Couch Potato Tuesday: Standalone Road Races Show Deficiencies

Last weekend, the Sprint Cup Series took the week off to relax, vacation, and in the case of Chad Knaus and Matt DiBenedetto, get hitched. Meanwhile, the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series dealt with the twisties.

Before we started, NBCSN’s Robin Miller did the voiceover on this tribute to Justin Wilson that aired on IndyCar Live prior to Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. I liked it, and I think you will too. Once the dreaded 30-second ad finishes, it should play. Tell us what you think of it.

Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville

Saturday brought the Xfinity Series back to Road America for their seventh assault on the 4.048-mile road course. The race was probably the most spread out of the NXS events in Elkhart Lake, but it still had its moments.

With Paul Menard being the only Sprint Cup points racer in the field, the NXS regulars (and the ringers who made the trip) were the focus of the broadcast on Saturday. Chase Elliott clearly had the best car. He was stomping the field. The yellow flying for Cale Conley’s rear end grease leak ruined his race.

Covering such a huge track does provide challenges. The field spreading out is just one of them, although it’s really nothing new if you’ve seen past races. The cameras need to stick to where the action is and supplement with that with the storylines of the day. What we got more or less was the opposite. The storylines ended up driving the broadcast. Since Elliott was taking names for much of the race, he got quite a bit of focus on the broadcast.

I found that the booth combo of Rick Allen, Dale Jarrett and Frank Stoddard works very well together. Stoddard serves as the technical expert here and does a pretty good job breaking down the mechanical and placement aspects of the race. However, part of those “placement” aspects Stoddard had to explain had to do with the ongoing plowing issues. Let’s face it, Kyle Busch. There is no money tree situated behind the paddock where George Bruggenthies (or any other track operator) can go and ask for money for paving grassy areas (Note: The thought of a money tree responding with something along the lines of “Sure, let me drop my branches” makes me chuckle.) These cars need to drop the splitter in favor of the valence. The plowing is irritating me.

I did have a couple of issues during the race. On the first lap, Tomy Drissi ended up in the trap in turn 5. We saw that Drissi went straight and simply couldn’t get slowed up before digging in with the aforementioned splitter. There was no mention on the broadcast of the likelihood of Drissi getting hit from behind. As far as I’m concerned, someone nailed him from behind. That’s the only reason he went straight in the first place. Damage could be seen on the No. 26 before he got in the trap.  They should have been on that a little better.

Much of the weekend saw constant references to the fact that Menard is from Wisconsin (Eau Claire, to be exact, which is apparently a four-hour drive from Elkhart Lake). While I have no doubt that Menard was happy to be home during the summer, which almost never happens for him, I don’t think viewers needed to be constantly reminded of it.

Post-race coverage was pretty decent. Viewers got to see half a dozen interviews, including a rare word with Blake Koch, who was right up there in contention (via fuel-mileage strategy) late in the race.

Overall, the telecast was decent, but a bit hamstrung by the surroundings. A four-plus mile course will stretch all the resources you have, and then some. I would have liked to see a little more coverage of other stories. I would have liked to know what put Jeremy Clements down two laps in the opening circuits given his quick pace all weekend (he started 11th, remember). I would have liked to hear from Conley after his rear end issues put him out. Quite simply, I just wanted more.

Chevrolet Silverado 250k

Sunday afternoon saw the Camping World Truck Series teams take on the 2.459-mile Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. It was a tough weekend as several drivers found the walls during practice, qualifying and the race itself.

The Setup had Ray Dunlap sitting down this week with ThorSport Racing’s Cameron Hayley, an interesting choice. Hayley’s interesting in this circumstance because fans might not know all that much about him. We do know that he brings funding to ThorSport Racing via his family’s Cabinets by Hayley, however (despite what looked like a tease of it), we never see Hayley in his home element in the piece. Instead, the focus is on Hayley and what he does with the team. Luckily, that is interesting by itself. A lot of times these days, drivers are not necessarily the most hands-on with their chariots. Hayley, at one point, was that guy. Now, he’s learning everything about building racecars at the shop. It was a different look at an up-and-coming racer. Granted, these scenarios are probably a lot more common in the Camping World Truck Series than you’d think, but it’s great to see a driver helping out his team at the shop.

