Phil Allaway - Articles on Frontstretch
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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: FOX’s Yearly Bout With Amnesia

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast breakdowns are the primary interest. This past weekend was a very long and arduous one at Talladega Superspeedway, where the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and ARCA Racing Series were all in action. I have never had to go through as much content for three regular length races as I had to for this critique because of the weather in Talladega.

Before we start, I have a couple of jeers to hand out. First off, NBC Nightly News showed footage of what they claimed was David Ragan’s run to victory on Sunday. Unfortunately, someone in New York cued the wrong video. As a result, viewers saw the crash-marred finish of Saturday’s Aaron’s 312.

Couch Potato Tuesday: Drawing The Line Between Sports Coverage And E!

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast discussion and critique is the main object of affection (or derision). This past weekend was relatively light, with only the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series in action in Richmond.

*ToyotaCare 250*

On Friday night, the Nationwide Series returned to action on the three-quarters of a mile “D-Shaped” oval at Richmond International Raceway. Carl Edwards was back in the booth for his second race of the year. How did it go? Let’s take a look.

Couch Potato Tuesday: Where Are The Drivers? NASCAR Analysis Gone Overboard

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast critique is the object of discussion here. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series were at Kansas Speedway for some ultra-fast action. Meanwhile, the IZOD IndyCar Series took to the streets of Long Beach.

*Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach*

On Sunday afternoon, the IZOD IndyCar Series returned to action on the 1.968-mile street course in Long Beach, California. How did the NBC Sports Network do with their coverage of one of the series’ crown jewels? Let’s find out.

With NBC Sports Network having multiple racing commitments last weekend, the decision was made to have Leigh Diffey stay in Connecticut in order to do play-by-play commentary for the Grand Prix of Bahrain. With Bob Varsha also busy at Road Atlanta, occupied with Grand-Am racing, the NBC Sports Network tapped Brian Till to replace Diffey for the weekend.

Couch Potato Tuesday: Edwards Improves, But Still A Work In Progress

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where we critique all kinds of different race telecasts. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were at Texas Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, the Camping World Truck Series made their annual trip to Rockingham for some action on a cheese grater masquerading as a racetrack.

*North Carolina Educational Lottery 200 at the Rock presented by Cheerwine*

On Sunday afternoon, the Camping World Truck Series returned to Rockingham Speedway for their second assault on the tricky, high-banked tri-oval. Honestly, the race was quite similar to last year’s. Turner Scott just plain dominated.

Couch Potato Tuesday: Edwards Alters ESPN While FOX Delivers “Up Close”

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast critique is our primary concern. Today, we’re covering the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series from Martinsville and the IZOD IndyCar Series from Barber Park.

*Before we start,* we’ve got quite a bit of news to cover.

First off, ESPN announced on Monday that Carl Edwards will be returning to the broadcast booth as an analyst for three Nationwide Series races, starting with Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Afterwards, Edwards will be in the booth for Richmond (airing on ESPNEWS) and Talladega as well. Edwards will be replacing Rusty Wallace as the driver analyst.

Couch Potato Tuesday: Rating The Top 3 Active NASCAR TV Analysts

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Hello, race fans. Hope you enjoyed Easter Weekend. For me, it was relatively boring. Ended up spending much of my Easter watching Indianapolis 500s from the 1990s on YouTube.

Well, this week in Couch Potato Tuesday, you won’t be bored here; we’re going to broach new ground. Most of the hundreds of critiques that I’ve written for Frontstretch involve me watching race telecasts and breaking them down, piece by piece. Even though I am not wholly negative in my critiques of broadcasts, I have definitely earned a reputation from some as a “Negative Nancy.”

Couch Potato Tuesday: NBC Sports Does Well; FOX Lucky with Feud Focus

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Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast criticism is the object of our affection, or hatred. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were both at Auto Club Speedway. Meanwhile, the IZOD IndyCar Series held their season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

*Before we start*, I need to rant. I tried to watch NBC Sports Network’s live coverage of the Grand Prix of Malaysia early Sunday morning (gotta love that 4am start time that screwed up my entire Sunday and Monday). I wasn’t even planning on critiquing the telecast for the site. I just wanted to watch the race, because I like Formula One. My cable system (Time Warner Cable) has SD and HD feeds of NBC Sports Network.