NASCAR Emerges As Social Media Leader

Marlon and the other 500 million Twitter users around the world are about to get a little more NASCAR in their lives. Being unveiled on Thursday is a new "landing page" on Twitter that will allow fans to get a lot more race information with one click.

Even though this column will use phrases like embellished hashtag, curated tweets and second screen the fact is that the bottom line is easy to understand. There is now so much information flowing on Twitter during Sprint Cup Series races it makes sense to manage it.

Many NASCAR fans use a second electronic device in addition to the TV while watching the races. Smart phones, laptops and tablets are part of what is called the second screen. That simply means that while watching the race on the TV screen many of us are actively involved in using another screen for more interaction and information.

The program of choice on the second screen for NASCAR fans has become Twitter. It is faster than Facebook, more flexible than texting and puts any live website-based chat into the weeds in terms of ease of use. Drivers, teams, racetracks, NASCAR officials and many other parties use Twitter to get information out to fans on race day.

On Twitter, users build timelines by selecting other users they want to follow. Tweets from all those users automatically pop-up in the timeline. It makes Twitter unique for every single user. Now that NASCAR has become so populated with various users sending information to fans, it's almost impossible to manage the volume.

One feature of Twitter is called a hashtag. This was created to allow users to focus on one event without changing their own timelines. By typing #NBAPlayoffs into Twitter's search box, all of the tweets that are being made about the live NBA game in progress can be seen. Once the game is over, users simply click back to their own timeline and return to the normal flow of information they had built.

The popularity of the #NASCAR hashtag during a Sprint Cup Series race is amazing. Any Twitter user can simply type #NASCAR at the end of a tweet and suddenly their opinion is automatically published side-by-side with teams, media members and even the NASCAR officials managing the race.

To focus on this issue, NASCAR is partnering with Twitter to enhance the #NASCAR hashtag during Sprint Cup Series races beginning this Sunday in Pocono. The idea is simple. Let the Twitter professionals look at the big picture of everything coming down the pipe about the race. Then, point the tweets that can embellish the fan experience over to the #NASCAR hashtag. That is not going to be an easy task.

The theory is that a Twitter editor/producer will be able to embellish the existing flow of information by picking and choosing featured tweets and highlighting them within the #NASCAR hashtag stream. If that sounds complicated, it really isn't.

Monday I spoke with Twitter executive Omid Ashtari about this new project. We recapped some issues fans had been discussing and focused on what both Twitter and NASCAR wanted this agenda to be.

Here are some hot button topics he addressed:

Content: Twitter will not restrict any content. All tweets containing the #NASCAR hashtag will continue to be automatically placed in the hashtag stream.

NASCAR: Twitter is providing the editor/producer for this project. NASCAR is not involved in what tweets are gathered and redistributed. The project will be coordinated from the Twitter offices.

TNT: The NASCAR TV network showing the race can sample any tweets from the #NASCAR hashtag stream, but there is no direct contact between the parties. There will be no promotion of TNT programming. The tweets selected for the hashtag stream will be NASCAR-related.

Advertising: There is no advertising being integrated into the hashtag stream and that is not on the agenda. No Twitter, NASCAR or TNT advertising will be added.

Editing: No tweets selected to be added to the hashtag stream will be edited.

Goal: The goal of this project is to embellish the existing #NASCAR hashtag stream with timely tweets from various NASCAR users throughout the Twitter universe. Many of those users are not involved in the hashtag stream, so their tweets will be added by the Twitter editor/producer.

The idea is to make the #NASCAR hashtag the place to be during the race for both Twitter users and non-users. The non-users will be able to view the stream at the twitter website, while the users will continue to be able to contribute through their own accounts.

Ashtari referenced that there is a wealth of NASCAR content during the races that simply goes to waste. By grabbing that content and adding it to the #NASCAR stream it may create an amazing second screen of content for fans. It certainly is an interesting concept and one that may pay big dividends for NASCAR if it picks up speed with the fan base. We will update this topic again before the weekend.

Please add your comments or questions on this topic. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.

