If you were in charge of NASCAR on FOX, what is the first step you would take to improve its NASCAR Cup Series broadcasts?
Luken Glover: The overall broadcast lacks a professional polish and tone. It would start with fixing the camera angles. The timing of onboard and aerial views needs to be more strategic, the shots need to match what the announcers are saying and the cameras appear to be zoomed in too much, cutting out battles further back or one driver chasing down another. The overall graphics need a revitalization as well, from getting rid of the cartoon presentation of the drivers to giving a sharper look to the production in general.
Mike Neff: 1 p.m. ET start times. This car is horrible for passing, but a hot track will at least put a little more driver talent into getting it around the track and by the cars in front of it. These late start times just add to the grip the cars have and makes passing even tougher. Cars passing other cars and moving forward adds to the quality of the broadcast.
Mark Kristl: Behind the scenes, work with the production crew to better synchronize camera views with what the announcers are talking about. There have been several times this year when Mike Joy has talked about something on track, but the FOX cameras are too late to said action. Continuing that trend, work with the pit reporters to start talking about some of the mid-pack drivers. They aren’t the leaders, but when there isn’t much action up front, start highlighting others. Even if it’s a shot of the car with a brief mention of that team’s goals for the day, show something rather than the front-runners. There is more action on track; find it.
Christopher Hansen: Replace the cartoon graphics of the drivers and use real photos. FOX’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series graphics use real-life pictures of drivers, so why can’t the Cup Series? For a professional sport like NASCAR, cartoon images of the drivers should be a thing of the past. Also, when the booth is highlighting a certain driver or talking over a replay of a crash, the camera operators shouldn’t be zoomed in on the grandstands or something of that nature.
Logan Kendall: The most crucial step is the camera work. Too often, the booth will be talking about something on track and the cameras will be focused on something completely unrelated. It seems as if the booth and the cameras are out of sync sometimes. The cameras also feel too zoomed in at times. Why show a zoomed-in shot of a car when you could just show the entire battle going on around? If nothing else, at least improve the camera work so races can be a better watching experience.
Of the 16 Cup playoff spots, how many will be taken by Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers?
Jake Altmayer: The two organizations will combine to place seven of their eight drivers in the playoffs. Both teams already have two of their drivers essentially locked in to the postseason, and of their remaining four drivers (Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs), Gibbs is the only one who may not have the consistent speed needed to win or point his way in. While it wouldn’t completely shock me to see Bowman or Briscoe miss the cut too, they should still be able to at least point their way into the playoffs given the equipment they’re in and the number of repeat winners that we’ve already seen this season.
Kristl: Seven. Christopher Bell, William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson are locked in thanks to their victories. Elliott and Bowman are in the top 10 in points and both are regular contenders. Briscoe is too talented of a driver in too good of equipment with an intelligent crew chief to miss the playoffs. So even though Gibbs is talented, taking into account his woeful start plus the strength of his competition, he will not make the playoffs this year.
Kendall: Every Hendrick driver will make the playoff field, and three out of four JGR cars will, with Gibbs missing the playoffs. HMS and JGR have been top teams for a long time in NASCAR now and have drivers who are all currently performing at a high level. As for Gibbs, he and the No. 54 team still have some time to get something to click, but as of right now, they have not shown enough to confidently say they will make the playoff field.
Hansen: For the time being, seven of the 16 spots will be taken by HMS and JGR drivers. If it weren’t for his rough start to the season, I would include Gibbs to make it an even eight. But there’s still time for Gibbs to make a run at the playoffs. His 13th-place run at Martinsville Speedway and top 10 at Darlington Raceway are major steps in the right direction for the No. 54.
How far will Brandon Jones advance in this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs?
Neff: Brandon Jones will make the final eight. He is a consistent driver, with seven lead-lap finishes in the eight races this year. He’ll knock out consistent finishes that will give him the points to get past the Round of 12. Wins will take him to the final four, but that could be tough.
