Race Weekend Central

Couch Potato Tuesday: Jeff Gordon Gets Blasted

Much like almost any of you reading this column, I despise rainouts.  So many people had the DV-R on Monday and they experienced an added disappointment; the race was nearly three and a half hours long, going far longer than the regularly scheduled recording.  Whomever at FOX Sports thought the race would finish within a three-hour timeslot was clearly mistaken.

Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400

The Cup race at Pocono was supposed to race on Sunday afternoon. That didn’t happen.

Instead of the race, viewers got a number of pre-race driver interviews during the newly-redubbed Ford RaceDay on FOX Sports 1.  There was also a nice feature on the training that Joe Gibbs Racing’s pit crews undergo.  This was supposed to air prior to the Coca-Cola 600, but it was cut from FOX NASCAR Sunday due to NASCAR instituting hurry-up mode.

I wanted a little more about the individual crew members; they definitely had the time.  We learned that one of them used to be a backup quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes, while another crewman works in JGR’s marketing department.

Once 1 p.m. came along, FOX cut to bonus coverage of last year’s race, won by Martin Truex, Jr.  FOX screwed this up again.  All you have to do to prevent people from believing that last year’s race is live is to put a permanent tag on the screen indicating that it’s delayed coverage.  There was eventually a scroll at the bottom of the screen indicating the race being delayed. Around 2 p.m., that was changed to the postponement.  However, that wasn’t a permanent feature on-screen.

I just don’t know what to say here.  I’m tempted to call all the people that seriously thought that the bonus coverage was the live race morons.  However, not everyone watches pre-race coverage.  Believe me, there is a solid group of people that only tune in right as the regular broadcast starts. The reasons vary; anything from church to household chores to despising Michael Waltrip.  Our own Zach Catanzareti, by the way, got to talk to Waltrip at Pocono about his on-air persona.  Based on the comments I read Monday morning at work, you guys weren’t exactly fans of Waltrip’s answers.

Regardless, FOX needs to watch themselves here.  Don’t leave any doubt that the coverage you’re showing during a rain delay is live or not.

On Monday, I used FOX Sports GO to watch the race which was notable because my feed was choppy and would freeze quite a bit.  When it unfroze, it would pick up right where it left off but it didn’t take long before I was ten or more laps behind the actual race.  Compared to Saturday, when I watched bits and pieces of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on FOX Sports GO (using my own laptop at home) while the XFINITY race was on FOX, it was a far worse experience, probably the worst I’ve had to this point.  Everyone’s experience can be different, of course but in this case the feed got so bad I ended up switching to my cell phone for the final 45 laps of Monday’s race.  In that time, I used something like 500 MB of data to watch that portion of the event.

For a Monday event, this Pocono 400-miler was one of the more wreck-filled delayed races.  Usually, these races run quicker because everyone wants to get home as fast as possible. Not this time.

Early in the race, NASCAR penalized Brad Keselowski for an illegal body modification.  Replays showed that the jackman gave the right side a hip check. FOX did a good job explaining what happened at this point.

But on lap 141, FOX returned to the topic, and that’s is where things went downhill.  Jeff Gordon tried to compare the instance to something that happened in Las Vegas.  There was only one problem: Keselowski was not penalized in Las Vegas for anything resembling a body modification.  Instead, he was busted for speeding in the pits.  However, FOX did flash back to Las Vegas and showed a clip of the jackman hip-checking the car. At the time, it was controversial and it did leave a mark on the car, but Keselowski was not penalized for that.  There was even an inset where the dent on the door was zoomed in on, compounding the on-air mistake by the FOX crew.

Gordon explained that the dents in the door can actually give the car more side force, an advantage that has apparently been proven in the wind tunnel.  I’m not an aerodynamicist, but I can buy that.  However, Gordon falsely represented what happened here.

After the race, Keselowski fired back, stating about Gordon and FOX “…They need to get some people that aren’t inbred to the sport and own teams and have internal knowledge, because that is pretty crappy. It is what it is.”

Later, Keselowski elaborated.

“It’s not that I don’t like Jeff Gordon in the booth,” he said, “It’s just that you need to have people in the booth that don’t own teams or have commercial interests to the sport because they say things that are very biased.”

We’ve brought the topic of bias in the broadcast booth up multiple times this season already.  There’s the Waltrip’s bias toward Toyota (and in Darrell’s case, Kyle Busch).  We’ve also discussed Gordon’s potential bias towards Hendrick Motorsports and Chase Elliott in particular.

