TNT to air July Daytona race in 'Wide Open' format

By SceneDaily Staff Report
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

NEW YORK - TNT will again telecast the July race at Daytona International Speedway with only local cable network commercials.

And TNT will do it with the same announcers - including Kyle Petty back in the broadcast booth.

All national advertising will be done through the network's "Wide Open" format, where logos will appear on screen and commercials will be done in a box on the lower-right portion of the screen.

In the 2007 race, TNT missed only three laps of green-flag racing.

"We had a lot of success with it," Turner Sports executive producer Jeff Behnke said. "We thought it was a great experience for the fans, a great experience for the viewers We know the advertisers were very happy with it."

Behnke said the network still needs the traditional advertising for its races that are not prime-time Saturday shows. Of the six TNT Sprint Cup races, only the Daytona race is a night one. Daytona also is the marquee event on the TNT schedule, Behnke said.

TNT will produce the content for the advertisers. The caution laps are longer at Daytona, allowing for TNT to time the local cable breaks as well as the commercials while the cars drive around under yellow.

"We want to do it for all the races, but the economics of it just aren't there to do that," Behnke said.

If the race goes caution free, TNT would miss only 15 green-flag laps of the 160 in the race.

"Because we're in green-flag racing and at the track so much, there's so much more information that we can get on the air about all 43 drivers," Behnke said. "As we know, that's what fans want. ... That's something that we'll be able to do, whether it's graphically, through our announcers or through video."

Behnke also said that all of the TNT talent will return in 2008 - Petty, Bill Weber, and Wally Dallenbach in the booth with Larry McReynolds as a studio host and analyst.

Petty will have to find a substitute driver for the races he is in the broadcast booth.

Mentioned Drivers:

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2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

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10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

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