NASCAR TV's New Lightning Rod

Darrell Waltrip is home on the couch sending out tweets. Sometimes, he makes videos on NASCAR topics in his home office. Where Waltrip is not these days is national television. Through the FOX races and then on SPEED's RaceDay show, Waltrip was NASCAR TV's lightning rod. Now, the torch has been passed.

Several years ago ESPN moved Rusty Wallace from the TV booth to the infield pit studio. Dale Jarrett had arrived and taken over the role of lead analyst. The move was a good one for Wallace.

In the controlled confines of the infield, Wallace could exhibit his passion for the sport and still get fired-up on topics while under the watchful eye of TV veteran and infield host Allen Bestwick. In this role, Wallace could offer instant reactions to topics within the races and still be part of the overall telecast.

The past several seasons have also seen Wallace continue to work in the TV booth as an analyst during the Nationwide Series portion of the ESPN season. These appearances occur on the weekends when Jarrett is on vacation or there is a standalone race away from the Sprint Cup Series venue.

Having an active Nationwide Series multi-car team owner in the TV booth as the lead analyst for a race in the same series has never been a good idea. ESPN has continually defended Wallace and recently extended his contract with the network until 2014.

Back in July of 2007 as Wallace announced his expansion to a two car Nationwide Series effort, he said that his contract with ESPN forbid him to be an owner in the Sprint Cup Series. Since his Nationwide (Busch) effort was already underway, it was permitted to continue.

It was in 2009 when ESPN vice president of motorsports Rich Feinberg spoke with reporter Jeff Gluck, who was then working at scenedaily.com, about the topic of Wallace on TV.

"We’re not trying to hide that Rusty is an owner," Feinberg said. "When you hear the guys talk with him about it costing him money, it’s quite the opposite. As long as we are up front with our viewers right from the beginning about their other interests and if in our opinion their commentary doesn’t have that bias, then we’re OK."

Feinberg told Gluck that Wallace's presence on the broadcasts benefits viewers to the point that it outweighs these issues which Feinberg referred to as "interests outside of their journalistic interests."

"Have there been times where there’s been an uncomfortable moment? If I’m being honest, I’d say yes," Feinberg said. "We talk about those and try to move on, but the key is not to hide it."

In closing with Gluck, Feinberg spoke about an issue that is now on the front burner. "The audience is the ultimate judge," Feinberg said. "The audience judges our work, our ethics and our credibility on a daily basis by whether they choose to watch us or not. That’s who we do this for."

Saturday night, Wallace found himself in the ESPN TV booth working the Nationwide Series race with Marty Reid and Ricky Craven. At Lucas Oil Raceway, the rumor was that payback was coming for Rusty's son Steven after some rough driving in the last race.

In the pre-race show, Rusty did his best to smooth things over sounding a lot more like a nervous owner than an analyst. Craven was not too sure that the hard feelings about the younger Wallace and his aggressive driving style had passed. It made for some interesting moments.

Wallace had already found himself on the hotseat this season several times after appearances in the TV booth. The most recent was Nashville, where his son was involved in on-track incidents with Jason Leffler, Joey Logano, Brian Scott and Elliott Sadler.

The night included a replay of Wallace hooking Leffler and spinning him out that was explained on the air by the senior Wallace as Leffler moving up on the track to cause the incident. Steven later admitted after the race he got frustrated and sent Leffler for a ride.

Saturday night, the younger Wallace failed to slow for an accident on the track and caused a red flag after demolishing his own car and hitting two others. The senior Wallace placed the blame on a tap from driver James Beuscher that ESPN conveniently showed several times in replay.

After the race the younger Wallace admitted to trying to slow down and locked up the brakes. He said it was just a racing deal. Once again, the comments from the driver just did not match what was offered on national TV by the analyst.

Monday on ESPN2's NASCAR Now, the elder Wallace was a panelist along with Jarrett on a show hosted by Bestwick. In a surreal moment, the video highlights of Saturday's Nationwide Series race were edited to make it appear as if the bump from Beuscher directly caused the Wallace accident.

ESPN even inserted a loud crunching sound over the video of the bump to make it seem as if Beuscher propelled Wallace directly into the other cars. To add insult to injury, Rusty was never asked about his son's accident that brought out a red flag or any other issues involving his driving.

This weekend the Nationwide Series heads to Iowa Speedway, a track that Wallace helped to design and in which he has an ownership stake. It's interesting that the ESPN announcer schedule released Monday shows Ricky Craven and Kenny Schrader working the race with Reid.

Wallace is scheduled for the infield studio in Pocono for the Sprint Cup Series weekend. In many ways, this may be perfect timing to get a little distance built up between Wallace, the Nationwide Series and the TV booth.

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TV Police: Sprint Cup Series From Indy On ESPN

Jake and the Fatman had a nice five year run on CBS starting in 1987. After seeing William Conrad guest star on Matlock, the producers of Jake cast him as the lead. The fatman never traveled without his pet bulldog, Max.

The show started in Los Angeles but moved to Hawaii when Magnum PI stopped production. It moved back in the final season. Fatman McCabe was a former cop turned prosecutor who did not take any crap. He was a seasoned veteran who had some tough luck in life but had persevered. He's perfect for the investigation of ESPN's Brickyard coverage.

This week, ESPN turned the page and made a ton of changes to its NASCAR coverage. Foremost was putting TV veteran Allen Bestwick in the lead announcer position.

Bestwick had Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside in the broadcast booth. Nicole Briscoe hosted from the infield with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Tim Brewer was in the Tech Garage.

ESPN offered several slickly produced features in the pre-race show. Briscoe noted that Wallace was affected by one of them and was actually brought to tears. The program focused a lot on the history of the speedway and not really on this race as the continuation of a season that started in February.