Watching the race on Sunday, I felt that the broadcast seemed to be lacking something. For example, there were no side-by-side replays during the entire telecast. I know, that’s not a big gripe. However, it is noticeable when you get full-screen replays barely half a lap after a restart that normally would be covered via the split-screen setup. For much of the race, I really was wishing that they had it in play.

The lack of split-screen is one thing, but it seemed like updates on drivers were slow in coming, which is a bigger issue as far as I’m concerned. One example was Daniel Brown’s crash on lap 19. Viewers never saw a replay of the crash. Once again, Twitter came to the rescue well after the race. In a reply to another user, Brown explained what caused the crash.

@RyanLewisRacing had a small off at T8 due to loooong brake pedal, otherwise would have been good for a top 15

— Daniel Brown (@danielbrown21) August 30, 2015

Updates on Brown’s condition were also very slow in coming, which made the situation seem a lot worse than it actually was. We saw Brown in the tires with the window net still up, then the next time we saw the scene, a box truck was on the scene in order to aid in repairing the tire barriers. In reality, Brown was OK and came out to finish the race.

In addition, the broadcast seemed to ignore the fact that Timothy Peters went behind the wall on the restart from the caution due to the aforementioned Brown crash. No mention was made of what happened until after Peters was back out on the course, seven laps down. Even then, they didn’t mention what happened to Peters’s truck to force him to the garage.  Once again, Twitter came to the rescue after the race.

The cause of use going behind the wall today was a simple nut that holds the yoke to rear gear came off! Guys did a great job changing it!

— Timothy Peters (@TimothyPeters_) August 31, 2015

Aside from those glaring issues, we got some good, hard racing for position on Sunday. The booth’s enthusiasm was quite reasonable as well. The camera shots for that action was pretty good as well.

Post-race coverage was just about average. Viewers saw a few interviews and a check of the standings. In addition to Erik Jones’s well-deserved win, the focus here was on Alex Tagliani losing the race (although he probably would have finished second had third gear not turned traitor on the Mario Andretti Straightaway) and Tyler Reddick’s wreck that flip-flopped the points.

Overall, Sunday’s race was pretty good, but the broadcast seemed to be missing something. International broadcasts can always be an issue. Getting all of the gear for a normal race broadcast into (and out of) Canada is a bit of a tough task. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the gear that is normally used on a Camping World Truck Series broadcast was left behind. We couldn’t always make what caused all of the issues on track. Reddick’s crash with Gray Gaulding is one example. The only replay we got indicated that Reddick was right behind Gaulding, Gaulding spun and Reddick was more or less guided to the tires. I could guess what caused that, but I’m not sure.

That’s all for this week. This weekend, it’s crunch time for those that are trying to get into the Chase. Clint Bowyer can create a “dormie” situation with a good finish Sunday night in Darlington. The NXS will be present as well. Meanwhile, Formula 1 has their final European race of the year at the super-duper fast Autodromo Nationale Monza. Here’s your listings.

Tuesday, September 1

Wednesday, September 2

Thursday, September 3

Friday, September 4

Saturday, September 5

Sunday, September 6

Monday, September 7

Key:
* – Tape Delayed
/ – Highlighted Coverage
# – Repeat Coverage
$ – Available via password-protected online streaming

I will provide critiques of the Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series races from Darlington for next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here on Frontstretch. As you’ve probably seen in the commercials, NBC is doing a throwback telecast Sunday night, complete with old-school graphics and old-school clothes. Expect very wide lapels to be en vogue. Watch Match Game on GSN at 8 a.m. weekdays and you’ll get the idea as to what they’ll be wearing. I have no idea what the throwback broadcast will look like, production-wise. I guess I’ll find out with the rest of you. I’m just hoping that we don’t have an effect on the broadcast to simulate SD cameras even though the race is being shot in HD.

Such a broadcast is new to NASCAR, but not to network TV. About 15 years ago, FOX did a special broadcast of their MLB Game of the Week where the broadcast progressed through different eras of sports broadcasting as the game went on. It actually started in black and white and eventually finished looking like a normal FOX Saturday Baseball telecast of that time period.

In the Annex, we’re going to step away from additional race critiques to finally take a good look at BEING: Stewart-Haas Racing, a show whose premiere a while back was scrubbed, but has recently been airing on FOX Sports 1. It should be fun.

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. If you would like to contact either of NASCAR’s media partners, click on either of the links below.

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Note the new link for FOX Sports, which is accurate as of Monday night. 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

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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