Busy Friday Of NASCAR TV

There will be lots of TV coverage from Homestead and beyond before the Camping World Trucks race on Friday night. The full TV schedule is on the left side of this page.

Latest news is that Brad Keselowski was fined 25K by NASCAR for his comments about the new Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) system being developed for Sprint Cup Series cars. Keselowski's opinion was that the entire thing was a sham promotion and not effective in changing the sport in any way other than increased cost to teams.

"We made it clear to him that these kind of comments are detrimental to the sport and we handled it accordingly with him,” said NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp in a media statement.

That just might be a topic for Mike Massaro and Ricky Craven on a special edition of NASCAR Now on ESPN at noon. This show follows an hour of Camping World Truck Series practice over on SPEED. Craven has been on the money with his comments and this has really been a breakout season for him as an analyst.

ESPN2 hosts back-to-back Nationwide and Sprint Cup practice sessions at 1:30 and 3PM next with Marty Reid and Allen Bestwick leading the TV teams. SPEED is next and keeps the TV ball right up through the truck race at 8PM.

One highlight of the day is the return to the air of the NASCAR on FOX trio of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds for Sprint Cup Series practice. After this long off the air, you know Waltrip is going to have a lot to say.

This post will serve to host your comments on the Friday daytime TV coverage. Feel free to add your comment on the production, personalities or content. If you have a question, post it in the comments and we will get it answered ASAP. This is a big weekend for the sport, we certainly appreciate your comments on the TV coverage.

Preliminary TV Overview For 2012

The last big TV change was Allen Bestwick stepping-in to take over the Sprint Cup Series races for ESPN only days before the coverage started. Tuesday, there was another item involving on-air personalities that caught our attention.

This tweet from SPEED's Hermie Sadler shortly before noon: "Bittersweet week for me as I prepare to do my last @racedayonspeed show this Sunday. Been a hell of a lot of fun."

In response, Kyle Petty offered: "You are still the man." Other TV production personalities echoed Petty's comment. It would seem that Sadler is indeed done with RaceDay for good.

Sadler has been working as a reporter on the series alongside Wendy Venturini for quite a while. Like Venturini, Sadler works well in the garage area. His past racing experience and easygoing personality allow him to maneuver through the tangled web of PR reps and high-profile personalities in the Sprint Cup Series.

SPEED also uses Sadler as a pit reporter on the truck series, a field reporter for NASCAR Live and in the TV booth for Nationwide Series practice and qualifying shows. It will be interesting to learn if Sadler is done just on RaceDay or across the board with SPEED.

As the final weekend of racing approaches, let's take a look at some of the things we know about the 2012 line-ups for the NASCAR TV partners in talent and programming.

FOX informed us a while back that Jeff Hammond was out of the Hollywood Hotel next season and driver and current multi-car owner Michael Waltrip was in. Hammond is moving to a "roving reporter" role says the network.

Both Waltrip brothers will become centerpieces in the NASCAR on FOX telecasts. This change resulted from the Waltrips working together on several NASCAR races carried on SPEED earlier in the year. Network execs apparently liked what they saw.

The rest of the NASCAR on FOX team should stay intact. This crew has been around a long time and the personalities and their roles are well defined.

TNT lost infield host Lindsay Czarniak, who moved to ESPN as a studio anchor after the summer race telecasts. The network still needs to fill that position, but the remainder of the crew including pit road newcomer Chris Neville should return.

It should be very interesting to see what ESPN does with Marty Reid. After being moved off the Sprint Cup Series races, Reid was left with the Nationwide Series and a handful of IndyCar races. When ESPN cranks back up for year six, it will probably be Bestwick in the TV booth at Daytona. Reid has a long history in both IndyCar and the NHRA. We should know how this issue shakes out after Christmas.

While the core of ESPN's team is set to return, the odd twist is Carl Edwards. Next season Edwards is rumored to be hanging-up his driving shoes on the Nationwide Series side and joining ESPN fulltime to work on the telecasts. His current owner Jack Roush let that cat out of the bag a while back.

