Boris Stands Alone And Jimmy Gets A Muzzle

It was supposed to be a solid doubleheader of NASCAR TV on Monday after the exciting win by Tony Stewart in Kansas. Instead, it was an early evening face-off and a watered-down imitation of a fan favorite.

Allen Bestwick was first on the air with the one-hour version of NASCAR Now. This week, Randy LaJoie was absent and replaced by Boris Said. The remainder of the panel consisted of show regulars Ricky Craven and Ray Evernham.

Right from the start, Craven and Bestwick showed why ESPN has been using them regularly in this role. Both were up to date on the information about the weekend and used their personal experiences to frame their comments.

Evernham is especially powerful on this show, offering a crew chief point of view that fits quite well with Craven's sophisticated perspective as a former driver. Evernham's influence was brought to the forefront this week as Goodyear quietly began testing the bigger wheel and tire that he has been advocating for months.

The odd man out was Boris Said. Throughout the show, Said always took the different point of view and made the choice that was the opposite of Craven and Evernham. Although Said worked well on Sunday in the studio with Mike Massaro, this was not a setting in which he fits in. That was quickly apparent.

Allen Bestwick was annoyed and it showed. Several times he called Said out for purposefully disagreeing in the ongoing discussion. Bestwick does not tolerate this kind of behavior. The shift from the good humor of LaJoie to the attention seeking of Said was not good for the show.

The comments of Evernham and Craven about the final pitstop and the tire decisions of the top teams showed why these two have TV value. It was Evernham's perspective on the variety of changes that were available to the crew chiefs and Craven's comments on what the drivers needed that told the tale.

This program continues to offer outstanding highlights and extensive soundbites from drivers and crew chiefs. While there was no guest this week, the program kept a solid pace and covered a lot of ground. LaJoie returns with Craven and Evernham next Monday on a 5PM show hosted by Massaro who is filling-in for Bestwick.

The second show of the doubleheader was This Week in NASCAR on SPEED. TWIN recently added Jimmy Spencer as the third panelist joining Michael Waltrip and Chad Knaus. This resulted in some very interesting moments last week as the outspoken Spencer butted heads with Waltrip on a variety of issues.

This week, there were very different marching orders. Steve Byrnes introduced the panel and what fans got was politically correct and polite chat. There must have been an interesting production meeting as both Spencer and Waltrip were completely muzzled.

Chad Knaus offered his normally candid comments about what went right and wrong for his team as they were beat by Stewart for the win. Once Knaus found his "on-air legs" there has been no stopping his emergence as a top TV personality working both sides of the fence. Knaus also works with Larry McReynolds and Bootie Barker on NASCAR Performance, one of the best programs on SPEED.

Instead of Spencer and Waltrip battling over viewpoints and opinions, they were finishing each other's sentences and smiling politely. It was awful. Knaus was the panelist who spoke the most and continued to offer his style of analytical information.

Unfortunately, many viewers tune-in for the antics of Waltrip and the differences of opinion among the panel. That is why this show has been struggling with just two panelists all year long. Adding Spencer was a welcome change, but if these new marching orders are going to be in effect for the remainder of the season, this show is in trouble.

Did you watch both shows? Tell us your opinion on Monday's NASCAR Now and TWIN. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Kansas On ABC

The Sunday afternoon Sprint Cup Series venue was the Kansas Speedway. Allen Bestwick led the TV team onto the air with the NASCAR Countdown pre-race show.

Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty joined Bestwick in the Infield Pit Studio. Tim Brewer was in the Tech Garage. Jamie Little, Shannon Spake, Dave Burns and Vince Welch reported from pit road.

This was a fast race with lots of excitement on the track. There were many pitstops under both green and caution flag conditions. Several cars had mechanical failures and were out of the race, including Dale Earnhardt Jr.

This post is going to host your comments on the pre-race show and the race coverage. To add your opinion on these programs, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

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Sunday TV Marathon: 13 Hours Of Live Comments

ESPN2's NASCAR Now is the sandwich for Sunday's NASCAR TV programs. Mike Massaro and Boris Said start the day at 10AM with a one-hour preview show and end the day at 10PM with a review show of the same length.

