Loudon is traditionally a quick race by Sprint Cup standards. As a result, there isn’t quite as much action to show on broadcasts. The track itself also doesn’t necessarily equate to the most competitive outing. It’s hard as heck to pass. Just because it’s Loudon doesn’t mean you get a pass on these things.
Sylvania 300
Sunday afternoon brought the Sprint Cup Series back out for 300 miles of action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Once again, fuel mileage was key towards the end of the race.
Even with a full hour of pre-race coverage, most of the coverage that viewers saw was designed around the Chase. Seemingly every storyline out there was Chase-related. It’s rather frustrating to watch at times. NBCSN is generally doing well with their Chase coverage, but you can’t just do that. You have to cover all the pertinent stories.
The only real break from the Chase discussion came with a piece about the new North East Motorsports Museum, which will be located on the grounds of NHMS and which broke ground on Friday. According to NHMS, the museum’s building will be shared by ticket sales for the track, much like the former Daytona 500 Experience building in Daytona. When it’s done, I’ll make the haul to Loudon and write about it for your viewing pleasure. It isn’t that far away for me.
During the race itself, the Chase reigned supreme. I suppose it makes sense when at one point, Chasers composed the top 12 drivers on the track. It also didn’t help that both times NBCSN tried to do a Through the Field, the caution came out.
Outside of the Chasers, Danica Patrick was likely the best of the bunch. NBCSN did make note of this. While she’s undoubtedly none too pleased with her 40th-place finish, she definitely showed fans that she was there and she was quick.
There was a very good point made about her driving by the broadcast booth during the race. Quite simply, they believe that at times she has good form and can put the team in position to earn decent finishes. However, they seem unable to capitalize on anything and are constantly stricken by bad luck. Sunday’s crash was just the latest example. Where would Patrick have finished without the crash? I’m not really sure. She got taken out due to contact from Ryan Newman, who finished 10th. Assuming the wreck never happens, she probably ends up on the same pit strategy as Kevin Harvick (having said that, we’re still assuming that Brett Moffitt crashes here). If she makes it to the finish, she ends up right about where Newman and car owner Tony Stewart finished. That’s a good day for her.
Other than the fuel issue for Harvick, which was covered quite thoroughly, the big story on Sunday was Brad Keselowski getting busted for a restart violation. At best, it was a borderline call. NBCSN broke out everything they could including the superimposed restart lines in order to help come up with the definitive answer. They believed that Keselowski left first. Yes, he restarted in the box, but it’s not Keselowski’s call; it’s Greg Biffle’s as the leader. Addressing it, which Keselowski did, doesn’t really matter anymore since the last restart rule change after Jimmie Johnson got busted under somewhat similar circumstances to Sunday. The leader has to go first, but you can beat him to the line.
ESPN’s Ricky Craven was not on the same page. On SportsCenter after the race, he talked about NASCAR setting a precedent with their call on Sunday. It’s possible that it could be the case, but you never know. To NASCAR, restarts are a case-by-case scenario. The violations are so rare that you just don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ll have to see how it works out for the rest of the year. Regardless, NASCAR’s call ruined Keselowski’s race. That’s indisputable. His post-race interview might stand out just as much. He basically denigrated NASCAR and claimed that it was an “entertainment sport.” The minute you start saying stuff like that, pro wrestling and kayfabe come into play. Harsh words there. Don’t be surprised if NASCAR fines Keselowski for that.
Post-race coverage was about average, but somewhat disappointing. Part of the disappointment was outside of NBCSN’s control as Harvick, Rodney Childers and Kyle Busch all declined interview requests. Like it or not, it takes time for the pit reporters just to get those denials (contacting PR representatives, asking drivers themselves, etc.) That’s time that could have been used to talk to people that would actually grant the interviews.
Busch’s mentality these days seems to be truculent at best, so it was no surprise that he declined. He’s only in a good mood when he wins. Harvick and Childers were angry at the moment, so I’m not surprised there either. However, they cannot skip asking those individuals for comment.
As a result, drivers like Biffle didn’t get their well-deserved airtime. On paper, it sounds inexcusable given that NBCSN had roughly 40 minutes of post-race coverage to work with. In practice, it still bites, but it’s about 12% more understandable. My preference is for the NASCAR America Post-race to resemble the RaceBuddy-exclusive post-race shows on TNT a few years back as opposed to NBCSN’s NASCAR Victory Lane. That way, we can have the cake and eat it too.
The Chase focus is still very strong and quite discouraging for anyone who doesn’t get in. To this point in the Chase, Chasers have controlled the races (on Sunday, Chasers led all but 13 laps of the race), so you see everything up front. What happens when one of the non-Chasers takes it to the Chasers, maybe at Charlotte in a couple of weeks? What happens then? We’ll have to see.
