Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast criticism is the name of the game. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series made their first trip of the season to Pocono Raceway for the newly shortened Pocono 400. This race also marked the return of Turner Sports (via TNT) for their 30th season of covering Sprint Cup races (yes, they’ve been around since 1983).
Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series and Izod IndyCar Series took on the high banks of Texas Motor Speedway.
WinStar World Casino 400k
On Friday night (June 8), the Camping World Truck Series returned from their latest hiatus to run their traditional Friday night race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The Setup had two features of note. First was a piece on Miguel Paludo and his son, Oliver, who I’m told is really cute (actually, that is a statement from Paludo’s PR rep, Jessica Trippy). Oliver has juvenile diabetes and Paludo ran a special scheme during the race to promote efforts to combat the disease.
Krista Voda sat down with Miguel and his wife Patricia to discuss Oliver’s diagosis, how the Paludo’s deal with Oliver’s diabetes, and how Miguel deals with his own diabetes.
This was a nice feature, however, we sort of beat SPEED to the punch. Our own Beth Lunkenheimer sat down with Paludo last Thursday and wrote a piece about his diabetes and efforts with the International Diabetes Federation that ran Friday, prior to the race.
Another feature had Ray Dunlap travel up to the Red Horse Racing shop and spend time talking with some of the employees there. We learned about how the team does not distinguish between the different trucks at the shop. Employees will work on trucks for the now-shuttered No. 7, 11 or 17, sometimes all of them in the same day.
Team owner Tom DeLoach talked about his ideology with the race team, in addition to how he got into racing (for lack of better words, he got dragged to qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, likely pre-split, then fell in love with it). We also found out how DeLoach adapted the number box from Mobil 1 motor oil (he was working for Mobil when he got the racing itch) for his own race trucks.
The race telecast provided viewers with exciting action and pretty good commentary. There was lots of action for position shown throughout the field, which is always good to see. The only real gripe I had with the race coverage itself was the fact that SPEED didn’t really get a good view of the incident involving Paulie Harraka and Rick Crawford.
They were covering a battle for 17th between Ron Hornaday and Ross Chastain when the wreck broke out right in front of them. We never got a decent view of what caused the wreck. It is assumed that the two trucks collided and crashed, though.
Post-race coverage was relatively brief due to the race being over its time slot. There were only two interviews (winner Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton), along with checks of the unofficial results and points standings before SPEED left the air. I wished that there was more post-race coverage knowing that there wasn’t much of note on SPEED after the race.
Firestone 550k
After two races on ABC, the Izod IndyCar Series returned to the NBC Sports Network Saturday night for the Firestone 550k. Unlike last year, in which Jenkins and the pit reporters were put out there to emcee the ceremonies between races, this year, it was a traditional 340-plus mile race. I suppose that’s for the better.
Also of note, there were two on-air changes due to TNT’s Summer Series starting on Sunday. Tommy Kendall was in the broadcast booth as an analyst, replacing Wally Dallenbach Jr. Kendall never raced in IndyCar (he’s best known for accomplishments in Trans-Am and IMSA, along with coming within a couple of laps of winning the 1991 Banquet 300 at Sears Point).
However, Kendall worked on CART broadcasts for ESPN back in the late 1990s and has done races as an analyst for SPEED in the past, most recently during the Rolex 24 in January. He’s somewhat solid. Replacing Marty Snider as a pit reporter was Robin Miller. Yes, that Miller. He worked out fine. Good to see him actually doing something during the race for a change.
IndyCar Central started off with a recap of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, which I will admit was probably the worst of the six races so far this season. The track breakup just plain stunk. Simple as that.
There was also a substantial amount of focus given to the new aerodynamic package that was mandated for the cars in Texas. Certain pieces that made downforce were taken off of the cars and wing angle was limited. This was all done to help eliminate pack racing and put the race more in the driver’s hands.
