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| starring = [[Jerry Punch]]<br>[[Dale Jarrett]]<br>[[Andy Petree]]
| starring = [[Jerry Punch]]<br>[[Dale Jarrett]]<br>[[Andy Petree]]
| country = [[United States of America|USA]]
| country = [[United States of America|USA]]
| network = [[ESPN]], [[ESPN on ABC|ABC]] (2007-)
| network = [[ESPN]], [[ESPN2]], [[ESPN on ABC|ABC]]
| slogan = It's the Life
| slogan = It's the Life
| original_run = [[1960-2002]] [[2007-present]] [[2007 in television|2007]]
| original_run = [[1960-2002]], [[[[2007 in television|2007]]-present]]
| last_aired = Present
}}
}}
'''''NASCAR on ESPN''''' is the coverage of [[NASCAR]] on [[ESPN]], [[ESPN2]], and [[ESPN on ABC|ABC]]. ABC, and later ESPN, carried NASCAR races from the sanctioning body's top three divisions at various points from the early 1960s until 2002. ESPN resumed coverage of NASCAR with the Nationwide Series race at Daytona in February 2007.
'''''NASCAR on ESPN''''' is the coverage of [[NASCAR]] on [[ESPN]], [[ESPN2]], and [[ESPN on ABC|ABC]]. ABC, and later ESPN, carried NASCAR races from the sanctioning body's top three divisions at various points from the early 1960s until 2002. ESPN resumed coverage of NASCAR with the Nationwide Series race at Daytona in February 2007.

Revision as of 20:39, 27 October 2009

NASCAR on ESPN
File:NASCARonESPN.jpg
NASCAR on ESPN logo from an ESPN2HD broadcast.
StarringJerry Punch
Dale Jarrett
Andy Petree
Country of originUSA
Production
Running time4 hours
Original release
NetworkESPN, ESPN2, ABC

NASCAR on ESPN is the coverage of NASCAR on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. ABC, and later ESPN, carried NASCAR races from the sanctioning body's top three divisions at various points from the early 1960s until 2002. ESPN resumed coverage of NASCAR with the Nationwide Series race at Daytona in February 2007.

History

ABC's involvement with NASCAR began in the days of ABC's Wide World of Sports[1], in which it presented some of the biggest races in stock car racing. One of its events was the Daytona 500. ABC showed the last half of the race, except in 1976, when it showed the first 30 laps, went to the Olympics and then came back for the wild finish, in which David Pearson edged out Richard Petty with both cars sliding sideways across the track. The race TV rights went to CBS Sports in 1979. For much of the 1970s and 1980s, ABC broadcast NASCAR races on tape delay. The commentary was added later in post production. They would actually sit in the booth and call something live if they needed to for the satellite feed. Otherwise, ABC would do all the editing afterwards for the final telecast.

ESPN began showing NASCAR races in 1981, with the first event being at North Carolina Speedway. The last of its 265 Cup telecasts (that number includes some on ABC Sports) was the 2000 Atlanta fall race (now the Pep Boys Auto 500). Even though Fox, FX, NBC, and TNT were the exclusive broadcasters of the Winston/Nextel Cup Series and the Busch Series from 2001 to 2006, the ESPN networks still carried the Craftsman Truck Series in 2001 and 2002 because the Truck races were under a separate contract. Speed Channel took over the Truck broadcasts in 2003.

See also: ESPN SpeedWorld

General information

Currently, ESPN and ABC splits the second half of the Sprint Cup (formerly NEXTEL Cup) schedule, while ESPN2 airs most of the Nationwide Series (formerly Busch Series) schedule.

Each race telecast begins with NASCAR Countdown. Allen Bestwick is the usual host, with Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace providing commentary.

In addition to the races, ESPN2 airs a daily show called NASCAR Now, which is similar to Baseball Tonight and NFL Primetime. It will air Monday through Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET. The show premiered on February 5, 2007. NASCAR Now will move to 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, July 21.

In 2007, 29 of the 35 Busch races aired on ESPN2, with the other five airing on ABC. ESPN2 started its coverage with the Orbitz 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2007. ABC's first Busch race was the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas on March 10. The first NEXTEL Cup race telecast was the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on July 29 on ESPN. The next 5 races aired on ESPN and the Richmond race and the final 10 races (the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup) appeared on ABC.