UNOH 175
Saturday afternoon marked the 500th Camping World Truck Series race. To that degree, there was a fair bit of nostalgia on the broadcast. Despite that nostalgia, there was still a race to be run. How enjoyable was FOX Sports 1’s broadcast?
In a few words, it was up and down.
The Setup was all about the 500th race celebration, more or less to the detriment of the race. Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague and Mike Skinner all made appearances in the Charlotte studio to talk about what the Camping World Truck Series really meant to them. Todd Bodine, who was co-hosting, chipped in with his own opinions. For all four men, the series more or less validated their careers. Sprague ended up there after getting dumped by BACE Motorsports in favor of then-ASA Champion Johnny Benson in 1993. Skinner had been a journeyman racer who’d started a couple of races for Jimmy Means in 1992 and a few Busch Grand National races in a KFC-sponsored Chevrolet in 1994. Hornaday was a West Coast racer, competing in Winston West and the Southwest Tour for Spears Racing. Bodine revitalized his career in the Trucks with Toyota’s help after no one in Cup or Busch wanted him anymore (remember, he started with Fiddleback Racing before Germain Racing brought him on).
In addition, throughout the race, milestone races were recapped, montage-style. I can remember watching most of them, but don’t really remember any of them other than the 100th being considered a big deal (there was $100,000 on the line for any of the drivers who had competed in all 99 previous races if they could win).
Believe me, while it is great to reminisce, there was a 175-lap race that needed to be previewed and FS1 didn’t exactly do the best job of it. I knew what to expect mainly because I watched qualifying in the morning. Not everyone does that.
The race itself ran at a snail’s pace. The first caution came out due to Timmy Hill’s spin on the first lap. The replay made it look like he got squeezed entering turn 1, but I couldn’t tell you who did it. Why? Yes, they showed a replay. That replay was cut off by a commercial. By the time the break was over, it was restart time and it wasn’t spoken of again. That’s not going to work. You can hold off for a few more seconds.
Michael Waltrip had a rare moment of prescient thought on lap 28 when he mentioned about the recent form that Daniel Hemric has had and how he’ll be up in the hunt towards the end of the race. At the time, Hemric was 17th. By the end, he was in the top five. The move surprised Waltrip, who was pleased to be proven correct. However, he couldn’t let it be. He then proceeded to gloat about it, as to say, “Hey, I did good!” Dude, you’re 52 years old. You don’t need to do that. Act like you’ve been there before.
Due to the cautions and the red flag to clean up all the fluid from Jordan Anderson’s No. 74, the race ended a half-hour late. As a result, post-race coverage was rather tight. Viewers got a couple of interviews and a check of the points before they exited quickly so that viewers could get to the West Virginia-Maryland game (Note: that was not much of a game).
Overall, the race was a slog, but the coverage was OK. Not much of an actual preview of the race. As much of a history buff as I am, this is a current race that I’m covering here. I don’t really know if as much time should have been spent on the milestone as they did. Maybe it would have worked better as a standalone show that talked about the history of the Camping World Truck Series (you know, if FS1 would air such a thing). I know I’d watch, but I don’t know about non-diehards.
VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300
Saturday night saw the Xfinity Series return to Kentucky Speedway for the final series standalone race of the season. Without the Cup drivers in town, the regulars got to take center stage. Given how crazy part of the race actually was, I wish more people were out there Saturday night. The days of 60,000 coming out for NXS races there are long since over.
Countdown to Green was primarily focused on the season-long championship battle between Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon. However, there were other stories at play. Erik Jones had to come from the rear since he’d competed in the UNOH 175 earlier in the day and hadn’t touched the car all weekend (Drew Herring practiced and qualified the No. 54 Toyota). Then, you had Ryan Blaney, who wanted to come back after his issues in Joliet.
During the race, we had a good amount of racing for position, much more than a normal NXS race with the Sprint Cup guys stomping everyone. Ralph Sheheen and Dale Jarrett did a pretty good job describing the action. For the most part, I was satisfied with the race commentary.
My main issue with the broadcast was that caution that came out during the pit stops on lap 86. I had to look it up online after the race to see that it was in fact, a debris caution. Say what you want about those dastardly debris cautions that screw everything up, I felt that NBCSN needed to do a better job here of informing viewers what caused the yellow because I was pretty much clueless watching the race live. That’s never good. I’m pretty sure NASCAR doesn’t want to create chaos by throwing a debris yellow in the middle of stops. They threw it because it was imperative.
The debris caution resulted in laps of scoring issues to figure out who was leading. NASCAR has a rule today that you keep your position and/or lap if you maintain regulation pit road speed and beat the leader to either the start-finish line or the end of pit road, depending on where you’re pitting, you keep that position. That rule was created to prevent a scenario such as what happened to Benson in the 1996 Winston Select 500, when he jetted down pit road after making an unscheduled stop to beat Dale Earnhardt to the line. Granted, no one else was on pit road at the time Benson made that stop, but driving out of there at 100-plus mph is frowned upon these days.
