New York City Media Mayhem

We have tried to put together a full list of all the media appearances by the 12 Chase drivers in New York City. Things start on Wednesday night with some TV.

First will be Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. The Wednesday program airs at 12:35AM ET, but check the NBC local listings for the time in your area.

Here is the rest of the official info for Thursday:

Television Shows

FOX & Friends: Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin will be appearing outside with a show car at 7:35 am.

Good Morning America: Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards will be on this morning show also with a show car at 8:30 am.

LIVE with Regis & Kelly: It is Guinness Book of World Record Week and six drivers will start by talking to Regis and Kelly about the Chase, the season and the upcoming race at NH. They will then join over 250 fans outside on the street for the World’s Largest Custard Pie Fight. For every pie thrown a donation will be made to Meals on Wheels. Those are the pies shown above, show airs at 9AM ET but check local listings.

ESPN First Take: Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon will both be on ESPN’s morning show via satellite. Program begins at 10AM ET on ESPN2.

NASCAR Now: Jeff Burton will be the co-host with Mike Massaro in Bristol, CT. This program has now been confirmed to have expanded to 90 minutes and will begin at 5PM ET. Interviews will include Roush Fenway drivers from Fenway Park in Boston and other Chase drivers from media day in NYC. This show will also re-air at 10PM Pacific/1AM Eastern.

National Radio Programs

SiriusXM Studios: Four drivers will be making their way to the studios: Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch. Tradin' Paint will be broadcast from 12-3PM ET from the Hard Rock Cafe and will feature the remaining eight drivers.

The Bob and Tom Show: Greg Biffle will be a guest at 9 a.m.

Big D and Bubba: Several drivers will be calling in throughout the day - Mark Martin will be calling into the show at 9:45 a.m., Greg Biffle at 10:30, Carl Edwards at 11:15 and Denny Hamlin at 11:30 a.m.

Dan Patrick Radio Show: Tony Stewart will be calling into the show at 9:45 a.m.

FOX Sports Radio: Mark Martin will be a guest at 10 a.m., Carl Edwards will be on at 11, Kurt Busch will be on at 2:45 p.m. and Ryan Newman at 3:15.


New York City Local TV

CW Morning Show: Brian Vickers will be appearing on this local New York City morning show tomorrow morning at 7:15 am. The Sprint Cup Series trophy will also be on set.

Good Day NY: Ryan Newman (between 9:15 and 9:45) and Greg Biffle will be appearing at this local FOX morning show. They will be outside by the Sprint show car.


Various Local Radio Shows

ESPN 1080 Orlando: Mark Martin will be a guest at 10:15 a.m., Greg Biffle will be on at 12:45 p.m.

WKNR Cleveland: Greg Biffle will be a guest at 10:20 a.m.

KRLD Dallas: Juan Pablo Montoya will be a guest at 11:20 a.m.

CBS Radio Boston: Brian Vickers will be a guest at 11:30 a.m.

WSCR Chicago: Carl Edwards will be a guest at 4 p.m

Thanks again to the NASCAR PR staff for the info. This post will serve to host your comments as you watch and listen to all the TV and radio appearances of the 12 drivers on Wednesday and Thursday.

To add your opinion about these programs, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, we would ask that you keep that in mind while posting. Thanks for taking the time to help us out with your reporting skills!

Watching NASCAR's Chase Or The NFL's Regular Season?

Well, here we are. Thursday, the gang of 12 will be in New York City doing the media dance to drum-up headlines for the Chase. Sunday, they will be racing at 1PM ET on a flat track in New Hampshire on ABC.

Mike Massaro will host a one hour version of NASCAR Now at 5:30PM on Thursday. Massaro and his ESPN counterparts will do their best to push the Chase on the various ESPN shows and networks over the next several days. Smiling drivers in suits and ties will be a momentary blip on the national TV radar.

Then, Sunday comes. NASCAR fans have to once again make that annual decision. It is a decision that causes NASCAR pain every season. It is a decision that created the Chase for the Championship. It is the decision of whether or not to leave NASCAR and watch the NFL.

