Petty And Fryer Square-Off On "Tradin' Paint"

In an attempt to get this show back on track after two weeks of cream puff NASCAR owner "interviews," Tradin' Paint on SPEED welcomed AP reporter Jenna Fryer alongside host John Roberts and resident analyst Kyle Petty.

One of the first sentences out of Fryer's mouth was "when does Jenna get to talk?" This set the tone for the rest of the program, and focused once again on Kyle Petty's growing anger with the mainstream NASCAR print and Internet media.

Petty responded "with the stuff you write, go ahead and talk." What he was saying very clearly is that he believes many of the NASCAR media stories are simply made-up. He has said before many times on this show "I don't know where you guys get this stuff."

The topic of discussion was Kansas, and who won the NEXTEL Cup race. Petty had already explained the NASCAR line, and Fryer was trying compare NASCAR's Montreal ruling about Robby Gordon to the "non-ruling" of Greg Biffle. She started by saying she personally was in Montreal for the race. Petty broke-in with his temper already getting hot.

"Then you have no right to comment on it (Kansas)" said Petty. "Let's move along to the next topic." Fryer looked over at host John Roberts and said "I'm just going to go, I am going to leave." Roberts finally stepped-in and took control. He asked for her opinion, which is basically the format of the show...and key to its success.

Fryer's point was that both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, two past champions, had both complained that Biffle did not maintain a reasonable speed behind the pace car, and had in fact, run out of gas. In a rare moment, host John Roberts departed from his assigned role and began to lecture Ms. Fryer.

"That's because they didn't understand the rule" said Roberts. "Its like Kyle said" continued Roberts. This outburst was a mistake. It took the neutral party out of the mix, and painted the normally dependable Roberts as "taking a side."

Fryer's point was that its time for NASCAR to make the rules a bit clearer, so that veterans like Gordon and Johnson are not confused about simple issues like reasonable speed. This did not sit well with Petty once again.

"I don't care if ten guys with twenty championships are arguing about it, that's irrelevant" said Petty. Roberts continued to side with Petty, and abandon his host role. "Should NASCAR then penalize Johnson and Clint Bowyer for passing Biffle?" he asked Fryer. When she took a deep breath and paused, Petty said "come on Jenna, let's go!" This two-against-one twist really threw the show off track.

Bruton Smith's anger over a failed drag strip and his threat to move the Lowes Motor Speedway was the next topic. Fryer called Smith out as simply grandstanding and trying to leverage his financial impact on the area against his continuing wishes to host an NHRA event. Petty showed his political correctness by promoting the fact that a drag strip in the area would be beneficial. There was no real information about how many racing weekends, of both national and regional action, would be hosted at the track.

Fryer was asked about the COT, and expressed the normal concerns about visibility and bump drafting. Petty voiced his concerns about how and why Jacques Villeneuve and Sam Hornish were simply allowed by NASCAR to jump in the middle of The Chase with little Talladega experience. On these points, the panelists agreed and things returned to a discussion about NASCAR topics.

Petty dominates this show, and is allowed by Roberts to have the vast majority of the time. In the last two Tradin' Paint shows, the third "media" panelist consisted of a NEXTEL Cup owner. On both of these shows, Kyle was the star and the owner simply agreed with him and occasionally added-on a point or two. The return to dealing with an intelligent media personality was tough.

"You talk a lot" said Fryer after an extended Petty monologue on the state of the sport. "Yes, I know" said Petty. Roberts immediately stepped-in and said "but Jenna, you write a lot." He then switched the topic to Kyle Busch.

Finally, Fryer was given her opportunity to shine. Her frank words about Kyle Busch and the changes in both his maturity and his driving since losing his ride were outstanding. It also showed the power of her national reporting in that her original column suggested Rick Hendrick move Kyle along and hire Dale Earnhardt Jr. Almost all NASCAR fans know that is exactly what happened.

The closing segment of this show really pointed out the need for Roberts and the show Producer to agree on a tighter time format and that fact that Roberts needs to "move things along" when Petty begins to expound. Roberts final topic was the NEXTEL Cup race at Talladega.

Both panelists showed why they are in the national spotlight with their knowledge. Fryer predicted Dale Junior having a strong run in his final DEI race with Tony Eury Jr. Petty believed this was Toyota's best chance for a strong performance, and possibly a redemption of a bad season for Michael Waltrip. Fryer suggested The Chase standings would continue to flip and flop like Kansas. Petty closed the show by suggesting that Talladega has seen many first time winners, and this time there might be a first time win for a manufacturer.

