Friday Afternoon's Qualifying Showdown

If the weather in Daytona stays dry, TV viewers should get an interesting afternoon of programming on Friday. ESPN2 will be up first with Nationwide Series qualifying and then SPEED will be next with the Sprint Cup Series.

Fans already know that both series are deeply committed to the tandem-style of racing for the Friday and Saturday night events. Fans already know many of the teams and partners who will be pairing up from the green to the checkers in both series.

This new style of racing certainly throws a wrench into the typical TV presentation of qualifying. Other than missing the actual race, what is the real story? Once the green flag flies for these two races the scramble is not going to be for the lead, but instead to find your prearranged dance partner.

The challenge for both ESPN2 and SPEED is to tell the real stories of how things are different this year and what that means for the sport. Will Nationwide Series teams operated by Sprint Cup Series owners have an advantage? Will these power teams fade to the rear at the start and just ride as we have seen on the Cup side?

Ultimately, what does qualifying really mean for the Nationwide Series? If the TV presentation is done as if the tandem racing does not exist, what credibility does that give ESPN going into the Friday night race? Will we see graphics of the team pairings for the race during the qualifying coverage?

It's up to Marty Reid to try and put the single car Nationwide Series qualifying into perspective for a race that will never for a moment feature single car racing. If the only real story is the battle for the "start and park" positions at the rear of the field it could be a tough afternoon for Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Coverage begins on ESPN2 at 2PM Eastern Time.

Adam Alexander put his hands in his pockets a lot when he is on-camera. Maybe he is nervous, maybe he is relaxed or maybe he is uncomfortable. Alexander will once again have his hands in his pockets at 4PM ET as he leads the TV team through Sprint Cup Series qualifying.

This time it will be Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds joining Alexander on SPEED. Petty has once again been a breath of fresh air this season because he speaks his mind on any NASCAR topic. The irony of Petty being matched with McReynolds is not lost on veteran fans.

It was McReynolds who started the pre-season by lecturing the NASCAR media face-to-face on the importance of being positive and making sure to report good things about the sport. He did that on the January media tour to a large group of veteran reporters from around the country. Needless to say, the frost between the Infield Media Center working press and McReynolds has never thawed.

This time, McReynolds gets to explain to TV viewers what relevance qualifying has for top 35 teams who have long since planned their Daytona tandem racing strategies. As the crew chief in the booth, it should be interesting to hear his comments on the topic, keeping in mind his own admitted philosophy of NASCAR "reporting."

Both networks stayed flexible on Thursday after rain delays and finally got some limited TV coverage of practice sessions for both series. If the start of qualifying is also delayed by rain, it may cause some interesting schedule issues between ESPN2 and SPEED.

Nicole Briscoe is scheduled to host a 6:30PM version of NASCAR Now on ESPN2 before the NASCAR Countdown show begins the Daytona coverage on ESPN at 7PM. It will be Allen Bestwick, Rusty Wallace and Jarrett on the pre-race show.

NASCAR TV winds-up on Friday with Trackside on SPEED at 10PM. Krista Voda hosts with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. Brad Keselowski and Trevor Bayne are the guests. TDP will live blog the Nationwide Series race, join us right here for that event.

In the meantime, we welcome your comments on the Friday afternoon qualifying coverage. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Thursday TV Coverage Should Confirm Tandem Plans

Both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series get on the big oval in Daytona Thursday with live TV coverage from SPEED and ESPN2. It should be interesting.

Before the action got underway, Brian France led a NASCAR delegation to Tallahassee, FL. The group included ESPN's Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip of SPEED and FOX Sports. They met Governor Rick Scott at his official residence to promote the upcoming Daytona race and confirm NASCAR's economic impact on the state. Those are the pictures above courtesy of Rick Dole and Getty Images.

There has been much discussion that this time around, teams have actually planned well in advance their two-car strategies for the very strange tandem racing we are seeing at Daytona. No more random partners and radio chatter. As they say in the movies, this time it's for real.

While there were some teams able to get together in the past race, this Thursday coverage of multiple practice sessions should show teams tipping their hand. These cars simply have to go out and practice racing at speed and switching position to keep the engines from overheating.

Topics under discussion will be the heat of the track, the wear of the tires and the issues associated now with this tag-team approach to racing. It has been reported that deals have been made among teammates and within organizations for many weeks now. This time, it's a scripted ballet.

The complete TV schedule for Thursday is posted on the left side of the page. There will be news items added throughout the day, so check back for updates. To add your TV/media-related comments at anytime, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Wide Open Coverage Glimpse Of Future

The fan frustration boiled over last weekend with the Sonoma coverage, but it had been building for some time. In a world that technology has altered dramatically, little has changed with NASCAR racetelecasts. Full-screen commercial breaks come early and often.

TV viewers see the racing in disjointed chunks. Announcers are forced to spend time in the racing segments trying to catch fans up on what happened during the two minute and thirty second long commercial breaks. In a word, it's awful.

At Infineon Raceway 143 minutes of race coverage mixed with 52 minutes of commercials to make up the slightly more than three hours of on-track coverage. The good news is that the final TV segment of racing was a long one. TNT also stayed for the first time this season and filled the scheduled NASCAR TV time with post-race interviews.

This week the network moves to Daytona for a Saturday night race in primetime. For the last five years, TNT has been using a new commercial approach to this event they have labeled as "Wide Open" coverage. It could not come a moment too soon.

The thrust of this style of coverage is to recruit a group of advertisers that appreciate innovative TV. That is no easy task. The line-up this year includes Coke Zero, Coors Light, Pfizer, Sprint, Toyota and Warner Brothers Films. In return for getting on board, the advertisers get extended exposure on the air while TNT gets to use a side-by-side commercial format.

Ultimately, TV networks that paid top dollar to NASCAR for these races have to figure out a way to pay the bills. Despite the tremendous changes in online and smart phone technology, TV has basically plodded along trying to use the old method of full-screen commercials, ratings and household exposure.

TNT's goal every year for this race is to not miss a lap of green flag racing. Sure, they have to sneak some full-screen local breaks in for the cable companies, but doing that under caution flag periods has proven to be a tremendous success. That way, only the side-by-side style commercials air during green flag racing.

The toughest task of this telecast falls to Adam Alexander. Instead of simply leading to commercial, TNT's play-by-play guy has an extensive menu of sales features to try and integrate into the live race telecast.

A tremendous benefit during the TNT races has been the online RaceBuddy application available for free at the NASCAR.com website. Once again this weekend, RaceBuddy will offer ten video sources including four in-car cameras. There is also an "iso-cam" on pit road and a battle-cam that follows the best racing on the track.

Between the Wide Open coverage and RaceBuddy, what TNT is ultimately doing is providing race fans a peek into the future. RaceBuddy is now available on iPhones, iPads and android phones with the Sprint Mobile app. The entire live race may have some added TV commercial content, but it will not block the racing action from start-to-finish. That's a pretty nice package.

Today's younger consumers just won't stand for full-screen TV commercials that block live professional sports action. They don't have it with the NFL, the NBA or the NHL. The devotion to brands, drivers and manufacturers that we veteran fans grew up with is an alien concept to young folks.

As NASCAR desperately tries to get a foot in the door with the 18-35 demographic, it will be technology and not racing that ultimately tips the scales. It should be interesting to see how this technology-driven group responds to the fifth season of "Wide Open" coverage from Daytona.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.