Race Wrap: Brickyard 400 on ESPN

ESPN started season six of Sprint Cup Series race coverage with the Brickyard 400. The race was called several different names depending on the sponsorship deals in place. The picture above was sent from a reader at the race.

The pre-race show featured Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Nicole Briscoe hosted from an outside terrace of the infield Pagoda. The topic of the Elliot Sadler penalty was handled less than four minutes into the telecast. The issue was completely updated and set the tone for a well-produced hour of pre-race programming.

Allen Bestwick called the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the TV booth. Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro were the pit road reporters. This group is very familiar with having few racing moments to work with on this track. That was the case again on Sunday.

While the announcers relayed solid information, the familiar ESPN coverage returned. Instead of stepping back and covering the race, ESPN likes to "make TV." The network director constantly went to in-car cameras and tight shots during key restarts. This resulted in TV viewers seeing even less of the actual racing for position and that was a shame.

The toys that ESPN brings to this race were in use, including the slo-mo replay and the bat-cam on pit road. Unfortunately, with the coverage philosophy in use things got rough to watch once the field settled down after restarts. Instead of the wide coverage the network uses for IndyCars, this was once again the "telescope" world of jumping from one car to another.

A final restart with 20 laps to go had the director using in-car cameras once again and missing the final pass for second place. The announcer commentary pushed the pictures wider, but the disconnect continued until the finish line. In the final 15 laps, the cameras zoomed-in over and over again.

As we have seen for years with this coverage, only the winning car was shown finishing the race. The ESPN teams is simply imitating a move they do on the Indy 500 coverage. This series and this race have absolutely nothing to do with one IndyCar event. It's the perfect cap for this disrespectful coverage.

ESPN has all the manpower, technology and solid announcers in place. Despite the lack of fans in the stands and compelling racing, the problem with this telecast rests squarely with the producer and director. If this is once again the way the network is going to handle the Sprint Cup Series, it does not bode well for a strong stretch run.

We welcome your opinions on the ESPN coverage of the Brickyard 400. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.

Live Blog Special: Brickyard 400 At A Crossroads

This is the ESPN pre-race show position for the Brickyard 400. The faces represent the talent assigned to the chairs and the ESPN employees are doing what is called "camera blocking." They are allowing the lighting techs, cameramen and the director to run through the pre-race script.

The Saturday script was Danica Patick. The pre-race show featured Katie Couric interviewing Danica. In the race, Danica started in the back of the pack and eventually crashed out in a self-induced moment that her crew chief Tony Eury Jr. called stupid driving. So much for the script.

The Sunday script is yet to be revealed, but it is believed to rotate around the prestige of the race. There is no Danica and no clear-cut favorite or emerging storyline this season. Former Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. is in the race, former Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon needs a win and ESPN TV darling Carl Edwards is having a terrible season. Those are likely candidates for mentions.

Nicole Briscoe gets Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty on the pre-race show. Allen Bestwick has Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree up in the TV booth. Jamie Little is off, so Mike Massaro will be joining Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch and Dave Burns on pit road. There is no more Tim Brewer or his Tech Garage.

TV coverage can be wide and inclusive at this big track or it can be myopic to the point of madness. Focusing on individual car battles to the exclusion of the bigger picture can lose TV viewers any perspective of what is happening on-track very quickly. The TV cameras can make beautiful pictures of the long backstretch and the scenic run into Turn 1. The question is will the director use them?

ESPN has been harsh in trying to make this race into NASCAR's version of the Indy 500. For these drivers, it is all about making the Chase for the Championship. This is only one in a long string of races that can put them in position to accomplish that goal. Taking a risk at Indy can only result in an accident that will end the day, affect the Chase and rile the sponsor.

The pit reporters are going to be key if this race settles into long green flag runs. Updating strategy may be the only storyline in progress unless there is an incident. The season to this point has featured conservative racing and battles that involve track position being decided on pit road.

