NASCAR Now: Mike Helton Speaks

Wow! What a difference a day makes. NASCAR Now host Erik Kuselias returned to his studio hosting role and led a fast-paced thirty minute program on Monday that can be defined by only one word...excellent. This is the reason ESPN returned to NASCAR news after SPEED Channel passed time-and-time again on an opportunity to establish its own daily news program. Here are some highlights:

• NASCAR President Mike Helton appeared via telephone and spoke plainly and in very clear terms about the caution flag controversy at the finish. Like it or not, Helton put to bed any additional speculation about NASCAR's "motives" by appearing live on ESPN2.


• Marty Smith returned to his best role as "news man," and broke the scoop that Mark Martin will likely run the Pepsi 400 this season. Smith has a credibility when he is reporting and speaks with a sincerity that a new program like NASCAR Now needs.


• Mike Massaro brings his strong field reporting skills to the show in a manner that is always factual and fast-paced. His report comparing Harvick to Earnhardt Sr. featured exclusive sound from Richard Childress, and left no doubt that Massaro is the top NASCAR field reporter at ESPN.


• The surprise of the show is Stacy Compton. ESPN should have left Chris Fowler, Brad Daugherty, and Brent Musburger at home when they went to Daytona, and just featured Stacy Compton with Kuselias. His moment-by-moment break down of the final lap of the Daytona 500 was the best explanation of what happened, why it happened, and what NASCAR was thinking. Even Mike Helton complimented Compton on his analysis of the situation. What more can ESPN ask from a rookie announcer?


• Taking the time to put the 2007 Daytona 500 in historical perspective was a great idea, and shows the maturity of the ESPN studio production team. With the network returning to NASCAR after six years, its important to establish that they understand the history of the sport, and more important, that they respect it.

Daytona: The Review

SPEED:

• Fantastic Craftsman Truck race with outstanding technical pictures and sound, beating Fox Sports at its own game. The Truck race was the highlight of the week because of the continual action throughout the event. Phil Parsons is at the top of his game, and continues to show the class of the Parsons family. Krista Voda is simply wonderful, welcome back.
• Raceday is too long, too loud, and too over-the-top...and that is why we love it! No one can make you nuts like Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace, who represent either everything that is wrong with this country, or everything that is good about it. This is the franchise for SPEED, and John Roberts is the best TV traffic cop in the business since Brent Musberger on the NFL Today. Does that make Wendy Venturini the new Phyllis George?
• Victory Lane continues to be a quiet little jewel of a show that many people miss. The immediate winner interview, the emotion of the car owner, crew chief, family members, and the actual on-scene location cannot be beat. More interviews should be done, and the program should be as casual as possible, but it certainly has the potential to be what NASCAR needs, a live TV window into the post-race activity.
• Inside NEXTEL Cup needs some fixing. Either everyone is going to play nice, or this is going to be a repeat of the 2006 stand-off between Michael Waltrip and Dave Despain. Time to sort out what the network wants, and make the changes needed for this show to continue its long run.

ESPN

• NASCAR Now was interesting with Erik Kuselias, and a disaster with Chris Fowler. Why did the network think that the College Gameday host would be a better fit for Daytona? Credit to Rusty Wallace, Shannon Spake, Marty Smith, and Alan Bestwick for hanging-in regardless of the level of knowledge on the set. And often, there just wasn't much.
• The Daytona Busch Race was a nice solid performance by Jerry Punch to shake the rust off a long break from NASCAR. Rusty Wallace was solid, informative, and a good counterpoint to Andy Petree. ESPN delivered a strong technical performance, and clearly set the table for their future NEXTEL Cup debut. This is a network that wants more of NASCAR.

Fox Sports

• The Daytona 500 on Fox was a mixture of strong performances and strange happenings. Mike Joy is clearly the best at his craft, and Larry McReynolds remains as intense as ever. The surprise was Darrell Waltrip. Though he should be banned from discussing any aspect of Toyota or Michael Waltrip Racing before the event, things changed when the racing began. Darrell Waltrip has grown up. His focus was strong, his comments interesting, and his composure never wavered. This was his strongest color commentary performance since he joined the network. The downside of the race was the TV directing focusing endlessly on the leaders, this has to stop. Also, the reluctance to use the in-car audio because a Fox sister company, DirecTV, was selling the "Hot Pass." The lack of driver, spotter, and crew chief chatter left a hole in the telecast that should have been filled.

SPEED: Inside Nextel Cup

SPEED brought the studio debut of Inside Nextel Cup to the air Monday night without explaining what had changed since 2006. While host Dave Despain jokingly mentioned the fact that the set had new chairs, he failed to mention why Brian Vickers was no longer on the show, or why Greg Biffle was alongside the nine year regulars Kenny Schrader and Michael Waltrip.

This show has changed everything but Schrader and Waltrip over the better part of the last decade, and the 2007 version appears to be struggling. From the moment the first video of the studio appeared, Waltrip's body language betrayed his disgust with Despain continuing as the host. Michael has made no bones about his displeasure with the demise of Alan Bestwick in mid-season after a change in SPEED Channel management. Original panelist Johnny Benson was also dismissed during that shake-up.

Without Vickers, Despain seems to be the odd man out as he tries to lead a highlight discussion over the course of an entire hour. The three drivers barely even acknowledge his presence on the show, which begs the question of why he is still the host? The series was much better when the drivers were allowed to speak freely without interruption, a concept which Alan Bestwick understood and Mr. Despain cannot conquer. Clearly, the drivers must allow Despain to read his highlights and ask his questions, but the content of the show comes from the interaction between the drivers...period.

From the delightful Wendy Venturini to the noticeably absent Ralph Shaheen, SPEED has many other Charlotte area personalities who could step into a less formal and more cooperative role as the host for this weekly series. With the elimination of Vickers, a change at the host position is the one tweak this series needs to step-up to the level of the fun Raceday and the informative Victory Lane. SPEED needs to pay attention to this franchise, as all the other NASCAR-related programming that used to fill Monday night on the network is gone, a victim of NASCAR Images and SPEED's inability to cooperate for the overall good of the sport.

This is a pivotal year for NASCAR on SPEED, and the senior management needs to sit down and troubleshoot the problems with this former all-star performer.