Anyone who watched Saturday night would agree that it worked. I think there’s a good chance that the package could be used again at Auto Club Speedway later this year. Jon Beekhuis walked viewers through the various changes and we also got thoughts on the changes from a few drivers (and even a dissenting view from Ed Carpenter).
Race coverage featured quite a lot of passing and (as promised) a completely different way of racing. Stuff like tire strategy came into play for the first time in forever (seriously, I can’t recall tire wear affecting an Izod IndyCar Series race much in recent years).
NBC Sports did a good job showing the action out on track. I think they should have done a second Through the Field at some point during the second half of the race, though (the first one was curtailed on lap 90 when Oriol Servia pitted out of turn).
Probably the biggest call of the race was when Will Power was penalized for making a reactionary move on the final restart that resulted in Tony Kanaan breaking his nose. Compared to Twitter, there was a lot more agreement about Beaux Barfield’s call to penalize Power (on Twitter, they were eviscerating Barfield for “inserting himself into the final outcome of the race.”).
Pocono 400
Sunday afternoon brought the Sprint Cup Series back to TNT for the first race of the “Summer Series.” Since the end of last year’s Summer Series, there has been only one change. Lindsay Czarniak left Turner Sports (and her day job at WRC, the NBC affiliate in Washington) right after the Summer Series ended to take on a role at ESPN mainly hosting SportsCenter.
Of course, having said that, she’s also scheduled to host the 9 a.m. Sunday morning edition of NASCAR Now this weekend in place of Shannon Spake.
Turner Sports chose not to replace Czarniak. Instead, Adam Alexander is now pulling double-duty. He now hosts Countdown to Green with Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds and does play-by-play commentary. Alexander did well hosting pre-race. It’s not the same as having Czarniak there, but this is a decent temporary move.
Countdown to Green usually contains series of features, and this year is no different. Sunday saw the unveiling of the NASCAR Generations series, where drivers from many different era discuss certain aspects of their careers. This week, the drivers included Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott, Petty and Ned Jarrett.
Alexander led the discussion about each driver’s first vehicle used for racing purposes. It was quite interesting to watch. Despite the stark differences in the beginnings of each driver’s career, there were some overall similarities.
McReynolds showed off his new “Toy Box,” which is a touchscreen not dissimilar to what ESPN has in their Craftsman Tech Garage or what Jeff Hammond had at his disposal during the FOX portion of the season that just ended. It’s really no different than those other touchscreens, but it is a little different having McReynolds at it. It is actually situated in the studio that is typically used for the post-post race show.
Race coverage was quite a bit different than what we’ve been used to for the past 15 weeks on FOX. There was a bit more variety in the racing that was being shown to viewers. There was also a decrease in the amount of in-car camera usage.
However, the big story from Sunday’s race was all the pit-road speeding penalties, especially in the first half of the race. I’m not really sure how FOX would have handled this had it occurred in one of their races (remember, this was basically uncharted territory here). My best guess is that they would have tried to be conciliatory and not try to throw anyone under the bus.
However, TNT’s booth was understanding at first, then became somewhat critical once we got to black flag No. 6 or so. For lack of better words, Petty was convinced that something was up on NASCAR’s end and was quite vocal about it. One Twitter user basically asked Kyle during the race just who the heck he was to make such statements.
He replied simply that he’s a TV announcer. I’m perfectly fine with Petty’s approach here. That’s what makes him who he is. No filter or restrictor plate on Petty’s mouth. The timing lines were controversial and they needed to be publicized. TNT did a great job in doing it.
Post-race coverage was quite decent in size. During the regular TNT portion of post-race, there were six driver interviews and checks of the unofficial results and points standings, in addition to some post-race analysis. Not bad.
Then, we got to the RaceBuddy-exclusive portion that is internet-only. Here’s where the problems started. First, replacing Czarniak here was Snider. Not a bad move. However, its not like anybody watching it would have known because there was a terrible audio problem. We could not hear Snider or McReynolds for the entire length of the show. I have no idea why this was so, or even why they couldn’t have just put the show on standby until they fixed the audio.