On this Sunday, TDP is going to keep open a live blog for every single NASCAR TV show during this thirteen hour run. That will let you hop over and comment whenever the spirit or the TV program moves you.

While Massaro has Said in the studio, he also has Terry Blount and Nicole Manske in Kansas reporting. The big wheel of ESPN NASCAR personalities seems to never stop spinning. Perhaps, Marty Smith on-site would have been nice during the Chase.

RaceDay comes along at 11AM on SPEED. Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer each do a lot of talking on this program, but recently it does not seem to be to each other. Kenny has fallen into a habit of getting his time on camera and talking directly to the viewers. "Let me tell you something, race fans" gets a bit tiring in a two-hour show.

Hermie Sadler and Wendy Venturini have become a potent one-two punch for this TV series. The ability of both of these reporters to speak with anyone involved in the sport is never more on display than during this time of the year. While the ESPN pit reporters get short answers and tight smiles, this duo never fails to get the information while having some fun along the way.

John Roberts looks tired and there is certainly a good reason why. This is October and he has been sitting in that daggone SPEED Stage chair for eight months directing traffic on TV shows from RaceDay to NASCAR Smarts. His NASCAR Live shows on Fridays and Saturday are also key to the network's scheduling. Make no mistake, Roberts is the quarterback on this team.

Rutledge Wood is a role player on this show, but his role is still undefined. He acts the fool, shills for the sponsors and generally accomplishes nothing. That is a shame. SPEED had allowed him to report and contribute in a more serious fashion last season, but this year he is once again doing the things it appears no one else wants to do.

RaceDay is a formula show that suffered from being pushed back an hour and not going head-to-head with NASCAR Countdown on ESPN. That is also a shame. When put to the test, ESPN had to step up in order to compete. Now, the pre-race show is a scripted dance of talking heads, shallow driver interviews and little real content.

TDP will break off from this post to offer a stand-alone live blog on the pre-race NASCAR Countdown show at 1PM and the Kansas race coverage at 2PM. Once again, NASCAR goes against NFL Football in exactly the same timeslot.

After the race, it will be Ralph Sheheen and Leigh Diffey co-hosting The SPEED Report at 7PM. This is hands-down the most improved motorsports TV show of the season. The producing, highlights and reporting are outstanding. Bob Dillner will offer a NASCAR race recap with interviews from Kansas.

The new wrinkle at 8PM in NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED is that Jimmy Spencer is out and Larry McReynolds is in for the rest of the season. As silly season continues on TV, Spencer has been added to the This Week in NASCAR panel and has to be back in Charlotte to tape the show on Monday.

McReynolds immediately changed the tone of Victory Lane from emotional to informative. His questions are those of a NASCAR TV veteran and show why he is featured on Fox, TNT and SPEED throughout the entire season. Kenny Wallace is working hard to figure out how to deal with this new show dynamic.

Dave Despain missed Danica Patrick and now is going to miss AJ Foyt. Once again on vacation from Wind Tunnel, SPEED has Robin Miller sitting-in for Despain at 9PM while Foyt will be back in his shop on a liveshot. Miller claims this is his first time on TV without adult supervision, so it should be interesting to see if Super-Tex makes it through the entire interview.

While Foyt is known for his open-wheel history, he has some remarkable NASCAR stories and experiences. His ability to transition between all types of racing cars may be one of the reasons his number is displayed on the side of Tony Stewart's Sprint Cup Series ride. Stewart was the 1997 IRL champ and won the USAC Silvercrown, Sprint and Midget titles in the same season two years earlier.

Retired motorcycle veteran Gene Romero of On Any Sunday movie fame is Miller's second guest. This colorful personality will be a very different interview and is active with motorcycle racing to this day. The movie is mandatory viewing for any race fan.

Massaro and Said cap the day off with one of the best NASCAR review shows on TV. The Sunday night version of NASCAR Now only runs during the ESPN/ABC races. That is another shame. There are lots of highlights, interviews and information in this hour. Since ESPNEWS does not cover the media center press conferences during the NFL season, this is the only place on ESPN to get NASCAR info after the race.

We invite you to stop by and post any comment during these shows. TDP is just looking for your reactions, both positive and negative, to what the two remaining NASCAR TV partners are providing to you. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below.

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