NASCAR on TV this week

Couch Potato Tuesday: Las Vegas Nearly an 8-Car Race on NBC

Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s race on Sunday (Oct. 16) started the Round of 8, so the playoffs were going to be one of the main topics of discussion regardless of what happened. I just wish that it wasn’t so blatant.

Countdown to Green was almost fully focused on the Round of 8. If you go in that direction, viewers will have no idea what to really look out for during the race. You’ll just have thoughts from drivers that are in the Round of 8. That’s what viewers got on Sunday. You heard from William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin.

Using this tactic to preview a race results in the show being nothing more than a means to an end, like having a computer to type a column. People don’t go to the South Point 400 just to watch playoff contenders. They go to see some good action. They got some good stuff on Sunday.

See also
The Big 6: Questions Answered After Kyle Larson Clinches Championship 4 Berth

Racing-wise, Las Vegas has been one of the better tracks for the Next Gen car since it debuted last year. Compared to Saturday, you had a much different race. For some reason there, the groove narrowed up and everyone gravitated to the bottom. That wasn’t the case here as there were multiple grooves that could be used. However, since Saturday was quirky, the full multiple grooves weren’t available at the start of the race. Hence certain drivers (Ex: Ross Chastain) went up the hill and lost spots while running in places that were perfectly viable later on.

Last weekend, one of the notable stories entering the race was the tire issues. For instance, Kyle Larson managed to blister a tire during the 20-minute practice session on Saturday. The race itself saw a couple of tire issues, most notably when Carson Hocevar crashed out of the race.

Unfortunately, viewers never really got a good look at the tires coming off of the cars. As a result, I am unclear how the tire wear actually was on Sunday. Now, you could argue that this is one of those “no news is good news” situations, but knowing there were problems earlier in the weekend, I’d want to know for sure. As for Ty Gibbs, that was just another crew issue and he’ll likely be missing a couple of guys this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Also, we never really got a good idea of how much fall off the tires had. Likely the only real example of this that we got was during the first round of stops. Christopher Bell pitted five laps after Larson and went from leading to five seconds behind. I’d rather have raw data than just who had the fastest lap of the race (Larson, on lap 2, apparently). This used to be a little easier to come by.

NASCAR has also instituted a crackdown on laying back on restarts. A couple of drivers got nailed with drive-through penalties for this, most notably Chase Elliott. The penalty completely ruined his day as it came on the final restart. As a result, he finished a lap down in 31st.

On NBC, there were replays shown both times that this issue, described as a “point of emphasis” came into play. Frankly, they looked almost identical. There was a gap between the car in front and the penalized driver. As soon as they crossed the start-finish line, they both swept to the outside in an attempt to make a pass. Perhaps if the move to the outside didn’t happen, maybe they wouldn’t have been penalized.

In Elliott’s case, there appeared to be a stack up on the restart and the only reason there was a space there was that he hadn’t caught up yet. That could have gone either way. At least one follower of ours on social media described it as a “ticky-tack” call, similar to how some fouls in basketball are often referred to (Ex: Handchecking in the NBA, since that is now completely banned). I would have liked to know what NASCAR’s reasoning for the call was, given the stack up being in play. Unfortunately, we did not get that.

See also
Ryan Blaney's Disqualification Rescinded, Finishes 6th at Las Vegas

It says a lot that almost no one was a lap down when Elliott’s penalty was called. He was also the first driver a lap down until BJ McLeod got lapped in the final 10-15 laps.

Post-race coverage was pretty similar to what we had at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. There were only a couple of interviews, plus the points check on NBC before it left LVMS to go to the local news. On Peacock, viewers got additional interviews (not quite as much as in Charlotte) and some blushing over Larson.

Why? Because of his massive save on exiting turn 2.

The above clip shows how the booth reacted when they saw the replay because it occurred during a NonStop break. It’s just the latest show of race craft strength from Larson.

Given Larson’s skill behind the wheel, I suppose that we shouldn’t be surprised that he can pull it off. This is a man who spends a lot of his time away from the racetrack racing at dirt tracks. He has car control like no one’s ever seen. What I’m getting at here is that maybe the broadcasters shouldn’t have taken more than three minutes to gush over him for that save. He’s gotten over his main weakness in the NASCAR Cup Series. Pushing too hard. Now, you have peak Larson. Good luck beating him.

Larson effectively wrecked his No. 5 Chevrolet right there. However, he managed to minimize the damage. After that point, there were still 25 laps remaining in stage two. He kept going after that. Now, he was more or less bailed out by Hocevar’s crash that brought everyone to pit road. Regardless, I would have liked to know what he was dealing with tire-wise after that.

Sunday’s race had the eight playoff contenders take eight of the top 11 finishing positions. With all of them right up front, that is where the focus was for the vast majority of the race. I get that, but they’re not the only drivers out there. This was a race where 26 cars finished on the lead lap and 32 were on there until the closing laps. There was plenty of action to go around. You don’t have to focus on just eight guys.