The segments with Snider and McReynolds were the only ones that were live. The sound was fine in the three RaceBuddy-exclusive interviews and the Inside Trax piece with Jamie McMurray‘s team that aired. Of note, Robin Pemberton basically blamed the teams for the 22 penalties, claiming that they had updated maps with the timing lines and not everybody picked them up. T
he insinuation seemed to be that the teams that got busted were the ones that didn’t get the new maps and assumed that the sections were the same as last year. Would have loved to see a reaction from Petty and Wally Dallenbach to that statement.
Aside from the problematic RaceBuddy-exclusive content, TNT’s telecast was pretty good. It was a definite change in tone from FOX’s bombasticity. I think Alexander is finally used to doing play-by-play commentary, even though he is still the weakest of the three TNT booth mates. However, I’m eager to see what you guys thought.
That’s all for this week. Next weekend, the traveling circus moves to Michigan International Speedway, a 2-mile super duper speedway (Note: in NASCAR Racing 2003 Season for the PC, there was in fact an option for a “Super Duper Speedway” car that could go well over 250 mph).
Now, we won’t be seeing Hanford Device-era speeds this upcoming weekend, but its still going to be pretty got-darn quick. The Sprint Cup Series will be joined there by the Nationwide and ARCA Racing series.
TV LISTINGS
Friday, June 15
Time Telecast Network
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Nationwide Series Practice SPEED
12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Practice SPEED
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Nationwide Series Happy Hour SPEED
3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Happy Hour SPEED
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards Raineater Wiper Blades 200 SPEED
8:00 – 8:30 p.m. SPEED Center SPEED
10:00 – 11:00 p.m. Road to Le Mans: Racing Redefined! SPEED
Saturday, June 16
Time Telecast Network
8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 24 Hours of Le Mans: The Start (Part 1) SPEED
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Nationwide Series Qualifying ESPN2
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Qualifying SPEED
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. 24 Hours of Le Mans Part 2 SPEEDtv.com^
1:00 – 3:30 p.m. Izod IndyCar Series Milwaukee IndyFest ABC
2:30 – 7:00 p.m. 24 Hours of Le Mans Part 3 SPEED
3:30 – 3:45 p.m. NASCAR Countdown ABC
3:45 – 6:00 p.m. Nationwide Series Alliance Truck Parts 250 ABC
7:00 – 7:30 p.m. SPEED Center SPEED
7:00 – 7:30 p.m. 24 Hours of Le Mans Part 4 SPEEDtv.com^
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 a.m. 24 Hours of Le Mans Part 5 (To the Finish) SPEED
Sunday, June 17
Time Telecast Network
Saturday night – 9:30 a.m. 24 Hours of Le Mans, Conclusion SPEED
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. NASCAR Now, Pre-Race ESPN2
9:30 – 10:00 a.m. SPEED Center, Pre-Race SPEED
10:00am-12:00pm* NASCAR RaceDay Fueled by Sunoco SPEED
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Countdown to Green TNT
12:00 – 2:00 p.m. Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio SPEED*
1:00 – 4:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans 400 TNT
~4:30 – 5:30 p.m. NASCAR Victory Lane SPEED
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. SPEED Center, Post-Race SPEED
9:00 – 10:00 p.m. Wind Tunnel SPEED
*- Tape Delayed
~- Approximate start time
^- Available via free online streaming
The Road to Le Mans special that premieres Friday night on SPEED is a look at Toyota’s factory effort that is returning to Le Mans this year for the first time since 1999. They are considered to be the primary competition to Audi’s R18’s this year.
For next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday, I will bring you critiques of the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and ARCA events at Michigan. For the Critic’s Annex in the Frontstretch Newsletter, I will provide you with a critique of this past weekend’s Pocono ARCA 200 telecast from Pocono Raceway. The Road to Le Mans special will be covered for the June 21 edition of the Annex.
If you have a gripe with me or just want to say something about my critique,
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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.