Circuit of the Americas is an interesting place to race.
Things are a bit different now that NASCAR is running on a shorter course. The arguments noted on the broadcast for it are literally the same arguments used back in 1998 when Sonoma Raceway introduced “The Chute” (the cars come by the fans more often, more passing, etc.). The passing opportunities are the same or less than before, and the track is about the same speed.
COTA brought a couple of new stories. One is that it marked the debut of the increased horsepower. I don’t think it got a lot of play on the race broadcast, but it got more play during practice and qualifying on Saturday (Feb. 28). Speed-wise, it ended up being a wash as compared to last year. Arguably, the triangular-shaped tire bundles that marked track limits affected things more than the extra power.
Another issue that got a decent amount of coverage involved drivers getting sick on Sunday. A number of drivers use cool suits on warm days to keep themselves cool. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is an exception to that rule.
Unfortunately, the cool suits are prone to failure. Kyle Larson’s issues were covered fairly well during the race. Then again, he was running toward the front. Teammate Alex Bowman struggled through part of the race. He was having his own issues with illness, and I didn’t even know about it. I only realized it when I checked NASCAR’s Virtual Media Center during the race and saw that he was behind the wall.
Shortly afterward, we cut to the garage and saw Myatt Snider in his Tree Top fire suit, getting prepared to get into the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet out of nowhere. Jamie Little explained that Bowman was feeling ill (it wasn’t noted what was wrong with him, but he sounded pretty terrible on the radio chatter that was played). The team left the choice of whether to continue up to him. He chose to pull it in when he couldn’t go any further.
At that point, Hendrick Motorsports Vice President of Competition Chad Knaus point-blank asked Little if they could borrow Snider for the rest of the day. I wish we could have gotten Snider’s side of the story, but Hendrick didn’t make him available for comment after the race.
Rarely does a situation like this involve pulling into the garage. However, there wasn’t anyone around that HMS could tap to drive. What was Snider doing at the track on Sunday? He was working as Little’s pit spotter/runner.
What does that mean? Basically, it means that he’s Little’s assistant, helping her gather information. It’s a way for Snider to keep himself visible in the garage, earn a paycheck and still be able to focus on the other work that he does away from the track.
Most pit reporters have a spotter who helps them out. Let’s face it. We’re a long way from the days of FOX and ESPN having four pit reporters at Cup races from the early years of Couch Potato Tuesday.
Some of those people work behind the scenes in production roles that you likely wouldn’t recognize. Others are known quantities to those who watch races. For example, Heather DeBeaux, who has previously worked as a pit reporter on broadcasts dating back to 2014 or so, served as Little’s pit spotter at the Daytona 500 last month and often works in that role both for television and radio.
The big story going into Sunday was Tyler Reddick going for three wins in a row to start the year. FOX was all over this for much of the day. Reddick was front and center during NASCAR RaceDay. 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan was once again prominently displayed on the broadcast, although there wasn’t a feature on the team this week.
When Reddick won, there was a similar amount of coverage to what we got last week at EchoPark Speedway. What was different was how ESPN took the story on Sunday and Monday. Outside of the biggest events, ESPN rarely talks much about the sport. Monday saw Reddick’s accomplishment noted on SportsCenter and First Take (yes, that means that Stephen A. Smith talked about NASCAR Monday, but mainly as an accomplishment for Jordan as opposed to Reddick. I don’t like that all that much, and Jordan himself isn’t really comfortable with it.)
Prior to the race, Regan Smith sat down with Carson Hocevar to talk about getting to the Cup Series and his well-known aggressive style. What we learned here is that Hocevar is nothing but confident. It seems like he always thought that he was going to get to Cup, even when he was racing late models at Berlin Raceway at 12 years old. I think some fans are going to be drawn to Hocevar’s honesty and on-track demeanor, but he’s likely to rub people the wrong way.
Race coverage-wise, there were times when it seemed like there wasn’t a lot going on, but there was a lot going on. At the front, Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe combined to lead 77 of 95 laps, and there really wasn’t much battling there. Further back, there was a lot of action. There was also a number of drivers making big runs. Connor Zilisch’s dual charges from his spins were more or less unseen by viewers. He worked his butt off to finish 14th.
Do I think that the short course is more competitive than the grand prix layout? I don’t know. Probably not.
For this season, FOX Sports announced that it will have no full-screen commercials under green this season. It’s a move that I liked. For some reason, they broke that Sunday.
When FOX completed a side-by-side break on lap 59, it came out of the break, then went into a full-screen ad. I don’t know if that was a glitch or if the TV broadcast came back from the side-by-side break too early, but that likely should not have happened.
Also of note, since this coming weekend starts FOX Sports 1’s Cup schedule for the year, I wonder if that rule actually applies to the FS1 races.
Post-race coverage was decent. We heard from the top-five finishers (and Jordan) prior to wrapping up. It’s interesting that FOX is not really showing point updates. FOX hasn’t done so all season, whereas The CW does so on its NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series broadcasts. Mike Joy mentioned that Reddick now has a 70-point lead thanks to the wins (last year, it would have been a 25-point lead).
Overall, Sunday’s race was not necessarily the most exciting to watch as Reddick pretty much had the field covered for much of the day. There was a lot of action further down the order that did get some airtime (Ex: the scrum for 16th on lap 83). However, the big runs through the field just weren’t covered well. Going forward, I’d like FOX’s coverage to be more inclusive on road courses. As we saw on Sunday, there was some interesting action to be had. We just didn’t see that much of it.
That’s all for this week. Next weekend, Phoenix Raceway will host a quadruple-header. The Cup Series will be the headliner with 500 kilometers of racing on Sunday, March 8. Saturday is a doubleheader with O’Reilly and the NTT IndyCar Series, while there is an ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series West combination race on Thursday night. Space-wise, I’m not really sure how that’s going to work in the infield there.
In addition, Formula 1 begins a new era in Melbourne, as coverage moves to Apple TV. TV listings can be found here.
Two more things to note. One, daylight savings time begins Sunday at 2 a.m. If your clocks don’t change themselves, make sure to change them before you go to bed Saturday night. Also, remember that the majority of Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings (the Navajo Nation is a notable exception to the rule). Phoenix spends the whole year in Mountain Standard Time. So, those folks will start the weekend two hours behind Eastern time and end it three hours behind.
Second, this past Sunday’s Cup race was the third of five races on FOX this season. Sunday will be the first Cup race this year on FS1. Between now and Daytona International Speedway in August, there are only two races on over-the-air TV (Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway).
Next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday will cover the Straight Talk Wireless 500k from Phoenix. The Critic’s Annex will cover Townsend Bell’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series booth debut at St. Petersburg.
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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Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.
Thanks as always Phil.
I also noticed Fox touted they weren’t going to go to a commercial break because of the sponsored segment where they highlight the Toyotas. But, they then went to commercials as soon as the Toyota segment ended.
The sponsored highlight of one manufacturer is annoying, though less so than cutting away completely. But does Fox really think the fans are so stupid they wouldn’t notice Fox having another commercial break anyway?
virtual media center?? so a limited amount of media were at the race? i always think race day is in charlotte.