So do you remember when TallGlassofMilk reported that Dale Jarrett would be taking over Rusty Wallace's spot in ESPN's booth back in October? (October 17th, to be exact)Well, a lot of things have happened since then, but one thing is for sure. TGOM was right.
From the ESPN mouth itself:
Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and one of the founding drivers of the NASCAR Nationwide Series, will expand his role with ESPN and join high school friends Dr. Jerry Punch and Andy Petree in the booth for ESPN¿s full season of NASCAR coverage in 2008.I know I'm very, very satisfied with this move. What about you?
Rusty Wallace, NASCAR Cup champion in 1989, will become lead analyst for ESPN studio programs in 2008, highlighted by serving as analyst for an enhanced NASCAR Countdown, the program that precedes all NASCAR telecasts.
There was plenty of anti-ESPN sentiment through the end of 2007, though former-driver-turned-broadcaster Wallace shouldn't take all of the blame. Regardless, fans were by and far unhappy with some of Wallace's on-air thoughts, there seemed to be some occasional in-fighting amongst last year's ESPN team with Rusty, and, to me at least, Wallace just didn't have "it" when it came to working a race on TV.
So now, we'll get Wallace nearly every night on ESPN2's NASCAR Now as a lead analyst and as an infield studio reporter during races. I think I can handle that.
The booth changes, though, are just the start of many, many changes in the ESPN NASCAR telecasts in 2008, including:
