Kansas is a track that can come down to good racing or simply gas mileage. NASCAR needs some exciting racing on the track and ABC needs a good telecast to get back on the TV track.
Once again, it will be Allen Bestwick that wades into the 1PM timeslot and goes up against the early NFL games with NASCAR Countdown. Bestwick has Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty along for the ride. Expect a recap of Edwards hitting the wall last season, Logano rolling over and the up to the second Chase points.
The TV team has one hour to fill on the pre-race show. Expect the relationship between the ESPN pit reporters and the drivers to be on display once again. After two hours of RaceDay, the different answers that drivers give to the ESPN team is fascinating. My theory is good questions get good answers.
Jerry Punch was off Saturday as Marty Reid called the Nationwide Series race. Punch walks into another tough situation with lower TV ratings and disjointed coverage plaguing this portion of the schedule. His knowledge of the sport is tremendous and he has two top analysts with him. The big pressure is not only on the Chase drivers.
Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree have formed a team. Unfortunately, Punch is not on it. The duo has worked with Punch, Reid and even alone this season. They have come to rely on each other on the air and let the play-by-play person do their own thing.
Kansas is going to allow the Director to go in-car a lot. This big sweeping track is so different from Dover that the TV presentation will feature a lot of looking for side-by-side racing once the field settles in. Expect lots of driver soundbites played back and the infield gang to get plenty of air time.
If this race turns out to be competitive from the start, it could be just what both the sport and the ESPN gang really needs. After the buzz from the Logano wreck and the hard racing last week, there is no doubt that some new eyes will be checking out the Kansas action once the race is underway.
Jamie Little, Shannon Spake, Vince Welch and Dave Burns are the pit reporters. Tim Brewer rounds-out the on-air talent as he reports from the Tech Garage. This is ESPN's "A team" and they are all squarely in the middle of crunch time.
This post will serve to host your comments on the ABC coverage of the Sprint Cup Series from the Kansas Speedway. To add your TV-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