I do agree with Keselowski’s first quote in that Gordon has internal knowledge of Hendrick Motorsports.  I’m unsure whether or not he’s still sitting in on meetings in the shop.  However, since he still has an ownership of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48, he technically could (Note: NASCAR no longer lists individual owners for each car in the official owner point standings; instead, they now list which team the car is part of).  While yes, that inside knowledge can benefit a race broadcast, you can’t show favoritism toward your former team.

My advice would be for Gordon to watch Jeff Burton during the NBC portion of the season that starts in under a month in Daytona.  Burton shows how you can cover your former employers as an analyst and not openly cheer for them.

To be fair, Gordon realized his mistake after the race ended and tweeted out an apology to Keselowski.

Also, to be fair, the clip from Las Vegas made it pretty obvious that something shady was going on there.  However, despite instituting the current rule prior to the start of last season, NASCAR wasn’t really policing those modifications as strictly as it does right now.  Therefore, in that case a penalty was not called.

During one of the yellows, FOX told the story of Ray Beauchesne, a crewman who was introduced to racing by former Busch North Series racer Dave Dion while serving in Vietnam.  He came back and started what has become a 46-year career in NASCAR, which ends this week (he’s retiring).  It’s a nice story that led into reminiscences of Busch North and NASCAR North competitors such as the Dragons (Bobby and Beaver).

Moving along, post-race coverage was relatively brief given that the broadcast ended more than 30 minutes behind schedule.  Viewers saw three post-race interviews (winner Kurt Busch, Elliott and Keselowski) and a point check before FOX Sports 1 left for NHRA coverage in New Hampshire.  I’m not shocked, but I’m surprised that there was no interview with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., given his ever-present popularity and the fact he finished second.

Overall, I found the coverage to be a little too strategy-based.  As a result, we got plenty of that kind of discussion, but not all that much action for position outside the immediate period of time around the restarts.  The racing we did see was mainly at the front and there was way too much coverage given toward drivers such as Elliott.  FOX has two more races to go and needs to cut down on that hyper focus.  It irritates people and fosters the notion of bias.

Pocono Green 132

On Saturday afternoon, the XFINITY Series made its first-ever appearance at Pocono Raceway for what was supposed to be 250 miles of action.  It ended up being 132.5, but regardless, there’s plenty of talking points here.

First off, Saturday was Danica Patrick’s second race in the broadcast booth as FOX’s guest analyst.  Last year, she worked the booth for the XFINITY race at Michigan.  I thought that she was the weakest of the guest analysts in 2015. Why?  She couldn’t hang with Michael Waltrip and Adam Alexander.

Now, don’t interpret that to mean she didn’t try last year; she did.  However, it quickly became clear to Patrick that she was overmatched.  As a result, the driver admitted the next day during a rain delay that she voluntarily cut back.  Ultimately, her appearance was more of a special guest slot, like the time Katy Perry showed up on The Simpsons in a puppet segment after her Sesame Street appearance was cut due to controversy over Perry’s attire.

This time, Patrick was able to assert herself more in the booth.  However, once you get past that, you get to the next issue I have with Ms. Patrick: She’s boring as heck.  Patrick’s analysis is like something I would do half-asleep.  Then again, Patrick talks in the booth like she does in interviews, which is not really the case with other drivers.  In the end, I really don’t think she added anything to the broadcast at all; if anything, she took away from it.  While it was an improvement over last year, for sure, I just didn’t like the chemistry at all.

Also, the Dallas stuffed animal made another appearance in the booth, part of an ongoing charitable initiative.  Or, it was; they’re tapped out now.  Looks like Patrick will have to make a stuffed animal version of Ella after all as fans were treated to Michael Waltrip once again stroking the stuffed dog on-air.  Last year, he carried one of the stuffed dogs around during one of his Grid Walks.  At least tacos weren’t involved this time.

Second was the throwdown between Ryan Sieg and Ryan Reed, which did not make the broadcast.  While I doubt FOX really wants to report on that kind of stuff all that much, it is a story.  Reed and Sieg are full-time XFINITY Series drivers and deserve to get more coverage, even if it isn’t flattering.  Ultimately, the only video we got of it was from Reed’s in-car camera Sunday morning during Ford RaceDay.  I wish they had another camera handy, because it looked like quite the brouhaha.  Expect some fines later this week.