As a first attempt at returning this show to a "journalistic forum," SPEED did the right thing by inviting a tough veteran reporter who simply does not take any grief from anyone. Fryer has been on this beat for a long time, and her work speaks volumes for her ability to keep racing in perspective, and yet push the issues that NASCAR is sometimes hesitant to deal with. She would be a perfect guest for the final show in Homestead.

In replacing Michael Waltrip this season, Petty has been on a TV journey of his own that has included his stint as a race analyst on TNT. He is working to re-define his own personality so that it "fits" on the TV screen, and Tradin' Paint is a good place for him to learn. Watching him control his temper and learn "TV patience" with some of the media guests has been fun this season.

Unfortunately, this show really took a step back when they changed from a media guest to a couple of owners right in the heart of the season. Why this was done, SPEED will not say. It really took the wind out of the Tradin' Paint sails that Roberts and Petty had worked so hard to build-up.

With the success of shows like Trackside and RaceDay, there has to be some feeling in the SPEED camp that with only one more guest, Tradin' Paint could easily fill the forty-three minutes of content that make a one hour TV talk show.

With the "media" changing as quickly as the COT rules, perhaps one TV/Radio and one Print/Internet guest along with Petty and Roberts might make a solid hour that SPEED can replay on Monday nights.

It is curious as to why Barney Hall, Dave Moody, Allen Bestwick, Mark Garrow, or even Brad Daugherty have not appeared on this show as the electronic media guest. On the print side, we have not had a David Poole sighting recently, and featured reporters like Marty Smith, Terry Blount, and Angelique Chengelis have never appeared. If there is an ESPN issue, then tell us. If there is not, then invite them on this SPEED show and let it fly.

As The Daly Planet has said many times this year, Tradin' Paint has the potential to be just as big a franchise program for SPEED as RaceDay. Fans are absolutely starved for independent media opinions and debate in a TV setting. Simply by adding a follow-up link on the SPEEDtv.com message boards, the network would finally be able to integrate the two pieces that have never come together for SPEED, their TV network and their Internet site.

After the qualifying fiasco, the DEI/RCR engine issues, and the lack of any racing until the final lap, the next edition of Tradin' Paint is going to be very interesting. Who the network selects to be the media guest could make the difference between inspiring debate or continued media bashing. Petty has made it quite clear that he is capable of both.

UPDATE: SPEED has just informed The Daly Planet that Thomas Pope, the longtime Motor Sports Editor of the Fayettteville Observer, will be the media guest. Pope has covered motorsports since 1978 for the same newspaper. You can read his columns in advance of the show at FayObserver.com and there is no sign-up requirement.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop-by, and leave your comment.

"Inside NEXTEL Cup" Has A Heartbeat After All

The boys were back in town for SPEED as Inside NEXTEL Cup took to the air on Monday night. Host Dave Despain looked across the panel and found his original 2007 line-up of Kenny Schrader, Michael Waltrip, and Greg Biffle.

Last week, after one of the INC panelists finally won a race, he did not appear on the show. Greg Biffle had a family function to attend, and he flew to the west coast. In the same vein, Schrader was involved in a controversial wreck, and was not on the show due to previous obligations. So, this week the panel was back at full strength.

The obvious theme of this show was that all three panelists had raced, and crashed, at Talladega. Both Schrader and Waltrip were victims of tire failure, and Biffle was involved in a crash. Dave Despain was happy to let the guys talk, and this is the magic of this show.

Biffle was clearly going to be in for some good-natured ribbing about his conflicting statements on the final lap at Kansas. Needless to say, this came up very quickly with Waltrip asking "are you still sticking to that story?" Biffle was tongue-tied, but managed to point the finger at NASCAR, who Biffle said inspected the car and found fuel. Waltrip and Schrader were absolutely not buying it.

Once the race highlights began, the panel had a tough time explaining the Talladega happenings because everything was brand new. The first COT event, the first time for drafting in that car, and the first time for creating a new dynamic for staying safe. It seems that a lot of different race philosophies were being used with varied degrees of success. Waltrip's point was that he had to run up front or the fans would think he had another bad car.

Rarely has SPEED ventured out and taken a poke at the ESPN on ABC gang, but in this show the poking was aimed at Rusty Wallace and his brand new "Draft Lock." Completely tongue-in-cheek, Despain said he had not heard that term before. Unfortunately, it appeared that none of the panelists had watched the ABC telecast, and Despain's attempt at humor fell flat.

