NASCAR on TNT
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NASCAR on TNT is the tagname for any NASCAR series race that has been broadcast on TNT by Turner Sports.
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[edit] Prior to 2001
Prior to 2001, Turner Sports' home for NASCAR was TNT's sister station, TBS. With the new contracts signed for 2001, Turner entered a partnership with NBC and moved its races to TNT. TBS aired side by side coverage during commercials during the 2000 UAW-GM Quality 500 in Charlotte.
Booth announcers/analysts included Ken Squier, Buddy Baker, and Dick Berggren. After TBS made a host/booth switch, Allen Bestwick became the lap-by-lap announcer with Baker and Berggren in the booth for TBS' 2000 coverage at Lowe's and Pocono.
[edit] 2001-2006
TNT aired its first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race under the new contract at New Hampshire International Speedway in July 2001. It used the same broadcast crew and production as the NBC broadcasts with the only exceptions being the switching of the station logos in the on air graphics and pit reporter fire suits. The TNT/NBC partnership broke off when NBC chose not to bid for the NASCAR contract when it expired in 2006.
[edit] 2007-present
As part of the new 2007 television contract, TNT retains its coverage, with rights to televise six races: the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway, the Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the annual July 4 weekend Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. TNT also becomes the exclusive home of the Pepsi 400 for the remainder of the contract; it had been split between Fox and NBC.
The contract is good for the next eight years.
[edit] Broadcast team history
TNT and NBC shared the broadcast team of Allen Bestwick on lap-by-lap and Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach on color commentary. Dave Burns, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, and Bill Weber were the pit reporters, with Weber hosting the Countdown to Green pre-race show.
When TNT would broadcast NASCAR Busch Series races that conflicted with the Winston/NEXTEL cup races, other pit reporters, such as Glenn Jarrett, Mark Garrow, Ralph Sheheen, and Lindsay Czarniak would join the coverage.
In 2004, Weber became the lap-by-lap announcer for two races as Bestwick recovered from a leg injury he suffered while playing hockey.
[edit] 2005
In 2005, Bestwick and Weber traded positions. However, Bestwick would occasionally do lap-by-lap for Busch races that conflicted with the schedule for the primary series.
[edit] 2007
For 2007, TNT went solo, covering six races that started with the Pocono 500 on June 10. Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach return to the broadcast booth. Weber and Dallenbach are joined by Nextel Cup driver Kyle Petty, who will be taking time off from his ride at Petty Enterprises to broadcast. Weber will continue his role as the pre-race host, with additional hosts Marc Fein and Larry McReynolds. Marty Snider and Matt Yocum return to pit road, joined by Ralph Sheheen and Lindsay Czarniak.
Pre-race coverage begins 90 minutes before the scheduled green flag with NASCAR on TNT Live. This is followed by the renamed Allstate Countdown to Green. (Allstate is the third title sponsor of this show, after Bank of America and Discover Card.) NASCAR on TNT Live has a segment called "Pride of NASCAR," which profiles the sport's historic figures.
Like the other networks, TNT has adopted a "cut-away" car (provided by Ford) that McReynolds uses occasionally on the telecasts. Also during the race, Fein and McReynolds contribute to the coverage from a large infield studio that revolves from a point several feet above ground level.
Another addition to the broadcast is the band Hinder, which performs a remake of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild". The telecast airs various music videos around that song.
On June 24, Petty contributed to the broadcast from inside the race car at Infineon Raceway during the Toyota/Save Mart 350. During the race, he uttered an obscenity ("fuck") that was picked up by the network's microphones after he was involved in a crash on lap 1 with Matt Kenseth and Marc Goossens. Weber apologized to viewers, and Petty's status at TNT appears to be secure despite the incident. No fines were issued by the FCC for the incident as cable television is not subjected to the FCC's indecency policies.
On July 7, TNT used a "Wide-Open Coverage" Broadcast format. The race was shown in wide-screen 16:9 format, but the broadcast was moved to the top of the screen, with all graphics placed in the bottom of the screen, eliminating the black areas commonly seen on 4:3 TVs in widescreen format. The race was also broadcast with limited commerical interuption, only 3 green flag laps took place during commericals during the entire broadcast. This was required for their cable & satellite providers. All other commericals were aried in the lower-right hand corner by the telecast sponsors. Most of these commericals featured a special ad for that race, followed by their traditional ad. Bill Weber also chimed in aproxamently every 15 mintues by saying "The portion of TNT's Wide Open Coverage is brought to you by" followed by the sponsor & it's slogan. The sponsor's logo was displayed below the scoring during that time. Reviews were mixed. TNT has announced that they will go "Wide Open" with the 2008 Coke 400 at Daytona.
[edit] Studio
[edit] Announcers
- Bill Weber
- Wally Dallenbach
- Kyle Petty (for 5 of 6 races; drove at Infineon on June 24)
[edit] Pit Reporters
- Marty Snider
- Matt Yocum
- Ralph Sheheen
- Lindsay Czarniak
[edit] Pepsi 400 broadcast
TNT plans to present the Pepsi 400 on July 7, 2007 with limited commercial interruptions.Local cable companies and national satellite providers will receive four minutes of full-screen air time per hour to show ads. Otherwise, no full-screen commercials will air. Instead of regular ad-breaks, the feed will be divided into 2 sections, one section at the top containing a widescreen view of the race, and the rest of the screen containing other graphics and sponsor logos, and an extra "screen" in the bottom right-hand corner will contain branded content such as commercials or promotions by sponsors tied-in with drivers..[1]