As a driver, Edwards would be looking at two familiar faces already in place. Dale Jarrett currently works in the TV booth and Rusty Wallace in the infield studio. Wallace has been re-signed through 2014 and Jarrett is the face of NASCAR on ESPN. In fact, Wallace left the booth to make way for Jarrett several years ago. What slot Edwards might fill will not be disclosed until after Jan. 1.

The heart of SPEED's Camping World Truck Series team is poised to return. Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Ray Dunlap have been the face of the series for years. Sadler was one of the pit reporters and Waltrip was the third man in the booth. We should know next week if Sadler's RaceDay departure and Waltrip's Hollywood Hotel deal will change things for 2012.

One rumor swirling right now is that NASCAR Now has been cancelled by ESPN. As most fans know, the show was moved from 5PM back to 3PM and the only re-air was cancelled a couple of months ago. ESPN2 has a new afternoon line-up and NASCAR was pushed to the back burner.

Nicole Briscoe lives in the Charlotte area and commutes to Bristol, CT for her hosting duties. Mike Massaro relocated to Connecticut fulltime and Monday show host Allen Bestwick continues to reside in his beloved Rhode Island. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

ESPN has a significant number of reporters and analysts who rely on this series for employment. The show is on six days a week and during the Chase races adds a one-hour wrap up show as well. The loss of this series due to basically logistical on-air issues would be tough for the sport.

Update: Thursday late afternoon ESPN advised that NASCAR Now will be returning for 2012 as a daily show with the same staff. Time of the series airing is not yet known. Good news for NASCAR fans, just need a better timeslot!

Even though SPEED moved RaceHub to 6PM, the network loves the show. Steve Byrnes and Danielle Trotta originate an hour of NASCAR-themed content Monday through Thursday. Almost all of the SPEED and FOX analysts appear and the series is dream for promotion of the network's agenda. Expect that lead duo to return.

It's been a grand experiment seeing Jimmy Spencer in his role as on-air curmudgeon. His RaceHub antics include the awarding of cigars and straight-jackets. His "Kurt Busch Radio Sweetheart" segment is hilarious. The question is, does the new production management team at SPEED feel the same way.

There is no information out about the return of Inside NASCAR on Showtime. This series is said to be under contract for another season, but the show has shrunk to thirty minutes and seems to be all about promoting the profanity on the team radios.

On a non-TV note, veteran reporter Dustin Long of the Landmark Newspaper chain is ending his role as a NASCAR beat writer after this weekend. Long is a past president of the National Motorsports Press Association and has been helpful with our efforts here for years. His company is eliminating his position. We wish him well and hope his next assignment is a great one.

There has been a lot of breaking news this week. Should any new information become available on additional on-air changes, we will update this post.

In the meantime, please feel free to offer your opinions on the personalities and programs listed above. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

ESPN Agenda Still Bothers Stewart

It was just a post-race press conference after the Sprint Cup Series race in Phoenix on Sunday. The second and third place drivers were sitting on a stage with three chairs only feet away from the NASCAR media corps.

The laptops were buzzing as various media members asked questions that they would be including in online stories, radio updates and TV reports. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards looked tired, but both were very pleased they had continued the championship fight by finishing behind winner Kasey Kahne.

Shannon Spake currently is a utility player for ESPN. She works on NASCAR Now, is a part-time pit reporter and provides NASCAR news for various ESPN outlets like SportsCenter. Her question was different in tone from the previous media inquiries.

Spake: We watch you come in and sit down next to each other after battling on the track. What is it like to sit down and have to talk about your race and the Chase next to the guy you're battling?

Stewart: We've been doing this how long together? I mean, it's no different. Our demeanor isn't any different than we always are.

It's you guys and ESPN that loves to try to build that crap in between everybody. The total drama network, for sure. At least they're consistent about it.

Everybody at ESPN is consistent about it.

I don't see it being any different than normal. If you want, we can eliminate the chair, if that will make you feel better.

Edwards: We're good.