The DEI/RCR engine woes were up next, but the panel never discussed the issue. Despain alluded to the fact that Rick Hendrick had referenced another RCR multiple engine failure on the Victory Lane show, but the panel never helped viewers to understand what had actually happened. Light oil, bad parts, and high RPM's had all been suggested in the media. Despain needed to pin this down, but he chose to move along to keep things on time.

Ryan Newman running over Dale Earnhardt Junior's jack in the pits as a result of an inattentive crew member got the panel going. After all the tension of the weekend, once again the laughter was loud and the one-liners were flying on the show. Brian Vickers was once again used as a source of humor for his earlier comments on the program.

The panel's review of "the big one" was brief, and that was due in-part to the fact that no one really understood what happened to Bobby Labonte's car to start the wreck. Schrader's tire failure was next, and it was clear that he was upset to drop out of the top thirty-five in points.

Petty's accident triggered a good discussion about safety and the COT. Schrader was up-front about his belief that we had not seen the COT really put to a bad high-speed accident yet. Biffle made the good point that the trunk lid of the COT was actually opened and torn-off by the force of sliding backward.

Michael Waltrip's accident review resulted in a good explanation of the strength of the COT cars, and continued the issue of why so many tires were going flat on a track that is usually cleaned very well after a caution period. No one had an answer, which was one theme of this show about the COT on a superspeedway.

The last lap move of Gordon was celebrated, but the overall boring racing with no passing was avoided like the plague. The review of the final results was interesting, and always yields facts and opinions not heard on other racing TV programs. Its clear that this panel has a lot of information that Despain just does not have the "NASCAR chops" to bring out.

The embarrassing qualifying session at Talladega was disputed by Waltrip. He stuck by his contention that he had "changed nothing" on his car. The panel was split about the qualifying vs. race trim issue, and the impound procedure. Waltrip did back-up his statement by spending a lot of time at the front of the pack, further adding to the new COT legacy.

Finally, Greg Biffle had been trying to keep something under-the-radar, but Despain and Schrader would not allow it. Pushed as to why he would be absent from the show next week, Biffle shyly admitted that he would be getting married. Asked Schrader "were you not going to bring it up?"

Longtime fans of the show were all too happy to watch the final segment collapse into chaos as it so often had before. Schrader was harassing Biffle, Mikey was trying for sponsor plugs, and Despain was trying to wrap things up. Now, this was a lot more like the INC we know and love. Maybe this series has a heartbeat for a 2008 season after all.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop-by and leave your opinion.

ABC Struggles With Multiple Storylines At Talladega

One of the most interesting things about NASCAR is that no one can predict what is going to happen in a race. The experts can offer opinions, but once things get underway there is a living and breathing animal created that follows no pre-set course. This was certainly the case at Talladega on Sunday.

When the experts believe that the animal will be calm, it is chaos that often ensues. When the danger level is said to be high, things are sometimes so boring that no one can believe it. Race fans experienced both of those in the Truck and ARCA races leading up to the Sunday NEXTEL Cup event.

Single line "racing" was the order of the day for the Trucks, and the experienced TV crew on SPEED had to work to generate excitement into the racing action. By the time the Sunday NEXTEL Cup event rolled-around, ABC may have had a clue that this one would require a lot of effort to keep the viewers involved.

Pre-race host Suzy Kolber suggested that "big wrecks might be getting bigger" because of the COT. Brad Daugherty said no one could "lay back." Well, in fact the track and the drivers had other opinions.

Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace, and Andy Petree led the viewers through the pre-race stories of the COT, the slow cars at the front, and even the presence of Formula-1 star Jacques Villeneuve in the race. Then, reality began to take hold and by lap twelve it looked more like a tire test than a race.

When the Ford guys fell to the back of the field and formed a line, it was a preview of things to come. ABC decided to play it straight, and kept the focus on the leader of the race and the speed that the COT was carrying. By lap fifteen, it was clear that the old days of "no passing" were back in full force.

Even after a series of caution flags which allowed ABC to insert a big commercial inventory, things had returned to single file racing by lap 35. This was the signal for ABC to switch modes and realize that they were going to have to contribute their own excitement to keep this event interesting.

ABC has a lot of TV gizmos and pre-produced features, and by lap fifty they began to use them. With no big crashes, ABC decided to reach way back and show the Kyle Busch accident from a Busch Series race. This graphic crash footage was intended to show bored viewers what might happen at any moment. If the action on the track continued to be this calm, it was clear ABC would do anything to spice it up.

