NASCAR on TV this week

Beside the Rising Tide: Dear NBC… Part II

Editor’s Note: This column is the second of a three-part series Matt’s writing about the pending return of NBC to covering the sport full-time. Come back for Part III Thursday!

Beside the Rising Tide: Dear NBC… Part I

Since a lot of ya’ll are new to this and I’m not, let’s review the basics here. NASCAR is not an entertainment broadcast. It’s a sporting event. Hopefully it’s an entertaining sporting event, that’s your job, but “entertaining” is the adjective not the noun. Your job is to broadcast the race as it plays out. Doubtless as you’ve got your ducks in a row to take the baton for FOX, a lot of folks working in cubicles have come up with some “segments” you want to air with every broadcast. Go back right now and review them each to see what they might potentially add to the race broadcast. Eliminate half of them, then eliminate half of the half remaining, then two thirds of the rest. NASCAR doesn’t have scheduled time-outs, a seventh-inning stretch, quarters, periods, or any of that nonsense. They are no scheduled stoppages of play. (Yeah, we have yellow flags but they don’t happen at any set time, or at least they shouldn’t. See above.)

The worst thing you can do is bring to a race is a pre-set script based on what you think will likely happen. Because invariably it won’t. At a micro-level, let’s look at a local news reporter, her camera guy and producer set to do a second-segment two-minute piece on a local country music radio station’s anniversary concert on the river. Yep, we’re going to show Tim McGraw singing for a few seconds, note what a good time everyone is having, find one or two people willing to put down their beers and put in their teeth to say how excited they are to be there, and close with a note how that radio station (oh, did we forget to mention they’re our sister station?) is now number one in the market. But while the pretty reporter is reading her script and the producer is reminding the fans what words they can’t say and what body parts they can’t show, all of a sudden there’s a riot breaking out because they’ve run out of the promised free t-shirts. People are overturning vehicles, setting crap on fire and beating the snot out of one another. Ummm… we’re going to have to deviate from script and our time slot to report breaking news. Someone flash the big red “Breaking News” graphic because I ain’t got a word to say right now other than “yee-haw!”

You’ve got to be quick on your feet and react to what’s happening, not what you thought might. That’s the beauty of live sports. Sure, that driver might have taken over the lead early in the race and led every lap since with 10 laps to go, but there’s no saying that he might not split an engine right down the middle like Uncle Barney’s trousers while he was playing horseshoes at the family reunion. For the height of idiocy, be sure to review FOX’s month-long coverage of Kevin Harvick’s headlong attempt to match Richard Petty’s record for consecutive top-two finishes. It’s like the broadcast team went mute when it didn’t. Let’s go back to ace reporter Annie M., who is now flashing the SWAT team.

Yep, you can’t predict the action and you can’t focus on one driver. While the topic is open, when reporting who just entered the pits it’s Johnson (not Jimmie, I hear Jimi and I still think Hendrix not Hendrick) in the number 48 car. (Not the Lowe’s Chevy. Not to pick on Johnson, that’s the way it should be for all drivers across the board. Stewart (not Tony and certainly not Smoke) in the number 14 car is running 37th. You don’t have to and shouldn’t mention sponsor names. If that car is being shown on TV, we’re seeing them for ourselves. As the Joyce Julius seconds add up, those sponsors are happier than a monkey beating off in a gum-gum tree. I mean, if you do it any differently and it’s Kasey Kahne in the Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, but in the next moment its Busch in the number 18 car people might think they’re using sponsors’ and manufacturers’ names because Chevy and the insurance folks bought ads for the broadcast while M&M’s and Toyota did not. You wouldn’t do that sort of nefarious crap, would you? In the Constitution, you have the separation of Church and State. There’s got to be that same sort of gap between broadcasters and the advertising department. Otherwise, it’s not a race interrupted by commercials, it’s a commercial interrupted by more commercials.

You knew it was coming. We have to talk about commercials. They are perhaps the chief irritant that starts fans to grinding their teeth. I’m a realist. That $4.4 billion has to be recouped somehow. Since we’re not paying to watch the race, you have to sell commercials. I get it. But as noted above, NASCAR has no scheduled TV timeouts. Somehow you have to find a way to space those commercials and limit the length of the breaks at least to the extent they don’t preclude an attentive fan at home from being able to fathom how the race is playing out. Ultimately the only solution is to convince sponsors to accept the side-by-side format (like IndyCar, Formula 1, soccer and on and on) so their ads are shown in the big box while what’s going on out on the racetrack is shown in another.

