Race Weekend Central

By Phil Allaway

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.

Couch Potato Tuesday: ESPN Fails to Carry Excitement to Cup Telecast

Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast critiquing is the name of the game. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series were all in action back at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Also of note, we’ve breached the 250 critique mark here at Frontstretch (combined between the regular Tuesday critiques and the ones in the Annex). I thank my readers for hanging in there over the past three plus seasons.

SPEED’s Action is Tops, While ESPN Needs to Expand Coverage

Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast criticism is the main topic of discussion. I’m back from a one-week hiatus imposed because I was in Watkins Glen for the Sprint Cup weekend there, representing Frontstretch. While I was there, I had originally planned to gather information in order to completely update/replace the article I wrote back in 2009 that goes behind the scenes of ESPN’s telecasts. The idea was that since technology modernizes at a substantial rate these days, ESPN would have had to modernize their own setup as well. However, ESPN refused to allow me access to the TV Compound, or to interview anyone associated with the network’s NASCAR telecasts.

Couch Potato Tuesday: Special Guests and Weather Mark Telecasts

Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast critiques are the name of the game. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series were each in action at Pocono Raceway. Meanwhile, the Nationwide Series was in action with ESPN’s “B-Team” at Iowa Speedway.

*U.S. Cellular 250*

On Saturday night, the Nationwide Series held their second race of the season at Iowa Speedway in front of a sellout crowd. Since ESPN was busy covering the Sprint Cup race in Pocono in addition to this event, there were some changes. First off, there was a rare two-man booth for this race. Marty Reid was joined only by Ricky Craven. There was no Pit Studio (it was back in Pocono), so Shannon Spake hosted Countdown from pit road. It was a throwback telecast in a way with only five on-air personalities.

Overhyping and Individual Coverage Mars ESPN at Brickyard

Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, the weekly piece here at Frontstretch where TV coverage is placed front and center. This past weekend, we had “mini-Speedweeks” out in Indianapolis. The Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with Grand-Am’s two series. Meanwhile, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards raced Friday night at nearby Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis with USAC’s three big divisions (Midgets, Wingless Sprints and Silver Crown) as support.

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2012 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis

Phil Allaway

Regan Smith finished a somewhat disappointing 18th on Sunday after having a shot to wind up much higher. However, about halfway through the race he restarted on the outside of the front row next to Brad Keselowski. After racing Keselowski hard through turn 1 and the South Chute, the two had contact in turn 2. There did not appear to be any malice in what happened, but both drivers never truly recovered.

Chicagoland Coverage Decent, but Networks Keep Viewers Guessing

Phil Allaway

=Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where critiquing of race broadcasts is the name of the game. The Sprint Cup Series took their final weekend off of the year, but unlike the last time, there was plenty of action to make up for it. Both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series were each in action at Chicagoland Speedway. The ARCA Racing Series also raced Saturday as the tertiary show.

*Before we start,* ESPN stuck a little nugget into their “press release”:http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2012/07/nascar-sprint-cup-racing-coming-to-espn-for-second-half-of-season/ about their upcoming Sprint Cup coverage. Tucked in there nice and tight is the news that Marty Reid will be returning to the broadcast booth to do play-by-play for the remaining Nationwide Series races. This will allow Allen Bestwick to focus on the Sprint Cup races.

How Do TNT’s Commercials and Peter Griffin Compare?

Phil Allaway

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where TV critiques are the name of the game. I’m back after a one week hiatus, which was brought on due to my trip to Daytona to cover the Coke Zero 400. This week, we’ll be reviewing the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series race telecasts from New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the Camping World Truck Series telecast from Iowa Speedway.

*Before we start*, I want to mention a couple of things. Firstly, as you are likely well aware of, ESPN’s Jamie Little is currently eight months pregnant and is now officially on maternity leave. However, this leave might not be as long as you think. On her Twitter page Sunday night, Little tweeted that she’s “…sad I’ll miss some races but I’ll be back for [the] final 11!” This means that she plans on returning to pit road at Richmond in September. Until then, Shannon Spake will likely take her place in the pits.