SPEED Channel Answers Back

One day after the Homestead Championship Weekend, something changed in "NASCAR TV Land."

Suddenly, after a year of high-profile network TV coverage of NASCAR's three major racing series, there was silence.

Fans that got into the habit of tuning-into or recording some sort of NASCAR-related TV program every single day for the previous ten months didn't know what to do. When the year-in-review programs from NASCAR Images were duds, and the three series banquets were lackluster, it finally sank in...it was really over.

No matter how many times fans checked SPEED Channel, it was still PINKS, Redline TV, and Super Bikes. One spin of the dial to ESPN Classic yielded no better results. One thing was certain, there was no NASCAR TV to be found.

So, we promptly reminded everyone that lots of NASCAR video was to be found on the good old "still wild and untamed" Internet. That part of our December 18th column was accurate, but we were in for a big surprise.

The Public Relations folks at SPEED sent me a quick note that I had jumped the gun with my complaints. They told me that the network would prove me wrong very soon. Well, here we are in late December and sure enough, SPEED has just made a bold move that took us by surprise.

The bottom line is, January for NASCAR fans will never be the same again. SPEED President Hunter Nickell unveiled a completely new schedule of NASCAR pre-season programming that signals an unprecedented commitment of the network to the sport.

"There will be a lot of interest in seeing NASCAR back on the track in '08," said Nickell. "SPEED will be there from the very beginning, we'll be there all season and we'll be there at the end."

NASCAR puts the first tires back on the track with Sprint Cup testing from Daytona beginning on January 7th. What Nickell released was a mind-altering schedule that shows SPEED originating a daily NASCAR program of some type from that first day all the way through Daytona SpeedWeeks in mid-February. Here is a slice of the content:

• NASCAR Sprint Cup Testing from Daytona – Jan. 7-10 (7 p.m.)
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Testing from Daytona – Jan. 11 (7 p.m.)
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Testing from Daytona – Jan. 14-17 (6:30 p.m.)
• NASCAR Nationwide Series Testing from Daytona – Jan. 21-22 (7 p.m.)
• 2008 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour – Jan. 23-25 (7 p.m.)
• NASCAR Testing from Las Vegas – Jan. 28-30 (7 p.m.)
• NASCAR Testing from Fontana – Jan. 31-Feb. 1 (7 p.m.)
• NASCAR 2008 Team Previews – Feb. 4-6 (7 p.m.)

Filling-in the dates not listed above will be NASCAR coverage on The SPEED Report, as well as new Charlotte-based live programs from the SPEED studios.

Popular host John Roberts will anchor the Sprint Cup coverage, joined by Larry McReynolds, Jeff Hammond and Bob Dillner. On both the Truck and Nationwide Series, Roberts will be working with Ray Dunlap and Phil Parsons.

This entire line-up is being billed as NASCAR Pre-Season Thunder. It is exactly the kind of coverage that The Daly Planet and fans have been asking for of this sport all season long. The timing is perfect.

Just like the NFL Network coverage of events and personalities away from the playing field, this commitment by SPEED is going to open-up a huge window into the sport that fans have never seen before.

The impact of the NFL Network on ratings for the games has been amazing. Does anyone believe that the game itself has changed? No, what has changed is that the sport now has a designated TV network "supporting" it.

In our earlier column, we accused SPEED of being "in denial" that fans wanted NASCAR TV in the off-season, and that the network was "hiding behind" endless re-runs of PINKS to fill their air time. This is certainly more of an answer to that than we ever expected.

In a November interview, Brian France mentioned specifically that he wanted more TV shows about the sport and more original TV programming from his NASCAR partners. In that same interview he made a point of reinforcing his commitment to SPEED and the fact that this network dedicated to motorsports was his business partner in expanding the NASCAR TV universe. Now, we know what he meant.

So, dust off those DVR's, TiVo's and VCR's because original NASCAR programming will be returning on January 7th to SPEED and running almost every single day through the middle of February.

Who says it too late for one more Christmas present?

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Daytona As A Place Of Healing

In January, I usually drive over to the Rolex 24 Sports Car race at Daytona. While it is fun to see all the interesting machines and to watch the NASCAR drivers try to fit-in with guys named Derek and Hans, there is also something very interesting going-on.