ESPN will highlight a super slo-mo handheld camera on pit road to try and get some fresh replay angles. The "bat-cam" returns on a wire above the pits and will be zooming along at 80mph as it follows cars down the frontstretch and out of pit road. Once again the in-car camera technology will feature two different camera angles from the same car on the screen.

Bestwick is great at directing traffic and keeping things in perspective, but he does not pick the images being shown to fans or integrate the commercials and features. The ESPN Non-Stop commercial format does not start until the Chase, so the telecast today will have full-screen commercials from start to finish.

This season there will once again be a SportsCenter scheduled right after the race to allow for an extended post-race show. This has been a positive step, but often the SportsCenter anchors chosen to fill this slot have a low regard for NASCAR and have been happy to let it show on the air.

The real story of this race may be the fans in the stands. Reporters going to the track this morning were amazed that there was little or no race traffic. The Nationwide Series race yesterday drew a very small crowd as did the Friday sportscar event. Keep an ear out for how TV deals with the attendance issue.

The weather is good, the field is full and there have been no tire issues. NASCAR clearly explained the restart issues in the AM driver's meeting, so the only thing left to do is race. We will take your TV comments here today as well as on our Twitter live stream using the #TDP1 hashtag.

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by, there will be a new post up for your "Race Wrap" comments after the Brickyard 400 today.
 

Live Blog: TV Ratings Rest With Danica Patrick

In order to prop-up sluggish ticket sales for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, NASCAR moved the Saturday Nationwide Series race from the Lucas Oil Raceway short-track over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Everything that is done today in the Nationwide Series is being promoted as "historic."

The bottom line is that the sport is in a crisis, despite the lack of media coverage on that topic. Nationwide Series qualifying just ended as this post is being created and it literally looked as if there was no one in the stands except the relatives of the drivers.

The myriad of issues that the Sprint Cup Series has encountered at the speedway runs from shredding tires to bad weather. As most fans know, the vast majority of the passing is done on pit road and the track is known for long green flag runs as drivers try to manage their cars until the closing fuel run.

In today's Nationwide Series race, the focus of attention will be on the seven Sprint Cup Series drivers that crossed-over to race on Saturday and one female driver who manipulates the media like no other. That is ABC journalist Katie Couric shown standing with Danica Patrick on the yard of bricks. Couric shot a feature that will be the centerpiece of the ESPN pre-race show.

The script that would most interest NASCAR, ESPN and the speedway is for Danica Patrick to get her first NASCAR win in the inaugural Nationwide Series race at the track. Patrick qualified 20th, three spots behind 18 year-old driver Johanna Long, who is also in her rookie year in the Nationwide Series.

Marty Reid will call the race with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Reid will call all the Nationwide Series races for ESPN again this season. Jamie Little is off, so Mike Massaro will be joining Dr. Jerry Punch, Dave Burns and Vince Welch on pit road.

As we mentioned several weeks ago, ESPN has dropped Tim Brewer and parked the Tech Garage. Although disputing that he is gone for good, the network has no plans for us to see Brewer pointing at car parts this season during the Chase. Brewer is a colorful personality, but there was just no room for him in the telecasts down the stretch.

Nicole Briscoe has Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty with her from the Infield Pit Studio. This trio has a short pre-race show of thirty minutes and then may be left with little to do if the race settles into long green flag runs. Briscoe has proven to be very capable of dealing with a wide variety of circumstances in a live setting.

The Nationwide Series race is a calculated gamble for NASCAR. The series is not very deep and is normally dominated by the Sprint Cup Series drivers in the field during companion events. That was one of the best parts of having the race at Lucas Oil Raceway. It limited the number of drivers who wanted to do both events.

We are going to open comments on the TV presentation of the race today and live blog during the event. There has been lots of feedback that with the Olympics in progress and the small amount of tickets pre-sold for the race it could be a rough outing. The flipside is Danica could win, the sport would get a ton of buzz and the powers that be could be smiling from ear to ear. Pre-race at 4 and racing at 4:30PM on ESPN.