I have no idea how the deuce Reed could possibly go 45 consecutive races without a top-10 finish, but that doesn’t change anything regarding who’s at fault for the fight.  Also, it didn’t help that the booth couldn’t seem to identify what put Reed in the wall.  Ideally, FOX would have been able to get some kind of report about what happened, or even additional information when Jeremy Clements got wrapped into Reed’s wreck.  Instead? Nothing.  It’s like there’s a wall up whenever something happens to a driver not running for Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske or JR Motorsports in the series.

The focus was on Joe Gibbs Racing (Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and, to a lesser extent, Daniel Suarez) once again.  Kyle Larson stole the show by using fuel mileage to win, but overall, the race really wasn’t much to write home about.  Perhaps, had it gone the full 250 miles, the outcome would have been different.

Once the rains came, FOX provided a good amount of rain-fill coverage, including multiple interviews.  Then, we had a jet dryer burst into flames.  NASCAR just can’t buy a break with those machines, part of the reason why they’ve been de-emphasized.  Eventually, the race was called.

The broadcast in general was underwhelming for me.  Patrick improved her form from last year, but still isn’t much to write home about.  She doesn’t really drive the commentary at all.  She’s a more boring Eddie Cheever, and you don’t want to be compared to Eddie Cheever in the broadcast booth.

~

Next weekend is shaping up to be very busy.  The Sprint Cup and XFINITY series return to Michigan International Speedway where new rule changes look to make the Cup race interesting.  In addition, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will also be on site.

Meanwhile, the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Camping World Truck Series will be racing at Texas Motor Speedway.  TV listings can be found in the TV Schedule tab at the top of the page.

I will provide critiques of the Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck series races for next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here at Frontstretch.  Note that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is scheduled to be the guest analyst on Saturday.  Which Earnhardt will show up:  Racer Dale, Business Dale or Watercooler Dale? Comment with your answer!

The General Tire #AnythingisPossible 200 from Friday will be covered in the Critic’s Annex later this week.  Either the Chevrolet Duals in Detroit or CBS Sports Network’s coverage of the Pirelli World Challenge GT races from Lime Rock (with bonus coverage) will join it.

If you have a gripe with me, or just want to say something about my critique, feel free to post in the comments below.  Even though I can’t always respond, I do read your comments and I’m happy with the increased number of comments so far this year. Also, if you want to “like” me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, please click on the appropriate icons. If you would like to contact either of NASCAR’s media partners, click on either of the links below.

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As always, if you choose to contact a network by email, do so in a courteous manner. Network representatives are far more likely to respond to emails that ask questions politely rather than emails full of rants and vitriol.

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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16 Comments
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Bette Geraud!,

I look forward to your cRitiques every week !! I agree with most every thing you write !! Keep,up the good work !!’ A big fan,
Bette Geraud

KB

No doubt if it was the car his owner name is on (#48) he would have been as equally vocal, honest and forthcoming in in “non biased” view, regardless of his “interests” or his feelings of making “Mr. Hendrick” or Chevy mad or not. Nope, I am sure he would do the same if it was the #48, or anybody else in his HMS family. LOL. LOL. SARCASM. Please let’s be honest here…

Tim S.

Jeff Burton makes up for not showing bias towards a particular driver or team by being ardently pro-NASCAR, loudly agreeing with every call or decision made by the sanctioning body. He is also among the first in line to tell fans that they are wrong, or maybe even not smart enough to know what they saw. He’s no bright spot in the booth.

Bill B

So does this mean that Keselowski will no longer put himself in the same position when asked to do the broadcast on X-finity series races? After all he has strong ties to certain competitors, manufacturers and sponsors too.

Personally I agree that there is too much bias in the booth but that is nothing new, it is hard to quantify and even harder to prove as it is very subjective. Also, good luck finding anyone that isn’t biased to some degree.

I think this was just Brad being a whiner and instead of concentrating on the penalty itself deflected attention to another topic . I’m not saying he doesn’t have a point but no one in the booth made that call or assessed the penalty so it’s kind of a moot point with regards to the penalty itself.

Broken Arrow

So, DW’s cheer for “Go, Dale Jr.” wasn’t the most blatant bias of the day? Obviously, the boys in the booth cheer their favorites shamelessly. What else is new? At least Gordon’s comments are usually intelligent, a concept that is totally beyond the Waltrip brothers. As for Keselowski, he proves again what an ass he is by feigning ignorance of his team’s obvious misconduct.