In 2008, the Nationwide Series schedule was reallocated, with four races on ABC, six on ESPN, and 25 on ESPN2. There is no change in the number of Sprint Cup events, the schedule of races, or the specific channels on which they appear. (Originally, the number of NNS races on ESPN and ESPN2 were four and 27, respectively, but in June 2008 two race telecasts were shifted to ESPN.[2])

It had earlier been reported that Rusty Wallace was not allowed to cover the Nationwide Series races due to a conflict of interest rule, as he also owns the #66 team in that series. However, as listed below, Wallace is one of the main analysts, but called only 25 of the 35 races. Dale Jarrett called the other 10; he debuted at the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14.

2008 changes

As mentioned above, Bestwick and Wallace were moved to the pit studio from other locations. Dale Jarrett is moving into the booth alongside of Dr. Jerry Punch and Andy Petree. Shannon Spake is taking Bestwick's spot on pit road.

Nicole Manske, former Speed Channel anchor, became the new host of NASCAR Now when it returned on February 4, 2008. Bestwick and Ryan Burr will also take turns on some editions.

The Monday version of NASCAR Now is a roundtable show, similar to the old Inside NEXTEL Cup show that was on Speed Channel. Bestwick hosts the roundtable; he is also the former host of the Speed Channel program. The panelists rotate and have included Mike Massaro, Johnny Benson, Boris Said, Ray Evernham, and Ricky Craven.

Several former hosts with non-NASCAR backgrounds - Brent Musburger, Suzy Kolber, and Chris Fowler - were not retained for NASCAR coverage.[3]

Production

All races are presented in high-definition, and all cameras, including those in the race cars, are capable of sending out HD pictures.

At the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on April 20, 2007, NASCAR on ESPN unveiled a new feature, "Full Throttle". In this feature, which takes place on one restart a race, the audio is provided by various team communications between drivers, crew chiefs, and spotters. Typically, this lasts for about one lap. This frequency is reduced from its earlier us.

Coverage and other controversies

General

  • Many visitors to forums and blogs such as The Daly Planet complained that the coverage seen on ESPN and its related networks were not up to the standards set by the earlier version of network coverage. Their biggest complaints were excessive commercials, bored announcers, abuse of production technology, and language that seemed to talk down to them. Many said that they had found alternate means of racing coverage, including NASCAR Hot Pass, radio broadcasts, and NASCAR.com. Some were even looking forward to the return of NASCAR on Fox, despite the gimmicks inherent to that portion of the racing season.

The many changes made in 2008, specifically the removal of on-air personalities with no previous NASCAR backgrounds and the reassignment of Wallace, may have come in response to these complaints.

  • Commentators often seem to be quite biased towards or against drivers on ESPN's NASCAR broadcasts, as with most of the network's racing broadcasts. At the 2008 AMP Energy 500, just after the finish, the station listened in on Tony Stewart's radio after he was controversially overtaken for the lead by Regan Smith. He said "It was below the yellow line, it was belo-" when he was cut off, appearing intentional. Punch often seemingly argued with Petree and Jarrett over whether or not the pass was illegal. This was one of many cases where ESPN analysts have shown bias.

ESPN also consistently shows a sponsorship bias in terms of how races are named when marketed by ESPN. In races that are named after corporate sponsors (i.e. U.S. Cellular 250) and even ones without corporate naming or where the sponsor's name is not commonly used (i.e. Pennsylvania 500), ESPN uses a generic name that takes the form of "NASCAR (series name) at (track name)", unless the sponsor of the race is also a sponsor of ESPN's NASCAR coverage. Additionally, some of the names are followed by one of ESPN's sponsors (i.e. GoDaddy.com).

In NASCAR on ESPN's advertising campaign, their slogan is "Feel your heart race", a slogan which has already been trademarked by Kyle Petty's Victory Junction Gang. The latter's advertising also appears on ESPN-carried races.

Additionally, ESPN has a considerably different set of sponsors than other NASCAR-covering networks, including competitors of official NASCAR sponsors (i.e. Toyo Tires, who once sponsored pit-road coverage during a Nationwide Series race, opposition of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, official tires of NASCAR). Generally these sponsors would not be allowed to appear on cars or at tracks, but there is not yet a restriction on television broadcasts.