A couple points you might bring up here: With the big-screen TV craze that has swept America, they’re still getting more square inches of TV screen space than they did ten years ago. Secondly, no matter how clever your ad is, what a screaming bargain you’re offering, or how many cute retriever puppies you can show frolicking in fields of wildflowers, your message isn’t going to be seen or heard if nobody is watching. I’ll be honest. When I watch a race on TV, I always hit mute when the commercials come on. I’ll go to the kitchen to grab a drink and a sandwich. I’ll use the bathroom. I might step out on the porch for a smoke. Given the duration of some of those commercial breaks, I might write a novel. But I’m not paying attention to the TV until I see racecars running around the track again. And most fans I know do the same. If the race was being shown in a separate box I’d keep paying attention. Heck, if it was a good race, I might even piss in a Gatorade bottle to avoid missing the action. And because of that reptilian lobe in my brain that kept my forefathers from being snatched out of the sky by pterodactyls, I’m going to register at least some of the ad because there’s movement above what I’m looking at. That’s just how I roll. On the beach I might be checking out pretty women, but I’m still aware of any seagull overhead waiting to crap on my lunch.

Oh, I’m sure the advertisers will bitch and moan some, but just ask them if they’d prefer a small piece of a big pie or a big piece of a small pie. “Small pie”. Not Tastycake Original Snack-size Apple Pie. (Oh, for the record did you know that NASCAR fans in Germany, Serbia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK get to see Cup races commercial free? Yee-haw! But of course with all those time zones, the races are probably broadcast at some awkward times during which any good German would probably already be in bed if he hoped to have any schnitzel in his wiener the next day.)

But back to the separation between advertising and broadcasting. OK, we’ve endured the latest commercial breaks. Back to the race! We don’t need a continuous barrage of commercial promos during the broadcast any more than some sponsors want the racing shown beside their ad. Yeah, McReynolds, we already knew what brand of tires the crews were going to bolt to the cars and what brand of gas would be poured in the tank without your hollering to remind us. Now, if there were two or more sorts of tires a team could choose, the reds being sticky but fast wearing while the blacks were harder but more consistent, and teams had a limited stockpile of both, that would be information I need. (And that might save NASCAR racing.)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is very popular, but so are a lot of other drivers. We don’t need in-car shots paid for by someone to check on how Earnhardt is doing particularly when he’s running three laps down and you still haven’t shown the driver in sixth place. FOX’s Mike Joy referred to these sort of mini-commercials and mentions as “sponsor-paid enhancements” recently on Twitter. Truthfully, I had no idea that “enhancement” was French for “irritant.” I don’t care what movie is about to be released, even if it’s a blockbuster. I couldn’t give a flying flip at a rolling doughnut about what’s on NBC later tonight. They just showed me commercials for both during the break. That’s when the advertising gets done. While you’re sitting there spouting on about the history of the Goodyear blimp and the two leaders have just wrecked one another, something is wrong.

Another pet peeve a lot of people have with the current brands of race coverage is start times. Oh, they’re by and large consistent these days, which is a good thing, but why is that the scheduled air time has nothing to do with when the race really starts? Call me a curmudgeon, but I really don’t give a flying flip who your pit reporters think might win that day. (Some might assume they’re taking kickbacks to go pose in front of someone’s sponsor logo splashed pit stall. They wouldn’t do that, right?) As I see it, say the prayer, sing the song, fire the engines and get after it. If the race is scheduled at 1:00, I want to see cars driven in anger by 1:05. And spare me the pre-race stats. Yep, it’s fascinating that there’s been a green-white-checkered finish in four of the last nine events at the track. But like those prospectuses all say, past performance does not necessarily predict future returns. Is there going to be a GWC finish that day? We’ll all find out together because we’re watching the race together, right?

