It's always interesting when SPEED and ESPN share a day of NASCAR racing. Friday at Richmond International Raceway, the networks are at it again. SPEED is set to offer seven hours of NASCAR programming before handing off to ESPN2 for the Nationwide Series race.
The big boys from NASCAR on FOX are up first. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip start the day at 12PM ET with Sprint Cup Series practice. In between the sessions at 1:30PM Steve Byrnes hosts an episode of NASCAR Live.
Randy Pemberton is with Byrnes on the SPEED Stage while Hermie Sadler and Bob Dillner handle the reporting duties from the garage area. This program is usually very interesting as the interviews from crew chiefs and drivers can indicate in which direction a team is going as far as dialing-in the car.
The NASCAR on FOX team again handles the second session for the Cup Series. Byrnes comes back at 3:30PM with NASCAR Live while the Nationwide cars are being lined-up for qualifying. This is a weekend where both qualifying sessions are on SPEED.
It will be Kyle Petty and Randy Pemberton in the booth for Nationwide Series qualifying at 4PM with Joy. Normally, Hermie Sadler, Byrnes and Jeff Hammond handle this session. On this Friday, however, Hammond and Byrnes will be busy taping the Trackside program while Sadler will be trying to qualify his own car for the Nationwide Series race.
Joy's long Friday finally comes to a close as he hosts Sprint Cup Series qualifying at 5:30PM with Waltrip and McReynolds. This trio has a lot of fun with these telecasts. Perhaps this week, some of that fun might translate over to the NASCAR on FOX Saturday night race coverage. FOX needs some energy in the booth right now.
ESPN has some new faces in new places this weekend. Allen Bestwick has moved into the TV booth to call the race while Marty Reid handles an IndyCar telecast for ABC in Kansas. Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree will be the analysts.
Nicole Briscoe comes over from the NASCAR Now program to anchor the Nationwide Series pre-race show that begins at 7PM. That is a new pic of Briscoe above courtesy of ESPN. You can click on it to see it full-size.
With Jamie Little and Vince Welch also covering IndyCars, Mike Massaro will return to his old stomping grounds and anchor the pit road team alongside Dr. Jerry Punch and Dave Burns. Shannon Spake is up at ESPN handling the NASCAR Now duties this week.
This post will serve to host the comments of the daytime coverage on SPEED. There will be a new post up for the Nationwide Series race on ESPN2. To add your comment about SPEED's Friday TV from Richmond, 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 The Daly Planet.