There are some things in life where you have to stand up and say, “enough is enough.”
After FOX’s coverage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday (Oct. 17) that’s where I’m at in FOX’s overall coverage of the Truck Series.
While it’s been no secret that FOX’s coverage of the Truck Series (and the rest of NASCAR) has been … subpar, to say the least, I’ve tried to focus less on the coverage of the race in favor of focusing on the racing shown on my television screen.
Then Talladega happened.
First and foremost, the points as they were running almost never came up on the screen.
While I’m not a fan of showing the points every waking second like NBC does, it’d help to know the current point situation more than twice in an 85-lap race (which turned out to be 90 after the race went to overtime).
Okay, fine, maybe that’s a little nit-picky. But what you can’t argue is how bad FOX’s coverage was during the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.
Gio Ruggiero, seeking his first career win in a season where he’s accomplished nearly everything except reach victory lane, restarted on the front row next to Corey LaJoie, seeking his first career win in any of NASCAR’s premier series. That alone is an insane set-up for an exciting finish.
As they came around to take the white flag, the broadcast booth seemed to either forget or completely disregard that the field was entering the final lap, as there was no mention of it being the final lap until the field roared into turn 1. Then as they came around to take the checkered flag — as Ruggiero finally collected his first career Truck Series victory — the booth sounded … indifferent to the fact that we just had a first-time winner.
”He does it,” Jamie Little said nonchalantly. “Gio Ruggiero. Welcome to victory lane.”
In fact, Michael Waltrip seemed to be the most excited, letting out an exasperated, “How about that?”
But even then, that’s not saying much.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying every finish needs to be called like it’s the greatest spectacle we may ever see. But for calling someone to the line for their first win deserves a little more than a monotonous tone as if the booth is disinterested in the finish.
Not frustrating enough? I’m not done yet.
The capital sin of post-race coverage is going to break during the burnout — or in Ruggiero’s case, his first Truck Series burnout.
You wanna know what FOX did?
Yep. They went to commercial.
This was the tipping point for me.
I can forgive the lack of coverage on the point standings. I can even excuse the lack of excitement in calling the finish of one of the more anticipated races of the season — as much as I don’t excuse it, I could.
But what cannot be excused is skipping a rookie’s first career win (in any series, mind you) in favor of a commercial break. At a track like Talladega, it gives off the impression that they banked on more cautions to slide commercials in, and when they still had ads to run, they decided to skip the celebration to show the ads.
In a time where we can’t even see victory lane celebrations anymore since TV broadcasts have insisted on frontstretch interviews, the burnout is the only thing fans get to watch a winning driver do to celebrate victory. And at Talladega, they didn’t even get to see that live.
What makes it all the more frustrating is that Talladega is just a microcosm of all the things FOX has done to show it doesn’t care about the Truck Series. It’s not the first time an exciting finish has had the call to the line butchered. It’s not the first time a graphic has been messed up or not shown at all. It’s not the first time that they’ve gone to commercial at a moment that, in actuality, is important for fans to watch.
I’m sure there are other instances that I’m missing that one simple search on Google or social media could bring up that further illustrates the borderline incompetence that FOX has brought to Truck Series broadcasts in particular.
Fans love to bring up the issues on the Cup Series side of FOX’s production, (and those are just as valid) but when they have a full season of the Truck Series, those mistakes are a lot more noticeable. If there aren’t mistakes, then there’s a clear lack of effort in something (seriously, there is no reason for a broadcast team to not be at the track).
Especially when you look at the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a series that also has one network broadcasting its entire season, and how great of a job The CW has done in one season of covering Xfinity, the frustration mounts even more.
FOX has been at this for 25 years. How has their broadcast quality for NASCAR’s third-tier premier series gotten this bad?
It’s gotten to the point where I’ve watched tape-delayed NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series events on FOX that have somehow had better broadcast coverage on a tape delay than a live Truck Series broadcast on FOX.
The worst part is that the viewers have to put up with this sloppy production quality through 2031 with the new media rights deal signed last season. I can’t imagine NASCAR would be too happy with the way a premier broadcast company like FOX is handling the coverage of its third-tier series.
