Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series from Las Vegas On Fox

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Get ready for what may be one of the best races of 2009 when all is said and done. If the Nationwide Series race from Saturday is any indication, the Las Vegas track is fast and the Cup action is going to be furious.

Chris Myers hosts the pre-race show from the Hollywood Hotel beginning at 3:30PM ET. He will be joined by Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond and Digger. Amid the stories of this event, Digger will once again have a featured cartoon episode.

There are all kinds of stories throughout the field with the engine problems of Toyota, the struggles of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and joy of Max Papis who made the race on time. This should be a field day for the NASCAR on Fox pit reporters Krista Voda, Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes and Matt Yocum.

Mike Joy will call the action with Waltrip and Larry McReynolds alongside. The green flag is scheduled for 4:46PM ET.

Pleas join us in the comments section as we talk about the TV coverage of this race. Just click on the comments button. This is a family-friendly website, please refrain from foul language or hateful speech.

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Hollywood Hotel vs. RaceDay Again On Sunday

Last week, TV viewers saw RaceDay's Wendy Venturini and Hermie Sadler interviewing drivers at the race track before the event. While that is normal for these two reporters from SPEED, what was not very normal was to see Fox's Krista Voda and Dick Berggren standing right there waiting to interview the exact same drivers for the NASCAR on Fox live broadcast.

Once again this week in Las Vegas, the final thirty minutes of RaceDay on SPEED will overlap with the Fox pre-race show from the Hollywood Hotel. RaceDay runs from 2-4PM ET while Fox takes to the air at 3:30PM.

The irony here is that the green flag is not scheduled to wave until 4:46PM. As Michael Waltrip used to say in the Aaron's commercials, do the math.

SPEED is owned by the Fox Cable Networks group, so the overlap seems a little bit strange. Essentially, SPEED is providing during their two hours the same content that the NASCAR on Fox crew will be reporting in that one hour pre-race show.

Sooner or later, this situation has to get sorted out. Imagine asking SPEED viewers who have been watching RaceDay for ninety minutes to turn the channel to Fox in the middle of the live program. Fox may suggest that SPEED has the hardcore fans and the Hollywood Hotel the casual viewers, but I would disagree.

ESPN2 starts the day with NASCAR Now hosted by Nicole Manske at 10AM ET. SPEED is next with NASCAR Performance with Larry McReynolds and Chad Knaus at 12:30PM. The now infamous NASCAR Smarts gameshow with Kyle Petty and Rutledge Wood will air at 1PM. That is followed at 1:30PM by NASCAR in a Hurry hosted by Adam Alexander.

RaceDay at 2PM will feature Hermie Sadler racing go-karts with Kurt Busch. Jimmy Spencer will talk with Carroll Shelby during an on-track feature and the show will chronicle the amazing logistics of the Fontana to Las Vegas trip for the teams and cars.

Fox takes to the air at 3:30PM for an hour of pre-race that will lead to a 4:46 green flag. Post-race TV will include ESPNEWS live with the Media Center press conferences and Victory Lane on SPEED at 8PM. The Sunday night edition of NASCAR Now does not begin until the Sprint Cup Series races move to ESPN in July. That is certainly a shame.

TDP will be live blogging the race from a TV perspective. Chat opens at 3PM ET right here on our main page. Please feel free to add your comments to the topics listed above. Just click on the comments button.

This is a family-friendly website, foul language or hateful speech will just cause your comment to be deleted. Thanks again and happy posting.

Las Vegas A Truly Amazing Race For ESPN

After two seasons of Nationwide Series telecasts, the third time was the charm for the NASCAR on ESPN team. Las Vegas was the third race of the 2009 season and may well be remembered as the best NASCAR event televised since the network returned to the sport.

A brief over-run of college basketball moved the first several segments of the NASCAR Countdown show to the ESPN Classic Network. Allen Bestwick teamed with Dale Jarrett and Brad Daugherty to present a program that included lots of Las Vegas references and color. Rusty Wallace had the weekend off.

It was when Jarrett moved up to the announce booth that something unfolded that NASCAR fans have not seen from the telecast team. ESPN finally put all the pieces of the Nationwide Series jigsaw puzzle in place. From the drop of the green flag through the overtime ending, this was the kind of live event coverage that fans originally expected from The Worldwide Leader in Sports.

The TV team stripped all the unwanted extras from the telecast and focused the entire four hour production on the racing. Mike Massaro moved from the studio to pit road and led a team of reporters that finally dropped the hype and focused on interviewing drivers out of the race and keeping things updated for TV viewers.

Dr. Jerry Punch is a new man in 2009 and his focus on simply calling the play-by-play action has resulted in a new on-air dynamic. Even after almost four hours and with a green-white-checker finish looming, Punch was excited and setting the scene for the fans.

Without Punch continually asking questions of his analysts and using the same tired catch-phrases over-and-over again, Jarrett and Petree have come alive. This may have been the best telecast for Andy Petree since he joined the ESPN team. Petree was outstanding in his knowledge and understanding of the events and strategies unfolding in the race.

Jarrett used his best skill in this event and that is listening. Rather then step-in and try to help Punch with the call of the race, Jarrett took the role of his father and added his opinion when it was needed. The timing was perfect as Petree and Punch really took the lead in this telecast.

Ultimately, the biggest contribution was from the producer and the director of the race. Gone from the telecast was the loud music into commercial. Gone were the endless ESPN promos. Gone was the fascination with only reporting the positions of the Sprint Cup Series drivers. This live event was balanced and represented the first real hardcore racing telecast from ESPN in a very long time.

Even after the race running more than thirty minutes over the scheduled timeslot, ESPN2 stayed for a live interview with the winner. This smart move, even for the second-tier Nationwide Series, will leave a lasting impression among the fans.

What was your reaction to the Nationwide Series race telecast on ESPN2? Please feel free to add your comments by clicking on the comments button below.

TDP is a family-friendly website, so foul language or hateful speech will result in your comment being deleted.

Thanks again and happy posting.