While we’re on the topic of payola, try to keep in mind that there are in fact 43 cars out there, not just Junior and his teammates and the JGR bunch. Yeah, some drivers have more fans than others, but damn it, there are Landon Cassill fans and they want to know how he’s running too. You hold the smaller teams’ futures in your hand. Their sponsors want their Joyce Julius exposure too. Deny it to them and those sponsors could leave, teams could fold and drivers and crew members might lose their jobs. Just because you’re the big pig at the trough doesn’t mean it’s OK to shoulder the piglets aside. It’s in the best interest of the sport to have a full field of at least somewhat competitive entries, not start-and-parkers like back in the day. And some of those little teams might one day might surprise you. We all thought it was a joke when some Chevy dealer started running All-Star Racing with Geoff Bodine at the wheel and look how that worked out. As it stands written in the Book of the Boss; “from small things, mama, big things one day come”.

(While we’re on the topic, if you’re going to call that guy “Mr. Hendrick” then it ought to be “Mr. Roush, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Petty, et al. His drivers can call him whatever they like. Long time HMS crew chief Harry Hyde used to call him “Mr. Hendrix.” Seriously, old Harry never got the memo. Fans have a variety of nicknames for him, some of which are just impolite.)

Maybe you could add a segment every week called “The Last Word” to give the previous week’s last-place finisher a chance to say what went wrong and how they intend to fix it this week.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

Matt joined Frontstretch in 2007 after a decade of race-writing, paired with the first generation of racing internet sites like RaceComm and Racing One. Now semi-retired, he submits occasional special features while his retrospectives on drivers like Alan Kulwicki, Davey Allison, and other fallen NASCAR legends pop up every summer on Frontstretch. A motorcycle nut, look for the closest open road near you and you can catch him on the Harley during those bright, summer days in his beloved Pennsylvania.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.


20 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
babydufus

does anyone but a very few hard assed cynics and old school curmudgeons appreciate this level of cynicism…er i mean brilliance??? what has the world come to? how am i supposed to turn this off if i can’t find where the hell the remote is? HONEY, have you seen the remote?

MBH

Gray haired old time fan / curmudgeon. Couldn’t agree more with Matt’s article. The only exception is that church/state separation is not in the US Constitution. It was mentioned in a letter by Thomas Jefferson to a Baptist Church Association in Danbury, Connecticut (in 1802).

Are you really posting at 02:18? Wow.

babydufus

heh. it’s Kalifornia time so it’s not so impressive.
a southern new england transplant is me.

Bill B

I’d like to add the following to paragraph 4 which pertains to how drivers are referred to during the race. “Junebug” should become the 8th word added to George Carlin’s “7 words you can’t say on tv” list.

Otherwise… amen, right on and hallelujah.

salb

From your computer to NBC’s ears!

Jay S

Excellent article, I couldn’t agree more. I am so tired of coming back from a commercial,after a “Race Break” to find the field at caution, the they show pit stops, then you see why there is a caution… Really? Also, if you have been in rain delay, for an hour, and they have bombarded you with commercials to “get them out of the way” as Mike Joy says, then why…. WHY??? do I have to sit thru a million more when racing resumes, I mean, at Michigan, there were 3 delays of 40 minutes a piece…. At some point aren’t we paid in full???? Or at least, shouldn’t the rest of the race be with limited commercial interruptions? BTW, maybe we could do an entire broadcast of “Crank it Up” It would be great, you could watch the race, enjoy the sounds of the engines, it would be uninterrupted bliss… Sometimes, all I want is for the broadcast team is to S.T.F.U. so I can enjoy my 3 1/2 minutes of racing… before the next 6 minute barrage of commercials.. I find I can knock out about a half sink of dishes per commercial break, I cook dinner during commercials, I do laundry during commercials, so yeah, I lace all my chores into commercials because I too refuse to waste my time watching 648 commercials every week. I could do dual screen BUT, the ratio MUST get closer to a 50/50 split, even with a 32″ screen 6 feet away, I can barely see the action in the little box… Sorry, had to blow off some steam, sad that a Nascar broadcast makes me this upset instead of happy isn’t it?

scott

Well said Jay… I was thinking the same thing…. What are the odds of a “caution” during most every commercial break…? Nascar = WWE…… NBC is under no pressure as they can do no worse than Nascar on Faux….

