TNT will offer its “Wide Open” coverage of the Daytona 400 on Saturday night, live from the Daytona International Speedway. This means commercial-free coverage, plenty of racing and animated sponsor messages throughout the race. I know that NASCAR fans hate missing action during the breaks and this allows for fans to see everything as it happens.
Here’s what TNT is saying about this weekend’s Sprint Cup race from Daytona.
TNT’s Groundbreaking Wide Open Coverage Returns for its Fifth Year in Primetime at the Daytona 400
Wide Open coverage hasn’t missed a total lap of green flag racing over the past two years
TNT’s innovative Wide Open television format will return for the fifth consecutive year during the network’s exclusive coverage of the primetime Daytona 400 on Saturday, July 2. The network’s Wide Open coverage debuted during the 2007 Daytona 400 race and has resulted in only nine missed laps of green flag racing in four years, and zero laps in the last two races. The groundbreaking format provides continuous race coverage free of national commercial breaks and features more than 20% unobstructed race action, than that of a standard telecast, by using a letterbox widescreen format, which allows for a continuous scroll of race information. In place of the national ads, the telecast features a variety of animated sponsor messages, unique branded content and distinct on-screen graphic elements.
No stranger to televising NASCAR racing with uninterrupted coverage, Turner was the first network to use side-by-side coverage in 2000 during the UAW-GM Quality 500 NASCAR Race on Oct. 8 in Charlotte with TBS’ “No Breaks Coverage.”
“We look forward to our fifth consecutive year of providing viewers with continuous green flag racing and more information on the 43 drivers in the field for the signature race of TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series,” said Jeff Behnke, Executive Producer/Senior Vice President of Turner Sports. “Through TNT and NASCAR.COM, we look forward to providing race fans with an all-access pass to all the sights and sounds of our primetime race in Daytona.”
The network will rev up its pre-race coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET with Countdown to Green with Lindsay Czarniak (host) and Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds (analysts). TNT’s acclaimed Pride of NASCAR series will feature a profile of the three-time National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year Cale Yarborough who won the Daytona 500 four times (1968, 1977, 1983 and 1984). Joining the studio show prior to the race will be No. 29 Kevin Harvick for an interview to talk about his season. Other pre-race features include McReynolds in a wind tunnel with No. 14 Tony Stewart’s crew chief Darian Grubb to explain how the two-car draft works and why it’s important at Daytona International Speedway.
TNT will air the Daytona 400 beginning at 7:30 p.m. (ET) with play-by-play announcer Adam Alexander calling the race alongside analysts Petty and Wally Dallenbach in the booth. In addition, McReynolds will make frequent contributions from the infield as he breaks down crew strategy and analyzes car adjustments using the TNT Offtrack Robotic Car (TORC). Pit reporters Chris Neville, Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider and Matt Yocum will provide reports throughout the race.
TNT RaceBuddy on NASCAR.COM will once again provide live companion coverage online. Fans can choose from a total of ten camera views, including two Mosaics. Eight individual camera angles include four In-Car Driver Cams, two Battle Cams highlighting head-to-head competition between drivers, a Backstretch Cam and a Pit Road Cam. The two Mosaic Views allow fans to view four streams at once. Returning features to the site include the DVR Function, an Enhanced LIVE Leaderboard and RaceView’s position tracker: Fans can also connect throughout the race on Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger and MySpace in a seamlessly-integrated social media experience.
2011 NASCAR on TNT Summer Series:
ALL TIMES EASTERN (ET)
SATURDAY, JULY 2 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Countdown to Green 7:30 – 11 p.m. Daytona 400 (Daytona International Speedway) SATURDAY, JULY 9 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Countdown to Green 7:30 – 11 p.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing from Kentucky (Kentucky Speedway) SUNDAY, JULY 17 Noon – 1 p.m. Countdown to Green 1 – 4:30 p.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing from New Hampshire (New Hampshire Motor Speedway)
That’s all.