Stewart: I think that answers your question, though, doesn't it? Can you make sure everybody at ESPN understands that? Thank you.

Edwards: Thanks, Tony (laughter).

While the media session rolled on, one important thing to remember is that all of this was streamed live on NASCAR.com as part of the normal post-race online feed. NASCAR fans on the Internet saw this as it happened.

It was the fall of 2007 when Stewart first clashed with ESPN over a perceived agenda of TV-driven hype and innuendo. His target was then NASCAR Now reporter David Amber, who had absolutely no motorsports experience. Amber tossed a loaded question to Stewart. It did not go well.

"If every time we do an interview you want to stand here and dig-up dirt, you might as well go and find somebody else because we will wait until you leave," said Stewart. "Do we always have to leave with a dagger in our back from ESPN? That's all I'm curious about." Click here to read the original TDP column from 2007.

Over the past few years, ESPN has assembled a solid group of reporters who work for NASCAR Now, ESPN the Magazine and the ESPN.com website. In stark contrast to these veterans, many other ESPN news and anchor personalities have to be literally force-fed NASCAR content.

Inside the live race telecasts, ESPN continues to juggle a complicated agenda. Norby Williamson, the executive in charge of both studio and remote production, emphasizes what he calls "storytelling" in event coverage. That has shifted the focus from catering to the hardcore fan to more of a hunt for stories within the race itself.

In 2008, both Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke out about ESPN's repeated use of a heated radio conversation between Stewart and then crew chief Greg Zipadelli moments after the Richmond Sprint Cup Series race.

What was shown to TV viewers and Internet users was the outburst, but not the apology that was offered minutes later. The video clip was used all over the ESPN TV networks and the ESPN.com website for days after the race.

"I think it's just poor taste by the networks and I'm seeing it too often," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., making reference to multiple problems this season.

"That's ESPN," said Stewart. "We've had a terrible relationship with ESPN for years. We've been very outspoken with them as a company about how they treat the drivers, treat the teams."

"They're a (TV) production team that wants to do everything they can to stir the pot up," continued Stewart. "It's no secret ESPN and I don't get along."

"Do they have a right to air it?" Stewart continued. "Absolutely. Trust me, if there's anything negative I do, ESPN is going to pick up on it and run with it every chance they get."

"That just shows you what's important to them (ESPN). It's not the positive things in the sport. They want to pick up on everything negative they can," said Stewart.

"It's taking it too far where they're putting those type of conversations on network television and it's getting the kind of press it's getting," said Earnhardt. "It looks terrible for Tony. (It was) heat of the moment. You're going to say things you regret and I'm sure he regrets saying what he said and maybe Zippy regrets coming back at him."

"It's just what angle do they (ESPN) want to work with and how they use that," Stewart said. "Should they or shouldn't they? I don't think it's right or wrong. I don't think right or wrong comes into play."

It's really about class...or the lack of it," said Earnhardt. Click here to read the entire TDP column.

We recently saw Dr. Jerry Punch press a clearly embarrassed Joe Gibbs for a verdict on the continued employment of Kyle Busch when it was apparent a decision had not been made. Gibbs was gracious, but Punch kept chasing what was just not there.

This past weekend, Nationwide Series driver Jason Leffler halted pit reporter Jamie Little in her tracks after she skewed his words from a previous answer about his accident with Elliott Sadler. Little was trying to drive up the conflict level between the two, despite Leffler just having said the accident was his fault.

It's a fine line to walk between calling the race on TV and also trying to develop stories or pay-off topics set-up in the pre-race show. Jumping from the reality of simply racing and moving to the scripted agenda of conflict has not been the best mix.

As ESPN now heads into its final Sprint Cup Series race in year 5 of covering the sport, what is your opinion of the network's efforts to date? Thanks as always for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Additional story links on this topic:
Just how big is the Cup drivers vs. ESPN feud? (from 11/2/08)
The two faces of ESPN on display (from 9/14/08)
Why SportsCenter hates NASCAR (from 6/16/11)