ESPN's "NASCAR Now:" Wednesday Left-Overs

Early on in its life, the classic ESPN show RPM2Nite began to designate days of the week for features within the program. Perhaps, the most popular of these was "Open Wheel Wednesday." The show established a rhythm that viewers could come to count on, and relayed information that viewers learned to trust. ESPN2's NASCAR Now is struggling with its Wednesday identity.

Doug Banks hosting the show means thirty minutes of tightly scripted teleprompter reading, but Doug seems to be a nice guy and looks great on TV. Unfortunately, NASCAR Now decided that bringing on Brad Daugherty for a general discussion of general points generally about NASCAR with lots of general opinions would be great. Especially, if Daugherty can give NASCAR Now over five minutes of their twenty-two minute show time. Watching Brad and Doug talk NASCAR on national television continues to be a strange experience. Why this led the show, and did not fall in the final segment, can only be explained one way. And I am not going there.

Reporter Marty Smith then came on with what should have been the lead story in the show, the ties between the NASCAR family and the Virginia Tech shootings. Marty should have led the show with his heart-felt and personal report, and then brought in the NASCAR crew member who is a Va. Tech graduate for a phone interview. There is no possible way that five or six minutes of Brad Daugherty's general rambling should have been placed ahead of this issue.

Smith and reporter Terry Blount returned, and answered scripted questions from Banks, which is always the most frustrating part of the show. Banks is unable to follow-up on any point, or even let the two reporters speak to each other because of his poor level of NASCAR understanding. When these two guys are talking, Banks has that deer-in-the-headlights look. Imagine, something in the show not on a teleprompter. Something that the host has to actually "know."

This show re-hashed some old topics from earlier in the week, used driver interviews and video features from earlier in the week, and generally was a throw-a-way for the ESPN2 boys. Imagine Brad Daugherty pretending that Banks was actually asking him questions for the first time in the ridiculous feature "fact or fiction." Toward the end of the feature, Daugherty was so flustered he forgot to pick 'em. He just talked and talked and talked.

My column of April 16th spoke about the culture clash between the "real" NASCAR guys like Marty Smith and Terry Blount, and the "fake" NASCAR guys like Doug Banks and Brad Daugherty. Sooner or later, ESPN will have to step-up and make some drastic changes in this program to attract viewers, and gain credibility. Right now, the "fake" NASCAR guys are still on NASCAR Now everytime you turn-a-round.

NASCAR TV Partners At The Crossroads

April is working hard to bring-in May, and things in "NASCAR land" are about to change as well. Now, the reality of the first critical stretch of racing stands before teams who can still remember Daytona's cold weather. Those in the know understand that during the stretch of the next four weeks, the season will begin in earnest. Gone will be the easy smiles, the polite answers, and the hype. This stretch, beginning with next weekend's race in Phoenix, will also test the NASCAR TV partners like never before.

While the "NASCAR on Fox" gang will carry the NEXTEL Cup races themselves, there are big issues to be solved with this veteran group. The Daly Planet has been flooded with email addressing the decision of Fox Sports not to show all the lead lap drivers finishing the race. Only the first and second place drivers are seen, and absolutely no one else. This has been a conscious decision by the NASCAR on Fox production team. Fans can actually watch their driver battle for over three hours, have him finish in the top five, and never see him cross the line. No Earnhardt, no Stewart, no Johnson, no Gordon, not one driver will be seen finishing unless they are first or second. Why?

In the Hollywood Hotel, the antics of Chris Myers and the goofy cross-promotions for Fox Network programming has almost ruined the pre-race show. Last week from Texas, it was embarrassing. Rather than focus on NASCAR as a serious major sport in the US, Myers and Fox go out of their way to poke fun at everything associated with it. Myers "LA cool" personality has long been a fish-out-of-water at places like Talladega. Maybe, a fresh face like Krista Voda might be a nice change of pace for the viewers, and the announcing crew.

SPEED Channel continues its struggle to determine how much of a NASCAR partner they really want to be this season. Even as they announce a two day marathon of NASCAR programming surrounding the All-Star race, they have never replaced the Monday night multi-hour line-up or the Wednesday night prime-time race replays. The Daly Planet emailers point to NBS 24/7 as a show they sorely miss, and Inside NEXTEL Cup Racing as a show they sorely want to fix.

ESPN is only going to provide support programming for the NEXTEL Cup Series during this stretch, with their NASCAR Now series continuing on ESPN2. The network just expanded the Monday show to one-hour with less-than-stellar results. The Daly Planet has referred to this show as "bi-polar," depending on who is assigned the hosting duties. Veteran ABC Radio hip-hop DJ Doug Banks, ESPN Sports Radio talk show host Erik Kuselias, and ESPN News anchor Ryan Burr currently share the hosting duties. It is certainly easy to pick which host The Daly Planet emailers believe is best. If Mr. Burr was given this assignment five days a week, this show might improve its dismal ratings and awful on-air presentation.

So, here we go. This next month is going to be the first real endurance test for these TV "players," both new and old. When we add-in the availability of video from websites, pay-per-view race packages, and old stand-bys like YouTube.com, these next four weeks may prove to be as critical to the NASCAR TV partners as the NEXTEL Cup teams themselves. Good luck to all involved...we'll be watching.

