DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Summoned from pit road to the broadcast booth at the last minute in New Hampshire to replace Bill Weber, TNT lead announcer Ralph Sheheen had more than a few reasons to relax and have a good time. And apparently the folks in Atlanta agreed, as he'll call the next two Sprint Cup races, including Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, for the network.

And that sure beats getting rained on in the pits.

“

The key difference between pit road and the booth is you get out of that fire suit and it's a lot nicer air conditioning upstairs.

”

-- RALPH SHEHEEN

"The biggest thing that we did right was that it was a relaxed atmosphere, we had fun with it and we went with the flow of the race," Sheheen said. "Ultimately, if you keep doing that, that's probably our strongest point. What I heard from everybody about what they enjoyed, it sounded like we were all having a real good time. That's what we've been striving for. So if we got a little closer to the goal of pulling that off, great."

Even though it was Sheheen's first time heading TNT's Cup broadcast, he's an old hand behind the motorsports mic. Since joining ESPN right out of Chico State in 1988, he's done everything from World of Outlaws to sports cars and Formula One, so making the transition to the booth -- even in a pinch-hit role -- wasn't that overwhelming.

"A lot of it is very similar," Sheheen said. "The responsibilities of the play-by-play guy don't necessarily change, no matter what form of racing you're talking about. You still have to be a good traffic cop, you have to handle the who, the what and the when. The color commentator's responsibility is really the how and the why. So once you understand what those base responsibilities are, you should be able to do your homework and handle those.

The 44-year-old Sheheen said there really isn't that much of a difference when it comes to telling the story of the race. It's more a matter of perspective and focus. And staying cool.

"The key difference between pit road and the booth is you get out of that fire suit and it's a lot nicer air conditioning upstairs," Sheheen said. "Outside of that, when it comes to being on pit road, with four pit reporters, you've got about 10 cars per person to pay attention to. So you really focus on the guys who are in your sector. You spend a lot of time talking to those crew chiefs, to those drivers, focusing on things that are happening there.

"When you're in the booth, now you have to pay attention to all 43 guys. You have to know what's going on with each of those teams, in a general sense. And you're focusing your attention on the producer, because the play-by-play guy and the producer have to be on the same wavelength. If I'm not paying attention to where he needs to go to continue the flow of the show, I can really hang him out to dry. Fortunately for me, I've got great people around me."

And getting those great people enough air time without making the show sound disjointed or unbalanced is the primary role of the lead announcer.

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"There are a lot of people [on the broadcast] who are looking for an opportunity to speak and share information with the race fan, so I've got to be good that when the producer tells me where to go to get to those voices, I get there and get there quickly, and don't take time away from them so everybody has an opportunity to contribute," Sheheen said.

In some ways, Sheheen sees his role much like the sound engineer for a rock concert. A good mix of instruments and voices will create the best experience for the listener.

"Using the band concept, you don't want to hear too much guitar, too much bass or drums," Sheheen said. "It's got to be an even balance, and it's the same thing here. Even in the booth, you don't want to have too much of any one of us. It's got to be an even flow. The concept that we've always centered around in television is you want the whole show to come across like a whole bunch of good friends getting together to watch the race and it's conversational. If you can deliver that, which is a lot harder to pull off than it sounds, there's a lot of chemistry that has to come together."

And that's what keeps Sheheen motivated, because there's always room for improvement, in his opinion.

"You'll never do a perfect show, number one," Sheheen said. "Because the day I do a perfect show is the day I retire, because I'll never do another one again. I'm sure whoever wins Saturday night will tell you it wasn't a perfect race. There's always something you can do to improve your game, improve your performance, that gives you a reason to come back the following week and do it again, something to strive for."