Which Is Creepier? X Games's Darkmane or "Wrecked" Promo Hype?

Apparently, Darkmane has just about worn out the patience of the American public. The spokesman for the upcoming X Games on ESPN is annoying and his scattered content does not make a lot of sense to fans of many other sports on ESPN...like NASCAR.

Darkmane is the centerpiece of a promo and marketing campaign that ESPN created and allocated lots of money to bring to fruition. Here is one story from The Big Lead about the issue. Here is another one with a little inside scoop. The Daly Planet email has been primarily anti-Darkman and it seems doubtful that these promos are helping the X Games among the NASCAR set.

Of course, Darkmane has his own myspace.com page and a full assortment of free stuff.

Meanwhile, the email "delete" button has been busy with complaints about Wrecked. This is a reality series on SPEED that the network is very high on this year. Wrecked promos feature people towing cars and trucks. No matter what hype the owner or drivers try to add, the bottom line is people are towing stuff.

Saturday on SPEED, primetime is dominated by four episodes of Wrecked going up against the Nationwide race on ESPN. That is a statement about the direction that SPEED is going when it comes to live racing or post-produced reality shows.

What is your opinion of these endless promos? Did the promos help to encourage you to watch these shows and will you be watching the X Games? I have a feeling Darkmane may be showing up on the Nationwide race tonight just a time or two.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instruction. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. Thanks for stopping by.

NASCAR TV Officially Shifts To ESPN on Saturday (Tires A Big Problem)

Saturday is the official day that the billion dollar NASCAR TV package shifts over to the ESPN family of networks. This signals the start of the run to the championship for both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. That is the ESPN Infield Pit Center pictured above ready to go to work. To see the picture full size, just click on it.

It is going to be Sprint Cup qualifying at 10AM Eastern Time on ESPN2 to kick-off the day. Dr. Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will call the action as a lot of cars try to sneak into the field for the big Sunday race. With the "Top 35" in points locked-in there should be some good drama among the cars who must make the field on time. As a side note, there is no Go or Go Home show on SPEED this week due to the unique scheduling of the Indy race. This qualifying session is scheduled for two and a half hours.

After this session at The Brickyard, it will be over to O'Reilly Raceway Park at 12:30PM for the final practice of the Nationwide Series. The "fun bunch" will be waiting for TV viewers as Marty Reid and Randy LaJoie will be calling the action at this stand-alone race. They will be joined on pit road by Dave Burns, Jack Arute and Vince Welch.

At the same time ESPN2 is showing the Nationwide practice, SPEED will come on-the-air from The Brickyard with a thirty minute version of NASCAR Live at 12:30PM from the SPEED Stage. Steve Byrnes will host with Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds alongside. They will be joined by Bob Dillner and John Roberts who will be reporting from the garage area.

The TV choices continue for fans as SPEED offers NASCAR Performance at 1PM. This is an outstanding show with Larry McReynolds, Chad Knaus and Doug Richert. They review a lot of topics from the crew chief's perspective and try to appeal to both the hardcore and the casual fan. This TV series has gained momentum this season and it has deserved the attention.

The fun continues over on SPEED with Tradin' Paint at 1:30PM. The veteran NASCAR reporter for the Associated Press Jenna Fryer was just on the one hour version of NASCAR Now from the ESPN2 studios on Monday and she will be the featured guest on this edition of Tradin' Paint. It should be interesting to see what Fryer says about the news stories of the week and also if host John Roberts or regular panelist Kyle Petty asks about her ESPN experience.

SPEED is done with NASCAR after that show for the day and there is a good reason why. The live action returns to The Brickyard and ESPN2 as Punch and company cover both sessions of Sprint Cup practice live at 2PM. The double session runs for two and a half hours and will no doubt use the services of the pit reporters and the crew in the Infield Pit Center. ESPN has not been involved in Sprint Cup practice at all this season, so this session should be interesting.

Then, TV coverage skips across town again as ORP hosts Nationwide Series qualifying at 4:30PM on ESPN2. Reid and company will handle this ninety minute program and then take a dinner break before returning for the Nationwide Series race coverage.

There is no NASCAR Now show on Saturday because the NASCAR Countdown program begins at 7:30PM from ORP on ESPN. With no Infield Pit Center, Reid and LaJoie will host the program from the announce booth using the pit reporters.

Live race coverage will start at 8PM on ESPN and this announce team has the potential to have a really good show. Reid and LaJoie both enjoy having fun on-the-air and this time they have three veteran pit reporters along to help that effort. The short track racing, the Cup veterans rushing over from The Brickyard and the Nationwide "regulars" trying to break through should make for a good TV combination of ingredients. Coverage is scheduled until 10PM and there is no late edition of NASCAR Now.

This post will serve to host your comments about the day's TV activity. There will be a new post up for the Nationwide race and we keep a running blog of the TV coverage, so make sure and join us here on Saturday.

To add your comments, simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. We do not want your email, there is nothing to join and no commercials to watch. We just want your opinion on the NASCAR TV coverage of Saturday's activities.

Rusty's Comments On Newman Will Not Go Away

It certainly was a shame that Rusty Wallace took the opportunity to speak about Ryan Newman and Roger Penske on this Indy weekend. Certainly, the ESPN executives were hoping to go through the Saturday and Sunday races with Dale Jarrett being the big name and the race coverage being the focus. Sadly, it is not.

The long-simmering feud between Wallace and Newman re-surfaced, even through Rusty is well over a year removed from his active driving days. Last season, Wallace had a very tough time handling the pressure of the ESPN broadcast booth for one reason. He simply could not control what he sometimes said. That is key on TV.

In 2008, Wallace was retained by the ESPN team but given a new role as Infield Pit Center commentator. This released Wallace from the tough pressure of the high-profile play-by-play role but allowed him to step into the booth when Dale Jarrett was on vacation. With Allen Bestwick guiding his on-air activities, Wallace has flourished this season on multiple ESPN programs and this change was noticed by TV viewers.

This week, Wallace stepped-out on a limb again at the worst possible time. Stories like this one in the IndyStar and this one at the Sporting News told the tale. Out of the blue, Wallace declared to the working media that Ryan Newman had been fired by Penske at the end of the season.

"I'll clear the leaving thing up first," Wallace said Friday at an ESPN press conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "That didn't happen. He didn't leave. Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his office and said, 'I don't need your services next year.'

"Ryan Newman didn't come to him and say, 'I'm leaving.' OK? You all need to write about that. That's exactly how it went down. Obviously, there was some bad blood there when it happened. I love Roger Penske, so I'm going to clear the story up for him."

To have this happen at an ESPN press conference that was supposed to focus on the upcoming coverage of the Sprint Cup Series by the ESPN family of networks did not go over well. As has happened many times throughout Wallace's career, his timing could not be worse and dragging Roger Penske into the conversation was a big mistake.

Saturday on ESPN viewers are going to see the trio of Dr. Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree featured. Bestwick, Wallace and Brad Daugherty worked on Thursday and Friday filing reports for SportsCenter and NASCAR Now.

It will be Sunday when the network grits its teeth and turns the camera on the Infield Pit Center for the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show. In a move that now seems terribly ironic, it will be NASCAR owners Wallace, Daugherty and Ray Evernham who will be joining Bestwick on the panel. It should be very interesting to see if Bestwick raises the Wallace vs. Newman incident.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. Thanks for stopping by.