Early contact between Greg Biffle and David Gilliland was missed by the TV crew. Punch was not watching the action on the track, and the announcers had to wait until the TV replay to find out what had happened. As we have spoken about before on The Daly Planet, the choice between watching the TV monitors in the booth and the action on the track is a tough one for the TV announcers. The ABC gang has been having a tough time with this issue all season long.

As racing resumed, Jerry Punch was put in the difficult position of talking non-stop because of the calmness of the race itself. There was nothing for Rusty and Andy to analyze, nothing for Tim in the Tech Center to talk about, and nothing for Brad in the Infield Studio to ask about. Punch dug deep for anything and everything he knew about the drivers being featured. It made for a long day.

Rusty Wallace can watch the action and then comment on it, but it is tough to make casual conversation with him on-the-air. He speaks in short and choppy statements, that do not really allow the topic at hand to be expanded. His intensity was high early on, but he does not allow Andy Petree to talk with him, rather Wallace talks at him and then Andy reacts.

When Jeff Burton blew an engine at lap 91, it began a series of events that would throw the ABC gang off their plan, and affect the rest of the race. Punch reminded his own experts that others in the race had the exact same engine package as Burton, and certainly this was going to be a key element for Tim Brewer to explain. While Brewer later showed the general area of the engine failures, he never explained to viewers what these teams had in common. This should have been a moment for him to shine, and it was not. In this race, mechanical failure was the number one story.

Since things were calm, ABC unveiled a new wrinkle to the Draft Track feature. This time, their contention was that two cars who shared the same column of air were in "draft lock." Veteran NASCAR fans might have been laughing, but for new fans the point was well made. Two cars on this big track exactly in line can gain speed.

Around lap one hundred, there was a spurt of racing that excited the ABC crew and especially Rusty Wallace. This real racing deterred the network from following up aggressively on the engine failure issue. There still had been no Tim Brewer information on that topic offered to viewers at all on this point.

By lap one hundred and twelve when Martin Tuex Jr. had his engine failure, the warning bells should have gone off for the ABC gang. Petree and Wallace pointed out the DEI/RCR engine cooperative effort, but no pit reporter ever tracked down the engine man at the track. Brewer only appeared after this latest failure, and referenced several things like lighter oil and bottom end failures. Brewer should have had a picture or model of what an engine looks like after this failure.

Dave Burns referenced that Truex had "just talked to" the DEI/RCR engine guys, but Burns himself never asked that key player any questions. Once again, the story was right in front of them, but ABC stuck to driver interviews.

With under seventy laps to go, everyone was single file and content to stay there. The pit reporters tried to update their assigned teams, but even the engine tuner for Harvick was not the right person to comment on this situation. Where were the RCR and DEI executives? If they would not speak on camera, then tell viewers they refused.

When Dale Junior also blew his engine, even Rusty Wallace said "this has got to be killing Richard Childress." The only problem was, we never heard from Childress. The network was now really off-balance, and the problems began. They would continue through the network's sign-off.

Dale Jarrett sat on the track in his crashed car. Even as Jerry Punch tried to dance around the issue, it was clear that no one in the announce booth had a clue to what had happened. Right now, it was all about Junior. This was the turning point of the race for ABC, as they never showed or followed-up about the Dale Jarrett accident.

Something threw the ABC crew for a loop around lap fifty, and they never came back. Even as Dale Jarrett's car was shown being towed away, the ABC gang broke out the Draft Tracker and their new "draft lock" concept. Imagine that. One former champion and current ESPN/ABC analyst had been involved in an accident, and then totally ignored. We never heard from Jarrett again.

Then, the ABC crew was never informed that Jeff Gordon had a drive-thru penalty. It took them by surprise when he appeared on pit road, and Punch was especially rattled. Luckily, the network found the footage of his pit stop, and was able to save some face on this one. Someone in the production truck missed a big one.

Now, only forty-six laps to go and the worst interview of the century happened for the NASCAR on ABC gang this year. Reporter Dave Burns was following the ABC/ESPN model of just asking one too many questions, and Junior unloaded. When Dave Burns asked Junior about the "racing" and the fact he was "mixing it up" there was only one good response, and Junior gave it.

"I don't know what you are watching" said Junior. "Ain't all that running around the top boring?" he continued. "It was really boring riding up there, first, fourth, whatever..just nothing going on." That was not what NASCAR and ABC wanted to hear.

Suddenly, the cameras captured a big wreck on the track. Incredibly, it was almost ten seconds before Jerry Punch exclaimed "Oh, there is trouble on the race track." Once again, the ABC crew had been caught not watching the action on the track, and this time it was clear to all they were focusing on Junior alone. Punch had no clue what had transpired, and once again it was going to take replays to sort it all out.

