Busch Series Gets Whacked By College Football on ESPN2

NASCAR fans looked nervously at the clock on the wall when the LSU vs. Tulane college football game hit halftime. They were nervous because it was already 2:10PM Eastern Daylight Time.

This week, once again, ESPN2 was relying on the luck of the Gods to slip a live Busch Series pre-race show and then the race itself between two college football games. Things did not work out too well.

When ESPN purchased the rights to the Busch Series as a part of their new NASCAR contract, TV veterans were scratching their heads. They wondered the same thing. Where would they put the series when college football began?

The Daly Planet even ran a column suggesting that perhaps the network might use the failing ESPN Classic network as an outlet for NASCAR programming and call it ESPN3. While ESPN Classic started with a bold agenda and even some original programming, it has slowly been scaled back until now it is slaved to only re-airing the programs already in the ESPN Library that the company owns. As a distribution channel, it would be much more valuable to funnel live events than continue to re-air programs from the past twenty-five years.

Allen Bestwick and Andy Petree presented a great NASCAR Countdown pre-race show for this event in Kansas. Unfortunately, it aired on ESPN Classic as a last minute switch because the LSU vs. Tulane game was still in-progress. The entire thirty minute show never aired on ESPN2 at all.

The continued success of the Busch Series is vital to NASCAR as a whole. As most fans know, this season has been a struggle for the series in terms of fan attendance and TV ratings. It is all the more important, as the series reaches the final races, to put the best TV programming possible on-the-air.

There are going to be lots of excuses from ESPN, but the bottom line is clear. They bought this series, aired it all year without a problem, and knew that college football was coming in September. Suddenly, the NASCAR series that has provided live racing since February is second-tier programming. Why?

The reason is simple. ESPN wanted their NEXTEL Cup package and the Busch Series came along for the ride. Once college football began, it was as though the past seven months of hard work and live coverage of this series was simply tossed aside as if it never happened.

NASCAR fans have been watching the Busch Series all season on ESPN2. The NASCAR on ESPN2 Busch Series telecasts have generated over one hundred hours of live TV for ESPN2 and ABC combined. The series has produced great racing, lots of good stories, and several new drivers and teams that we will be hearing from in the future.

This situation of "hoping" college football games will end in three hours continues through October and into November. How is this fair to NASCAR fans who suddenly find themselves put on the back burner because of football? The Busch Series is a ten month sport for hard-working NASCAR teams and drivers.

Somehow, after seven months of the season, it becomes trapped with nowhere to go because of circumstances that were known back in 2006 when the contract with ESPN was done. Maybe some NASCAR lawyer might want to open a manila folder and see exactly what happens when not only the pre-race show but also the green flag and a lot of laps are pre-empted by a slow-playing college football game.

Then, the lawyer might want to check his watch. Its only a matter of time until it happens. There are only so many "near misses" in TV land. This one was close.

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Busch Series at Kansas: In-Progress Comments

The Busch Series will once again live dangerously on ESPN2 this Saturday afternoon. This time, its LSU and Tulane University that hold the keys to the race.

These two teams begin their football game live at noon, and once again NASCAR Countdown is scheduled for 3PM and the race itself for 3:30PM Eastern Time. Most college football games run three and a half hours at a minimum. In the words of Larry McReynolds..."do the math."

UPDATE: NASCAR Countdown is now airing on ESPN Classic because the football game is running long.

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Upstart Rowdy.com Shakes Up The NASCAR Media

Rowdy.com is a website that works for NASCAR fans in many ways. In addition to the opportunity to join as a member and host a web page all for free, it has a wonderful social networking function that allows fans to speak directly to each other or participate in groups aimed at one special interest.

One key element that many NASCAR fans have already discovered is the free Rowdy podcast available through iTunes or directly on the Rowdy.com site. Since its inception, this six day a week show of thirty to forty-five minutes in length has simply rocketed to the moon.

Handcrafted by Buck and Bass, the hosts of Rowdy, this simple audio discussion of all things NASCAR boasts all the top drivers, owners, and other NASCAR personalities in the news. Downloaded to an iPod, MP3 player, or other hand held device, this portable NASCAR news and entertainment presentation has been a great hit.