Final Race Wrap: NASCAR On FOX From Dover

FOX produced the network's final Sprint Cup Series telecast of the 2012 season on Sunday afternoon from the Dover International Speedway. I recorded this race and will view it at a later time. This post is for your comments on the TV telecast.

Chris Myers hosted the pre-race show from the Hollywood Hotel. He was joined by Darrell and Michael Waltrip. After this weekend, Darrell will replace Kyle Petty on SPEED's RaceDay program for six races while Petty works for TNT as the lead analyst. Michael will continue as an analyst on the Camping World Truck Series telecasts, also on SPEED. Myers works the NFL for FOX when the season starts.

Jeff Hammond finished his first season as the roving reporter. Hammond was moved out of his longtime position by Michael Waltrip. The idea was to allow Hammond to move to locations in and around the tracks that the pit reporters could not access. He was also to focus on garage issues during the live races. Unofficially, Jeff Hammond will join Waltrip on the RaceDay program for the six TNT summer races.

Mike Joy hosted the telecast with Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds in the TV booth. McReynolds will continue on the air with his role as infield analyst for TNT. Joy works the Barrett Jackson auctions for SPEED and will fill other select roles for the network in 2012.

The NASCAR on FOX pit reporters are Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum. Berggren's contract with FOX has ended and he will not be returning. Neither party has commented on who made the decision to end his duties. Byrnes will continue to host RaceHub on SPEED Monday through Thursday. Voda continues her hosting role on the Trackside program on SPEED. Yocum will work pit road on the TNT races.

Monday will begin a series of columns updating the new TV and social media features TNT will be bringing to the sport. In the meantime, please give us your final review of the NASCAR on FOX team for 2012. Thank you as always for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Dr. Dirt Says Goodbye

Dick Berggren is now 70 years old. Sunday will be his final race working for the NASCAR on FOX team.

There are many unique personalities in motorsports media, but Berggren tops the list. Driver, announcer, reporter and editor are just some of the things he has done in his life. By the way, he taught college psychology for almost a decade after getting his doctorate from Tufts University.

A New England native, Berggren has already been inducted into the National Sprint Car and New England Auto Racers Halls of Fame. After ending his driving career, Berggren moved to reporter and then editor of Stock Car Racing Magazine. In the print world, he may be best known for launching Speedway Illustrated over a decade ago.

I met Berggren working on the ESPN telecasts of NASCAR in the 1980's. Professional, personable and informed summed him up best. He has worked for many TV networks over the years, but FOX proved to be his longest run. He is ending a TV career that in total spanned 32 seasons.

"As a colleague and friend, Dick has had no equal in the 40-plus years I've been in this business," Mike Joy told the Detroit Free Press. "He always has been the best-researched reporter on the ground. Whatever the event, Dick by far is the best-prepared pit reporter this business has ever known, and he always has brought a great degree of professionalism to every telecast he has worked."

Berggren will be focusing his time on seeing more New England area racing, spending time with his wife Kathy and coordinating a New England motorsports museum that will be located at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That is not to say the transition away from TV will be easy.

"I'm dreading the 2013 Daytona 500 because I won't be there on pit road as part of that team," Berggren said. "That will be hard, but nothing is forever and I understand that. But, it's time to move on."

Best of luck to Berggren as the newest chapter of his diverse life unfolds. His contributions to NASCAR TV are tough to summarize. Needless to say, he had a passion and pursued it vigorously. It will be interesting to see where he pops-up throughout the remainder of this racing season.

We invite your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button. Comments may be moderated prior to posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Final Sunday: Taking A TV Timeout

Update: This is my third and final weekend of putting the Sprint Cup Series race on the DVR. Last week, I watched highights on ESPN and SPEED but never viewed the entire race. Dover is the final FOX race of the season. There will be a post available for your post-race comments after the telecast is done. There are several columns below open for comments. I will return next weekend for TNT coverage. Thank you.

