Couch Potato Tuesday: High-Drag Package Tests NBC

Michigan International Speedway brought the high-drag package into the spotlight once again. As you can imagine, such a setup really does affect how a Sprint Cup race is covered. Anyone reading this critique probably already has an opinion on how the package affected the racing. That’s great. You’re more than entitled to your opinions. What needs to be looked at here is how the package affected NBCSN’s coverage.

Pure Michigan 400

Sunday brought the Sprint Cup Series out for 400 miles of sweatbox racing. The high-drag package turned the cars into saunas. Casey Mears had an in-car thermometer, and he was broiling in 155-degree heat 85 miles into the race. Stuff like that doesn’t make sense.

During Countdown to Green, NBCSN aired an interview where former Roush Fenway Racing driver Jeff Burton sat down with Jack Roush to talk. Admittedly, most of the focus was not on his race team, which has existed in some capacity since the 1970s (in 1989 in NASCAR), but on his love of flying. It says something that Roush is more than willing to keep flying after two near-fatal plane crashes. Roush talked at length about the crash at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh that cost him his left eye, but seemed to be very causal about it, like he’s a hockey player talking about losing a tooth. It seems like Roush is dedicated to improving RFR, but understands that it is a long process to do so. He’s not comfortable with where the team is, but he’s comfortable with himself, if that makes sense.

Much like at Indianapolis, the broadcast booth would point out ways how the rule package for Michigan affected the on-track product. Viewers had heard most of the weekend about how it was nearly impossible to run close to someone in the turns, and much of the race proved that. However, having more cars out there on track made it a little easier to pull up than in practice. Side-by-side action did in fact allow a third car to make a move on the other two if he/she dared.

The broadcast did make note of drivers making moves through the field, like Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and more.

Unfortunately for viewers, these moves were of the “get everything you can in the first couple of laps” for the most part.  As a result, we didn’t see all that much of it because that occurred when the action was hot at the front.  Truex was able to make his moves seemingly at will, though.

However, if you got a long run, there was no racing up front. Zilcharoo. If anything, the package allowed Matt Kenseth to pull away even more than he would have if Sunday’s race was run with the regular rules. When that happened (especially early), pit strategy became the name of the game. Austin Dillon chose not to pit during the competition caution, took the lead and became the story of the day. It’s fair to say that Dillon had the second-best car all day, since he was essentially the only driver that could get away from Kenseth.

With a lack of action on-track, NBCSN gave viewers Through the Field segments to keep people updated, but there was really only so much they could do. There’s no doubt the package hurt the broadcast.

The in-car temperature was a big story and as mentioned above, Mears once again had the in-car thermometer in play. However, he dropped out after just over 100 miles because a clamp broke on a water line and overheated the engine. We had nothing after that point about the topic. Did it get ludicrously hot in the cars (160-180 degrees)? I don’t know. Possibly. No one wanted to talk about it after the race since they hated the rules so much that they probably felt they’d get fined if they said anything.

NBCSN only allocated three hours for the race coverage. With eight yellows for various reasons and a new show (Mob Steel) premiering immediately after the post-race coverage, viewers didn’t get much after the race. There were a good number of interviews, but the NASCAR America post-race show was cut from 30 minutes to 10. As a result, that show looked more like the RaceBuddy post-race show than what we’ve gotten for the previous six weeks.

I won’t be critiquing Mob Steel in depth here since it’s not racing-related, but the promotion of that show’s premiere was a bit much during the weekend. I don’t watch NASCAR races to see stuff about car reconstruction shows. If you want to show how a team completely rebuilt a wrecked race car in time for the next race, great. That’s pertinent to what’s going on at the track. To me, Mob Steel seems like something that would fit so much better on Velocity than NBCSN. It sticks out like a sore thumb here and would probably do well paired up with like-minded programming and not every-once-in-a-while programming like the Mecum auctions.

Everyone involved is looking forward to Bristol this weekend, and NBCSN is likely in that boat as well. While the groove being near the wall might not make for the best race Saturday night, it will more than likely be more competitive than what we saw Sunday. Action like what we saw makes it difficult for NBCSN to do their job appropriately. They had to put on a happy face and try to make the best of it, but you can only do so much.

Careers for Veterans 200

Saturday brought the Camping World Truck Series back out to play at Michigan. There was no high-drag package of note… well, not any more than normal. However, drivers could run nose to tail without getting squirrelly.

During the Setup, the most notable piece was an interview that Ray Dunlap conducted with former series champion Johnny Benson. Ever since his collection of “Pure Michigan” sponsors collapsed, the 52-year old Benson has grown comfortable with the idea that his driving career is now over. These days, Benson is building race cars back in his native Michigan and acting as a driver coach. It’s not quite like coaching Danica Patrick for JR Motorsports like he did a few years ago. Instead, he’s coaching a 12-year-old, Carson Hocevar, who is racing an outlaw late model at Berlin Raceway. Of note, how the deuce can a 12-year-old drive one of those? It’s a headlining class. Makes no sense to me. Benson describes just how he works with the young racer, who appears to have some potential. The whole piece is interesting in that it takes a look at the future of the sport through the lens of Benson. Drivers are starting so young today, and tracks actively promote the fact that the young guns are really young ‘uns.

During Saturday’s race, team owner and part-time Truck Series racer Brad Keselowski came up to the broadcast booth to hang around for a little bit and chime in on the action. In this role, Keselowski used his knowledge from having just practiced his Fusion to give viewers an idea of track conditions and the sensation of driving the truck in traffic. Knowing that he was in the truck as recently as Pocono a couple of weeks ago, having Keselowski in the booth, despite the natural issues I have with active owners in the mix, was a plus. I actually would have preferred to have Keselowski alongside Vince Welch and Phil Parsons instead of Michael Waltrip.

