Wednesday TV/Media Notes

All kinds of things are going on in the NASCAR TV world. Here are some notes:

Tuesday afternoon, Charlotte Observer reporter Jim Utter said on Twitter that he heard SPEED had cancelled What's the Deal? with Jimmy Spencer and Ray Dunlap. As you may recall, this program struggled from the start with a bad set, a rough timeslot and a horrible format. Official comments from SPEED should come Wednesday on both the TV series and Spencer's future role with the network.

On Monday, SPEED confirmed that entertainment director Roger Goodman had been brought in to coordinate production of the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony. David Hill, who is Chairman of the FOX Sports Media Group, made the call. Hill is now actively involved in the decision making at SPEED since his responsibilities were expanded to include SPEED, FoxSportsNet and the FOX regional sports networks nationwide.

This week has featured the duo of Steve Byrnes and Krista Voda co-hosting the NASCAR Race Hub programs on SPEED. These are the network's two top pro's when it comes to studio shows. Last week, Byrnes said on Twitter that he would be hosting a lot more of Race Hub. That's got to be a tall task for a guy who already hosts Trackside and NASCAR Live, as well as Nationwide Series qualifying and practice sessions. Did we happen to mention Byrnes is also a pit reporter for the NASCAR on FOX races? Yikes!

Fast Track to Fame, SPEED's rather unique Monday night talent show, is drawing to a close. The last scheduled episode is June 7. So, the Monday night 8PM Eastern timeslot is apparently going to see some new program offerings in June. Since This Week in NASCAR was cancelled, the email and comments from fans have been steady. There still seems to be a strong desire to have a one-hour Monday evening review show. Bringing something like this back is made even more tempting by the fact that ESPN2's NASCAR Now continues to be a 5PM ET show with a late night re-air.

"The Weekend Starts on Wednesday" was a book recently released by Andrew Giangola. In it he profiles colorful NASCAR fans. ESPN is featuring select fans from this book on the weekend edition of NASCAR Now. This Saturday at 10AM ET, the feature is on a University of South Carolina professor who is an avid mountain climber. He timed his Mt. Everest effort so that he reached the summit on May 24. You might be able to guess his favorite driver and the flag he planted on the mountain top.

Even after a rough outing in Richmond, ESPN is returning Rusty Wallace to the TV booth this Friday night to work with Marty Reid and Andy Petree in Darlington. Rusty is a multi-car Nationwide Series owner who is often put in the position of dealing with on-track issues that involve his team members. His face-off with Kyle Busch during a recent rain delay should have been a sign to ESPN. It's time for Ricky Craven in the TV booth when Dale Jarrett is away.

The trailer for the film Racing Dreams is now available by clicking here. This documentary will be screened at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 18 before being released nationwide. It's a family film with a very good buzz that centers on three youngsters racing go karts.

Wednesday should see updated news from SPEED about talent assignments, new shows and what is next for Monday night. There are also suggestions that major NASCAR sponsor news may break over the next couple of days. Whether that is team, series or race track has not been passed along. It should be interesting.

Whatever happens on Wednesday, we will update this post as well as the TDP Facebook fan page and the TDP Twitter page. We welcome your comments on the topics above. Add your opinion by clicking on the comment button below. Thanks for stopping by!

ESPN Has One Eye On July

It will be July 25 when ESPN takes a fourth swing at televising the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series races. To say the previous three seasons have been an adventure would be an understatement.

Contained in this package is the ultimate prize for the NASCAR TV networks. That would be the Chase for the Championship. The NASCAR playoffs consist of the final ten races of the season with only a select field eligible to win the Sprint Cup.

It's not uncommon to see top NASCAR teams struggle. Sometimes, it's for an entire season. Often the issue is not the engines or the cars or the race strategy. It's not the guys in the shop, on the pit crew or even the sponsors. Sometimes, it's all about chemistry.

Over the years, we have seen a single change of a driver or crew chief serve as a rallying point for an entire organization. Just one change and suddenly the skies brighten and the momentum shifts. As it often turns out, the potential was there all along. It just needed a jump start to emerge.

After three seasons, ESPN was down on its luck. In late 2009, the huge media company had just struggled through the roughest stretch of Sprint Cup Series telecasts in recent memory. As we say in TV land, there was no joy in Mudville.

ESPN had given Dr. Jerry Punch an opportunity to grow into a major role on TV that anyone would cherish. Punch had jumped at the chance to call the play-by-play for the new NASCAR TV package that started back in 2007. Then, all hell broke loose.

