Couch Potato Tuesday: Runaways Force FOX’s Hand in Phoenix

Phoenix International Raceway was the scene of a couple of races that really weren’t all that competitive. Knowing that, FOX Sports was in the position of having to make races that were so-so look decent. We’ll see how well they did below.

Before we start, there are a couple of news items to cover. First, ARCA and the CBS Sports Network announced last week that the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will return to the digital cable sports network for at least three events later this year. The races that will be covered are the Toledo ARCA 200 in May, the Winchester ARCA 200 in June and the Allen Crowe 100 at the Springfield Mile in August. The release did not mention who will be producing the broadcasts or who will commentate, but I would not be surprised if Rick Benjamin’s Carolinas Broadcast Group is back for another go-round. I will critique at least one of those races later this year in the Critic’s Annex.

In addition, ESPN announced on Monday that it has signed Jon Beekhuis to serve as a pit reporter on ESPN’s suite of Verizon IndyCar Series races starting at St. Petersburg. Beekhuis will effectively replace Vince Welch in the pits. Now, I know there are IndyCar fans who read this column. Know that Beekhuis will work for ESPN in addition to his work for NBC Sports Network. I really don’t see a negative to ESPN’s move here. The broadcast booth is still unchanged for 2015. Allen Bestwick will be back with Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever alongside.

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Despite the general defeatist vibe brought on by Kevin Harvick at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend, there was a bit of a buzz in the air. Kurt Busch was back, and looking kinda grizzly as well.

I’d figured that Busch would have taken a similar attitude towards the media with his return to racing that Tony Stewart did last year when he returned after the events of last August in Canandaigua. In short, that was Operation Shutdown. I think Stewart did three or four on-air interviews over the final couple of months of the 2014 season. Busch proved me wrong. He decided to talk about the situation with Chris Myers. Given the seriousness of the situation, the usual shenanigans that mark a typical edition of FOX NASCAR Sunday (and believe me, there were plenty of ridiculous shenanigans) were stripped away for the moment. It was just Busch and Myers with no music.

I found the interview to be quite interesting to watch. Busch still feels that he was wrongfully accused and took a relatively terse tone. He went out of his way to not reference Patricia Driscoll. To say that he was cold towards any mention of her would be an understatement. We got a very one-sided look at the issue from Busch’s perspective that I’m fairly sure was scripted to a certain degree. Remember, this is a man known to read statements during press conferences to answer questions that he doesn’t like. I’ve seen it in person back in 2011 (interestingly enough, that instance also referenced Driscoll). To his credit, Myers tried to give Driscoll equal time in the segment, but Busch wasn’t having any of that. Stewart-Haas Racing put out a statement after Busch was reinstated saying that it’s moving on, and Busch was the living embodiment of that.

Ultimately, any interview is only as good as the interview subject on that day. Busch was not the most forthcoming subject, but I’m surprised that he actually talked at all. I also didn’t like the placement of the interview in the third segment, halfway through FOX NASCAR Sunday. I’m sure Ned Yost is a good dude, but let’s face it. Busch is a bigger story right now than the manager of the Kansas City Royals talking about hanging out with Dale Earnhardt, no matter how much Earnhardt’s death still pains Yost. The pieces should have been flip-flopped at least.

At the front of the field, Sunday’s Cup race was tied (with three other races) for the second-least competitive race ever at Phoenix. Only the 1990 event that Earnhardt dominated had fewer lead changes. When such a setup occurs, whoever is broadcasting the race has to take steps in order to provide viewers with good action to watch. FOX started taking those steps quite early in the race.

While we didn’t see all that much action at the front of the field, the action further back was quite fast and furious. In the interest of showing good action, FOX did show a good amount of that racing in addition to updating viewers on the leaders. It was good to see.

What is generally not good to see is the ongoing disaster that is the mid-race report. NASCAR races (or really any race, for that matter) are not conducive to halftime reports unless there is an actual halftime break (K&N Pro Series, Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour, etc.). My preference would be to keep it constrained to cautions only. On Sunday, you had a situation in which next to no updates on the race were given for something like 17 laps. Harvick snatched the lead away from Brad Keselowski during the report, and it didn’t even warrant a mention. Yes, we saw the pass, but the commentators all but ignored it. I’ve ranted about the segment before on here and my position has not changed. It’s brutal and takes away from the broadcast. It’s nothing more than a restating of storylines that takes fans away from the race. You know, the reason everyone’s watching FOX on a Sunday afternoon in March. FOX would do well to drop it.

