos to Steve Byrnes for keeping this gang working at a high level by challenging them and then rewarding them for their information. This was a key test session for both the Pepsi 400 and qualifying. Now, if only the race can live up to the practice. We shall see on Saturday night.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. All email is held in confidence. Thanks again for stopping by.

TNT's Not So "Wide Open" With Facts About Pepsi 400

This weekend, the Pepsi 400 will be run at Daytona International Speedway. It is one of the highest-profile NASCAR races because it falls during the week of July 4th. The race is going to be telecast on cable TV, and not on "over-the-air" broadcast network TV. The reason is because the Pepsi 400 is the centerpiece of the Turner Network Television TV package.

For some time now, TNT has been promoting this one race as "special." Unfortunately, they have not made the previous four NEXTEL Cup races telecast by them "special" at all. In fact, the amount of commercials and promos run in these races has been staggering. No matter how hard the announcers try, or how close the drivers race, there is just no defeating the fact that commercials do not allow racing to be shown.

Our friends over at cawsnjaws.com do a breakdown of the commercials and promos inserted in the NEXTEL Cup events. In Loudon, TNT had 130 minutes of actual race time and showed 62 minutes of commercials in that specific time period. So, TNT filled almost one-third of the time during the race with commercials.

This weekend, TNT has a "special" solution for this problem. They are calling it "Wide Open Coverage" of the Pepsi 400. Their marketing information says they are "eliminating" national commercials and only three local breaks from the cable or satellite systems will "interrupt" their live coverage. Now, does this sound logical coming from a company who just used 33% of the previous race to show commercials?

What TNT has done is used a technical TV trick to shrink the picture of the Pepsi 400 on your screen. No matter what you do, it will not be "full screen" for the race. If you have seen a High Definition picture on your standard TV set, you understand what I am talking about. The "aspect ratio" of the video signal will be different, so your TV will have a smaller picture. This is the start of TNT's "special" coverage for you. Wait, it gets better.

Turner's own in-house Creative Services Unit has produced some "special" commercials that will be run during the race. They will appear on your screen in a "box" that allows the race action to still be seen. While this is great because it allows continued racing, what it does for TNT is totally free them from the time constraints put on by thirty-second commercials placed in two-minute commercial breaks.

That's right, the network that ran 62 minutes of commercials in 190 minutes of racing now has absolutely no limits on filling your "special" TNT screen with as many sponsor "messages" as possible. Well, now we certainly know why they called it "Wide Open Coverage." It is open season on NASCAR viewers, and there is no "limit" for the hunters.

One of the most fascinating elements of this issue is the fact that the ten national advertisers who are participating in TNT's "Wide Open Coverage" of the Pepsi 400 had to "pay to play." Each and every one had to buy all the other six TNT races, with their normal TV commercials, in order to be featured in the high-profile Daytona race. In other words, to get the big stuff you have to run adds in the junk.

And junk is just how TNT treated the NASCAR race at Loudon, with absolutely no regard for the race itself or the viewers. Fans basically had the race cut by a third by commercials once the green flag flew. The Daly Planet was swarmed with people actually helping each other with techniques to avoid TNT's coverage. This ranged from the DirecTV Hot Pass to the PPV in-car coverage to just putting the race on a DVR and watching it later. What a sad commentary on this season's TV coverage.

The big rumor floating around the town is that the "extra" adds placed in the early TNT races were included as "bonuses" for the advertisers who agreed to participate in the Daytona "special" coverage. In case the "Wide Open Coverage" becomes a "Big Fat Disaster," the network will have already run enough "make good" spots to be covered. Anyone who watched the Sonoma race on TNT knows just how quickly disaster can come to this network.

So, Saturday night good old Jeff Gordon will introduce the TNT "Wide Open Coverage" of the Pepsi 400 as a technical innovation that will hopefully change the NASCAR TV landscape. Bill Weber will handle integrating all the sponsor stuff into the race telecast throughout the entire event. Viewers may originally feel good about the fact they can continue to see the race while commercial elements run, but there is little doubt based on the earlier races that TNT will eventually wear even the most hardy fans down.

So, in TNT language, please enjoy your "innovative on-screen video box for branded sponsor content, vignettes, and animation." Also, enjoy your reduced picture size which Turner Sports President David Levy sums up this way: "We are producing everything in wide screen (format) and then shoving it into a standard (TV) format. We'll have space left at the bottom of the screen without losing anything, the fans just won't see Row 35." Is he kidding? TNT viewers won't lose anything?