Day Two: The Silent Tears Of IRP

Update: Leaving this up as the lead story on Friday, got some great comments and feedback. There seems to be a lot of emotion about IRP and also about what NASCAR is currently doing at the Brickyard.

Built in 1960 on farmland seven miles down the road from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the motorsports complex known to veteran fans as Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) is legendary. The facility contains a drag strip, a road course and a flat oval track with the famous length of .686 of a mile.

On Labor Day weekend, the NHRA holds a celebration of speed known as "The Big Go." Just before the IndyCars race at the Brickyard, the USAC midgets stage "The Night Before The 500" race. When NASCAR comes to town in late July, the Kroger Speedfest gets underway with three nights of racing.

Designed as a companion event to the Brickyard 400, Speedfest became a mandatory destination for fans. Three classes of USAC and the ARCA series raced on Thursday. The Camping World Trucks raced on Friday and the Nationwide Series was the star of the show racing on Saturday night. It truly was short-track heaven.

The grandstands were full, the drivers loved it and watching the trucks and Nationwide Series battle it out at the bull-ring made for great TV. It was the perfect lead-in to the Brickyard 400 and the spectacle of the Sprint Cup Series teams racing on a track made famous by the IndyCars.

One year ago, ESPN.com's open-wheel reporter John Oreovicz reported news of a change in plans. Click here to read his story. In order to deal with sluggish ticket sales at the Brickyard, NASCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) were expanding the racing being offered on that weekend.

Two of NASCAR's in-house properties, the Rolex Grand-Am and Nationwide Series, would start racing on the Brickyard 400 weekend at the big track. In order to make sure the fans focused on IMS, NASCAR also cancelled the Camping World Truck Series race that weekend. Just like that, it was over for IRP.

"It was a complete shock and obviously we're pretty disappointed by it," IRP general manager Wes Collier told Oreovicz. "This was pretty much NASCAR's decision and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. We were willing to do whatever it took to keep the event here. But it was a business decision between NASCAR and IMS that left us on the outside looking in."

The new pitch for the Brickyard 400 weekend is three races for fans to see. The Grand-Am cars race on the infield road course Friday, the Nationwide Series on Saturday and the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday. What is left of Speedfest at IRP is the ARCA series and three classes of USAC open-wheelers.

The current title sponsor at IRP is Lucas Oil. Company founder Forrest Lucas is not happy about the change. "They're going to give up a really good race where the fans love the racing," Lucas told CompetitionPlus.com. "It's good television and the fans can watch it. There are some races that are better to watch on a short track. They might make that weekend bigger to have all three classes there, but I can't see 'em having any fans."

"I hate to see it move," ESPN NASCAR analyst Dale Jarrett told Oreovicz. "Races like that one that are separate from Cup races helped give the series its own identity and I think they need more of those." There are currently seven Sprint Cup Series drivers who will cross-over and race on Saturday at the Brickyard.

NASCAR's goal is to elevate the relocated Nationwide Series race to high-profile status. The race gets ESPN exposure on Saturday with the network using all the special TV equipment brought in for the Sunday event. It's also important for ESPN to pull-out all the stops for another reason.

During the Nationwide Series pre-race show, ABC journalist Katie Couric will interview Danica Patrick in a pre-produced feature as the centerpiece of the program. The ability to promote a media star like Patrick on a big stage is what ESPN does best. The ultimate script for NASCAR, IMS and ESPN would be for Patrick to finally get her Indy win in the inaugural Nationwide Series race at the Brickyard.

Meanwhile, over at the small track the beat goes on. The loss of the two NASCAR races will not sink the facility. In fact, Lucas Oil is staying on as title sponsor and there will be over one hundred events on the calendar this year alone.

Change is certainly a constant in life, but after 30 years of NASCAR racing with more than 15 in support of the Brickyard 400, the silent tears of IRP are easy to understand.

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

AJ Allmendinger "B" Sample Fails: Updated

Tuesday evening just prior to 9PM ET a press release was forwarded to the media from NASCAR. Here is the copy:

"AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 22 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body's substance abuse policy."