This is a big pitfall of this crew. Any of the three top-side announcers should call out when something is happening on the track. How many times have we heard Larry McReynolds or Jeff Hammond do this on Fox? Kyle Petty on TNT was not shy about interrupting Bill Weber when something occurred and he saw it first. No one on the ABC crew said a word for the first ten seconds of this accident.

Wallace and Petree were also silent as it was clear they had not seen it as well. Only when the TV cameras started to focus on the car numbers did Punch and company begin to sort it out. How is it possible that one member of the crew is not watching the track at all times? Petree and Wallace were seeing this incident for the first time when it was replayed, and that was made very clear by their remarks.

ABC took this opportunity to insert several more commercial breaks, so they could pave the way once again to offer the critical final laps of this race without commercial interruption. Well, that was the theory. NASCAR fans were about to find out that was not the reality. Not by a long shot.

Viewers had still not heard from Dale Jarrett about his crash and had not heard from Richard Childress about his engines, and their critical failures. Now, with thirty five laps to go Kenny Schrader had slammed the wall and a caution had come out. Viewers knew that because they were watching, but what they were hearing was a meaningless interview of Kyle Busch, which ABC would not end for a crash involving a "non-Chaser." What a poor decision.

With thirty laps to go, ABC finally got their wish of good racing that was not single file. Immediately, the network went to commercial break. When they returned, Kyle Petty had slammed the wall and the race was under caution. After several replays, the network went to commercial break again.

It was during these replays that Kyle Petty was interviewed. For the first time ABC viewers found-out that it was Kyle that had wrecked Dale Jarrett earlier in the race. The irony was, the ABC reporter had not even asked about that incident, and probably did not know about it. Petty simply brought it up.

With only thirteen laps to go, an incident brought out the caution. It was clear by this time that Jerry Punch had run out of gas. He does not bring any excitement or intensity to his commentary, and this is especially true late in races. He simply comments on what viewers are seeing on the TV as a "reporter." In this incident, it took Rusty Wallace to point out that pole-sitter Michael Waltrip was in the middle of it.

ABC also chose to show three commercials during this time, rather than reset the field because there were less than ten laps to go. With all the commercial inventory that ABC ran earlier in the race, viewers were anticipating a commercial free period at the end. This was the perfect time for a race recap and a reset, not another rather adult promo for Desperate Housewives.

Punch called the last several laps of pushing and shoving with Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree trying to keep the excitement level high, but the inability to pass was a problem the ABC bunch could not solve from the booth. Luckily, the late move of Jeff Gordon worked to end the race on a good note. There was just one problem.

Incredibly, ABC completely missed it. Jeff Gordon moving-up in front of Tony Stewart to win the race was only seen live by the fans at the track. ABC showed a close-up camera shot of the middle of the pack on the last lap when they should have been using a shot that showed all the cars.

All of a sudden, the next picture showed Gordon in front of Stewart, and only Andy Petree recognized that this had happened. The bottom line is, ABC missed the winning move of the race on the final lap.

As Gordon began his cool down lap, the word came down from NASCAR. Get to Victory Lane if you want to be interviewed. The clock on the wall said it was almost 6PM, the race was over, and ABC was about to leave the building. Only then, as Gordon was heeding their call, did viewers get a replay to show them what they should have seen live. Gordon's move for the race win was both fantastic, and lucky.

The winner's interview was short and sweet and ABC was gone. No Tony Stewart. No Jimmie Johnson. No Kurt Busch. No Ryan Newman. No Richard Childress. The stories that ABC had built-up during this last exciting run were not going to be paid-off because this was broadcast TV and they were out of time. Just like that, it was over.

ESPN was involved in NFL football highlights, ESPN News never followed-up, and once again the inability of ABC and ESPN to coordinate NASCAR post-race activities drove the fans directly to SPEED Channel.

This ABC telecast had been the only thing the network had done from the track all weekend long. SPEED handled the practice and qualifying, and also carried the ARCA and the Craftsman Truck Series races live. ABC was only there for the NEXTEL Cup Chase for the Championship, and left the air without interviewing any of the other Chase drivers or following-up on any of the stories of the event itself.

In this first year of ABC as a NASCAR TV partner, there certainly have been some interesting decisions involving on-air activity. Perhaps, with only a handful of races left this season, giving NASCAR fifteen more minutes on ABC to talk to the key players in the race, and The Chase, would have been the right decision.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop-by and leave your opinion.