The activity in the pits, the practice sessions and the Fan Zone vendors help bring something back to life that for many of us has become a vital part of our existence. It's a return to normalcy that evokes a strong emotion.

There is a sense of healing at Daytona now. I felt it when I saw the fans posing with Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s statue outside the speedway. I felt it when the fans in their NASCAR clothing stopped sports car drivers and asked for their autographs...by name. I felt it when I looked in the infield and saw Ferrari and Porsche flags flying alongside the red #8 and the black #3.

For racing fans, the Rolex 24 has once again become a melting pot of top drivers from all over the world, from different racing series, and from very different backgrounds. One recent addition over the last five years or so has been the influx of high-profile NASCAR drivers. For this one event, that has made a huge difference.

My last trip to Daytona for the Rolex 24 helped me to get the courage and conviction that I needed to begin this blog. Returning to Daytona for the NASCAR events just fortified my belief that much of what was right with the world can be seen at a big racetrack. It seems like everybody of every shape and kind is there, and having as much fun discovering each other as getting ready to watch the race.

It never fails on a race weekend that the memories of some of the people you meet stick with you. America is full of characters, full of stories, and full of people who have overcome big things in their lives just to be at the racetrack.

In a couple of weeks, the Infield Media Center at Daytona will brush off its dust and open once again to the racing press. The reporters who assemble for the Rolex 24 are just as varied as the fans in the stands. Some are there to follow a driver or team, others were sent by their editors because of the curiosity factor.

The racing media veterans are always there, hunched over a laptop and using a cell phone while simultaneously listening to a driver interview and trying to see what is for lunch. This year, a friend of The Daly Planet will be there only by the grace of God and his own personal courage.

When I started emailing with Bob Margolis from Yahoo! Sports, he was very kind to take the time to respond to an unknown blogger from Florida. Since that first time, I took him up on his offer of advice during the season on a wide variety of topics.

While he told me some very wise things, he left something out. The entire time, while emailing with me about NASCAR topics, he was in the middle of a life-or-death battle with Cancer.

In his understated style, he kept things focused on racing, despite the real issue at hand. Once I was made aware of his situation, I asked him how things were going. At that time, they were not going well. His disease had pulled him off the road, removed him from his job, changed his life forever, and now was trying to end it.

Many of us held our breaths while Bob battled on through a wide variety of challenges on both a personal and medical level. As regular readers of Yahoo! Sports know, Bob never lost his desire for racing or his ability to write about it.

Now, as the Rolex 24 looms at Daytona once again, Bob Margolis will be one of the reporters walking into the Infield Media Center ready to get back to work. While nothing in life is certain, Bob finally made public his struggle with an outstanding column that is a must-read for every NASCAR fan. It can be read by clicking here.

Bob's article talks about the people who helped him and the people he met along the way during this season on the brink. I never thought that I would be one of those people. It's been one of my greatest pleasures to know that Bob is reading my columns, and appreciates what we are trying to do with The Daly Planet.

In just a couple of weeks, it will also be my pleasure to read Bob's stories of the Rolex 24, and know that he is once again at Daytona...where the real healing process can begin.

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.

Nationwide Series Announcement Lacks Some Info

There is a big shift this season in NASCAR's second-tier national series. As fans know, Busch Beer is gone and coming on-board as the new series sponsor is the insurance company, Nationwide.

This transition is completely different from the NEXTEL-to-Sprint change that the Cup Series will undergo for the 2008 season. While that is the merger of two cell phone giants, Nationwide comes aboard out of the blue and steps directly into the NASCAR spotlight.

One key element for Nationwide in sponsoring this series is that all of the races are carried on the ESPN family of TV networks. That consistency is what NASCAR always wanted for this series, and what only ESPN can deliver. The media company has designated ESPN2 as the "home" of the Busch Series, with an occasional race stepping-up to both ESPN and ABC Sports.

After Nationwide came along, ESPN pledged support for the overall effort to turn this brand around and NASCAR pledged to get some consistency in the rules about who can compete in the series. NASCAR desperately needs to turn this series from a Cup practice session into a full-fledged national caliber racing series. 2008 is a pivotal year.

Along those lines, the ESPN PR group has a well-written press release out about the series, including the new schedule and the details of their efforts for this second year of live national TV coverage. The information details the extensive TV distribution and the high-tech electronic toys that the network will bring to their coverage.