There was plenty of action to be had on Sunday. Overall passing was up a little as compared to this race last year but down a little from the spring. Effectively, NBC chose to curate the action so that you mainly only saw playoff drivers. I’m not a fan of that approach, especially with near-constant point updates on top of that. There’s more out there than just that. The crowd also seemed rather quiet at the finish as well. Weird.

See also
Stock Car Scoop: Did the Best Car Win at Las Vegas?

That’s all for this week. Next weekend, we have a tripleheader for NASCAR at Homestead. For the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, it will fully determine who will be in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. The ARCA Menards Series West has its penultimate race of the season at Madera Speedway. It will take place on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 11 p.m. ET with live coverage provided by FloRacing.

Meanwhile, Formula 1 returns to Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix. TV listings can be found here.

We will have a critique of the Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series broadcasts in next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here at Frontstretch. The Critic’s Annex will either cover Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 from Las Vegas or look at the combined USA Network/Peacock coverage of the Motul Petit Le Mans.

If you have a gripe with me or just want to say something about my critique, feel free to post in the comments below. Even though I can’t always respond, I do read your comments. 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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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 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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Shayne

Before the race, Larry McReynolds stated, “There’s no such thing as a bad tire.” Then, he blubbered something about only doing bad things to the tires. Gotta keep blaming someone other than Goodyear. I swore off Goodyear tires in the mid 90’s.

DoninAjax

You obviously never drove on Firestone 721s.

Christopher

He must have forgotten the 2008 Brickyard 400 fiasco.

DoninAjax

I’ve written this before. The temperature for the tire test for the Indy event was a LOT colder than the actual event conditions and the tire couldn’t handle the extra heat. What about the 2005 F! “race” at Indy?

Bill B

I’m with you on the total focus on championship contenders. While aggravating it isn’t anything new so I expect that when I tune in. They shouldn’t even start showing the “points as they run” until well into the third stage. Prior to that the graphic is meaningless.

I had to mute the sound several times when Burton or Letarte started droning on about what ifs. When people bitch about Fox (and rightly so), I often point out that NBC has it’s own, equally annoying, issues. Sometimes, if there isn’t much to talk about, they should just shut up. Likewise Earnhardt seems too excitable over nothing exciting happening. I often wonder if the sound of the engines coming through the booth makes him talk so loud and excited, if so, please, someone, make the booth soundproof. The announcers should be able to talk at a normal tone and only raise their voice when something legitimately exciting happens on track.

booggityboogityboogity

crowd quiet because stadium empty because speedway motors charged 90 bucks to go to that race plus the stupid fees.

janice

and the $90 is for the “cheap seats”. front stretch in front of pits is probably $150.

sb

WHAT! The ‘excitement’ of the ridiculous ‘notaplayoff’ has incited to crowds to a mosh pit like riot to buy tickets? Oh my.

Christopher

I’ve taken to muting the sound during the last 15-20 laps just so I can avoid Rick Allen’s ponderous pontificating about whomever is leading the race. He’s like the second coming of Bill Webber with his stupid, obviously scripted little stories. Surprised he hasn’t started telling us how so and so wet his bed as a child and has overcome all obstacles to win a Cup race.

Kevin in SoCal

And 25+ years ago the announcers would focus on the 2-3 guys with a realistic shot at the championship at this point, too.

Bill B

Yes but not to the degree the contenders are now. Especially the last race of the season. In many cases one driver had a lead that made it unrealistic to expect a major shake up. It forced the announcers to focus on other things. Now the final race IS the championship.

DoninAjax

So I guess you don’t like it when a baseball team clinches the division title with two weeks to go in the REGULAR season. Maybe MLB should change their rules to guarantee a game 7 moment in each game. Wasn’t the NA$CAR “regular” season clinched before the regular event? NA$CAR has to tweak their POINTS system again.

Kevin in SoCal

Nah, regular season clinches do not bother me.

DoninAjax

Then why does NA$CAR’s gimmick? Whoever wins a season long POINTS real championship deserves it just as much as a sports team that clinches early because of consistency. What if the NFL Season was based on points for, not wins? A team that won 14 games and scored 240 POINTS would lose the title to a team that won 10 games and scored 256.

Bill B

It would only work in the NFL if every team played every other team. That would be 31 games in a season for each team.
You would go by overall record then points for the first tie-breaker.
Unless,,,,, they could find a way for all 32 teams to compete at once for all 17 weeks. LOL

Last edited 1 year ago by Bill B
DoninAjax

So do you get my point about wins versus points? The NFL is based on wins. To win the title in NA$CAR a driver only has to finish ahead of the other three. He doesn’t have to win the event and it doesn’t matter how many total wins he has, no matter how NA$CAR tweaks the set it up. NA$CAR wants win at least one event, which is how many Matt Kenseth won to start this fiasco?

Last edited 1 year ago by DoninAjax