Apparently, Mr. Levy did not see Sonoma where only the top two cars were shown finishing, and TNT left the air without even a top twenty final leaderboard. He must have missed Michigan, where the race ended twenty minutes early, so TNT decided to start a vampire movie instead of interviewing the drivers. Perhaps, he was on vacation for Loudon, where TNT ran over an hour of commercials in just over three hours of racing. This season, NASCAR fans watching TNT have already lost a lot.

It will be great if TNT's "Wide Open Coverage" of the Pepsi 400 proves to be a success. Unfortunately, their track record on these first four races in the TNT package does not just magically disappear because "they say" everything will be fine. TNT needs to step up not only at Daytona, but in their one remaining race in Chicago to salvage any kind of respect for their NASCAR efforts in 2007.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. All email is held in confidence. Thanks again for stopping by.

The NASCAR Mid-Season TV Report

The first week in July is normally a good time to take a break, and look back on the first half of the year. In the NASCAR world, Brian France uses this week to deliver a "state of the sport" address to the media via a conference call.

This year, France made a point to single out TNT and their upcoming "wide open" coverage of the Pepsi 400. He also welcomed ESPN back to NEXTEL Cup and said he looked forward to having them on-board. He then remarked that TV ratings go up-and-down, and he did not feel lower ratings this year had any meaning. Those were his comments on the NASCAR TV scene.

Over the past six months, many readers of The Daly Planet have come to this site through other "link" pages on sites like Jayski.com. In looking at the thousands of stories and articles listed on Jayski since February, one thing is very clear.

The NASCAR print and Internet media avoids writing about NASCAR's TV partners at all costs. Apparently, the penalties for speaking out about bad NASCAR TV are more severe than COT violations.

Once and a while, someone like David Poole might get upset at something on TV, but unlike the entertainment industry, most of NASCAR's TV coverage goes without any national scrutiny in the traditional media.

Yet, almost all the reporters watch the race on TV in the Media Center at the track in the air conditioning while eating NASCAR's free food. They all watch the same thing as the fans, and yet the fans believe there are some TV issues that need to be addressed rather urgently. What happened to the NASCAR press?

The Daly Planet gets email from the Media Center at NASCAR events all the time. Most of the messages say the same thing. They could not agree more with the points being raised by the columns, and the reader comments. Unfortunately, there has never been one follow-up story or one feature on a TV network about these issues.

When NASCAR on Fox decided to only show the winner of the NEXTEL Cup races cross the finish line in the middle of their TV season, The Daly Planet email went absolutely ballistic. Fans could not believe that unless their driver won the race, they would have to be sitting in the stands at the track to see him finish. There was not a peep in the national media, even though they watched the same races.

This issue peaked when Kyle Petty finished third in the Coke 600. He was driving the Coke Zero car in prime time under the lights at Lowe's Motor Speedway. His best finish in many years, a Petty car in the top five, and the race sponsor's logo on the door. The NASCAR on Fox Producer decided not to show Kyle finish the race. Just like that, the massive power of TV smacked him down on purpose and declined to show him to the nation. Only The Daly Planet and its readers asked why.

When ESPN opened their Busch Series coverage with Chris Fowler, Brad Daugherty, and Brent Musburger, NASCAR fans could not believe it. The face of NASCAR looked a lot like the face of College Gameday. Since that show, ESPN has continued to struggle with their Busch pre-race show called NASCAR Countdown.

Rather than remark on these problems, the national press made sure to promote the fact that Monday Night Football sideline reporter Suzy Kolber was coming on-board to host that show in late July. The national press had absolutely no problem with the fact that she had never been to a NASCAR race...in her life.

Back in the studio, ESPN introduced Doug Banks as the host of NASCAR Now. This daily NASCAR show was the only one on TV, was done in cooperation with NASCAR, and was the "platform" for NASCAR news and information. There was only one small problem. Mr. Banks was the ABC Radio Network host of his own hip-hop urban morning radio show. Like Kolber, Banks was not a NASCAR fan, and had never been to a race...in his life.

The national media did not say a word. Several months and many painful shows later, Mr. Banks suddenly disappeared. He just vanished. The high-profile black on-air host of a national TV show had gone missing. Could you imagine if this was SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, or Pardon The Interruption? The media would have a field day.

But, this was NASCAR with all its tight constraints and veiled threats of retaliation to those media members who "step out of line." There was not a word printed or published about Mr. Banks exit except on The Daly Planet. Why?