On July 24,Allmendinger was found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 19 (NASCAR's substance abuse policy) of the 2012 NASCAR rule book.

As outlined in the rule book, NASCAR next will provide Allmendinger a letter outlining a process for reinstatement. By agreeing to the letter, he will be allowed to participate in the Road to Recovery Program.

The surprise in this announcement was that both Allmendinger's spokespeople and many media members had been relating that the results of this test would not be available until late Wednesday or early Thursday. The timing of this announcement, long after regular business hours on the East Coast, is just as awkward as the original notice of a substance abuse policy violation only hours before a Sprint Cup Series race.
 
At 9:45PM, ESPN's Marty Smith passed this along on Twitter: Allmendinger's agent stated the sample was "within nanograms" of accepted tolerance. (That) they're unsure whether to fight or do NASCAR recovery program.

Minutes later a full statement was released at 10PM ET from Tara Ragan, AJ's longtime business manager. It reads:

"Aegis Analytical Laboratories in Nashville has delivered the results of the 'B' sample test for Penske Racing driver AJ Allmendinger, which confirmed the results of the 'A" test"

"This was not the news we wanted to hear and we will work to get to the source of what may have caused this. To that end, we have secured the services of an independent lab to conduct thorough testing on every product within AJ's home and motor coach to find what might collaborate with his test, which created results that were within nanograms of accepted standards. We are working closely with NASCAR and Penske Racing to identify the next action steps in this process."

"We continue to be extremely grateful by the breadth and scope of support for AJ from his fans and partners. We would like to again thank NASCAR, Penske Racing and all our sponsor partners for the open communication, and for helping us at every step in this process. We expect to have further updates in the upcoming days."

The next stop for Ragan was the SiriusXM Radio NASCAR channel. She repeated the content of her statement but then answered the question most fans and media have been asking.

SiriusXM radio: Do you have any plays to reveal what the substance is?

Ragan: It's a good question. I don't have the answer to that right now. I agree with you. It matters to us. It matters to him. I think, for sure, you're right, there are things that have various connotations to them. We want to get to the bottom of it. I believe that will be the case. Until I get the secondary report and we do that with the lab, which is going to start first thing in the morning. again it's kind of like a needle in the haystack, so I don't really know what it is we're looking for what it is that we've got.''

The paragraph above was transcribed and made available by reporter Dustin Long of SI.com and Athlon Sports. Thanks to him for the content.

Wednesday brings a 3PM version of the NASCAR Now program on ESPN2 and a 6PM live Race Hub program over on SPEED. It should be interesting to watch how these two very different networks approach the issue.

Ms. Ragan has been a public relations professional throughout this ordeal and often allows facts to emerge by simply disclosing others. In saying Allmendinger was slightly over the limit for a stimulant, she pushes aside the issue of illegal drugs and alcohol. By controlling the information flow and not allowing Allmendinger to speak with the media she removes the potential for his words to take on different meaning. That potential was on display with the Jeremy Mayfield suspension and subsequent media mayhem.

Update: Early Wednesday morning Allmendinger took to Twitter for some messages. Here they are:

"I just want to say thank you first and foremost for all of u sticking by me. Please dont think me being (silent) means i havent been reading all ur support."

"And man, it means more than u will ever know. Im sorry we even have to have this going on. But i promise ..i will do whatever it Takes to get to the bottom of this and get back our there no matter what. Thanks guys."
This post will continue to be updated on Wednesday with whatever information becomes available. In the meantime, we invite your opinion on this topic. Comments may be moderated prior to posting.

ESPN Faces Season Six Challenge (Updated)

It's that time of the year once again. FOX and TNT are done with the Sprint Cup Series and now ESPN adds that coverage to the network's ongoing Nationwide Series effort. In other words, it's crunch time.

The Worldwide Leader returned to NASCAR in 2007 and quickly found that times had changed. The on-air product was just not clicking with the fan base. As a result, there have been many changes in key on-air personalities over the years. This season, former crew chief Tim Brewer has been quietly phased out and his Tech Garage has been parked.