Post-race coverage was about average on Saturday. Viewers saw post-race interviews and a check of the points. Also, there were replays of a last-lap crash involving Spencer Gallagher. Now, this could have been a big story because it appeared that the roof flaps failed on the No. 23. As a result, Gallagher’s rear end lifted off the ground on the backstretch. Luckily, there was no rollover and Gallagher walked away from the crash. However, if there was more time, I would have liked to see a little more coverage on that because we’re in year 22 of roof-flap usage. Those things shouldn’t fail to deploy at Michigan.

The action Saturday afternoon was actually quite solid. Forcing Kyle Busch to work for his trophy for a change created a much better race. The race ultimately resembled what NASCAR might have been going for with the high-drag package in Sprint Cup. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t meant to be on Sunday. Compared to his booth work with ESPN 2, Welch appears to be much improved. He isn’t constantly making mistakes. Having said that, he does have a monotone at times and not a lot of emotion in his call. Regardless, he appears to work well with Parsons, and Keselowski’s performance was reminiscent of his work earlier this year during Xfinity races. He’s quite informative and on task when given the opportunity.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital 170

Saturday afternoon brought the NXS back to Mid-Ohio for their third visit to the 2.25-mile road course. This year saw the race distance cut from 90 laps to 75, a fact that was not widely publicized. Why? The explanation seemed to indicate that NBC played a role. Boo. I don’t like that. However, the action was still quite intense.

As you can tell, one of the primary stories that was focused on Saturday was the race sponsor itself, Nationwide Children’s Hospital. 10 “Patient Champions” got their names and pictures on cars in the race. There was also a short piece about JRM’s drivers (Regan Smith and Chase Elliott) traveling to the hospital to visit with the patients. My takeaway is that the cause itself has elevated the profile of the race, at least in NBCSN’s and NASCAR’s eyes. Is it a marquee event after only three years? Probably not, but the action’s pretty good.

Outside of the race and its sponsor, the primary stories focused around the previous spat between Ty Dillon and Smith, which amounted to absolutely bupkis Saturday. It’s not that they didn’t run around each other; they did, for most of the race. I figured what we saw at Watkins Glen was a one time thing and Saturday’s events argue in that direction. Then again, Bristol’s on Friday night, so you never know.

Personally, I would have liked a little more of a focus on the various part-timers and lesser-known racers in the event. For example, Dylan Lupton did great to snag a top 10 in the Athenian Motorsports No. 25. Jeremy Clements was up there once again before dropping back to 17th at the finish. Dylan Kwasniewski in his season debut for Obaika Racing did really well before the car turned traitor on him. TUSC regular Andy Lally showed up for the race with one car, three sets of tires (one for rain) and two dudes to work on the car. You didn’t see much of him Saturday, but he did talk with Jim Noble on Friday. That interview, which showed the extent of their operation for the weekend is more notable for what Lally said about Ronda Rousey than anything else.

Given that we’re talking about a road course, the action can get spread out at times. That wasn’t much of an issue as the eight cautions scuttled that. As a result, viewers saw a good amount of racing for position. The enthusiasm from Diffey and Dale Jarrett in the booth was great and I thought Dave Burns, Noble and Alex Hayden did a great job in the pits, especially when everything seemed to be happening at once.

I didn’t particularly like the way that the broadcast referenced the second caution. When I originally watched the race, I didn’t believe that the race was under yellow after Kenny Habul blew the tire and went straight into the trap (and out again) right in front of the pits. It did, but Leigh Diffey described it as such in a way that wasn’t totally clear to me at first. That particular segment showed what happened to Habul, showed him crawling back to the pits and getting repaired before going to commercial. You didn’t see the rest of the field (outside of the aforementioned replay) for about five to six minutes. That could make things a little confusing to follow for viewers. I had to go back and watch it again to be sure that he had referenced a caution.

Post-race coverage was dominated by the bump-and-run that Smith executed on Alex Tagliani to win the race. Tagliani, and most of his road racing brethren thought it was dirty. NASCAR fans thought it was fine. I don’t think it was truly necessary since Tagliani effectively missed the corner on his own. I’m unsure as to whether Smith could have won without the bump and run, but it would have been close. Viewers got to hear both sides of the story, along with quotes from Dillon. Unfortunately, that was about it due to the fact that the race took over 150 minutes to run.

That’s all for this week. Next weekend is quite busy and it starts early. The Camping World Truck Series teams are pulling into Bristol Motor Speedway as you read this critique for tomorrow night’s UNOH 200, with the Bush’s Beans 150 combination race for the Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour as support. Later on in the week, the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series roll in for 800 laps of their action. Formula 1, the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and the Verizon IndyCar Series are all in action. Here’s your listings.

Tuesday, August 18

Wednesday, August 19

Thursday, August 20

Friday, August 21

Saturday, August 22

Sunday, August 23

Monday, August 24

Key:
* – Tape Delayed
/ – Highlighted Coverage
# – Repeat Coverage
> – Coverage Joined in Progress
^ – Available via free online streaming
# – Available via password-protected online streaming. Check with your Internet and/or programming provider for availability.

I will provide critiques of the Sprint Cup and NXS races from Bristol for next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here on Frontstretch. The UNOH 200 for the Camping World Truck Series will be covered in Thursday’s edition of the Critic’s Annex in the Newsletter this week. For mid-week races, I just find it easier to cover them in that fashion.

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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.