Network pre-emptions and relocations

Local station pre-emptions

Missing race endings

  • On August 24, 2007, the final five laps of the Food City 250 NBS race at Bristol Motor Speedway were not televised by ESPN2. The reason was that a satellite uplink path was somehow eliminated, preventing the master control at the network headquarters (ironically in Bristol, Connecticut; the track is in Bristol, Tennessee) from re-transmitting the event to cable and satellite providers. Instead, viewers saw a blank screen, then the ESPN2 logo "screensaver," then some commercials. By the time the problem was rectified, the race was over, with Kasey Kahne as the winner. Jerry Punch, the lap-by-lap announcer, apologized for the error immediately and the final two laps were shown on replay unedited. In addition, the first rebroadcast showed the same laps as they were intended to be broadcast - with on-screen ticker and GEICO sponsorship bug - just after 4:30 a.m. ET the next morning. An ESPN spokesman blamed a "human error" of an unspecified nature.[10]
  • With nine laps remaining in the 2008 Federated Auto Parts 300, one or more feeds of ESPN2 on DirecTV suddenly cut off and was replaced by a static screen of the channel's logo, with audio from XM Satellite Radio's Top Tracks channel. By the time the picture returned, the race was over and Brad Keselowski celebrated his first win in the series, by then renamed Nationwide Series. The exact cause of the failure is unknown. Blogger John M. Daly blamed the problem on an error in the routing system in which the picture is sent to master control, and that neither ESPN2HD nor cable companies were affected.[11] However, on a message board dealing with TV auto racing, moderator Cheryl Lauer reported that the opposite had happened to her, that HD was out while SD was broadcasting normally. She thought the problem was due to a complication in testing signals from a new satellite, D11.[12]

Other problems/issues

  • Due to college football commitments - and an exceedingly long race which had 26 caution flags - coverage of the October 27 NBS Sam's Town 250 ended the moment that David Reutimann took the checkered flag to win the race. There was no post-race interview with Reutimann, summary of the finishing order, or any other usual post-race programming. No interview aired on ESPNEWS or SportsCenter, either, another decision that rankled some long-time fans.[13]
  • In addition, some drivers had testy relationships with ESPN reporters. Tony Stewart was fined and had points taken away after his win at the Allstate 400; he used an obscenity in his post-race interview. During it, he implied unfair treatment by the network in the past. Also, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. looked very uneasy in his interview with Mike Massaro at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400; Massaro ran a lengthy talk after Earnhardt Jr. dropped out with engine failure.[14] And in 2009, Juan Pablo Montoya walked out on an interview with Vince Welch after the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 due to a line of questioning he was not happy with.[1]
  • Most of the races broadcast on ESPN on ABC had very minimal or no post-race coverage. Several times, ESPN only interviewed the winner and 2nd place drivers. The most likely explanation is that the next program is, typically, ABC World News Sunday or a local newscast; the network wants to start the newscast as soon as possible.
  • At the 2007 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the majority of the coverage was focused on Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. There was only one mention when Juan Pablo Montoya led the opening laps of the race and ESPN on ABC did not air several of the lead changes or mention them on air. In addition, during the Busch Series O'Reilly Challenge race at Texas, the final laps were broadcast from an in-car camera of points championship leader Carl Edwards. ESPN did not air the finish of the race where Kevin Harvick won and instead stayed with an in-car shot of Edwards through the finish.
  • At the 2007 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega, ESPN on ABC did not air the final lead change as they were covering a battle a little deeper in the field. Jeff Gordon made the race winning move without mention of the lead change on ESPN on ABC until well after it had happened. Gordon won the race.

Miscellany

At both the Phoenix and Talladega NBS races in 2007, the entire broadcast booth (Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Jarrett) consisted of graduates of Newton-Conover High School in North Carolina. On April 20, they wore orange and maroon ribbons to honor the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre the previous Monday. (Of course, Punch, Jarrett and Petree have been reunited for the entire 2008 season.)

Ultimate NASCAR

In addition to race coverage, ESPN has aired a series of programs called Ultimate NASCAR. The series began in April 2007, when the network began to air a series of 100 one-minute vignettes highlighting NASCAR's most important moments as selected by a panel of experts. The vignettes aired every day until July 29. These moments are also recounted in a companion book published by the network.[15]

In July 2007, ESPN aired a series of related documentaries. Three of them were countdown shows, ranking the greatest drivers, races, and rivalries in the sport's history. The other shows were "The Explosion" (a general overview), "The Dirt" (the origins of NASCAR), "The Cars" (the evolution of the NASCAR race car), "The Families" (an in-depth look at the Allison, Earnhardt and Petty families), and "Speed and Danger" (in which NASCAR drivers discuss the risks they take).

Entertainment

On November 2, 2006, it was announced that Aerosmith would be collaborating with NASCAR on ESPN on its 2007 coverage. The band recorded a special live version of its song "Back In The Saddle", as "an integral part of the network's NASCAR telecasts in 2007."[16] The song was typically played on the telecast between the national anthem and the command to start the engines, and was also on a video package on NASCAR Now on Monday evenings. However, ESPN decided to discard its use after 2007.