Fed Up

Very well stated Matt. As I noted in Tom’s column, the presentation is pathetic.

midasmicah

Great article, Matt. Blunt and to the point. I hope NBC listens, but……

janice

good piece…however, not all country music fans have to put their teeth in and yes, i feel that tv station news crews find the most drunk, stupid or otherwise in comprehensive person to interview. come and watch tv here in the south!

races should start an hour after the amen found in late sunday morning (east coast time) church services. you rush home, maybe get a take out sandwich, and flip on the tv after changing into comfy clothes vs. church clothes and there they are, saying the invocation at the nascar race.

Mathan

Love it!

Bill B

Yep the math is right on. And of those 2.75 million fans very few are watching any of the commercials.

GinaV24

LOL, that is amazing as far as $$! Like you, I don’t watch commercials, including the “special” in car sessions when they are focused only one driver!

Don D.

OR for a few more bucks, you could support your local race track, have the excitement right in your lap, and be interrupted by ZERO commercials. Trust me, your local tracks and drivers could use the money more than NBC or FOX

JohnQ

My expectations are so low that if NBC loses Ol Dipshit, his buffoon brother and Larry MCRentthisSpace I’ll consider the coverage outstanding.

Biff Baynehouse

Unprecedented ground Matt! As a life long Nascar enthusiast, I have commented after thousands of Nascar articles. Yet, I am, for the first time, speechless! You nailed it (so I’ll just repeat what I have posted elsewhere, lol).
Changing the rules of the game, introducing new gimmicks (the Chase) & colorful, touchie-feelie human interest stories with cute puppies & daises meadows is all meaningless if nobody watches your events because your broadcasting is **itty! To that end, updating rules & adding gimmicks are all acts of futility, because no matter what Nascar does, 1/3 to 1/2 of every Nascar event is obliterated by ads. Imo, there is no such thing as a boring race, but **itty TV broadcasting is plenty capable of making racing seem boring. “The corporate network in question” consistently packs more commercials than laps of racing into their broadcasts. They deploy commentators who best “dumb-down” the events & so as they are suitable to be spoon fed to a 1st grader. And they completely ignore multiple significant race developments weekly. How upset would NFL, NBA, or NHL fans be if half of every televised game was obliterated & ignored? Would that effect fan loyalty & the sport’s bottom lines? How about every televised MLB game with 4 innings of each game skipped & ignored? Would MLB fan loyalty be affected? Would TV ratings decline? Pfft! You’re darn right & rightfully so! In fact, Nascar fan loyalty is negatively effected MUCH more by this, because races are races. They do not contain naturally occurring breaks, like quarters, halftime or field swaps. Only soccer has remotely similar broadcasting parameters to racing, in that the game clock only stops at halftime. But the ultimate irony is that “the corporate network in question” is also broadcasting World Cup soccer, which they do COMMERCIAL FREE!

Janice

This article is spot on. If NBC will pay attention to even part of it they will have this race fan’s gratitude. I keep hoping that some broadcaster, any broadcaster, will do a “thru the field”. As a fan, I’m actually interested in the WHOLE field of competitors. Keep your fingers and toes crossed, maybe we can actually watch a race; unfortunately I’m not very hopeful.

Steve

And for the love of god NBC, stop showing the crowd every time Jr takes the lead. Given the lack of crowd sizes at races lately, it might not be in your best interest to show a half empty grandstand in the process anyway. Not to pick on Jr, because I don’t have anything against him, but showing the crowd every time he takes the lead drives me nuts.

And one last thing, show everyone crossing the line at the checkers or use a split box to show the crew/happy driver also. There are usually good battles coming to the line but we never see them because a certain network would rather show crew celebrations, in car fist pumping, driver wives, pit box high fives etc instead of cars battling to the line.

GinaV24

Yeehaw! Stellar column and you hit ALL the hot buttons that have made me watch the races on TV with the mute button on and that is during the race broadcast, not just the commercials.

Well done as always, Matt. Fox hasn’t paid any attention to the fans comments and Rupert’s response to any complaints was as I recall “tough”. Well yeah that attitude has done well for racing on Fox, hasn’t it?

Maybe someone at NBC has been paying attention and if not, they should read your column because it should provoke someone to think about it. However, until pigs fly, I am not expecting anything different for race broadcasts.