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ESPN NASCAR Analyst Andy Petree on Greg Biffle, The Chase and Kansas Speedway

Tuesday September 23, 2008

 

Andy Petree, NASCAR analyst for ESPN, was a 25-time NASCAR Sprint Cup race winner and two-time series champion during his career as a crew chief.
Q – What’s been the biggest surprise of The Chase after two races?
You don’t have to look very far. Greg Biffle has been incredible. It’s like he came alive with this Chase as soon as it started. And I know that some of these guys that weren’t secure in the Chase really could not afford to do some things that might knock them out, so they had to be conservative those last 7-10 races leading up to Richmond. Maybe that’s what was going on with the 16 team. They were being a little conservative to make sure they made the Chase, but all the while they were planning on coming out this strong. If you talk to those guys, Greg Biffle or (crew chief) Greg Erwin, they both had so much confidence going into this Chase.
Q – What’s happened that you expected?
I really thought Kyle Busch was going to find the going a little tougher in the Chase than he did coming into it, but I didn’t expect the kind of problems he’s had to take him completely out of it in two races. But I also didn’t expect to see him do the things he did early in the season and win all the races. The intensity and pressure of the Chase is different. These guys like Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson, I wouldn’t say they were mediocre, but they weren’t putting up the numbers in the middle of the year or early in the year that they are now. They seem to peak during the Chase.
Q – What kind of Chase racing do you expect at Kansas Speedway?
It’s a great racetrack for a Chase race. The more age that track has gotten on it, the better it’s gotten, so I expect it to be better this year than it was last year, and we had some good racing there last year. Even if Greg Biffle wasn’t red-hot like he is, I’d still consider him to be a favorite because he won there last year. Jimmie Johnson is going to be very strong because they seem to have turned their mile-and-a-half program around. He’ll be stronger there than he was at Dover. And Carl Edwards. Now you still have the Big Three, but it’s Biffle, Johnson and Edwards, and I think those are going to be the guys who are hard to beat.
Q – Does Kansas race differently than the other 1.5-mile tracks?
The thing that makes it race differently is the lack of banking. It’s a little flatter than say Chicagoland. It has its own little characteristics. I think the age of the pavement has more to do with it than anything. You’re seeing the groove really move around and widen out so you have a lot more side by side racing.

The Chase is On: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live from Kansas on ABC
NASCAR’s version of the playoffs continues this week with the third race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the series visits the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. ESPN on ABC’s high-definition telecast of Sunday’s 400-mile race begins at 1 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. ABC will have live coverage of all 10 races that make up the Chase.
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will have live coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying at Kansas on Friday, Sept. 26, at 4 p.m., and same-day coverage of final practice airs Saturday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m. The race telecast re-airs Monday, Sept. 29, at noon on ESPN Classic.
Dr. Jerry Punch will be lead announcer, joined in the booth for analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will be pit reporters with two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Tech Center.
The pre-race NASCAR Countdown show from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick, with 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and analyst Brad Daugherty. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race.
Race day on ABC also includes a presentation of Lifelock’s Greatest Racing Identities – Motorsports Explained at 12:30 p.m.
ESPN2’s season-long coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series continues with a live telecast of the event at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 27, beginning at 3 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. The race also airs in high definition on ESPN2 HD and will be simulcast on ESPN Deportes.
In addition, ESPN2 airs same-day coverage of NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice from Kansas Speedway on Friday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m.

About NASCAR on ESPN:
ESPN and ABC have comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season. All programming is produced totally in high definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPNRadio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 18 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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