Original column: The man in the picture is Lou Cappi. He was featured in an ESPN photo essay showing people who work in support roles at football games. In the old days, Lou's position was called a "red hat." On the football sidelines, connected to the TV truck, would be a man standing there in a red baseball hat. He would signal to the officials on the field when to hold play for a TV commercial. The red hat made him easy to spot.

Now, orange mittens are all the rage in the NFL and they even come with a snappy logo. Lou crosses his arms when TV needs a commercial break and the officials will stop play after a possession or turnover. It's a system that makes sure the TV advertising revenue is inserted into each game every week.

In addition to the timouts called by each team, TV networks agree in advance with both college conferences and the NFL to a series of commercials that are going to be required in each half or quarter. These are the dreaded TV timeouts. They are much more annoying for those at the game than for the TV viewers.

The ultimate goal of both the referees and the TV networks is to insert the commercial inventory with as little disruption in the flow of the play as possible. Sometimes this is not a problem and the stoppages go almost unnoticed. However, sometimes the orange gloves get crossed just as the home team finally gets a drive going and the crowd reaction is less than favorable.

Needless to say, there are no TV timeouts in NASCAR. In fact, the TV network is not consulted on when to restart the race after an incident. NASCAR does its own thing and TV chases them from green to checkers. Opening the door to TV asking NASCAR to extend a caution flag would not yield good results.

Here at The Daly Planet, I tried to take a TV timeout a while back but readers were persuasive in asking me to continue to provide a place where opinions about various NASCAR TV and media topics could be discussed. Well, that was then and this is now.

I'm crossing the orange gloves and taking a break. The current Sprint Cup Series TV coverage is so frustrating that I am joining others in simply waiting to watch another live race until the TNT coverage begins. It was the last telecast that forced this move.

Here are some comments from veteran fans after Darlington:

Walter: "Since becoming a NASCAR fan in 1958 and attending my first race in 1960, I classify myself as a serious race fan. So I make my comments with a lengthy history and must say that never in 50+ years have I been so disappointed in the product shown by the broadcast partners."

JR: "I think there was a good Sprint Cup race at Darlington, but we didn't get to see or hear it! I've been quiet too long! I found myself yelling at the director for missing passes and showing insignificant shots. DW was totally distracting and usually wrong in (his) various comments. What a disgrace to the sport I love!"

KoHoSo: "I am tired of close-ups that give no sense of what is going on, something that is only fueling the fire that NASCAR is "boring" this year. How can we really judge if the racing is boring if all we see is one or two cars at a time all the time?"

SBaker: "I believe that I have watched every race from Darlington since ESPN began televising auto racing way back when. I even remember the Wide World of Sports attempts at showing the Southern 500. Last Saturday night I had to turn the TV off. Between the poor camera work and the Orators from Owensboro, I just couldn't take it any more."

Last week a firestorm erupted when I republished comments from a 2011 Jeff Gluck article at SBNation that the NASCAR TV networks do not care what fans think about the TV coverage. Gluck repeated his comments to me in a recent Twitter exchange.

"Those words from last year ring true today. The TV networks don't care about fan input and that's my point then and now," tweeted Gluck. "It does need to change, but they don't care what you or I think. They're going to do what they want."

Readers may remember that last year was the year of the fan. The NASCAR Fan Council was lauded as changing the sport for the better. Fan input on social media was actively encouraged. What the fans wanted was the product that NASCAR was going to put on the track.

This year fans are the enemy. Darrell Waltrip called the NASCAR Fan Council and Twitter out for forcing knee-jerk reactions in the sport. He said fans just don't know what they want. NASCAR's Robin Pemberton called fans needy for asking TV to show the debris when a caution flag was thrown. Select media members blamed fans wanting crashes as the reason for negative press about the sport being boring.

To say it is a confusing time to be a NASCAR fan might be the understatement of the year.

Watching Sprint Cup Series races on TV was once a joy. Now it is a burden. What used to bring excitement now brings only frustration. It's not the racing on the track but the fundamental inability to "see" the race on TV and get impartial analysis from the announcers that provides the anger.

