Highlights from NASCAR ESPN Backseat Drivers Media Conference Call
ESPN2’s live coverage of the Aug. 15 CARFAX 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway will have a new and different approach as the telecast will prominently feature five former NASCAR champions and will be done without a traditional “play by play” announcer. ESPN’s “Backseat Drivers” telecast will engage NASCAR fans with the authenticity and experience of analysts Tim Brewer, Ray Evernham, Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree and Rusty Wallace. With Brewer contributing reports and analysis from the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage, Evernham, Jarrett, Petree and Wallace will call the race from the booth. In addition to the five champions, the telecast will include pit reporters Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, while Allen Bestwick will host. The race airs Saturday, Aug. 15, at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Wallace and Evernham participated in NASCAR’s weekly media video conference call today. Some highlight quotes:
General thoughts on the format of the telecast:
RUSTY WALLACE: Well, I’m looking forward to the idea. Myself and Ray and Andy and DJ, we’ve probably got a lot to talk about, that’s for sure. We’ve all won at Michigan before and we’ve all got stories to tell.
I guess my biggest concern is that I don’t step over the top of each other and we don’t keep interrupting each other and stuff like that. I think once we get about ten minutes into the broadcast we’ll find our home and understand where we’re at. It’s going to be a different process for sure; instead of saying here they go, here they come, this guy is passing this guy or whatever, we’re going to be able to comment on how the race is going and from our past experience what we thing we should do to do win is race or what I would have done or what Ray might do. It’s going to be a different type of broadcast. I feel comfortable with it, I’m excited about it, and when it’s all said and done, it’s either going to work or won’t work and we’ll see what happens.
RAY EVERNHAM: I really enjoy the role on ESPN. After racing for years with DJ and Andy and Rusty, it’s like we’re all kind of doing the same thing still, so I get to see the guys. But as much as we’ve done together, we still have different opinions on things, and it’s great to be able to spar back and forth, and you’ve got DJ and Andy in the booth, and they’re kind of you know, they’re one way, more conservative, type of approach, and then you’ve got Rusty and I, we’re wide open, do, whatever, gamble, two tires, no tires. So I think it’s going to be a great deal and I’m really looking forward to it. Unlike Rusty, I really believe that we’re going to be talking over one another and stopping and saying, no, man, that’s not the way it is. But I think that’s what ESPN wants, and I think that’s what the fans are really going to enjoy.
On the subject of who among the analysts is going to be leading the show:
RAY EVERNHAM: As far as I know, when we drop the green flag we’re all headed towards the first corner together, so you know this group, someone is going to be trying to lead. I think I’m going to rely on DJ a little bit to help in and out and Allen Bestwick will really be traffic cop, but it’s going to be up to us. We’ve all been able to take tosses from the director, from (ESPN senior motorsports producer) Neil Goldberg, on when to pass to the pit reporters or when to go to break, so we can all kind of do that. It will be a bit of a different show.
It’s not really going to be a free for all because we really do have a conversation flow. I don’t know if you got to see the roundtable discussion that we did from the boxing ring for ESPN, but it’ll be a little bit of stepping over. But I think clearly ESPN doesn’t want a direction, they don’t want somebody in the lead. They want us, they want our personalities, they want us to be just like we’re sitting around a table at somebody’s house watching the race on television talking about it.
RUSTY WALLACE: I totally agree, I think DJ has been in the booth a lot the last couple years, and I think when it comes down to maybe trying to end a conversation or take it to a break or to commercial, Neil Goldberg our producer will tell him that, but we’ll be all hearing the same thing. This isn’t something that’s real hard. We’ve been doing this for a long time.
But one thing I think you’ll see that will be different, I don’t think you’ll hear a lot of numbers. You won’t be hearing a lot of statistical information. You’ll hear a lot of talk about what we’ve done in the past and what we would do or what we wouldn’t do and more of kind of an open table conversation. We won’t be talking about what city the guy grew up in, how many top 10 finishes he’s had, how many top 5s he’s had, all the number stuff that to me is really boring. I think we’re going to talk racing and try to call what’s on the track, and like Ray said, DJ will be a little bit of a traffic cop in there.
RAY EVERNHAM: You’ll probably hear some of, “Don’t tell me, I beat you in 2000,” or “Don’t tell me, I beat you in 2001,” and “you should have done this.” It’ll be a lot like that.
On the subject of Evernham’s role with ESPN and if he misses the competition side of the sport:
RAY EVERNHAM: I think you miss certainly certain aspects of it. I mean, I love cars, I love to work on them and I love to be in the race. But I don’t miss the 36 or 40 weekends a year and all the stress that went along with it.
I had a good career, and I’m happy with that. I don’t really feel like I’ll be looking to do something full time in Cup. I love to be involved, consult. As I said, I love the sport. I don’t ever plan on walking away from it, but I don’t really ever plan to get back up on the box full time, either.
I do enjoy my role with ESPN. I’m a very team oriented person, and I love to go to the racetrack with these guys. When you get there it’s a team atmosphere. You’re around a bunch of racing people in a relaxed mode. As I said, Rusty and DJ and Andy and I have all become good friends because we don’t have to compete against each other every week. Heck, there was a time you couldn’t keep Rusty and I from wanting to fist fight and now we travel around together. I do enjoy the ESPN role a lot. I do see myself somehow being involved either in NASCAR or from the mechanical side in the future but certainly not on a full time basis.
The analysts were asked how they will keep themselves from second-guessing the teams and drivers during the telecast:
RAY EVERNHAM: We’re not. That’s the whole reason for the broadcast. We’re going to second guess the teams, we’re going to second guess one another, we’re going to talk about stuff that we did, we’re going to say what’s good and what we think is wrong. I mean, we’re going to have fun with it, and you go out on a limb sometimes when you’re second guessing some strategy and find that you get taught something by some of these new crew chiefs. So I’m looking forward to it. I guess that’s the point is they’re hoping that DJ and Rusty second guess the drivers, and they’re opening that Andy and I are second guessing crew chiefs and that we’re second guessing Rusty and DJ and vice versa, no different than it really is on the radio between a crew chief and a driver. You’re always going back and forth. There’s going to be a lot of that going on from our side.
RUSTY WALLACE: I agree. We’re going to say what we think. We’re not going to go into the broadcast trying to say, okay, I’m going to disagree with you six or eight times just to try to spice the show up, none of that stuff. I’m going to say, look, when I won my four races at Michigan, this is how I did it and this is what happens in the race. You’re going to qualify down low, you’re going to race on the top of Turn 3 and 4, you’re probably going to be on the bottom of 1 and 2. Yeah, it’s a wide racetrack, it’s one of the biggest racetracks out there. We’re going to say it’s in all the car companies’ backyards so there’s extra incentive to run. You’ll hear things like that. I don’t think you’ll hear a lot of emotional, he’s passing low, he’s passing high, like a play by play guy might do. Obviously we’ll do some of that, but there should be a lot of information flowing back and forth.
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About NASCAR on ESPN:
ESPN and ABC have comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season. All programming is produced totally in high definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 19 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.
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