One of the major storylines going into the race was the general briefness of the event. That wasn’t so on Sunday. The race lasted nearly three hours, which cut into the post-race coverage. While FOX did bring viewers a number of interviews, it failed to show the point standings before leaving the air. Granted, anyone that’s reading this column knows that Harvick expanded his lead, but the other drivers have fans as well. Also, after reading Twitter on break at work today, I wonder if FOX had any footage of the on-track squabbles between Danica Patrick and Alex Bowman on Sunday. I don’t recall seeing any on the broadcast, but Bowman claimed on Twitter that Patrick threatened to kick him square in the pants after the race (she didn’t actually say that, but with what she said, the result would have been the same).

Overall, FOX’s broadcast was good in spots and not so good in others. The mid-race report was one bad spot. I was pretty sure that someone was spitting water early in the race, but I couldn’t figure out who it was (it showed up on a roof cam).

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Saturday brought the Xfinity Series to network television for the first time this season.

One of the main themes of NASCAR RaceDay was the idea of the Xfinity Series regulars becoming much stronger in 2015. Chase Elliott proclaimed in a segment that Xfinity Series regulars could win 15 of the 33 races this year. Based on what we saw at Phoenix, I don’t know about that. 10 seems more likely than 15. Also, it appears that FOX Sports is considering Erik Jones to be an NXS regular for the sake of the conversation. Jones isn’t eligible for Xfinity Series points because he’s a Camping World Truck Series regular. His presence in the races usurps potential points for actual regulars. He’s just not a Sprint Cup driver… yet. Does FOX think that the NXS regular ranks are so thin that it feels the need to co-opt a Truck regular?

For Phoenix, Brad Keselowski returned for his second try at booth analysis, this time without the added stress of preparing for a race immediately afterward. Much like in the car, Harvick has set the standard for guest analyst work. Without that added stress, Keselowski was better than he was in Atlanta. Like Harvick, Keselowski is a calming influence in the booth in contrast to Michael Waltrip, who is quite simply Michael Waltrip at all times.

Probably the most interesting anecdote out of Keselowski came really early in the race when he discussed how he knew that Elliott was going to be a factor in the series. It was the second race of last season when the then-18-year-old high school senior raced him heads-up at Phoenix. Performances like that make a clear impression on the best in the sport. We didn’t get anything quite like that on Saturday, but the booth did draw attention to decent runs from drivers such as Ryan Sieg and Brennan Poole.

Speaking of Poole, I don’t really understand why the HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi team tried to run Poole 104 laps to the finish on fuel. That wasn’t going to work. The race wasn’t going to become one of those start-and-stop events. The team should have pitted Poole when Elliott spun out and allowed him a chance to finish in the top 10 instead of four laps down in 26th.

The incident between Elliott and Ty Dillon could end up having some repercussions going forward. FOX’s coverage of said incident was somewhat even-keeled. While only Dillon was interviewed after the race, viewers got Elliott’s point of view from the radio chatter. The incident, for all intents and purposes, was a racing deal. Yet, both drivers separately tried to make it more than it really was. FOX played up the incident a little bit, but not too much.

Compared to the Sprint Cup race, the coverage was much more centralized at the front of the field. While yes, the booth did give drivers dap for good runs, much of the race was focused on Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Harvick and Austin Dillon. It simply wasn’t all that much of the potential showcase for NXS regulars that could have been.

That’s all for this week. Next weekend, the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series teams conclude the western swing with the lone trip of the season to Auto Club Speedway. Meanwhile, IMSA comes back to life with their second major endurance race of the season, the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Here’s your listings.

Tuesday, March 17

Wednesday, March 18

Thursday, March 19

Friday, March 20

Saturday, March 21

Sunday, March 22

Monday, March 23

Key:
* – Tape Delayed
/ – Highlighted Coverage
# – Repeat Coverage
^ – Available via free online streaming

I will provide critiques of the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series races in next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here on Frontstretch. For the Critic’s Annex, we’re heading over to NBC Universo to take a look at its coverage of Friday night’s Toyota 120 from Phoenix.

If you have a gripe with me, or just want to say something about my critique, feel free to post in the comments below, or contact me through the email address provided on the website in my bio. Also, if you want to like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, please click on the appropriate icons below. Finally, if you would like to contact FOX Sports personally with an issue regarding their TV coverage, please click on the following link:

FOX Sports

At this point, there is still no public contact email for NBC Sports. When it finally gets around to creating a new link, I will post it for you.

As always, if you choose to contact the 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.

Phil Allaway

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.