Also in 2007, two celebrities appeared as part of race coverage, mimicking a weekly feature of Monday Night Football: actor James Denton of Desperate Housewives at Indianapolis, and legendary recording artist Stevie Wonder at the Sharp Aquos 500 at California Speedway.

As part of coverage of the 2007 Pennsylvania 500, Rihanna sang "Shut Up and Drive" over a themed music video.

For the 2008 Nationwide Series season opener, the Camping World 300, the choir from Oklahoma City that performed on the NBC reality game show Clash of the Choirs the previous December, led by country star Blake Shelton, performed "Home" to introduce the coverage on ESPN2. The song recognized Daytona Beach as the headquarters city of NASCAR.

Also in 2008:

Lineup variations

In order to reduce the workload of announcers during the first half of the season, ESPN constantly changes the lineup of those who cover the activities on the race track. In the 2007 season, ESPN used three different lap-by-lap announcers (Punch, Marty Reid, and Allen Bestwick), four different color commentators (Wallace, Petree, Jarrett, and Randy Lajoie), nine different pit reporters (Jack Arute, Bestwick, Dave Burns, Gary Gerould, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro, Marty Smith, Spake, and Vince Welch), six infield studio hosts (Musburger, Bestwick, Massaro, Chris Fowler, Erik Kuselias, and Suzy Kolber), and at least four infield studio analysts (Daugherty, Brewer, Wallace, and Ray Evernham). Three times during the season, the network did not use an infield studio for NASCAR Countdown, during the split races (where Nextel Cup and Busch Series were in different venues during the same weekend). Also, none of the talent has been at every race. In 2007, Daugherty had the longest streak, being at every race until the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway on June 16.

The main booth remained the same for all Sprint Cup races.

In 2008, Jarrett was to be granted two months off from the end of April to the end of June to prepare for being the analyst for all 17 Sprint Cup races.

The exact team to be used at each race is listed in an ESPN press release on this page.

See below for a more detailed list of announcers and their roles.

Announcers (1960s-2002)

NASCAR 2Day

Host

Race Coverage

Lap-by-Lap

Analysts

Pit Reporters

Announcers (in 2009)

Studio

Hosts

Analysts

Reporters

Correspondents

Race coverage

Booth commentary All Sprint Cup races

Selected Nationwide Series races, mostly first half of season

  • Rusty Wallace: (analyst, 2007-present) Select Nationwide Series races
  • Marty Reid: (lap-by-lap, 2007-present) Select Nationwide Series races
  • Allen Bestwick: (lap-by-lap, 2007-present) Select Nationwide Series races
  • Randy LaJoie: (analyst, 2007-present) Nationwide Series non-companion events
  • Ray Evernham: (analyst 2008-present) Select Nationwide Series races

Regular pit reporters

Fill in pit reporters

  • Mike Massaro: (pit reporter, 2007-present) Select Nationwide Series races
  • Jack Arute: (pit reporter 2007-present, Nationwide Series non-companion events)
  • Marty Smith: (pit reporter 2007, Nationwide Series at Montreal only)
  • Gary Gerould: (pit reporter 2007, Nationwide Series at Montreal only)
  • Rick Debruhl: (pit reporter 2009, Nationwide Series at Iowa only)

See also

References

  1. ^ NASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks
  2. ^ http://www.jayski.com/nationwide/2008/next/16kentucky.htm#notes NASCAR Nationwide Series News & Notes
  3. ^ This Stinks IMHO
  4. ^ Historic TV Simulcast Calms Angry Fans
  5. ^ "Nationwide race from Memphis to be on Speed, ESPN Classic". NASCAR Scene. 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2008-10-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ John M. Daly (2008-11-10). "The Day After The "Big Switch"". The Daly Planet. Retrieved 2008-11-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ John M. Daly (2008-03-15). "Another Long Day's Journey Into Night for ABC, ESPN". The Daly Planet. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ John M. Daly (2008-10-11). "Primetime NASCAR Racing On ABC Saturday Night". The Daly Planet. Retrieved 2008-10-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ John M. Daly (2008-10-26). "Even Atlanta Can't Provide TV Excitement". Daly Planet. Retrieved 2008-10-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ ESPN apologizes for lost TV feed
  11. ^ In-Progress From Nashville: Nationwide Series on ESPN2
  12. ^ Did you miss the end, too?
  13. ^ ESPN Pushes NASCAR To The Back Burner
  14. ^ The Daly Planet: Decision Time For Fans Is Right Now (Updated 1/2/08) Wow!
  15. ^ sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news
  16. ^ ESPN MediaZone - A Resource for Media Professionals
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