The familiar hyper-tight coverage of FOX mixes only two cars on camera with even tighter in-car camera shots. There is no perspective, no chasing the best racing and no updates on stories inside of the race. The Kurt Busch pit road saga confirmed that. It's also become clear that telecast sponsors are given coverage priority. Nothing drove that point home like Danica Patrick and Go Daddy last Saturday night.

FOX paid the money to produce the Sprint Cup Series races through the end of 2014. The network has the total right to present the events on TV as they wish.

What they do not possess is the ability to make me watch the product they produce.

So, I'm taking a Sprint Cup Series TV timeout. Media columns will return next Monday and appear on select weekdays. The TDP Facebook page is being discontinued. The live (#TDP1) race stream on Twitter will end, but the TDP Twitter account (TheDalyPlanet) will continue to be active.

Thanks for your patience, I wish things were different but they simply are not. Happy to have your comments on the topics discussed in this post. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.

Trucks In Dover Go Live On SPEED

Miles the Monster was out working on track conditions at Dover on Thursday. He was preparing for the first of three days of racing to come. Thanks to the Speedway PR staff for the pic.

It's been years of complaining for fans who followed the Friday Dover truck series race on Twitter, Facebook and the various NASCAR websites. Since the facility has no lights, the race was actually run in the late afternoon and then aired on a tape-delayed basis in the evening on SPEED.

Needless to say, there was a lot of frustration that SPEED just simply did not air the race live at 5PM and then re-air it that night as scheduled. This year, the network and NASCAR decided to do just that.

Social media is sweeping through NASCAR like nothing before. All elements of the sport have been working hard to see just what new opportunities exist for the use of real time technology in getting information out to the fan base. Tracks, drivers, teams and sponsors have been working hard.

One result of all this information is that tape-delayed or time-shifted NASCAR TV programs have been exposed. In the past, SPEED would just list the truck race as airing at 8:30PM and fans would tune in. The hardcore fans would read the websites and get the results in advance.

These days more and more people have smart phones in their pocket that connect in a flash to streams of sports information. It's virtually impossible to hide things like the time-shifted Sprint Cup Series banquet, qualifying shows or K&N races. It's absolutely impossible for the three national touring series.

SPEED made a solid decision and should not suffer in the evening ratings. Working folks like us will tune-in Friday night when we get home regardless of whether the actual race was telecast live or not. Simply opening the TV window for those able to watch live makes all the sense in the world.

Krista Voda hosts the pre-race show. Rick Allen, Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons will call the race. Ray Dunlap and Hermie Sadler are the pit reporters. Once again keep an eye on the style of the director as he works to show the largest group of trucks racing and continues to use wider camera shots to keep the racing perspective for the fans at home.

This SPEED production team has constantly delivered a quality product on limited resources and manpower. There is just something to be said for using the TV equipment that is needed to show a race instead of using all the TV equipment possible to show a race.

This post will serve to host your comments on the truck series race from Dover. To add your opinion about the SPEED team before, during or after the telecast just click the comments button. Thanks for stopping by.

Last Chance For Romance

It was 1978 when the song "Last Dance" was released on the "Thank God It's Friday" movie soundtrack. It was sung by the queen of disco, the late Donna Summer. The song won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top 100.

In the song, Summer knows this is the last song of the night and her last chance:

Last dance, last chance for love.
Yes, it's my last chance for romance, tonight.

I need you, by me. Beside me, to guide me.
Cause when I'm bad I'm so so bad.

So, let's dance the last dance.
Let's dance the last dance.
Let's dance the last dance tonight.

Sunday afternoon the NASCAR on FOX team will take to the air from Dover International Speedway. No matter how good the telecast, the racing or the finish one thing is certain. This is the last dance for the FOX gang in 2012 and change is on the horizon.

It's been a decade of NASCAR for FOX Sports. The network came along when NASCAR needed a shot in the arm and delivered it. Larger than life personalities like "Ole DW" and "Larry Mac" mixed with "Hollywood Hammond" to become household names. Chris Myers served as the straight man in the infield while Mike Joy directed traffic in the TV booth.

