Bill Weber Out, Ralph Sheheen In for TNT

After what the Charlotte Observer is calling a "loud confrontation" at a Manchester, N.H., hotel prior to last Sunday's Lenox 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, TNT play-by-play announcer Bill Weber won't be returning to the booth in 2009.

The network announced the move Wednesday, and also confirmed that Ralph Sheheen will continue in the replacement role for the final two TNT races this weekend in Daytona Beach and next at Chicagoland.

Sheheen did a bang-up job in his first coverage of a Sprint Cup race on Sunday, but the bigger question surrounds what exactly Weber did to force himself out of the booth for what will ultimately be half of TNT's NASCAR coverage.

The television channel is responsible for six races in between the 15 points-paying races covered by FOX and ESPN each season, and Weber had covered the first three races at Pocono, Michigan and Infineon. He was scheduled to complete the six-race run until TNT abruptly announced on Sunday morning at NHMS that he wouldn't be in the booth.

TNT, naturally, isn't saying anything about the matter beyond the logistical details, and hasn't confirmed or denied the Observer's report of Weber being involved in some sort of confrontation. Prior to his gig with TNT, Weber worked both as a host and play-by-play during NBC's coverage of NASCAR, and also as a pit reporter with ESPN in the 1990s.

One site, All Left Turns, is reporting that ESPN writer Ed Hinton mentioned in a live chat on Sunday during the race that many in the media center had heard the confrontation arose after Weber took issue with his room and was in an "adamant" conversation about the subject with what is presumably hotel staff.

Now, to put that together, you've got a disgruntled hotel guest who is presumably attempting to get a problem fixed, but allows himself to get so out of hand that he's disciplined at his day job. Either Weber's fuse blew into several pieces in front of a hotel clerk, or he said something within earshot of a TNT executive that might have a been looking for a way to drop a certain play-by-play announcer.

It should be noted that TNT says that Weber still remains under contract with them.

In his absence, I'd certainly have to say that Ralph Sheheen, normally a pit road reporter, stepped in and pounded out a smooth, consistent and fresh broadcast at NHMS. Some fans may not enjoy his higher-pitched voice, but Sheheen has plenty of experience in calling the action, as he is currently the play-by-play guy for motocross on SPEED.

Most importantly, though, Sheheen's addition to the broadcast seemed quite natural, and his biggest compliment was that he seemed to allow all of the tools TNT has assembled -- from Larry McReynolds in the pit studio, the pit reporters and boothmates Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty -- to really tell their story without getting in the way.

Sheheen's natural ability will be especially handy as the network follows the Sprint Cup Series on Saturday night to Daytona for the 400-mile night race that will likely be TNT's most-watched of the summer stretch. For the third-straight year, the network will roll out its "Wide Open" coverage with limited commercial interruption.

The concept is a new one for NASCAR and has seemed to fair quite well in recent years, and TNT hopes it will overshadow the booth problems with Weber.

But for the rest of us? I'd say we're definitely looking for more details about what exactly happened with Weber -- and one would think that they'll be filled in soon.