Starting with the Brickyard 400, it will be Allen Bestwick calling the Sprint Cup Series races with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree alongside in the TV booth. Marty Reid will step-in to call the Nationwide Series races. Once again this season Jarrett and Petree will do double-duty on both series.

Nicole Briscoe will anchor the telecasts from the infield with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. The versatile Briscoe has been co-anchoring the "NASCAR Now" news program and also working as a field reporter for ESPN since coming to the network from SPEED in 2008.

Moving Dr. Jerry Punch back to pit road from the announce booth was a solid move. It let him return to his best role as a reporter. This season Punch will be joined once again by veterans Vince Welch, Dave Burns and Jamie Little. Also working on pit road assignments will be Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake.

A welcome addition to the Brickyard 400 coverage will be Ray Evernham. Located in the infield, Evernham will provide a unique perspective that Wallace and Daugherty simply cannot. Evernham is long since removed from controversy and now can speak to a wide variety of topics as a major figure in the sport's history.

In terms of technology, ESPN's Sprint Cup Series coverage does not have the online RaceBuddy but it does have ESPN Non-Stop. That is the network's name for the split-screen commercial format shown above. During the second half of each Chase for the Championship race, the national commercials will be shown this way. That means the first seven races, starting with this weekend's coverage, will be presented in the traditional full-screen fashion.

Update 7/23 1PM: Informed that the 14 ESPN Sprint Cup Series races (3 are on ABC) will have some form of RaceBuddy, but that ESPN did not include that information in media materials. Awaiting a response from Turner Sports on how many camera views and what other production elements will be included.

14 of the final 17 races will be on ESPN with the other three on ABC Saturday nights. The ESPN races will be available online, but only to select ESPN cable TV subscribers. The WatchESPN service basically allows the cable network's feeds to appear on laptops, tablets and smart phones. The good news is that it makes ESPN's family of networks portable. The bad news is that not all cable companies offer it.

Just like last season, the transition between the tech-heavy TNT and the traditional ESPN coverage should be a tad rough. No RaceBuddy, no team scanners and no split-screen commercials will make the first race in the ESPN TV package a challenge. This year, the radio call of the race will be available online, but that still does not solve the biggest TV issue of the season.

The amount of TV commercials shown in Sprint Cup Series races has not changed, but the expectations of the fan base certainly have. Now informed by social media, fans are acutely aware of just how much race content and information is being swept aside during commercial breaks. The tipping point was the TNT race from Kentucky, where one-third of the racing was covered by what seemed to be the same three or four commercials.

In the ultimate irony, TNT then presented the Daytona race without any full-screen commercials and used the "Wide Open" coverage to show the real potential of modern TV production techniques. The final TNT race from Loudon quickly restored the grim reality of what ESPN will face at Indy. Trying to integrate commercials into a race where passing is done on pit road and long green flag runs are the order of the day.

In the past, ESPN has over-hyped the Brickyard 400 by trying to make it NASCAR's version of the Indy 500. This year, instead of the Infield Pit Studio, Briscoe and her three analysts will be sitting outside on a terrace of the famed infield Pagoda for the pre-race show.

One of the pre-race features airing that weekend will be reported by Katie Couric, now an ABC journalist. She will speak to part-time Sprint Cup Series driver Danica Patrick. The topics Patrick will discuss are listed as "her transition to NASCAR, how people perceive her as a person and possible sexism she might face on a daily basis at the racetrack."

The hype of 74 cameras, a Super Slo-Mo cam for pitstops and the return of the 80 mph frontstretch "bat cam" will be over after the Brickyard. What comes next is something so familiar to fans it has become a running joke. The focus on the Chase for the Championship begins right after Indy.

For the past six years, ESPN has taken out the Chase hype stick and beat fans over the head with it for the better part of four months. We have repeatedly answered that loyal fans of one driver do not make a change if their driver is not in Chase contention. Eliminating TV coverage of these drivers simply eliminates the fans of that driver as TV viewers.

