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The same old argument gets bandied about every NASCAR Nextel Cup season about this time of the year. Not Ford versus Chevy, short tracks versus superspeedways, Hendrick Motorsports versus Roush Fenway Racing or even a more contemporary one, the current car versus the Car of Tomorrow.
No, it's about racing broadcasts, which usually comes down to FOX versus NBC, the network that usually takes over at Daytona for the Pepsi 400. Now, however, Turner Network Television (TNT), the offspring of cable media mogul Ted Turner's Turner Broadcast System, is making a run to take the outright lead in racing coverage.
At Daytona next Saturday night, TNT will unveil its latest broadcast innovation called "Wide Open Coverage," which it hopes will break new ground with television viewers. After watching a demo version of "Wide Open Coverage" earlier this week, I can vouch for this: It's an improvement over the year's commercial-riddled broadcasts.
The cutting-edge new format will use the bottom of the TV screen for sponsor messages, on-screen graphic elements and other vignettes in place of traditional commercial interruptions, while providing graphic-free racing on the screen's upper portion. In all, TNT will limit its broadcast to three local commercial breaks per hour, a major upgrade over the constant interruptions.
This is similar to TBS's short-lived "No Brakes Coverage" from October 2000 in Charlotte, in which advertisers allowed the network to keep its broadcast coverage in the bottom right-hand corner during regularly scheduled commercials. Though it was a fantastic agreement with some unique sponsors, "No Brakes" was gone before we even had time to say how good it was.
While the new coverage will be a big improvement, it doesn't mean TNT has figured out everything. The network made the unpardonable omission of high-tailing it out of its Infineon Raceway broadcast without showing the race's finishing order, delaying racing pool payouts throughout NASCAR Nation. It displayed the updated points standings, but it forgot the more important finishing order.
And the rundown is important; in our racing world, it's how we keep score. A NASCAR official who has been around the short-track Saturday night racing business for many years once told me that if a track owner has to choose between a working scoreboard or bathrooms, he had better choose the scoreboard because confusion about where drivers are running on the track quickly turns into anger.
"Wide Open Coverage" will increase fans' seat time in their favorite couches and recliners and less time out of the living room. With fewer commercials in this revolutionary technology, viewers will have to take those refreshment breaks much quicker, probably creating a pit stop-like frenzy.
Here's an idea for future TNT race broadcasts: Just move the coolers and snacks directly into the living room, giving them spots closer to the TV. As for the bathroom break part of it, you'll have to figure that one out on your own.

(Bill Whitehead covers NASCAR for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail him at wwhitehe

ircc.net.)

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