Fueled by the power of the NASCAR fans, these two guys have now grown to be included in the "top one hundred podcasts" on iTunes. That is simply amazing. They are up against the powerhouses of ESPN, Fox Sports, all the top news and feature shows on TV, and even the religious inspirations of Joel Osteen.

One listen to a Rowdy podcast can send a fan directly to the website for the free membership. That is the case with me after I became a fan of the audio product these two guys delivered six days a week all season long. Its just fun.

The NASCAR drivers and owners on Rowdy appear to be having the same kind of fun they used to have on the old NASCAR radio shows. In many ways, Rowdy is a consolidated and edited version of what fans go to Sirius to hear live. This product is just portable and available every morning like a good newspaper. Buck and Bass mix a ton of interviews and features into their podcast, but still keep it very timely.

I was lucky enough to be interviewed by the gang recently, and the two portions of the interview can be heard on the September 27th and 28th podcasts. I held this column until these both aired so it would not be seen as a promo, which it is not. These can both still be heard by going to Rowdy.com and just clicking on the "listen now" button under the pictures of Buck and Bass. Pick a date, listen to the podcast, and tell us what you think.

What I was trying to do was give Daly Planet readers a better perspective of why we are here and what we are trying to do with this media project this season. In addition, we had a chance to talk about the past, present and future of NASCAR television. Lots of interesting topics were covered.

Veteran NASCAR announcer and reporter Mark Garrow serves as the voice of reason many times on all things NASCAR at Rowdy, and journalist Steve Waid also weighs-in on racing topics with his opinionated and experienced perspective. These regulars blend in well with the fast-paced and humorous exploits of the show hosts.

On the website, fans have begun to assemble tons of media content. Photos and videos not seen anywhere else on the Internet live at Rowdy. Much of it is directly related to the social networking aspect of this site, which encourages everything from local fan clubs to breakfast meetings at the track. The dynamic of this concept is playing out with tremendous popularity on the Internet, and total silence in NASCAR TV land.

Perhaps, in another time, TV programs like RaceDay or NASCAR Now would interview these two upstarts, and get their take on what it is like to negotiate through the NASCAR media landscape. Unfortunately, the TV networks of today are very different.

They are all married themselves to multi-million dollar Internet investments, and this leads to a lot of exclusion in the name of competition. This flawed philosophy in turn leads the fans right back to the "outlaws" of the Internet like Rowdy. The straight-laced corporate sites like NASCAR, ESPN, and even SPEEDtv.com are made to look the fool when two guys in a rented office can turn out a iTunes top one hundred podcast about NASCAR.

Currently, NASCAR TV is in a state of limbo. Fans are not really sold on what TNT and ESPN tried to deliver to them, and the NASCAR on Fox season was too far back to remember. Think what ESPN could have done with a commitment to lure the NASCAR fan to ESPN.com for exclusive content and interaction.

What if Tim Brewer took email in the Tech Center? What if Jerry Punch answered chat questions in the three minute commercial breaks? What if they used fan videos to ask questions of drivers or panelists in NASCAR Countdown?

"What if" may well be the theme of the NEXTEL Cup TV season this year. Suddenly, the ABC broadcasts appear to be dinosaurs regardless of who is announcing. NASCAR.com is directly competing with their own video and TV shows on line, DirecTV is on-the-air with Hot Pass, and Sirius Satellite Radio is live with the race coverage. Websites like The Daly Planet are also live with in-progress comments and chat. Where will all this lead?

That might be a good topic for the next Rowdy podcast. Maybe I will go directly to their website and suggest it. TNT has erased NASCAR from their site, and ESPN.com wants me to pay to be an "Insider" before I can speak to anyone directly.

Instead, I'll just plug in my iPod and get my NASCAR information and entertainment for free every day. If Rowdy decides to add video to next season's podcasts, they might just shake-up more than the Internet.

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. Thanks again for taking the time to stop-by and leave your opinion.