Fans of Jeff Gordon, Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya want to see coverage of these drivers. All three may miss the Chase. Should that change their TV coverage? If history repeats itself, all three may not be even mentioned in an entire race telecast during the Chase unless leading the race or crashing.

The fundamental problem with NASCAR's playoff system is that all the teams are still out there racing. While TV tries to show the race leaders and also constantly update the Chase, the sad reality is that entire teams fall off the radar. This year those teams may be from Hendrick, Ganassi and other powerhouse players in the sport.

This week ESPN will hold its annual media conference call to discuss more specifics of coverage and answer questions. We will update those details with another post mid-week. In the meantime, we welcome your comments about ESPN returning to Sprint Cup Series coverage for season six.

A Changing Of The Guard At FOX Sports

As the story goes, Humpy Wheeler's daughter Patti introduced Aussie David Hill to the sport of NASCAR. Hill was under orders from News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch to plant the FOX Sports flag in the states. Hill took one look at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, the loyal fans and the spectacle of 43 cars at high speed and was hooked.

The result was a franchise called "NASCAR on FOX." Familiar TV faces like Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond have Hill to thank for their careers after racing. The sport has Hill to thank for coming along at a key moment in NASCAR history and as they say, "growing the franchise."

Sports Emmy awards followed and Hill expanded the FOX Sports brand far beyond the world of NASCAR. The colorful Hill was a marked contrast to the monochrome network sports executives who prowl the mean streets of New York City. Hill decided to set-up shop in Los Angeles, have an adult beverage or two and speak his mind.

After more than a decade at the helm, Hill has most recently been the chairman of the FOX Sports division. Things started to change when a young executive named Eric Shanks left DirecTV and joined FOX Sports as president in June of 2010. Six months later, FOX veteran Randy Freer was named co-president of the newly formed FOX Sports Media Group with Shanks.

These two would now be in charge of all the networks, brands and digital properties involved with FOX Sports. The power had shifted to a different generation of executives who spoke the digital language and were concerned with brand marketing and image. The handwriting was on the wall.

Monday it was made official that Hill was moving on. He will become an Executive Vice President of News Corp. itself. Hill will be working on international projects and new business. For the first time since he came across the pond, David Hill's influence will be gone from FOX sports.

Hill was also key to establishing SPEED in Charlotte, NC and pushing for it to become the official NASCAR TV Network. While that part of the plan did not work out, there is no doubt that the very existence of SPEED is due to its core of NASCAR programming.

Shanks and Freer are said to be actively negotiating with NASCAR on a new TV contract. There have even been hints that FOX wants more Sprint Cup Series races. The key question in the overall equation is the future of SPEED itself. Rumors are swirling that FOX will close SPEED, rebrand it as a general sports cable TV network and use it to chase ESPN in the program rights marketplace.

SPEED currently carries the vast majority of the practice, qualifying and support programming for NASCAR. When there is heavy lifting to be done, from the Hall of Fame to the All-Star Race, NASCAR relies on SPEED. Certainly no new TV contract will be put in place without a strong foundation of what is called "shoulder programming" from SPEED or the newly branded sports network.

While Hill was outspoken and opinionated, the new management duo is focused and calculated. What becomes of FOX Sports, SPEED and the company's relationship with NASCAR will be revealed before this year is out. There are many interested parties waiting for that answer.

While Hill did tinker with start times and bring us Digger, the vast majority of his NASCAR influence revolved around promoting stock car racing to a larger audience. He ushered the sport through an uncertain time with gimmicks like the Hollywood Hotel and created personas like "Ole DW and Larry Mac." There was a time when "NASCAR on FOX" was king.

Hill will remain based in LA, so there is little doubt that Shanks and Freer may wind-up having frequent conversations with the cantankerous Aussie when he thinks of yet another idea that seems perfect for the NASCAR on FOX coverage. Some things will never change.

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