Kendall: Jones is having a resurgence this year. Many forget that he was a borderline contender when he was with JGR just a few seasons ago. I see him returning to that form and getting himself into the Championship 4. The tracks in the Xfinity playoffs are also favorable. In the Round of 12, there are Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, and those are two tracks at which Jones has had multiple good runs. In the following round, he will have Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Martinsville to look forward to, and then if he makes the Championship 4, Jones will have a really good shot to win it all as Phoenix Raceway is arguably his best track.
Glover: Jones might be a sleeper, but the Championship 4 is a reachable ceiling. After a rough start to the year, he has been consistently fast the past month, and I don’t see him slowing down over the year. We know how good JGR’s No. 20 has been the past few seasons, and Jones is someone who appears to be racing with a chip on his shoulder. A lot can happen in the playoffs, but Jones has favorable tracks in that stint, and it would be no surprise if he makes it all the way to Phoenix to fight for a title.
Altmayer: It’s still really early in the season, and I don’t know if Jones will be able to carry his consistent speed through the summer and into the playoffs. That said, Jones has proven that he is capable of advancing to the Round of 8, as he did so in three consecutive seasons for JGR from 2020 to 2022, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him make it there again in 2025.
The Truck Series has not had an overtime finish since Darlington last season, a 19-race stretch. Has the Truck Series cleaned up its act since the infamous 2023 Phoenix championship race?
Kristl: It’s not so much cleaned up as there are new faces in new places. Corey Heim has been on a tear. He has more playoff points than the rest of the field combined. Ty Majeski, the Front Row Motorsports duo, Daniel Hemric and a few others have battled against him at times, but Heim should be the favorite for all races. Beyond those drivers, it’s some series veterans, such as the ThorSport Racing lineup, Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen, and then up-and-coming drivers who are learning. Kaden Honeycutt and Gio Ruggiero can drive fast, but can they do it for the whole race? Until they’re mixing it up with the front-runners late in a race, they’re racing each other for positions rather than victory. So they’re not tearing up racecars because they’re points racing. If Heim keeps winning and accruing playoff points, there will be plenty of spots for drivers to point their way both into and throughout the playoffs.
Glover: There are quite a few elements that have contributed to the current character of racing in the Truck Series. Contrary to the Xfinity Series, there are multiple veterans who can serve as elder statesmen. Additionally, several Cup drivers have dipped down into the series, with names such as Byron, Larson, Kyle Busch and even Michael McDowell stepping into a truck so far. Furthermore, the drivers who are typically running up front are seasoned veterans in the series, or clean drivers who have been dominant. Heim has been in another zip code on several occasions, and he rarely crosses the line in his aggression. Majeski, Enfinger, Hemric and Friesen are some of those veterans who typically run up front, which changes the craft of racing for the lead or the win. Those factors have certainly cleaned the series up and provided more opportunities to see longer runs to the finish.
Hansen: It wasn’t that long ago when we were all talking about the Truck Series and how it seemingly couldn’t have a clean finish. The script has flipped in 2025. Veteran drivers like Matt Crafton, Enfinger and Hemric provide leadership and have proven themselves to be steady voices in the Truck garage, similar to how Denny Hamlin has been in the Cup Series in recent years. But the true test will be when a championship is on the line in Phoenix in November.
Altmayer: It’s fair to say that the races haven’t been nearly as ugly or wreck-filled since 2023. In the 19 races since Darlington last season, the Truck Series has averaged around five cautions a race. In the 19 races before that, the series was averaging close to seven a race, a pretty notable difference given the number of young, inexperienced drivers in the field. While we still see some questionable moves on track in the series, it seems that the drivers have cleaned things up a bit over the past year or so, as more often than not, the biggest controversy of the weekend seems to occur in Cup or Xfinity rather than Trucks.
Neff: The Truck Series, unlike the Xfinity Series, has several elder statesmen. Crafton, Friesen, Enfinger and Hemric are just a few of them. Even the younger drivers are mostly more than a year into their careers. That experience and leadership tends to clean up the driving that leads to overtimes.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday News Writer and fills in other roles as needed. He resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York and spends his free time writing as a hobby creatively and is a self published author.
Logan can be found on X @LoganKendall48
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.
Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.