There they are, side by side. The same drivers you have been seeing since February are matched-up against the local gridiron heroes. The thrill of racing inches apart goes head to head with the long bomb and the miracle comeback. Tom Brady vs. Jimmie Johnson. The million dollar smile and the model wife.

New Hampshire brings tight racing, little passing and angry drivers. This year, it also brings the new restart rules. FOX and CBS bring nine different regional games at 1PM that cover the nation. The NFL stories are fresh and the sport is on a roll.

NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series has used four TV networks to get this far. SPEED stepped in for the Daytona twins and the All-Star weekend. Fox started the regular season and then handed-off to TNT for a short summer run. Now, ESPN is again using their ABC network to bring this ten month season to a close.

At this time of the year, pre-race shows like SPEED's RaceDay and ABC's NASCAR Countdown go up against ESPN's NFL Countdown and Fox NFL Sunday, which bills itself as America's most watched pre-game show. Even on Monday nights, This Week in NASCAR on SPEED finds itself looking over at Monday Night Football on ESPN.

So, what is a sports fan going to do? How about taking a moment and telling us how you are going to handle Sunday at 1PM? NASCAR and the NFL meet again.

Are you taping one and watching the other live? Surfing back and forth for three hours? Picture-in-picture? Many NASCAR fans already multi-task with radio, online scoring and chat. Does the NFL change those plans?

Finally, has the Chase for the Championship helped you to stick with NASCAR? The stories are good, from Mark Martin through Juan Pablo Montoya.

Click here to read our column from last season on this subject. We got some fantastic comments.

To add your opinion on this topic, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Mr. Excitement Takes Charge

This Week in NASCAR host Steve Byrnes told viewers the news right at the top of the show. Not only was Jimmy Spencer going to be a panelist this Monday in place of Michael Waltrip, but Spencer was going to join the program for the rest of the season.

While that is the information he included, it is what Byrnes did not say that has rumors flying. There have only been two panelists on TWIN this season. One school of thought is that Spencer was simply an addition for The Chase.

The other is that this is an audition for a permanent change. While Greg Biffle and Chad Knaus are going to continue in their NASCAR roles next season, there is a big change coming for Waltrip.

Earlier Monday it was confirmed that Pat Tryson was hired to be the new crew chief at MWR. He will be leading new driver Martin Truex Jr. in the #56 car as Waltrip steps back into the role of fulltime owner. While Waltrip may drive in the Daytona 500, it is very clear that this transition is complete.

This may not affect Waltrip's role working on the Camping World Truck Series as an analyst, but questions remain about Monday nights for next season. It's not really an issue about simply driving, as drivers retire each season. The real issue on the table is having a fulltime multi-car Sprint Cup Series team owner on TWIN.

It might shock fans if they tuned-in and saw Richard Childress or Jack Roush on the program talking about the ups-and-downs of the other teams. But, this is Michael Waltrip and he has been the franchise for this program since it began over a decade ago.

Waltrip brings his unique personality and sense of humor to the show. Names like Benson, Wallace, Schrader and Vickers have come and gone. Through it all, Waltrip has remained. This year Steve Byrnes replaced Dave Despain who replaced Allen Bestwick as host. All of them have had to figure out how to work with Waltrip.

Information from SPEED indicates that next Monday's show will consist of Biffle, Spencer and Waltrip with Byrnes hosting. The network also indicates that NASCAR President Mike Helton will be making an appearance. Veteran fans may remember that each year Helton used to drop by and spar with Waltrip and Kenny Schrader.

With the new changes on this program, it may well be Spencer who picks up the tradition of asking Helton how much he makes...just for information purposes.

On this Monday, Spencer was outspoken, Knaus was informative and Byrnes appeared nervous. The program format also changed, with the hot topics and several other elements dropped. It may be that viewers are seeing SPEED begin to tweak the show in order to make a decision about next season.

Next Monday, Biffle will look over to see Waltrip and Spencer alongside of him. It should be interesting to see if the show continues to allow the panelists to finish their thoughts or if Spencer and Waltrip struggle to strike a balance on the air.

Did you watch the show? We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion of TWIN on SPEED, just click the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.