Race Weekend Central

Couch Potato Tuesday: Does Rain Fill Help NASCAR Find New Fans?

2014 Daytona Sprint Cup Rain Credit Phil Allaway

(Photo: Phil Allaway)

This weekend’s activities at Daytona bordered on the biblical, with Mother Nature more concerned about flooding instead of full-fledged NASCAR competition. Final Cup practice was rained out, the Nationwide race was delayed and the Cup race was postponed to Sunday. That caused an extensive amount of on-air time with nothing but the Air Titan, a …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Technical Issues Mar TNT Broadcast… Again

2014 Kentucky CWTS Kyle Busch bow II CIA

Toyota has stood the Camping World Truck Series on its ear thus far in 2014, going 10 for 10 in race wins. Kyle Busch Motorsports has authored 9 of those 10 races.

All three NASCAR series hit Kentucky Speedway for a weekend under the lights. The Nationwide and Camping World Truck series broadcasts were marred by problematic winners and other issues ranging minor to major, while the big one — the Quaker State 400 for the Sprint Cup Series — had its usual issues typified by TNT’s …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: A Classic Racing TV Mistake… No “Pay Off”

2014 Sonoma CUP Casey Mears damage CIA

Ah, road course racing. For the first time in 2014, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series turned right in both California and Wisconsin. After months of oval track coverage, it was good to see some NASCAR TV showing a slightly different picture than usual. However, before we start, we must talk about some expected but …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Inclusivity Is Needed — Badly

2014 Michigan I CUP Ryan Newman Kevin Harvick CIA

In what’s becoming more and more of a common sight in NASCAR, all three of the sport’s national series were hard at work this past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series hitting up Michigan International Speedway while the Camping World Truck Series returned to Gateway Motorsports Park. With a new-ish track on the schedule, …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: TNT’s Decisions & Technical Issues Hinder Pocono Broadcast

2014 Pocono I CUP Kyle Larson Travis Kvapil racing CIA

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Last weekend marked a jam-packed few days of racing across multiple tracks, with Pocono Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway sharing the brunt of the attention. However, Pocono may have been the winner in terms of intrigue — it featured the return of TNT to NASCAR for its six-race summer series, currently the final time the …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Deadspin Moments Derail ESPN Racing Coverage

This past weekend was basically holiday season for race fans — and not just because of the Memorial Day weekend. The Sprint Cup and Nationwide series were at Charlotte Motor Speedway; meanwhile, the Verizon IndyCar Series ran their crown jewel, the Indianapolis 500. Of course, all of it was on TV, meaning plenty of reasons …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: FOX Strategy Passable For All-Star Race But Not Normal Events

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to another edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here at Frontstretch. The Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series were both in action at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, the Nationwide Series made the haul out to Iowa Speedway for its first standalone race of the season. Before we start, we have …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: FOX Kansas Concerns While Cheever Confounds

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday. This week, we’ve got Cup and Truck action from Kansas Speedway, along with the Verizon IndyCar Series from Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Seems like quite the doozy. Let’s get started. Grand Prix of Indianapolis On Saturday afternoon, the Verizon IndyCar Series made history. The first …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: FOX’s Action Adjustment Problem In Talladega

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast breakdowns are the primary objective. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and ARCA Racing Series were all in action at Talladega Superspeedway. Over 1,000 miles of restricted action took place. However, before we start, I’ve got some news to talk about. Last Monday, FOXSports announced …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: FOX Serves Up A Plothole

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecast breakdowns are par for the course. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series were back in action after a week off at Richmond International Raceway. In addition, the Verizon IndyCar Series had to deal with adverse weather in Alabama. We’ll get to …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Picking The Best IndyCar On-Air Personalities

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where we usually have race telecast critiques. However, Easter weekend is a tough weekend if you want to watch races. There was essentially nothing American-based that ran and broadcast their races on television. There was Formula 1 on NBC Sports Network, but I can’t get an entire critique …

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