With all three of NASCAR’s national series off this past weekend and the NASCAR Cup Series’ time on TNT over for the year, it’s time for me to take a look at a series that, writing wise, I’ve really glossed over this year. That is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
FOX Sports 1, and before that, SPEED, has served as the primary rights holder for the series since way back in 2003. When it debuted, it introduced Rick Allen to NASCAR fans on play-by-play. He ended up staying in that role for more than 12 years before moving to NBC Sports.
Since then, the booth has been all over the place. Steve Byrnes was likely the permanent replacement until his death from head and neck cancer. Next, it was Vince Welch for a few years. Then Adam Alexander until he got his gig with The CW (and eventually, his Prime Video and TNT jobs).
That brings us to today. In 2023, FOX Sports split the Truck play-by-play position between Jamie Little and Alexander. This was momentous for a couple of reasons.
One, it made Little the first woman to have a regular play-by-play TV job in NASCAR. Two, it was obvious (at least to me) that FOX Sports was trying to plan out their future.
What does that mean? Mike Joy is 76 now. Say whatever you want, he’s not going to be around forever. That’s just reality. FOX Sports has to worry about a succession plan in the booth since they’ve got Cup races through 2031. Joy will be 81 when the final race in that deal airs.
Little had already been doing play-by-play for ARCA Menards Series races prior to becoming the primary Truck play-by-play commentator, so this was the next step up for her.
For 2023 and 2024, Trucks and ARCA commentary were her main gigs (in addition to pit reporting Cup races and working the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show each year). However, she added NTT IndyCar Series responsibilities when FOX Sports acquired rights last year.
Now, you have a split setup. Little is still considered to be the primary play-by-play commentator for the series, but there are races where Brent Stover is on the call and races in which Eric Brennan is on the call.
How would I describe Little’s work in the booth over the past couple of years? At first, I thought that it was a little rough. Jitters happen. So does inexperience.
Then, it never really got better. Her calls come off as stilted and often lack emotion. Having a steady stream of guest analysts instead of the same people every week doesn’t help things. Of course, even when they have the same person alongside her, it’s Michael Waltrip.
I can’t speak for all of my readers, but I’ve never warmed to him as an analyst. He basically drives me nuts. Years ago, Bob Pockrass (in his Sporting News days) did a poll on all of the on-air personalities in NASCAR. Michael was voted as essentially the worst of them.
In the time since then, I think he’s marginally improved, but he still gets on my nerves. Most of his improvement over the years has come from nothing more than reps. He has to have over 300 Truck races in the booth now. You have to learn something in that time.
Back to Little. I have no doubt that she is knee-deep in preparation in each week. Interviews that I’ve done with other NASCAR commentators over the years such as Rick Allen and Allen Bestwick indicate that the preparation includes “volumes” of material, in addition to the various production meetings during the week and at the track (if they go).
The thing is, she comes off as stilted in the booth. It’s really odd. I figured that by now, she would have figured out a nice groove for herself and worked into the position. Then, you get calls like the finish at Rockingham Speedway earlier this year.
Admittedly, this was better than last year when Tyler Ankrum won. Or, the finish of the season opener at Daytona when Chandler Smith swept past to win. It’s like she didn’t realize what was happening or something. As a result, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano effectively had to bail her out.
I’m just not quite what the issue really is here. I’m thinking it’s a confidence issue. As the play-by-play commentator, she is supposed to be the primary commentator in the booth. She can usurp her analysts. It’s like she doesn’t realize that.
Bringing Stover and Brennan in this year is a two-fold decision by FOX Sports. One, it could be a tacit admission that what I believe the grandmaster plan was isn’t working very well. Two, it allows Little to have a more diverse schedule away from the Truck Series. For example, Little recently opened a franchise of The Protein Bar in Indianapolis.
Of the three play-by-play commentators for the series this year, I think Brennan, the CARS Tour play-by-play man who came from FloRacing, has been the best received by fans. They are likely hoping that he continues to get more races in the booth going forward.
Speaking of being at the track, FOX Sports started doing remote broadcasts for the Truck Series outside of their Cup portion of the season around 2019. It was bad back then. It might be worse now.
Yes, the broadcasters have access to a lot of monitors in Charlotte where they do the remote broadcasts from. However, it seems like they really don’t make good use of them. The race calls on these remote broadcasts come off like they’re calling it from their living room off of the one screen. They can’t bring in any kind of knowledge that’s not immediately on the screen. It’s rough.
It’s arguable that it would be the production’s fault why these broadcasts come off as being so deficient. Even if Little had none of the issues listed above, the Truck broadcasts would probably still be the worse of NASCAR’s National Series.
Quite simply, the Truck races just aren’t enjoyable to watch these days. It’s a shame.
When Little got the play-by-play gig, I expected her to take some time to fully warm up into the role and show improvement along the way. I don’t know if I’ve seen any improvement from her in the past couple of years.
That’s a shame. She still has more races this year in the booth. I’m hoping that we’ll see some better performances from her, but I can’t guarantee it. Little improving in the booth would benefit the broadcasts, and by extension, the series as a whole.
That’s all for this week. Next weekend, the NASCAR season resumes with a trip to Iowa Speedway for the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The NTT IndyCar Series will be at Portland International Raceway with ARCA Menards Series West in support. TV listings can be seen here.
Next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here at Frontstretch will cover the Iowa Corn 350 from Iowa Speedway. Remember that it will be the first Cup race of the year on USA Network. Practice and qualifying will remain on truTV and HBO Max.
For Prime Video races, if you want to send feedback, go to the individual race broadcast link and there will be a button at the bottom of the page to provide feedback about the broadcast.
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 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.
I like Jamie as a pit reporter and think she does a fine job. But play by play is not for her. I felt the same about Doctor Punch. I found him boring as the play by play guy.
Sad to say but I totally agree with you on Jamie Little. I wanted to like her in the booth because I definitely like her work as pit reporter. But for the reasons you listed she just doesn’t connect the dots for me. There’s no sense of flow with her in booth. It’s weird because her pit work seems so smooth. And MW is just such a doofus. He talks over the others and usually has nothing of consequence to say. He thinks people want to hear him talk as much as he wants to hear himself. We can’t all be good at everything.
Mikey is the reason I no longer watch truck races. It takes about 3 minutes for his voice and useless comments to drive me nuts. And I agree that Jamie is fantastic in the pits but just so-so on play by play.
For on track I love the Truck series. Not a fan of the Fox coverage. I can live with JL, but I dislike the goofy MW.
I really hate the remote broadcast. If Fox is that cheap they should not be broadcasting the race.
JL is handy capped to a certain extent by MW being in the booth. He talks non stop every week about the same thing. He must have something on the powers to be at Fox to remain in the booth.
Jamie Little is the absolute worst in the booth. She constantly and I mean constantly interrupts and talks over anyone else on the broadcast. She was good as a pit reporter and needs to go back there. Overall, and this includes Mike Joy, there are too many cooperate stooges telling fans EXACTLY what the driver is thinking and doing. Years ago the rumor going around was Mike Joy’s nickname was terror of the NE modifieds, with hundreds of wins. Mike Joy has said his only experience is parking lot SCCA time trials. None of the others have ever raced a car, they need to stop considering themselves experts.
Hiding the races on low rent networks hasn’t helped.
This TV contract is an insult to the fans.