Bestwick made big changes right away. He is a radio veteran and his strong point is continually passing along information to keep the viewers at home up to date. Recaps are done regardless of what is showing up on the screen for video.

Hope Solo was a visitor to the infield studio after her pace car duties. She was not a person who has done a lot of TV and her appearance during green flag racing was awkward. She tried to steer the conversation toward soccer and it didn't make a lot of sense.

Ned Jarrett stopped by the broadcast booth mid-race. David Ragan was driving a Jarrett tribute car in the race. Jarrett was on his game and actually stopped his own interview when a car made an unscheduled pit stop. Nice to see some of ESPN's NASCAR roots being celebrated on the air.

ESPN knew this race was going to be a series of long runs with passing happening on pit road and restarts. This year, Bestwick moved right past that and focused on calling the race and letting the reality of the event come through without a network agenda.

A new graphics package and some new looks in the coverage were nice touches. A four video box split on caution flag pitstops was nice. The "Bat-cam" on pit road did not play into the coverage, but was nice when used on green flag stops and some restarts.

ESPN dropped the lower third score ticker called "The bottom line" for this race but the network says it will return for the NFL season. Not having another ticker on the screen during a live event where a scoring ticker runs almost all the time was nice.

ESPN made nice pictures, but the difference was that these pictures were big. ESPN stayed wide and helped fans with larger perspective shots that showed big groups of cars in the shot. Combined with Bestwick's ability to pass along information, it made a huge difference.

Commercial breaks under green are tough, especially on a big track like Indy. The commercials were just a bit tougher to take since ESPN decided not to use the RaceBuddy application from Turner Sports to offer even a basic online alternative. It should be noted that ESPN will used side-by-side commercial formats for the final half of each of the ten Chase races.

As everyone knew, the race consisted of passing on pit road and restarts. Incidents just came from pushing and shoving for position. The race came down to fuel mileage as it often does in the Indy 500. NASCAR's fuel wars are a big story.

This was a nice change for ESPN with professional coverage of a NASCAR race with just one glitch. ESPN showed only the winner cross the finish line. No other car was shown. Big mistake for fans of the other drivers still racing as Mendard finished.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN production of the Sprint Cup Series race from Indy. To add your TV race wrap-up, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for stopping by.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series From Indy (ESPN - 12PM ET)

ESPN has pulled out all the stops for the Brickyard 400. Allen Bestwick is in as lap-by-lap announcer. There is a new graphics package. Nicole Briscoe is hosting the infield studio. Dual-stream technology will allow two in-car camera views from the same car. The "Bat-cam" that runs 80mph on a wire above pit road is back.

The big question is will all that make a difference if the production of the race is once again horrible?

Since 2007 ESPN has struggled with this event. It's really not clear why. The network produces all different kinds of live sporting events around the world. What is the challenge at Indy?

Briscoe will kick-off the coverage at noon ET with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty alongside. Wallace is coming off a disjointed Nationwide Series telecast on Saturday night that saw him pick his brother Kenny to win the race and then watch as his son Steven destroyed both of the RWR cars in a violent wreck of his own making.

Daugherty has become increasing isolated on these telecasts, especially once the actual racing begins. At one time, Bestwick called Daugherty "The voice of the fans." It may well be that next season Daugherty is a fan on a full time basis.

Tim Brewer will once again be in the Tech Garage. It should be interesting to see how ESPN gets him into the telecast if long green flag runs are the order of the day.

Putting Bestwick in the booth was a hint to the reality of the continued struggles of Marty Reid in that position. There was never a mention by ESPN that any change was coming, it just did. Over the past five seasons, Bestwick has been the best thing that ESPN has going for it on the NASCAR trail.

The pressure on Bestwick is to balance the reality of this "no passing" style of aero-driven racing with the spectacle of the Brickyard. He has been in these situations before and makes no bones about being a pro-active supporter of the sport.

The two items that Bestwick repeats over and over again are simple to understand. NASCAR cars racing at speed on any track are not boring. Secondly, every race is not over until the checkered flag. When some media folks offer boring racing as a problem, Bestwick disagrees. His checkered flag scenario has proven itself time and time again.

This is a big shift for ESPN. Bestwick is not "their man." The loyal soldiers Jerry Punch and Marty Reid were used long before ESPN took a glimpse at Bestwick. The only reason this move happened is because ESPN realized the coverage was at risk with Reid at the helm.

The big story overshadowing this race is the status of Carl Edwards. Lee Spencer of FOX Sports reported Edwards is going to the #20 for JGR with a huge signing bonus and contract. Now, media outlets are reporting that Ford Motor Company is trying to out-bid JGR and keep Edwards at Roush. It's no secret the Roush sponsorship picture is not a pretty one for next season.

The vast majority of passing will be done on pit road. Jamie Little, Punch, Dave Burns and Vince Welch will be the reporters. Bestwick is a stickler for information, so look for him to ask a lot of questions and want details from the four TV veterans patrolling that area.

Saturday night, it only took ESPN about ten laps to return to the problems of last season in terms of directing the coverage. Rather than open the cameras and show all the racing on the track, ESPN zoomed-in tight and showed two-car battles all night long.

Late in the race, the network went to commercial with Justin Allgaier's car on fire and still circling around the track. By the time the coverage returned, Allgaier was gone and the entire complexion of the race had changed. ESPN missed everything.

The top challenge for the network today is to keep the larger perspective in frame for the fans, especially if passing is at a premium. Just like ESPN does for the Indy 500, use the wideshots and aerial views to continue to keep fans interested.

This post will serve to host your comments on the ESPN coverage of the Brickyard 400. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below.