Neil Goldberg No Longer Employed By ESPN

Here is an updated story on former NASCAR on ESPN Sr. Producer Neil Goldberg, arrested last week in Connecticut on a number of criminal charges stemming from a Peeping Tom incident.

By John Ourand, Staff Writer for Sports Business Daily:

ESPN has let go Neil Goldberg, the Senior Producer for NASCAR who was arrested last week in Connecticut on public indecency charges, sources say. Goldberg's boss, Sr. Coordinating Producer Jill Frederickson, handled production for ESPN's NASCAR races over the weekend and plans to work this weekend's races, as well.

Goldberg has not worked at ESPN since his arrest last week, which also included charges of simple trespass, disorderly conduct and breach of peace. ESPN VP/Communications Mike Soltys would only confirm that Goldberg no longer works for ESPN.

This should close a very difficult time for the NASCAR TV team. This group travels together from February through November producing all the Nationwide Series races and the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series events.

Thanks to our friends at SportsBusinessDaily.com for the update.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Fontana On ESPN

The wind was blowing, the sun was shining and the Sprint Cup Series was racing at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on ESPN. As pictured above, Sharon Stone was out to wave the green flag and Kenny Loggins sang the anthem.

Allen Bestwick started the day from the Infield Pit Studio with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. These three discussed extensively the Kyle Busch vs. David Reutimann scrap from the previous week. There was a feature on Jimmie Johnson at his annual fund raising efforts in the area.

ESPN repeated a feature on Greg Biffle that had been used earlier in the week and strangely avoided the Danica Patrick accident from the day before.

Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree were in the TV booth. This is Reid's first time in the NASCAR booth for the Chase and it's clearly been a learning experience. Jarrett and Petree have been adjusting to the style of Reid which is very different from the previous seasons of Jerry Punch.

Sometimes, it seems that Jarrett would like to be involved in the play-by-play call of the race, as he jumps in from time to time with bursts of excitement. Reid was caught several times working off the TV monitors in the booth when looking out the front window would have shown him the reason for the caution on the track.

Dr. Jerry Punch is an ER doctor, but it was Allen Bestwick who offered the medical update on injured USAC driver Shane Hmiel and Dave Burns who updated the fact that #31 crew chief Todd Berrier had been transported to the hospital before the race.

Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch were the remaining pit reporters. Burns got clobbered on pit road before the race while talking to Jeff Gordon by another camera crew. It was just one of those moments for Burns, who normally flies under the radar.

Race coverage consisted of ESPN alternating between using wideshots with in-car cameras early, then tight shots for entire segments and finally the insertion of the double video boxes toward the latter part of the race. The boxes were then dumped with about 40 laps to go and appeared again briefly with less than 20 laps in the race.

ESPN had no technical problems and made great pictures. The race featured some segments of good racing and some that were rather boring. There were no tire problems and only minor incidents that brought out the caution.

The TV coverage had good stories to follow as mechanical troubles affected several of the favorites and speeding penalties sent some cars to the tail of the longest line. The race ended inside of the scheduled timeslot and featured one final crucial pitstop.

This post is your opportunity to offer a race wrap-up of the ESPN TV coverage. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Fontana (ESPN - 2PM ET)

This week NASCAR is on the West Coast, so both the pre-race show and the live event coverage are on ESPN. It's 2PM ET for NASCAR Countdown and 3PM for the race.

Allen Bestwick starts the day from the Infield Pit Studio with Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace. Danica Patrick was the story in the Saturday Nationwide Series race, running strong until getting turned on the backstretch in her first NASCAR payback situation. It should be interesting to see if this makes the Sprint Cup Series pre-race show.

ESPN has been on the Kyle Busch vs. David Reutimann bandwagon all week long. At the Fontana track, Busch has been giving the media additional soundbites that should allow ESPN to make the issue a key pre-race topic.

Chasers vs. racers is again at the forefront as tempers are tight, sponsorship money is scarce and there are lots of teams that need a good performance and some TV time. They dynamic of racers not giving Chasers an inch on the track is relatively new and should wind-up being a story in the race coverage.

Marty Reid is calling the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the TV booth. This is the first event since Reid's interview on Yahoo! Sports. Reid said blogs like TDP are basically full of like-minded people who gang up on those who disagree.

He said blogs don't provide constructive criticism, ESPN shows the best battles for position on the track and that drivers are targeted for coverage because they are important, not because there is some sort of TV script. Click here for the interview.

Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch are going to cover pit road. Punch has raised the level of reporting from this crew and quickly made the performance of the pit reporters a non-issue. This change has been drastic from the antagonistic and often adversarial relationship ESPN had with the drivers for the past several seasons.

Tim Brewer is continuing to labor in the Tech Garage. There is almost nothing new Brewer can add after fans have watched coverage on FOX, TNT and ESPN since February. It should be interesting to see if ESPN makes the decision to return the Tech Garage for 2011.

The Auto Club Speedway is full of seams in the pavement that control the racing and affect the cars. Goodyear was dealing with a tearing problem in some tires that will hopefully be fixed prior to the event. Speeds at Fontana are far too great for tire problems to happen.

TV coverage from ESPN continues to be a wideshot with the camera then zooming into a small pack of two or three cars. On a track like Fontana, this causes continual frustration for the viewer. ESPN just cannot sit still and let the racing on the track speak for itself. Keep your eyes out for the number of times tight camera shots cause passing or incidents to be missed on TV.

This is a critical telecast today. NASCAR starts later than the early NFL game and is going to have to draw viewers away from those games already in progress. The race also runs into the second NFL game and will need to keep those fans glued to NASCAR until the checkers. It's going to be a big challenge with the nature of racing at Fontana.

As always, we invite your comment on the ESPN coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Auto Club Speedway. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.