Live Blogging Camping World Trucks From Talladega (SPEED - 3PM ET)

This is going to be a tough day for the Camping World Truck Series TV team. On one hand, they get to have fun with Halloween costumes during a pre-recorded one hour Setup show. On the other hand, they must deal with the passing of NASCAR legend Jim Hunter who was a friend of that network and those in the TV compound.

Krista Voda anchors The Setup with Ray Dunlap and Adam Alexander as the pit reporters. Once the race starts, Voda will remain and cover pit road as a third reporter. Rick Allen will call the action with Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip.

Trucks are very different at Talladega from the Cup Series race. There are only a handful of trucks and drivers capable of running in the lead pack for the duration of the event. In the past, the trucks have run in small packs grouped according to speed.

The TV coverage on SPEED is focused on the lead pack at Talladega. Keep an eye on the scoring ticker to see just how many trucks exit the race early as it is Allen's practice to ignore passing this information along to viewers. As I was told, the focus of SPEED is the racing and the rest is not important.

Hopefully, Kyle Busch will not run away with this event and leave the pack battling for second place. The trucks are a much better show when there is a handful with the same speed at this track. Busch is always a threat to make it his own event.

SPEED's coverage is old school as we have said many times. The focus is on the racing, all the stories of pit road are updated and the announcing is exciting and high energy.

This post will serve to host your comments on the SPEED coverage of the Camping World Series trucks at Talladega. To add your TV-related comments, just click 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.

NASCAR Loses A Giant

Here is the official info from NASCAR on the passing of Jim Hunter:

NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter, whose career in motorsports spanned portions of six decades as both a journalist and public relations professional, died last night in Daytona Beach, Fla. following a 12-month battle with cancer. He was 71. "Jim Hunter was one of NASCAR's giants," said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. "For more than 40 years Jim was part of NASCAR and its history. He loved the sport, but loved the people even more. It seems as if everyone in the sport called him a friend. Jim will forever be missed by the NASCAR community. Our sympathies go out to his entire family." Added NASCAR President Mike Helton: "Jim was a uniquely talented man that cannot be replaced. He was a great friend and mentor to so many in the sport. His influence will remain with and be carried on by so many of the people he touched. This is a sad day for Jim's family and his extended, NASCAR family." As a young man growing up in his native South Carolina, Hunter was a football and baseball player at the University of South Carolina. Those years preceded a future of being immersed in the sports world, primarily motorsports. Hunter learned motorsports from "both sides" by working as a newspaper reporter/editor and a public relations representative. As a member of the media, Hunter was sports editor of the Columbia Record newspaper; he had an award-winning stint at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; he was a columnist for Stock Car Racing magazine; and he authored a number of books, including a widely-read biography on NASCAR great David Pearson, entitled "21 Forever". On the public relations side, Hunter broke into that business in the 1960s, with Dodge's motorsports operation. He handled public relations for a number of top IndyCar drivers before going on to become the public relations director at his beloved Darlington Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. In 1983, Hunter was named to his first executive position in his first NASCAR stint, becoming NASCAR's vice president of administration. In 1993 he was named president of Darlington Raceway and corporate vice president of the International Speedway Corporation. He remained at Darlington until 2001 when he accepted an offer from then-NASCAR Chairman and CEO Bill France Jr. to return to Daytona Beach to lead an expanded public relations effort aimed at responding to the needs of burgeoning media coverage. Hunter won numerous awards during his career, including: the Hugh Deery Memorial Award in 1988; South Carolina Ambassador for Economic Development in 1994; South Carolina Tourism Ambassador of the Year in 1997; the National Motorsports Press Association's Joe Littlejohn Award in 2005; and the Buddy Shuman Award in 2006. Hunter is survived by his wife of 48 years, Ann Hunter; his children, Scott Hunter and Amy McKernan and his grandchildren Dakota Hunter, and Hunter and Luke McKernan. In lieu of flowers the family asked that donations be made to The NASCAR Foundation or Hospice of Volusia/Flagler County. Funeral arrangements will be announced later.

Live Blogging Friday At Talladega On SPEED

This day is always one that real race fans cherish. Both the Camping World Trucks and the Sprint Cup Series cars are going to be on the track at full speed racing in packs and checking out their equipment. It makes for good TV.

The full TV schedule is listed on the left side of the page. It starts at 10AM ET and runs through the end of Trackside at 8PM. Along the way, ESPN2 sneaks-in an episode of NASCAR Now at 5PM.

Everything else is on SPEED and this is a day of coverage that really shows what a fulltime NASCAR TV network could do. Friday through Sunday there are so many stories, so many possible show topics and such a wonderful flavor at the racetracks that the current TV package just does not do it justice.

On a day like Friday, when SPEED is just fulltime NASCAR and viewers are just along for the ride really is the type of coverage that can help get the sport back on the right track. Putting this coverage online for free would expand the audience even further and let any laptop or iPad tag along.

Mike Joy is handling the Cup Series, Rick Allen is calling the trucks and Krista Voda is hosting Trackside. It should be a fun day of TV on SPEED

Please feel free to post your TV-related comments on any of the Talladega programming throughout the day. This is a family-friendly website, so please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by The Daly Planet.