While this press release is interesting for what it contains, it is much more interesting for what it is missing. Nowhere in the nine paragraphs of ESPN information about the Nationwide Series are there the names of the ESPN TV announce team. There is not even the name of one ESPN on-air NASCAR personality.

January 18th is the first day that the Nationwide teams take to the track at Daytona. So, it is now less than 25 days until the sport returns, and less than 50 days until the grind of practice, qualifying, and racing begins.

Back in October of this year, several of us began receiving email "tips" that Rusty Wallace was perhaps not returning to do all of the races on ESPN in 2008. One thing led to another, and that same day ESPN VP Norby Williamson put out a statement.

"Rusty Wallace is our guy," said Williamson. "We have a long-term contract with him and he is the voice of NASCAR on ESPN." In light of the current Nationwide press release, this begs one very good question. What happened?

The ESPN press release mentioned the Dish Tech Center, the Infield Studio, the Draft Track and ESPN Deportes, the Spanish language network. It described in detail ESPN's "multi-platform" approach to NASCAR. ESPN.com website traffic was up over one hundred percent they pointed out.

What ESPN forgot to point out was who would be calling the 35 live races...on ESPN.

Will Jerry Punch return for the Busch races as the play-by-play announcer for the entire season? Since Rusty Wallace has a long-term contract, why wasn't he mentioned? Where was Andy Petree, didn't he sign a multi-year deal with the network?

The reason these questions come up is because ESPN did an extensive job of promoting their NASCAR talent for the Busch Series in 2007. What changed? Is this simply the function of Christmas vacation and a wait for the New Year?

After an impressive first season on-the-air with ESPN, it should be interesting to see what role part-time driver Dale Jarrett will play in the Nationwide Series coverage.

Fans remember that DJ was limited to the Infield Studio in 2007, but often wound-up being the focal point of the telecast even from that location.

Along with Jarrett, fans watched the musical chairs in the Infield Studio until ESPN decided that Allen Bestwick would host the Busch Series pre-race show. Bestwick stayed off pit road, and also handled the Infield Studio duties during and after the races.

Despite his hard work in many substitute roles in 2007, Bestwick's "TV place" in the upcoming Nationwide Series could range from handling the play-by-play to going right back on pit road. It is TV...after all.

As the 2007 season wound-down, we saw Brad Daugherty get the opportunity to move up to the announce booth and call a Busch Series race with Rusty Wallace and Jerry Punch alongside. Daugherty changed the rather "dry" dynamic of the ESPN booth immediately with his inquisitive nature and his endless enthusiasm. It was almost like having a fan from the stands join the guys in the booth. It was kind of...fun.

Looking back at ESPN's first NASCAR season, one thing is certain. By the time that the Brickyard 400 rolled around for this TV announce crew in July, the primary on-air talent were fried. Even with a vacation, these same three guys were basically looking at around 33 Busch races and 17 NEXTEL Cup events.

50 races is a lot of races for one announce team. Throw in a bunch of practice and multi-hour qualifying sessions, and by late summer only one thing remained in the ESPN announce booth. Burnt toast.

Perhaps, ESPN will be a bit more flexible with the booth teams for 2008, and let other talent step-up during the Nationwide practices and qualifying. Even on some Busch Series events, Randy LaJoie brought a breath of fresh air to the series, and Allen Bestwick and Randy seemed to click in the booth. That Montreal memory is hard to shake.

We also saw Mike Massaro host the Infield Studio, and Brad Daugherty worked very well on live practice and qualifying. He asks good questions, which in turn make the analysts and pit reporters step-up to give good answers. Also on the ESPN crew is Shannon Spake, who co-hosted a TV series from the NASCAR infield a while back on the SPEED Channel. ESPN is clearly not lacking in available talent.

Later columns will talk about the changes in NASCAR Now and the Sprint Cup coverage on ESPN for the 2008 season. That is going to be interesting.

Now, the focus is on the struggling Nationwide Series, which clearly received short shrift from ESPN in 2007. Hopefully, we will all soon learn what announce team ESPN has assigned to their biggest NASCAR TV race package. It would have been nice if that info was in their first Nationwide Series press release.

That kind of makes one wonder if some things for 2008...are still in discussion.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS page below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Please read the rules for posting on the right side of the main page before adding your comment. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and leave your opinion.