Here, NBCSN distinguished themselves. I always like it when networks can use the equipment they have at their disposal to figure out tough questions. That’s what they did here to show how Jones got the lead after his stop. They were able to synchronize a couple of cameras using the time code in order to show that Jones managed to cross the start-finish line on pit road as the yellow came out before Dillon could lap him. As a result, he got the lead on the restart.
I’m a bit unclear as to what caused Brennan Poole to wreck entering turn 1. The booth inferred that the previous damage that Poole had from the lap 2 crash may have played a role. That wouldn’t surprise me, but that explanation would have made more sense to me if a blown tire caused the crash. My guess is that he had a rare transmission failure and that spun him and left Harrison Rhodes with nowhere to go. Since no one’s talking about it, I guess we’ll have to wait a while.
The booth did take notice of Eric McClure’s woozy demeanor when he got out of his Hefty Toyota late in the race. Granted, we don’t want to see that out of anybody, but it’s important that it was noted. As of right now, McClure has been diagnosed with a concussion and TriStar Motorsports is playing the waiting game. It’s unclear at this point whether or not McClure is going to be cleared to race at Dover this weekend, arguably one of the worst tracks on a driver’s head on the circuit.
Post-race coverage was more or less dominated by the confrontation between Brian Scott and Darrell Wallace Jr. As you probably know by now, Scott was angry with Wallace for crowding him on the final restart and confronted him afterwards. The camera shot that NBCSN provided of the first argument made it look like Scott may have tried to take a swing at Wallace, but I cannot say that for sure. The angle was not the greatest. The angle also likely tempered the reactions from the booth.
The second argument occurred in real time just as NBCSN was cutting to a replay of the first argument. I could see that heck was about to go down. They should have waited just a little bit right there, then showed the original argument after the second one wound down. Also, some viewers probably would have objected to the audible F-bomb that made the broadcast. I personally did not, but it happens.
Neither driver comes out of this mess looking good. If what Scott claimed in this post-race tweet happened, then Wallace will probably have some problems in the future.
Well @BubbaWallace when your so classless that you call my wife the C word you should be ready for something to happen…
— Brian Scott (@bscottracing) September 27, 2015
That situation was followed up by two of the angrier driver interviews in recent times. I have no idea why Wallace consented to the interview because he had nothing to say at all. He basically did everything possible to avoid talking.
Aside from the debris issue and a couple of other aspects of the telecast (no replay for Jeremy Clements’s spin that caused the GWC?), I generally enjoyed the telecast. The NXS race was the best race of the weekend and NBCSN did a decent job in broadcasting it. Regardless, they need to watch out for those important aspects of the broadcast and make sure that the viewers are always up to date on what’s going on.
That’s it for this week. Next weekend is another split weekend for NASCAR. The Sprint Cup and Xfinity series will be at Dover International Speedway, where a quartet of drivers will be dropped from the Chase. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series has their final standalone race of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but it’s going to start a little late for some of you. Here are your listings.
Tuesday, September 29
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 2 a.m. - 3 a.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 2*# (from September 28) |
| 6 a.m. - 7 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from September 28) |
| 7 a.m. - 8 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from September 28) |
| 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 1 |
Wednesday, September 30
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 2 a.m. - 3 a.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 2*# (from September 29) |
| 6 a.m. - 7 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from September 29) |
| 7 a.m. - 8 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from September 29) |
| 4:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. | NASCAR Scan all 43 | NBC Sports Network |
| 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 1 |
| 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. | DTM: Nürburgring | CBS Sports Network*/# (from September 26-27) |
| 9 p.m. - 10 p.m. | SPEED Energy Formula Off-Road: Toronto | CBS Sports Network*/ (from June 12) |
| 10 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. | Mobil 1's The Grid | CBS Sports Network# |
| 10:30 p.m. - 11 p.m. | Formula DRIFT: Dallas, Part No. 2 | CBS Sports Network*/# (from August 22) |
Thursday, October 1
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 2 a.m. - 3 a.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 2*# (from September 30) |
| 5 a.m. - 6 a.m. | SPEED Energy Formula Off-Road: Toronto | CBS Sports Network*/# (from June 12) |
| 6 a.m. - 7 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from September 30) |
| 7 a.m. - 8 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from September 30) |
| 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 1 |
| 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. | Whelen Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 | NBC Sports Network*/ (from September 26) |
| 8:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. | Mobil 1's The Grid | CBS Sports Network# |
| 11 p.m. - 12 a.m. | Road to Indy | NBC Sports Network# |
| 11 p.m. - 12 a.m. | Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion | FOX Sports 2*# |
Friday, October 2
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 3 a.m. - 4 a.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 2*# (from October 1) |
| 6 a.m. - 7 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from October 1) |
| 7 a.m. - 8 a.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network*# (from October 1) |