Over on SPEED, they were having an issue with one Michael Waltrip. Appearing on Inside NEXTEL Cup, Tradin' Paint, and the Craftsman Truck Series broadcasts, it was apparent that one thing had changed. He was no longer a driver, but an owner. In addition, he was very quickly an owner in crisis.

How could he speak clearly about NASCAR issues when he was the owner of a Toyota team that got caught cheating at Daytona? It used to be funny on Inside NEXTEL Cup when Michael promoted things...now it was not. It used to be meaningful on Tradin' Paint when Michael took issue with NASCAR...now it was not. It used to be assumed that he talked about all the Truck teams, and not just Toyotas...now fans were not so sure.

The NASCAR press never said a word as Waltrip was quietly removed from Tradin' Paint, eased out of the Craftsman Truck broadcasts, and toned-down on Inside NEXTEL Cup. The Daly Planet called it "Michael Waltrip's Free Pass" and questioned how this conflict of interest was not a problem...until suddenly he was mostly gone from TV.

Then, the NEXTEL Cup Series experienced TNT and things went south. Ending their second race at Michigan twenty minutes early, TNT talked to both DEI drivers and then started a vampire movie fifteen minutes early and signed-off the air. The entire field was there, with plenty of stories to tell, and yet suddenly America was watching Van Helsing.

Then, in Sonoma, TNT lost control of their broadcast, got completely lost on the air, showed only the top two cars for many laps, and finally went off the air without showing the final finishing order...of their own race.

Where was the NASCAR press? Were ESPN and SPEED afraid to address this issue on NASCAR Now and Inside NEXTEL Cup? The answer was absolutely. Even today, the TNT stories on The Daly Planet continue to get comments from fans nationwide.

There have been plenty of great TV stories this season to feel good about. ESPN's on-air announcing team for the Busch Series races has been strong. SPEED's Craftsman Truck broadcasts continue to set the bar for good NASCAR TV. Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty have filled the hole left on the TNT broadcasts by the passing of Benny Parsons. Steve Byrnes has been an excellent host for many SPEED live shows, and has Hollywood Hotel written all over him for 2008.

The best new show is Survival of the Fastest on SPEED. A highly edited and glossy program dominated by an "NFL Films" style announcer, this show manages to "get over itself" and show the reality of the weekly struggle of race teams. Let's hope SPEED brings it back next season and expands this approach to the Busch and Truck Series.

The worst show so far this season is the slowly dying Inside NEXTEL Cup, also on SPEED. Dave Despain hosts a panel who are no longer relevant to today's NASCAR scene. Kenny Schrader lost his ride, Michael Waltrip is a mess, and Greg Biffle is often the only one on the panel who actually raced on Sunday. Since SPEED has declined to make a change at host to shake things up, hopefully the network will put this show out of its misery after November.

The story of the year is Allen Bestwick. He started as nothing more than an ESPN pit reporter for the Busch Series. Then, as the wheels came off the ESPN's NASCAR package, Bestwick was called up from the minor leagues to pinch hit. Bestwick has hosted outstanding versions of NASCAR Countdown, including the show immediately after Dale Junior's big announcement. He has gone to ESPN and hosted NASCAR Now from the studio. Friends of The Daly Planet who work at ESPN said Bestwick was so professional and smooth that it left them speechless.

Recently, Bestwick was asked to host the pre-race show and then do the play-by-play for an ESPN Busch Series race. The entire telecast was first rate. Now, as ESPN prepares to broadcast both the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series races from July 28th through the end of the year, Bestwick's role is again unknown.

It is very probable that NASCAR Countdown will be hosted by Suzy Kolber with Brad Daugherty and Brent Musburger alongside. NASCAR Now continues to be hosted by the acerbic Erik Kuselias...the last original co-host still standing. If Bestwick again winds-up on pit road describing "four tires and fuel," it will be the biggest mistake ESPN makes all season.

Finally, thank you to all The Daly Planet readers who have taken the time to add their comments or send email in support of this project. We are very grateful for the outstanding contributions over the last five months.

Understand that The Daly Planet is being read by most of the on-air reporters and announcers who work on the NASCAR telecasts. Your comments have been welcomed, and have been the reason for many discussions and meetings. This site is read by our friends at SPEED, ESPN, NASCAR Images, and in NASCAR's offices.

There is no doubt about it, your input has directly affected the NASCAR TV programs that you have enjoyed watching this season. It has also affected the ones you have not particularly enjoyed. As we move through the next five months of the season, we have new shows on the horizon from SPEED for late July, new hosts on-board for ESPN, and ABC Sports carrying "The Chase" all the way to the end. It should be fun. Thanks again.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from all readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published.