Though it’s a far ask, if there was somehow away another company like The CW (or hell, even Amazon Prime Video) that could inherit the broadcast rights for the Truck Series, it would greatly boost the public perception of the series. Yes, the racing could be better at times, but a good broadcast team can make a great broadcast out of cars going at 40 mph and amplify the racing anyway.
Either that, or NASCAR needs to sit down with FOX and tell them to pick up the effort in 2026.
Something has to give. There’s no way viewership will go up if broadcasts of the Truck Series stay the way they are.
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
A key reason for my losing interest in Nascar, all divisions, is the over emphasis on the championship from about the 5th race on. Your rapidly growing competition emphasizes the race not the championship and only says much about the championship in pre and post race where, again, it is treated as subordinate to the importance and spectacle of the individual race. Nascar did this much better before The Playoffs replaced The Chase.
I’m old school I guess like Ryan Blaney. Burnouts are just over abusing the equipment. I wouldn’t care if I never saw another one, ever.
Little’s commentating is hard to listen to at times for sure.
Yeah, I don’t get the burnout thing after every win. Was kinda fun the first few times I saw it, but now it just seems kinda silly. Same goes for the driver getting out and climbing the fence or grabbing the checkered flag. Was fun at first, but now it’s just cliche.
Gimme the Kulwicki “Polish victory lap”, or maybe SVG’s drifting the road course after a win.
Jamie Little is an absolute train wreck in the booth. I’m honestly surprised, because she was always informed and quick on her feet verbally when working as a pit reporter, which would seem the harder role to keep up with.
She doesn’t seem at all interested in what the rest of the booth is saying, often making observations a few minutes after one of her booth mates said the exact same thing. I get acknowledging and expounding upon others’ dialog, but that’s not what’s happening. She genuinely seems to have ignored what just happened around her.
She’s so worried about what she wants to say next that she pays little attention to the other announcers, and often what’s actually happening on the track.
And as Anthony noted above, she acted as though Ruggiero notching his first truck win was nothing special. It sounded like someone announcing who won the race off pit road, in stage one of the race.
The anchor of the booth is there to set the tone. Little sets a tone of disarray and confusion. It’s sad when Michael Waltrip, who never met an ad pitch he couldn’t work into his next sentence, is having to try and carry the broadcast, often sounding a bit mystified as to why this is the case.
I agree that Jamie Little isn’t good in the booth, but she did well as a pit reporter. She seemed relaxed and confident around the drivers and pit crews. In the booth, she is the exact opposite.
Maybe she can’t handle the demands (ad plugs) from the producers constantly in her ear while the race is underway. She struggles with multitasking and staying on point. She sounds robotic and stressed. Nothing natural or comfortable about her speech at all.
Calling a race these days is no easy task. I can do better from my couch.
When Little was on pit road all she had to do is go ask a crew chief or driver the questions the editor fed her. She didn’t have to pay attention to the race, have a clue what was going on on track or know who was driving what.
She’s been terrible in the booth since Fox first put her in there covering ARCA races. And four years later she hasn’t gotten any better. I still remember her announcing an ARCA race at Mid Ohio in 21 or 22, talking about a driver pitting with a problem, only to figure out a few moments later (I assume when someone in the truck told her in her ear) that it was just a routine pit stop.
Admittedly it sure doesn’t help her or the broadcast that she’s paired up with that clown Waltrip.
Its obvious that Jamie little is another example of a DEI hire gone wrong.
Clearly you’re trolling. Fox, with a DEI hire? Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
Well played, sir. Well played.
As for the broadcast crew on the Truck Series I would agree Jamie Little did a great job as a pit reporter in the Cup Series but not so much in the booth Micheal Waltrip has long since passed his sell by date and would be a refreshing change if he was removed from Fox along with Clint Bowyer as his act has worn thin as well Fox overall has moved on to the Indy Car Series and NHRA Drag racing
The fact is also the fox took money for showing the race yet I am reading that most stations chose to run regular programming and not run the truck race at all. Fox actually should give NASCAR back the money they spent to have them run the race. I watched it later on FS1.