The Daly Planet welcomes your thoughts and comments on the current NASCAR TV situation and the programs and people involved. Please use the COMMENTS link below to leave your response to this post.

ESPN's "NASCAR Now" Is A One Hour Culture Clash

There comes a time when it is impossible to continue to give "second chances" to someone who refuses to change. There comes a time when things are so bad that its almost hard to believe they will ever get better. On Monday, ESPN2 rolled-out the one hour edition of NASCAR Now. Promoted as a way to provide more race recap and analysis, the show turned out to be a culture clash between the "NASCAR guys" and the "ESPN guys." As the season continues, this has "Hatfields" and "McCoys" written all over it. And its starting to get ugly.

Erik Kuselias, the former ESPN Sports Radio talk show host, served as the studio host of this new one hour TV program. He is the king of the "Hatfield" clan, who likes to talk in radio-style accusatory sound-bites and use harsh and demeaning language. As the host, he constantly talks over anyone on-the-set, or anyone who appears as a guest. He is brutal. The most interesting part is, he is lost on any kind of actual NASCAR issue, has no clue to any NASCAR personalities beyond the obvious, and is absolutely oblivious that he is walking in the hallowed footsteps of RPM2Nite.

Tim Cowlishaw is also a "Hatfield." He will appear to talk about any subject, at any time, on any network. But, it must involve hype and absolutely no factual information of any kind. Nice work if you can get it, and he certainly has found his dream job on NASCAR Now. Cowlishaw and Kuselias make NASCAR Now into great sports radio. Unfortunately, ESPN has chosen to present this "talk show hype" in video form on ESPN2.

On this premier show, Boris Said and Stacy Compton lead Kuselias through a recap of the Texas NEXTEL Cup race. Then, the show slowly began to crank-up the hype machine. First, it was Montoya vs. Stewart. Then, Dale Junior in a Hendrick car. Mark Martin going part-time again. Finally, Kyle Busch in trouble because he was "gone" when they needed him. The garbage was just piled-up higher-and-higher by Kuselias and Cowlishaw until they made the one mistake that always shakes things up. They brought-in people who know.

Reporters Marty Smith and Terry Blount are "McCoys." They appeared via liveshot and both seemed very eager to speak to a lot of issues. When these guys are on together, Kuselias changes instantly into Superman in the Kryptonite Cave. This is his worst nightmare, two guys who have been there and done that right in his face. He tentatively stepped into the water with his Earnhardt Junior hype. And then it happened.

Without wasting a breath, Marty Smith reached back and brought the pain to Kuselias and Cowlishaw like he has never done before. It was a smack-down of epic proportions, and showed the country the division that exists at ESPN between the people actually out working in the field, and the hype-kings of the studio. And as I mentioned earlier, it was ugly.

Smith leaned back and smacked Kuselias a mile on the "Dale Earnhardt Junior in a Hendrick car issue." Kuselias had been trying with all his might to make this simple act into a conspiracy of contract negotiations and anti-Theresa sentiment. He kept asking anyone who would listen if Junior was "making a statement." Smith forcefully said that he was personally standing there when "it happened." There was no conspiracy, there were no statements, there was just a friend asking Dale to run a couple of laps to move the car-up in points. Dale made sure and got permission, and then helped his friend out. Perhaps, a lot of us were just waiting for Marty to say..."and you are an idiot Erik!"

Kuselias tried to speak with Terry Blount on several issues, but Terry knows the entire NASCAR scene as well, and what he was saying was so far above Kuselias head that the host just spoke right over top of him and quickly moved the reporters off the show.

ESPN had to return to the hype, had to return to the ridiculous "fact or fiction" and "driver pick-em" segments that serve as advertising platforms, and nothing else.

With an hour of program time, one would surmise that ESPN would focus on The Busch Series, seeing as ESPN paid millions for the rights to the entire season. This edition of NASCAR Now again avoided The Busch Series like the plague. Mondays are for looking back at the entire racing weekend, not just Sunday. No where is this concept more lost than on the "Hatfields" of studio hype at ESPN than with the struggling Busch Series. The "hype kings" have no time for actual racing stories and interviews when there are rumors to be invented and motives to be created. Does the ESPN Programming Department watch this show?

Kudos to Stacy Compton for keeping a smile plastered on his face while surrounded by the ridiculous behavior of Kuselias. Compton patiently corrects the host over-and-over again on even the most basic points of NASCAR racing. Boris Said is happy to be working, and while he brings an upbeat personality to the set, he is also forced to deal with the sophomoric questions and rude behavior of the host. Compton and Said are working men trapped with a very bad boss and nowhere to go.

The animosity that reared its head between the field reporters and the studio host is bound to flare-up again. Pros like Marty Smith, Terry Blount, Angelique Chengelis, Shannon Spake, and Mike Massaro are not going to risk their reputation and credibility by getting caught-up in the "sports radio hype" that Kuselias and Cowlishaw bring to the table. While the "Hatfields" may rule the studio in Connecticut, the "McCoys" are on the road alongside the entire NASCAR family, and working hard. As the season moves forward, and more real and serious issues arise, there will be even a bigger difference between those who know, and those who just talk about it. And my feeling is, its going to get ugly.