| 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. | FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas | FOX Sports 1*/# (from September 19) |
| 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. | Sprint Cup Series Practice No. 1 | NBC Sports Network |
| 12:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. | IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge: Road Atlanta | IMSA.com^ |
| 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Whelen Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 | NBC Sports Network*/# (from September 26) |
| 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. | XFINITY Series Practice | NBC Sports Network |
| 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. | Sprint Cup Series Qualifying | NBC Sports Network |
| 3:35 p.m. - 5:05 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Qualifying | IMSA.com^ |
| 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. | NASCAR Scan all 43 | NBC Sports Network# |
Saturday, October 3
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. | Formula DRIFT: Dallas Insider | CBS Sports Network |
| 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. | Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion | FOX Sports 2# |
| 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Sprint Cup Series Practice No. 2 | CNBC |
| 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans, Part No. 1 | FOX Sports 2 |
| 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. | Camping World Truck Series Practice | FOX Sports 2 |
| 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans, Part No. 2 | FOX Sports GO$ |
| 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | XFINITY Series Qualifying | NBC Sports Network |
| 1:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network |
| 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. | Lucas Oil Off-Road Series: Sparks | CBS*/ (from August 22-23) |
| 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. | Sprint Cup Series Happy Hour | NBC Sports Network |
| 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans, Part No. 3 | FOX Sports 2 |
| 3 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. | Countdown to Green | NBC Sports Network |
| 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. | XFINITY Series Hisense 200 | NBC Sports Network |
| 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. | Camping World Truck Series Qualifying | FOX Sports 2 |
| 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans, Part No. 4 | FOX Sports GO |
| 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans, Part No. 5 | FOX Sports 2 |
| 9:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. | NCWTS Setup | FOX Sports 2 |
| 10 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. | Camping World Truck Series Rhino Linings 350k | FOX Sports 1 |
Sunday, October 4
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 6 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. | NHRA Keystone Nationals Qualifying | ESPN 2*/ (from October 2-3) |
| 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. | NHRA Keystone Nationals Final Eliminations | ESPN3$ |
| 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. | NASCAR RaceDay | FOX Sports 1 |
| 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. | Blancpain Sprint Series: Misano | CBS Sports Network*/ (from October 3-4) |
| 1 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. | IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans | FOX Sports 1*/# (from October 3) |
| 2 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. | Countdown to Green | NBC Sports Network |
| 2:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. | Sprint Cup Series AAA 400 | NBC Sports Network |
| 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. | NHRA Keystone Nationals Qualifying | ESPN 2*/# (from October 2-3) |
| 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. | Red Bull Global RallyCross: Barbados | NBC* |
| 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. | MotoAmerica Season in Review | CBS Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. | NASCAR America Post-Race | NBC Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. | Formula DRIFT: Dallas Insider | CBS Sports Network# |
| 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. | NASCAR Victory Lap | NBC Sports Network |
| 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. | NHRA Keystone Nationals Final Eliminations | ESPN 2*/ |
| 10:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. | NASCAR Special: Chasing 43 | NBC Sports Network# |
| 11:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. | NASCAR Victory Lap | NBC Sports Network# |
Monday, October 5
| Time | Telecast | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 12 a.m. - 1 a.m. | MotoAmerica: Season in Review | CBS Sports Network# |
| 12:30 a.m. - 1 a.m. | NASCAR Victory Lane | FOX Sports 1 |
| 6 a.m. - 7 a.m. | NASCAR Victory Lap | NBC Sports Network*# (from October 4) |
| 7 a.m. - 8 a.m. | NASCAR Victory Lap | NBC Sports Network*# (from October 4) |
| 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. | NASCAR Victory Lap | NBC Sports Network*# (from October 4) |
| 2:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. | NASCAR 120: AAA 400 | NBC Sports Network*/# (from October 4) |
| 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. | NASCAR America | NBC Sports Network |
| 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. | NASCAR RaceHub | FOX Sports 1 |
* – Tape Delayed
/ – Highlighted Coverage
# – Repeat Coverage
^ – Available via free online streaming
$ – Available via password-protected online streaming. Check with your internet/programming provider for availability.
I will provide critiques of the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series races from Dover, along with the Camping World Truck Series races from Las Vegas for next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here on Frontstretch. For the Annex, I’ll be covering the Crosley Brands 150, originally scheduled for last Friday night, but pushed to Saturday afternoon due to rain. An unexpected analyst joined the broadcast. How did he do? You’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.
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.
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.
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.