Friday From MIS On SPEED

The channels keep flipping and this Friday every program from the Michigan International Speedway is on SPEED beginning at noon ET.

Cup practice gets things started with the hard working trio of Steve Byrnes, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds. These three are going to have a long Saturday of TV.

John Roberts is next doing what he does best and that is direct traffic. Kyle Petty is alongside Roberts from the SPEED Stage with Wendy Venturini and Hermie Sadler roaming the pits as NASCAR Live presents an hour of highlights, interviews and updates at 1:30PM.

Nationwide Series cars are on the track for Byrnes, Hammond and McReynolds next. Matt Yocum and Hermie Sadler are the garage reporters for this session. Needless to say, Danica Patrick is back this weekend and it should be interesting to watch her come up to speed on the type of track at which she is very familiar.

As the Cup cars go out to qualify at 3:30PM, Bob Dillner and Venturini rejoin Hammond, McReynolds and Byrnes. This is a home track for several manufacturers and getting the pole with horsepower has always been an extra bonus for teams.

Once qualifying is over, Roberts will be back for another edition of NASCAR Live. This time, the outspoken Randy Pemberton will be on the SPEED Stage with Roberts. Bob Dillner and Matt Yocum will be the reporters.

The night ends with Trackside. This show is bittersweet because Steve Byrnes is going to be leaving the series to begin hosting the newly revamped Race Hub show from the SPEED studios on Charlotte, NC. No word yet on who is replacing Byrnes, but we should have that early next week.

Byrnes has been the heart and soul of this series which exposes a lot of NASCAR personalities to good conversation, questions and fun. There is no doubt it was hard to come off the road and again anchor a studio TV series. We will have more on Race Hub in a Sunday night column.

In the meantime, this post will serve to host your comments about the Friday NASCAR TV from MIS on SPEED. To leave us your TV-related post, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Your Turn: "NASCAR Now" Comments

Sometimes, when you get it from all sides the smart thing to do is retreat. Fans have been coming from every direction this week asking the same thing. Why did ESPN2 bump the 5PM airing of NASCAR Now Tuesday through Friday?

The easy answer is that Little League baseball is airing on ESPN2 during that timeslot. The big problem is that this is truly a historic week in NASCAR news. Not having this TV show on the air at 5PM is rough.

From Kasey Kahne at Red Bull Racing to the largest schedule realignment in recent memory, the news has been non-stop since Monday. The Sprint Cup Series coming to Kentucky Speedway and a second time to Kansas has also brought a lot of media and fan reaction. Danica is back this week and the trucks can't even get a full field for Darlington.

It should be pointed out that Shannon Spake is hosting new episodes of NASCAR Now this week airing at midnight Eastern Time or slightly later. While 9PM might work for our West Coast friends, there are apparently some rather unhappy race fans in the other time zones.

NASCAR Now is one of the most popular shows for the DVR because the 5PM airing allows fans to get home and catch right up to date on all the news. ESPN.com has been posting stories on the same topics, but the daily TV show is the heart and soul of the commitment that ESPN made to NASCAR back in 2007.

Over the past couple of years, we have offered suggestions when this situation has happened. Unfortunately, airing thirty minutes of NASCAR Now on ESPN or ESPNEWS or ESPNU or even good old ESPN Classic has just not been something the corporation has chosen to do.

There has been a solid start to the Sprint Cup Series coverage on ESPN this season. The extended post-race shows have been a treat. Coming off a great weekend of coverage at Watkins Glen, there was good momentum heading into Michigan.

The decision not to move NASCAR Now to ESPNEWS or ESPN for the East Coast audience this week is one that may prove to be costly. These days, SPEED offers an alternative in the Race Hub program airing at 7PM. ESPN2 is no longer the only game in town when it comes to a daily NASCAR news program.

This post is simply to get the comments on this topic in one location. Please feel free to offer your opinion. There will be a new post Wednesday updating other TV stories including details of changes at SPEED and coverage of upcoming special events. Check back with us during the day.

As always, this is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and check the TV schedule on the left side of the main page for the latest information including announcers and guests for all the NASCAR TV programs.

Tuesday TV/Media Notes (Updated)

Here are some topics in the news this week on the TV and media beat:

Nicole Briscoe deleted her Twitter account and is no longer active on that social media application. This was surprising because she had a large following and was a great example of someone deeply involved in motorsports.

Briscoe is a fulltime co-host of the NASCAR Now program on ESPN2 and the wife of IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe, who races for Team Penske.

We are told that leaving Twitter was a personal decision on her part. Her husband is still very active on Twitter as are many other IndyCar drivers. While Twitter is fun and informative, the demands of real life sometimes curtail the time available for social media interaction.

The good news is that the NASCAR Now program still has a very active Twitter account, as do many other ESPN personalities connected with the NASCAR coverage.

Speaking of NASCAR Now, there are no afternoon (5PM ET) shows this week. Instead, Shannon Spake hosts late night shows Tuesday through Friday.

Little League Baseball coverage left only the 5 to 6PM timeslot open and ESPN chose to put the ridiculous Sports Nation show on and bump NASCAR Now. This decision absolutely defies logic.

ESPN executives recently indicated that ESPNEWS was due for an overhaul. The first round of changes were just released. Instead of re-airing afternoon shows like NASCAR Now in primetime, ESPNEWS is going to host a mind-blowing seven additional hours of SportsCenter daily.

As the blending of online and TV content continues to evolve, ESPN is going to feature the new ESPN.com regional websites on this expanded SportsCenter coverage. Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas now have their own ESPN branded websites for sports news. Once again, NASCAR is nowhere in this picture.

SPEEDtv.com is going to offer live streaming of the press conference from Kentucky Speedway at 2PM ET on Tuesday. Lots of dignitaries on hand as SMI Chairman Bruton Smith is expected to make it official that a Sprint Cup Series race will be coming to the facility in 2011.

ESPN has chosen to take only one team of booth announcers to Michigan. Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree will again do double duty on the Nationwide and Cup Series. Qualifying and practice is split this weekend between ESPN and SPEED.

Finally, Tuesday finds Krista Voda hosting Race Hub from Roush Fenway Racing as the SPEED studio for this program undergoes what is being described as a renovation. SPEED has made a major commitment to four hours of Race Hub each week and a new set is a nice way to change the currently disjointed look of the program.

Update 10AM ET: SPEED today confirmed that Steve Byrnes is going to be stepping into the Monday through Thursday fulltime role as the host of Race Hub next week. Byrnes is a veteran who works very well in a studio setting. There is no news of how this might affect Byrnes' current assignments in the field that range from Trackside to hosting practice and qualifying coverage.

Any additional updates will be added to this post during the day on Tuesday. Please feel free to offer your comments on any of the topics mentioned above. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below.

This is a family-friendly website. Please keep that in mind when posting. Comments may be moderated prior to posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.