[vincesanity82]

ESPN will provide extensive multimedia coverage of the final 17 races of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season, beginning with the July 29 running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The telecast, which begins at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, July 29, will be in high definition on ESPN. Dr. Jerry Punch will call the race with analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree and pit reporters Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Brent Musburger will host the telecast, and Suzy Kolber will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown show with analyst Brad Daugherty. Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN DISH Tech Center.
Of the 17 races, the first six will be televised on ESPN, with the final 11 televised by ESPN on ABC. All races in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup will be on ABC, marking the first time since NASCAR instituted the Chase format that all 10 races will be on the same network. Practice and qualifying from 13 of the races will be televised on ESPN2.
ESPN, which has televised more NASCAR Cup races than any other network, is covering NASCAR Cup racing for the first time since 2000. In addition, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Busch Series all season. All race telecasts include a dedicated NASCAR Countdown pre-race show and all are presented in high definition, including the first-ever use of high definition in-car cameras.

ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN was honored with 17 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

The Frontstretch: ESPN's 17 Multimedia Platforms Deliver Unprecedented NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Coverage

[BringBackWilkesboro]

I don't see where this is unprecedented coverage. It just looks to me like most everything that is normally on SPEED is moving to ESPN.

I'm not really impressed by the coverage team either. Dr. Punch is doing a suprisingly bad job with "play by play", Rusty and Andy talk more about what the cars act like and aerodynamics and such more than DW and Larry did, and I have no idea who Jamie Little or Suzy Kolber are. We'll just see what happens.

[wingkey1]

Boy I was really hopin' that the thread title was going to lead to some info that indicated there would be very limited commercial content.

Dang.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

Originally Posted by wingkey1

Boy I was really hopin' that the thread title was going to lead to some info that indicated there would be very limited commercial content.

Dang.

Would have been nice.

[LSC9901]

I haven't seen Jerry Punch in a long time but he used to be OK. Rusty on the other hand has yet to impress me. He can't seem to talk without frantically waving his hands. So much so that it looks totally un-natural.

I'm also with you BBW ... never heard of the others. Time will tell. If the big deal is going to be HD I think they are forgetting that we need to hear what is going on also. Still gotta be better than DW and the other village idiots.

[Mike24]

who cares about the commentators, I just want to see a race.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by wingkey1

Boy I was really hopin' that the thread title was going to lead to some info that indicated there would be very limited commercial content.

Dang.

Yeah was hopin that we would be hearing that they were gonna have the split screen. So much for that idea.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

I don't see where this is unprecedented coverage. It just looks to me like most everything that is normally on SPEED is moving to ESPN.

I'm not really impressed by the coverage team either. Dr. Punch is doing a suprisingly bad job with "play by play", Rusty and Andy talk more about what the cars act like and aerodynamics and such more than DW and Larry did, and I have no idea who Jamie Little or Suzy Kolber are. We'll just see what happens.

Once again, we're in sync.

I had some really high hopes when they announced that ESPN was coming back but it just goes to show that the old adage "You can never return..." holds true.

Dr Jerry is a good interviewer but horrible in the booth.
Rusty is a major failure
Andy P only has one good thing going for him; he sounds like Ned Jarrett.

From what I've seen of the technical toys and special effects stuff they have is that is big-time overkill.

As far as I'm concerned the best things that ESPN has going for it is who they DON'T have... They haven't a booth cluttered up with Bill Weber and his hairdo. They DON'T have the two most despicable personages in the history of race announcing, DW and his trusty sidekick, Larry Mac. They DON'T have Marty Schneider nor Matt Yoakum in the pits.

Jamie Little and Suzy Kolber? I figure that they were at some Home Depot looking for day work and jumped into the wrong pickup. It's shows that you can do wonders with some soap, good clothing and some elocution lessons.

[bears9]

Ive been looking foward to ESPN's cup coverage sinece the season's started.Theyve done a great Job with the Buch Series this year.I didnt know it was on TV before let alone watching every week before ESPN started covering it.But im wondering how ESPN will cover Jeff Gordon &Jimmie Johnson rather Stephan Leight and Mike Wallace.