ESPN's Broadcast Team

[eyepatrol]

Here's the broadcast team (which you guys maybe already knew about). I haven't follow NASCAR as long as most of you guys, but I've not really heard much of Petree nor Dr. Punch.

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ESPN/ABC's NASCAR broadcast team will have a combination of veterans and rookies in it when the networks return to NASCAR next season.

In the booth, Rusty Wallace, who it was announced late last year will serve as lead analyst, will be joined by veteran racing voice Dr. Jerry Punch and former Cup team owner Andy Petree.

Television veteran Brent Musburger will be the featured host of the networks' pre-race show, which will precede all Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series races televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

Musburger will host pre-race coverage for all races airing on ABC, including the Chase for the Nextel Cup and select ESPN races including the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Dave Burns and Allen Bestwick, who currently serve as pit reporters on TNT/NBC's coverage of NASCAR, will join Jamie Little and Mike Massaro on pit road for ESPN/ABC's coverage.

Little currently serves as a pit reporter for ESPN/ABC's IRL coverage and Massaro is currently ESPN's NASCAR field reporter.

For Punch, a veteran of ESPN's previous relationship with NASCAR and its current relationship with the IRL, moves from pit road to the broadcast booth. It's the culmination of a dream he's had for many, many years.

"I guess I have to pinch myself," he said. "I don't know how Lassie felt, but I can tell you personally it's great to be home."

And while everything Thursday seemed to be about the future, Punch took a second to give a nod to the ESPN's NASCAR past.

"I want to take a few seconds and remember where we came from," he said. "There are a lot of people who worked very hard to lay the foundation for us years ago.

"If it weren't for those people years ago, we wouldn't have a chance to come back with the relationship we have with the fans and with NASCAR."

For Wallace, who has spent the bulk of this season covering the IRL, next year represents a chance for him to go back to what he knows.

"I'm real excited," Wallace said. "We've assembled a great team here. I've had a year under my belt working with Indy Racing League. It's an amazing series and I learned a ton. I learned television. But I'm coming back to NASCAR, which I know more about. I feel like I understand the sport and I can bring a different perspective to it.

"I'm very excited to be involved in it."

Petree, a former team owner and the 1993-94 championship-winning crew chief for the late Dale Earnhardt, will make his debut in the booth next year. He said Thursday that he's ready to learn.

"I just feel extremely lucky," he said. "It's a dream come true for me. It's something new for me and I'm going to work very hard at it."

As announced late last year, ESPN2 will also broadcast the complete Busch Series schedule. Dale Jarrett will also join the booth for selected Busch Series races.

ESPN2 will also broadcast a daily NASCAR news program. The show will feature former SPEED personality Shannon Spake, crew chief Frankie Stoddard and five-time NBA All-Star and former race-winning NASCAR team owner Brad Daugherty.

For Daugherty, who went to Victory Lane with Robert Pressley as a car owner in the Busch Series and was a co-founder of the NASCAR Diversity Council with Brian France many years ago, becoming a NASCAR host is not only a chance to increase minority interest in NASCAR, but to be able to do something in NASCAR that's unusual.

"I look at this a little differently than the journalistic points of view or even the technical point of view," he said. "I'll be able to speak to the sport as a fan and ask the questions that maybe the guy sitting on his couch would ask."

[harvey lee]

They will have some people that know racing for sure. How good they will be is yet to be seen.

[lawdog]

Sounds TONS better than the boring commercial fest on NBC!

[Sifty]

It will be intresting to see how things play out for them.

If it is a new format it will take awhile for them to a get on the same page.

Sifty

[OUTDOORNUT]

B.C., you really missed out then.

Dr. Jerry Punch is the man when it comes to motor sports. He had a show back when ESPN had some races called RPM 2night....it was at the time the only show dedicated to motor sports and NASCAR. SPEED has since diluted the coverage with less than knowledgeable hosts of their various shows.

I welcome back ESPN, they always provided top notch coverage.

[eyepatrol]

Is he a funny guy? Got a personality? Some commentators are so dry, they nearly put you to sleep.

[lawdog]

IMHO Dr. Jerry Punch has year in and year out been the best in the business when it comes to covering motorsports for many years. RPM2night was great and his race coverage is excellent too. The old days of TNT and ESPN weren't all that bad, but they just didn't have the technology there is today. I think they'll do great things with these broadcasts. Fox and them will throw both really try to make a top notch show to not be outdone by the other. Big money there...

[Ray Esboldt]

I don't think Jerry Punch was ever the host of RPM2night. John Kernan was the last host. There were a couple others prior to him, but Jerry Punch was not.

Jerry Punch regularly does college football play-by-play for the ESPNs. He has done a ton of racing broadcasts and does a very good job as the play-by-play guy. He's got to be better than Bill Weber who in my opinion is the worst ever in any line of sports.

[lawdog]

I think he at least co-hosted it or did a bunch of the reporting because I sure remember him on there...

[JohnMickish]

I believe Dr. Punch was a host on RPM tonight. He is the best because he knows what he is talking about, not just speaking "buzzwords" covered in fluff. Back in the day, before who's most popular or who is dating whom was the most important thing to talk about Dr. Punch spoke of what's really the most important in this sport. Speed, who's fastest and why they are the fastest.

[Double D]

I look forward to Dr. Jerry Punch coming back to Nascar coverage. He has the respect in the garage. By the way he also is a real Medical Doctor; it's not just a nickname.

The one I can't picture is Musberger. Has he even watched a race on TV?

Another ABC regular broadcaster I did not see on the list is Paul Page. You may not know the name but you would recognize the voice if you heard it. He will call any kind of racing any time and make it sound good.

Well at least anybody on this list sounds better than Wally Dallenbach. He covered the races like a 5 time champion, except without all the trophies.

DD

[JohnMickish]

I think I'm in the minority here but I like Wally. By the way, Wally has two championships in Trans Am, has won the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring. Can't really say he dosen't know what he's talking about when it comes to racecars.

[Sifty]

Wally's World Wally's World

I like him too.

Sifty