ESPN/ABC's lineup includes Andy Petree, Rusty Wallace and Jerry Punch. Credit: ESPN

Welcome back, ESPN ... now here's your to-do list

Well, one of the days NASCAR fans have been waiting on for a little while came to pass on Thursday, as ESPN/ABC announced its broadcast team for its coverage of the sport, which begins next season.

Much has been made about the networks' choices for on-air talent. That's not the point.

	Mark Spoor
	MARK SPOOR •   E-mail Mark •   Opinion archive

As the network shuffle takes place again in NASCAR, it seems a good time to hand out some constructive advice to our returning brethren in horsepower centered at the other Bristol. After all, it has been six years since "The Worldwide Leader" has covered NASCAR and a lot has changed.

Fans expect things, even if they don't always get them. All you have to do is look at my inbox after one of my Viewer's Guides runs to know that.

First and foremost, timing of your commercials is key. Contrary to popular belief, the number of commercials you run isn't what's making fans border on wacko ex-girlfriend psychosis. The issue is all the restarts and lead changes that are missed. Lead changes can't be helped. NASCAR isn't football or baseball -- there's no halftime, no between innings warmup. More often than not, missing a lead change is just bad luck.

The thing is, most NASCAR fans get that networks have to make their money back. They know that NASCAR has fans, and with that fandom comes a price.

However, is there no way that NASCAR could work with the networks and time out its caution periods so that restarts wouldn't be missed? Someone in the race control is in contact with the booth and they both keep an eye on the clock.

ESPN/ABC TEAM UNVEILED ESPN/ABC's NASCAR broadcast team will have a combination of veterans and rookies in it when the networks return to NASCAR next season.  •   Complete story,  click here

This can't be that tough. If it's the math, trust me, fans would rather see an extra caution lap than miss a restart. What's more, it would help clean out my inbox.

By the way, if you're not going to do that split-screen thing that you do with the IRL, tell fans so early and often -- and explain why not, so I don't have to do it when they come complaining to me.

Never show anything on tape delay. It doesn't matter if it's qualifying, practice or Darrell Waltrip's latest "one more race" announcement. When fans see that something isn't being shown live, you might as well tell them that 3,000th showing of the World Series of Poker is more important than their beloved sport. That never works out well.

At the end of the day, it's about the drivers. For help, see NBC/TNT's coverage. Does it even matter who's doing the interviewing? Just show me Carl Edwards calling Tony Stewart a jerk. Announcers are background, the race is the show. If it was the other way around, people would have guys with microphones following them around all day long announcing their every move.

And Martha pulls the cookies out of the oven. Oh, no! The bottoms are burnt! Let's go to the oven-cam to see what went wrong.

You don't have to re-introduce us all to NASCAR every week. You don't hear Jon Miller and Joe Morgan explaining the infield fly rule every week on Sunday Night Baseball, so we don't need explanations of loose and tight every three seconds. If a fan is intrigued, they'll call the friend that turned them on to NASCAR in the first place.

If you want to educate fans on the sport, show some feature stories on NASCAR's history. We all could use a lesson on that.

Give us lots of cool camera shots. We love the cable-cam and that camera they used in the grass at Indy last August. Keep the in-car camera shots to a minimum. Using it too much is like eating lobster for dinner every night. Eventually, it just tastes like chicken.

Don't tell us the fans are going crazy when Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead. We have ears. We can hear it. There are 42 other drivers, you know?

Don't give NASCAR the Monday Night Football treatment. NASCAR isn't football. Football fans aren't exactly like NASCAR fans and vice versa. If they were, then the NFL's ratings and demographics would be the same as NASCAR's.

Give NASCAR -- and its fans -- respectful treatment and it'll all work out.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.