JM: When we rehearse, I don’t ever say what I’m going to say on TV because I like it when (Adam) looks at me and starts laughing, and I think that’s fun on TV. When I watch TV that’s what I would want. And you know when someone is courtesy laughing, right? They already knew the punchline. I’ve learned from Adam and Shannon that they’ll burn you, but they won’t burn you in the rehearsal. They’ll wait until they get you on TV and then set you up. So I’ve learned to save mine as well. And if you watch Adam in rehearsal, when he opens the show, he will not say what he’s going to say on air. Another reason I don’t like saying everything in rehearsal is because sometimes we don’t shoot the show in order and that makes no sense.
SS: Rehearsal is important for us to go through the dance steps, for the folks in the control room to know when to roll tape, and it’s also important for me. Before I do an interview, I’ll go through the questions and say them out loud over and over again as I’m driving to the interview so that when I sit down in that chair, I don’t have to look at my notes – I can just go because I know what I’m talking about. Rehearsal, for me, does that. It allows me to go through it without the full energy, so when I go on air, I feel very comfortable knowing where I’m going, and I can then apply jokes or be a little looser instead of looking like a little loser.
KV: I’m a person who likes a buttoned-up rehearsal. I take full advantage of that and think it’s important to make sure we all know what the heck is going on. I do like to see the different graphics that are going to appear and make sure my reads match what we see on screen so I don't look like a dumba**
Alexander with Jamie McMurray and Larry McReynolds. The jeans and untucked shirt look from the old days is gone, replaced by sharp suits and a renewed emphasis on drawing in talent from among the drivers and crew chiefs. Gotta make it look like every football panel on TV.
Alexander is a man of many talents, like pivoting onto a new mark while mid-sentence. And fun fact, marks on the floor are not tape, as might be expected in the television business. Instead, with Race Hub being a full green screen fake set, they’ve moved to graphic marks put on the floor by a crew member wielding a remote. During one segment, as Alexander is speaking, a crew member positions herself of-camera and aims the remote at an overhead projector that, when turned on, makes white boxes appear on the floor. The projector is turned off once the talent is set, and the marks disappear.
During the live show, things are moving along as smoothly as possible. The control room is busy, feeling more like what NASA must be like before launching a rocket – everyone has a job, there is a lot of talking out loud, and Hambleton is constantly in the ear of the talent. Halfway through the show, Hambleton tells Alexander, McMurray, and Waltrip they have to adjust upcoming segments or punt topics because they ran their mouth for too long.
AS much as Race Hub has evolved over the years, bringing drivers and crew chiefs into the fold has been a staple. What was once considered an easy stop to promote a sponsor or event now requires drivers and crew chiefs to be a part of the overall conversation.
And that means they, too, have to go through the rundown meeting, rehearsal and live show. Drivers who appeared on Race Hub the week of May 23 included Daniel Suarez, David Ragan and Aric Almirola. Also in the lineup were Drew Blickensderfer from Stewart-Haas Racing and Andy Petree of Richard Childress Racing.
Of course, McMurray is a former driver who now works full-time with Fox Sports, as do Waltrip, Bobby Labonte, and Todd Bodine.
But we don't want viewers to figure that part out.
KH: The beauty is we are in Charlotte, where most people are. When I worked for ESPN, and we did NASCAR Now, it was not possible. We did satellite interviews and stuff like that, but they weren’t in the backyard. But our show that is what we do. We want to hear from Ryan Blaney or Daniel Suarez, who just came off the track. I love our people, but to hear from someone who was literally just in the car tell you what it was like, you can’t beat that. We’re very proud to have all those people come and be available. We try to do them justice or mess them up some way so people see they can drive, but they can't think.