Instead of simply calling the races, Punch found himself dealing with Brent Musburger and his magic podium as the "host" of the telecasts. After several disasters in the infield, Suzy Kolber was inserted as Punch's partner for the pre-race and updates. ESPN's Bristol, CT-based management had decided to use "in-house" talent whenever possible. It was a total disaster.

Once the action got underway, Punch turned to his right. There was Rusty Wallace. You have to wonder if Punch struggled for composure as Rusty used the Draft Tracker and its colored air flow gizmos to try and tell fans about the aero push at Richmond. After one season, Wallace was headed to the infield.

Despite the chaos surrounding him, Punch had chance after chance to carve out his niche in the NASCAR TV booth. It never happened. Last year, ESPN actually telecast several Nationwide Series races without a play-by-play announcer. "Backseat Drivers" the network called it. In reality, it was the handwriting on the wall.

Click here to review the story we reported back in December. ESPN had decided to bring TV veteran Marty Reid in to call the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races for 2010. After three seasons, Punch was out.

In what may go down as one of the best decisions in ESPN's NASCAR history, cooler heads prevailed where Punch was concerned. He was not given his walking papers. As Reid came into the TV booth, Punch simply headed back to pit road. Click here to review what happened when ESPN opened the season in Daytona. It was like Punch was home again.

Just like a team finally winning a race after a tough year, the entire ESPN on-air vibe has changed. Reid turned out to be just what Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree needed in the booth. A veteran play-by-play guy who can turn up the excitement, direct the traffic and let the analysts shine.

Suddenly, the pit road reporters had to step-up their game when Punch was dumped into their laps. Antagonizing questions and hyped agendas had led to bad feelings in the garage where ESPN was concerned. Punch's presence this season has gone a long way toward changing that. His recent rain delay interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a case in point.

Into this mix gets tossed solid TV professionals like Allen Bestwick and Dave Burns. Gizmos like Draft Tracker are long gone. Gimmicks like music videos and celebrity interviews have been retired. In the blink of an eye, ESPN is a contender. Viewers can feel it, hear it and see it. The ESPN of old has returned.

Sure, Tim Brewer will still be pointing at fuel cells as if we all just landed from Mars. Brad Daugherty will still be sitting in the infield stating the obvious and getting "fired up." If that is the worst part of the ESPN stretch drive this season, I'll take it.

With the way the NASCAR on ESPN gang has performed this year, we may be getting ready for the type of dynamic and exciting TV coverage that The Chase has deserved. One little change has led to very big things. Credit goes to the ESPN executives for having the courage to start the ball rolling in the right direction.

Marty Reid returns with Bestwick anchoring the infield and Punch reporting from pit road on Friday night at 7PM ET as the Nationwide Series races in Darlington, SC.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by The Daly Planet.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Richmond On FOX

It was a beautiful night in Richmond, VA. However, the weather did not help the racing or the television coverage on FOX.

Chris Myers presented a pre-race show that was more notable for what it omitted than what it contained.

No story on the disabled veteran Heath Calhoun, pictured above with winner Kyle Busch, who was selected to have the race named in his honor by Crown Royal. ESPN profiled Calhoun on the morning edition of NASCAR Now and then aired another feature on him repeatedly on SportsCenter and ESPNEWS.

Slice of Pizzi was also missing this week. Instead, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond filled the time with a scripted agenda that focused on stories like the friction between two of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers.

Philadelphia, a major TV market, was another story early on in the telecast. The local FOX TV station in Philly chose to air a political debate from 7 to 8PM ET. The station never provided a graphic that informed NASCAR fans what was happening. At 8PM, viewers joined the NASCAR telecast. Unfortunately, the NASCAR on FOX team never welcomed the Philly fans or provided a highlights package of the first thirty laps which had been missed.

Once underway, Mike Joy began to call the action with Waltrip and Larry McReynolds. Joy has been quite different this season on the air. Perhaps, the lower profile of Joy has been caused by the extended conversations between Waltrip and McReynolds.

The start of the race saw FOX use a wide variety of cameras and show a wide variety of cars. Things looked to be rather disjointed, but it became clear this was the director's pattern for this race. Eventually, things settled down but it was an interesting first half of the race for fans.

The short track action did not translate well to the small screen for whatever reason. Talladega memories perhaps were still in the minds of many. It began to be a grind and fans showed up online to object to how the race was being covered. It was not a pleasant experience for many.

FOX has three more Sprint Cup Series races remaining in 2010. What we would like from you is an honest opinion on the TV coverage of the Richmond race. Just click the comments button below to add your comments. It's important to get the opinion of the fans immediately after the race.

As always, this is a family-friendly website. Please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to add your comments.