Bill Weber is gone from the NASCAR on TNT coverage for the final two Sprint Cup Series events on the network. TNT confirmed this with The Daly Planet on Wednesday morning.
Weber was scheduled to call the Wide-Open coverage for the network from Daytona on Saturday night. The summer race in Daytona is TNT's showcase event for the network's six race TV package.
Ralph Sheheen will handle the play-by-play duties for Daytona and Chicago with Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach alongside. TV ratings for the Sprint Cup Series race from Loudon, NH were up slightly and that may have played a role in this decision.
Weber was involved in a late night incident last Friday night at the TNT hotel in Manchester, NH. It spilled-over into Weber being sent home by TNT executives on Saturday and now his release from the TV package.
TNT has been tight-lipped about the issue and gave no indication whether or not Weber would continue with the network in 2010. Here is the official TNT release:
Bill Weber will not be part of TNT's NASCAR coverage of the Cup Series for the network’s last two races. Ralph Sheheen will handle play-by-play duties for The Coke Zero 400 in Daytona and the LifeLock.com 400 from Chicagoland. Sheheen will be calling the races alongside analysts Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach in the booth.
Several reporters suggested that this was coming, but TDP waited until the official information came from the TV network that held Weber's contract.
Click here for a great story from SPEEDtv's Jade Gurss about Sheheen and his Loudon experience.
2PM Update: Adam Alexander has been added as a pit reporter for TNT's coverage of Daytona. He will replace Ralph Sheheen who will handle the play-by-play duties.
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