John Elkins

What about jaws always telling us how fast those Toyota’s are. Pulling for shurb all the time. No bias you say, he owns a Toyota dealership>

Peter Lee

I do not think most people realize that Darrel Waltrip’s dealerships in Tennessee are actually Hendrick dealerships. So we have two thirds of the race day broadcast on Fox dependent on Hendrick for some of their income. What other sport would tolerate that kind of built in bias? The cheerleading for Dale Jr. was blatant on the Pocono race broadcast. Between these facts and Michael Waltrip’s shilling for Toyota all the time, Fox Sports needs to really took a hard look at their race broadcast personnel. The credibility is falling fast.

Bill B

Falling fast? There is nowhere left to fall, they hit bottom 5 years ago (maybe more depending on who you ask).
I will say this. Now that I don’t have a driver that I care about and really don’t care who wins (although there are some I half-heartedly root against), it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. I have watched almost every lap of every race this year and after a while you just ignore the BS and concentrate on the bits of useful information in between the BS (some weeks there isn’t much of that).
The best thing that ever happened to me was Gordon retiring. I haven’t spent a dime on any NASCAR crap and nothing they do ruins my day.

Bill W

The best thing about the rain out Sunday is we didn’t have to listen to Mikey on Monday. If i am not mistaken , wasn’t the #48 brought back in a few races ago for pulling out the bottom of rear fender?

Duane

Nascar is the only sport broadcast on TV that has broadcasters with monetary connections to the sport. A before anyone says Jeff Burton has no connections, his connection is his son wants to have a racing career so does anyone think Jeff will be really tough on any team and upset them that they will hold a grudge . Also the more he plays ball with Nascar the more it will put good will in the bank for his son. Larry McRenolyds the same situation. The same with all the broadcasters they all have a reason to slant the coverage and spin the story. I read a magazine article in the past that Nascar monitors the TV broadcast and if something is said they don’t like the window between Nascar control and the TV booth gets tapped on and the sign is given change the narrative. This same article also said that if a company does not buy TV commercials for the race their car will not be shown. The article was in the Athlon sports preseason addition from 8 to 10 years ago. Also if anyone listens close to Siriusxm Nascar radio it is said that Nascar is always listening to what is said, if fact Mike Bagley left it slip that one time he saw on his caller id it was Daytona Beach and he said on the air quote ” What did I say wrong this time”.
Just think how great it would be if Nascar was broadcast and covered like other pro sports.

Bill B

Just think how great it would be if NASCAR was governed like other pro sports.

rg72

I guess they could show a replay of a race from several years ago where it would be plainly obvious that it was a replay (as if Jeff Gordon being in the race wasn’t enough of a clue).
I suppose with that you run into the issue of giving what amounts to free ad time to sponsors that are no longer involved in the sport. Then again a Fox network did not air a Pocono Cup race for almost a decade until last year so some rights issues are also likely involved.
Reminded me of Jimmie Johnson receiving a bunch of congratulatory tweets on winning the 2013 Daytona 500 again in 2014.

paltex

At first, I liked Gordon on the broadcast. Now, it seems as if he caught an infection from dw. The whole broadcast is difficult for me to watch and listen. Don’t the fox people go back to when Bennie and Ned were working and their unbiase comments. Only once when Neds son won the daytona 500, and, he got permission before pulling on the air for his son. CLASS! Now there is no class. Gordon, an Obama supporter who visits white house parties has forgotten his roots, waltrip was always low class. Ask Junior Johnson, he called him a jackass when he left junior for hendrick. So it goes, continued lower tv ratings, 8 different commercials during breaks and they wonder why they are in the tank as far as viewers.

John C

BK, how do you know what’s being said in the booth during a race? Seems as though you’re a little busy during a race. What do you do, DVR the race and go home to see if anyone in the booth said bad things about you or found out how you are cheating? You got caught, so own up to it and move on!!! GROW UP, SHUT UP, and just race.

kb

Guess they didn’t want to put the Kes tweets of honesty regarding his role ( or lack of in the Xfinity series). Somebody thought they had a gotcha tweet (a retired school teacher no less, I believe..lol) And he set her straight regarding his involvement, more importantly his lack of in the Xfinity series, but hey…don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.

kb

…and I don’t mean you Phil..I mean some commentators….you know the deal.

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