Couch Potato Tuesday

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where breaking down broadcasts is the name of the game. Last weekend was Talladega, oh, that large bowl of restrictor plate goodness (or badness, depending on who you ask). The Sprint Cup Series was joined by the ARCA Racing Series and the Nationwide Series.

*International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250*

Friday evening brought the ARCA Racing Series back to SPEED for their second telecast of the year from Talladega Superspeedway. Between Daytona and Talladega, there have been two races run (Mobile, Alabama and Salem, Indiana). These races were effectively glossed over.

*- If it can be found, it must be shown. If not, the viewers must be notified that it cannot be found.

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where TV critique is the name of the game. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were at Richmond International Raceway for some short track action (that supposedly was more comfortable to watch than Lebanon Valley Speedway’s Saturday night card in windy, 40-something degree weather). Meanwhile, the IZOD IndyCar Series made their third trip down to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecasts are the name of the game. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series traveled out to Kansas Speedway for their spring race weekend. Also, the Formula One World Championship basically screwed themselves this weekend by going forward with their date in Bahrain despite all of the protests.

*Grand Prix of Bahrain*

If you’ve watched the news over the last year and change, then you likely know why Sunday’s Grand Prix of Bahrain was so controversial. SPEED’s on-air crew never really mentioned their opinions of the whole mess (aside from noting that the Sahara Force India team’s explanation of “already learning everything we needed to know from the first practice” for skipping Free Practice No. 2 on Friday didn’t hold water). However, they did make it unclear to anyone who follows them on Twitter that they weren’t really feeling Formula One racing in Bahrain and the series being used as a political tool.

*Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200*

I’m not sure how this reference will go over with my readers, but here it goes. Back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Warner Home Video put out what they called the Golden Jubilee 24 Karat Collection. They were a series of video tapes that contained eight Looney Tunes and/or Merrie Melodies shorts pertaining to a particular character or characters. I have one of Foghorn Leghorn and one of Speedy Gonzales from when I was little. Why am I referencing classic cartoons here, besides the fact that I can? Each tape started out with this bit where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were singing, “On with the show, this is it!”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-t8PngHgWY That is how I felt about Sunday’s race in Rockingham.

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where we take an in-depth look of motorsports telecasts. Let’s just say that it is rather difficult to actually put together a column for today since there was absolutely no live racing on television last weekend. “SPEED2”:http://www.speed2.com did have some live racing from the Circuit Paul Armagnac near Nogaro, France, but I don’t think that a lot of you have access to that service.

As a result, I had to rely on tape delayed telecasts for races to break down and look at for you. SPEED provided two such events on Sunday afternoon to take your eyes away from South African golfers getting an albatross and not being able to close the deal.

Hello race fans, and welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where the dissection of race broadcasts is a simple fact of life. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup Series was back in action at Martinsville Speedway, while the Camping World Truck Series came back out of their extended hibernation to support them. In addition, the IZOD IndyCar Series had their second race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park.

I originally planned to place a scathing rant against ESPN here for their treatment of “the recent Blake Koch issue.”:https://frontstretch.com/bkeith/38001/ However, I’ve been pre-empted. Matt McLaughlin claimed the topic for what I’m sure will be an epic takedown later this week. As a result, I will state for the record that ESPN’s actions are ridiculous, and that’s it.

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where race telecasts are the name of the game. This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series made yet another haul out to the West Coast to race at Auto Club Speedway. Meanwhile, a new era began in the IZOD IndyCar Series with the introduction of the DW12 and new turbocharged engines in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to another edition of Couch Potato Tuesday, where we don’t necessarily mince our words. If something isn’t good, we’re going to call NASCAR’s TV partners on it. However, if something positive happens, I’ll definitely publicize it.

This past weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series returned to action at Bristol Motor Speedway for the annual Spring race. Both of these events (the Cup race more than the Nationwide one) were somewhat sterile affairs, at least by Bristol standards. However, we are not critiquing the actual racing here.

Hello, race fans. Welcome back to Couch Potato Tuesday, where we take a look at the race telecasts that are presented to you on a weekly basis. Last weekend, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were both back in action at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.

Before we start; As much as I’d like to bring you a new Critic’s Annex piece this week, that is not in the cards. In its place, we have a brand new driver diary that will run on Thursdays in the Frontstretch Newsletter once a month featuring Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year contender Paul Harraka.

Hello, race fans. Points are finally in play. I really wish we could have gotten the Daytona 500 in on Sunday, but that just gives us more stuff to look at. Plenty to get to this week, so let’s delve right into the critique…

*NextEra Energy Resources 250*

Friday night marked the Camping World Truck Series’ return to the track for their first race of the season. With seemingly every organization undergoing some sort of change in the offseason (driver switches, manufacturer swaps, new teams altogether, etc.), there were plenty of Silly Season moves for SPEED’s crew to cover. How did they do? Let’s see.