Along the way, things changed. FOX began it's TV run with the passing of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in Daytona. Since that time the sport has meandered through good times and bad. The cars have changed, most of the drivers have changed and the Sprint Cup Series now races for a whole different kind of chase.

The FOX gang has aged before our eyes. The original excitement has given way to conversation and stories, perhaps as much a function of middle age as anything else. Agendas are plentiful and carried out with no apologies. FOX knows that come hell or high water it has two more seasons of Sprint Cup Series telecasts signed, sealed and delivered.

The fly in the ointment this season has been social media. NASCAR fans on Facebook and Twitter number in the millions and make their voices heard on topics relating to the FOX telecasts on a regular basis. Now, instead of a wall between the broadcasters and the consumers, there is a direct pathway for those consumers to make their voices heard.

Most individual members of the NASCAR on FOX team are regular Twitter users, many of them updating daily on both their TV and personal activities as they travel the racing trail. It's been an experience that has paid dividends and also come at a price. Sometimes, that price has been steep.

The FOX TV formula for years has been the same. The only change this season was the move of Jeff Hammond into the field as a roving reporter and the introduction of Michael Waltrip into the Hollywood Hotel. This left three announcers in the TV booth, one roving reporter, a host and analyst in the infield and four pit reporters. Ten voices in all.

The pictures remain the same. Other than Talladega's pack racing, FOX continues to move quickly to framing two cars in the camera shots as soon as possible after restarts. In-car camera are used frequently, despite the fact that seeing the actual racing on the track is often sacrificed. FOX makes an effort to replay in-car angles of drivers in accidents.

The Digger nonsense is long gone, but the various sponsored features now dominate the telecast. As we have seen over the years a segment of racing is followed by a commercial break. The most difficult task is to then reset the scene for TV viewers after the commercial is done. This often involves changes in position, cars out of the race, cars waved around and the order of a restart.

The senior management at FOX Sports has changed. The new executives in charge have made no bones about the fact they are looking at changing SPEED into a mainstream cable sports network in 2015 after the current NASCAR TV contract expires.

Dick Berggren has recently confirmed that this will be his final year as a pit reporter for FOX. Darrell Waltrip is now 65 years old. Negotiations on the new TV contract were supposed to be finalized this summer. Instead, they have yet to begin. It's certainly an interesting time as the FOX portion of the season draws to a close.

This is your opportunity to offer an opinion on the 2012 NASCAR on FOX season as the network prepares for it's own last dance. The brothers Waltrip, the lack of RaceBuddy, the side by side commercials and the pictures selected to show to TV viewers have all been hot topics this season.

Dover is a fitting end to the FOX portion of the season. Drivers pound it out on a concrete track with the casino in the background and the horse racing track in the infield. Surrounded by wagering FOX watches for the final time and gets ready for the hand-off to TNT for the summer.

Did you get what you wanted from NASCAR on FOX this season? Did you use other media while you watched the FOX telecast? Did you appreciate the analysis of the Waltrips? How would you rate the pit reporters? How about an opinion on Jeff Hammond in his first season as the roving reporter?

Happy to have your opinion on these and any other NASCAR on FOX topics you may want to discuss. Comments may be moderated prior to posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

SportsCenter: The Unwatchable Hour

The program that carried ESPN through the early stages of its existence was SportsCenter. The idea was simple. Use technology to record as many sports highlights as possible and then play them back in one show. There were no rights fees to pay, nothing to negotiate and plenty of sports up in the air to record.

The early version of SportsCenter at 7PM previewed the match-ups of the night and set the table. The 11PM version showed highlights of the East Coast games now over and updated the West Coast in-progress scores. Finally, at 2:30AM in the east, the wrap-up show put all the highlights in one place and then replayed in the morning.

Since that time over thirty years have passed. ESPN has become a global media company with digital businesses of all kinds. While the faces, sets and studio locations have changed one thing has remained constant. ESPN continues to use SportsCenter as the backbone of its existence.

These days, SportsCenter expands to fill the holes in the ESPN TV schedule that have seen various types of programming come and go. National business shows, exercise series and even movies have all been tried and failed. The bottom line is that ESPN struggles in dayparts when no live events are scheduled.

A quick check of the ESPN schedule shows just how valuable sports highlights and news are to the network. On Tuesday, 15 of the 24 hours on the ESPN network programming schedule will be filled by SportsCenter. In essence, SportsCenter is the de facto "filler show" between ESPN's live events.

While it made sense to show timely sports highlights when SportsCenter was made available on a limited basis, the opposite is true these days. The over-exposure of this franchise program has led it to morph into something few believed it could become. Sportscenter is now truly the unwatchable hour.

The late night show now originates from ESPN's Los Angeles studios. The morning and afternoon versions are now live from Bristol. The results of these efforts is often nothing more than a disjointed stream of seemingly random content. Even with the labels of the upcoming stories right on the TV screen, it's become very clear that a lot of this content is being created simply to fill time.

Now with such a demand, the network often focuses SportsCenter around a continual stream of experts who seemingly appear to be on-duty at the network 24 hours a day. From Barry Melrose and his mullet to the hyperactive Herm Edwards, there are always former athletes or coaches available to talk about anything. Their role is to take what should be a highlight and expand it into a full-length program segment. Their presence is often recorded, a fact that is rarely made clear to viewers.

The second wrinkle in the modern SportsCenter is the emergence of the non-story. The reporter assigned to document Tim Tebow's first organized team activity (OTA) as a New York Jet found out what others already knew. There was nothing to report. That no longer matters. Simply by taking a reporter, adding a sports celebrity and showing video of both it becomes content now suitable for the SportsCenter marathon.

What the plethora of in-house experts and the forced presence of non-stories has done is eliminate sports that do not fit the SportsCenter mold. Such is the saga of NASCAR and motorsports in general. Since 2007 and the new eight-year NASCAR TV deal with ESPN, nothing has been a bigger disaster than the lack of consistent coverage on the network's flagship news program.

Here at TDP, we have written story after story on the embarrassing and even comical manner in which the various SportsCenter anchors have tried to deal with NASCAR. Here are a few:

SportsCenter Drops The NASCAR Ball from September of 2008

Why SportsCenter Hates NASCAR  from June of 2011

This weekend both NASCAR and IndyCar ran Sunday races. The Indy 500 was featured on ABC while the Coke 600 was on FOX. Like many other Americans on holiday, I tuned into SportsCenter late Monday morning to watch the highlights and get the follow-up reporting on both races.

Dario Franchitti had won one of the most exciting Indy 500 races in years. This event is the jewel of the ESPN IndyCar TV package. The race featured a furious sequence of passing on the closing laps and a final lap crash that became the story of the race. ABC had left the coverage with many stories untold and missed showing many memorable images.

SportsCenter had no Indy 500 highlights, no follow-up and never even referenced the event during the three hours of programming I recorded.

Popular NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne had finally broken his run of bad luck and won in Charlotte. Danica Patrick dominated the pre-race publicity. Favorite Jimmie Johnson had trouble on pit road. There were stories throughout the field. ESPN carries the final 17 Sprint Cup Series races, including the entire Chase for the Championship.

The SportsCenter shows I recorded had no NASCAR highlights, no results and never referenced the race. Fans have told me an earlier AM version of the show had Rusty Wallace talking about the event. Wallace was in Bristol to appear on the 3PM Monday afternoon NASCAR Now program.

In 2011 some key ESPN staff members were taken on an "immersion trip" to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Click here to read the story. This trip was not arranged because things were going well, but because it was very clear NASCAR's presence on SportsCenter and other ESPN programs continued to be a struggle.

Now, one year later, my Monday SportsCenter experience included Steven A. Smith loudly debating NBA topics, extended analysis in May about the NFL season and a Top Plays feature that did not show the Indy 500 finish.

The unwatchable hour is alive and well. Perhaps that immersion was not quite deep enough.

We invite your opinion on this topic. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.