Rain moved the race back to Monday, so things changed a bit on TV. Chris Myers and the Hollywood Hotel stayed, so the telecast began with a brief reset.
Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip called the action. Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum, Krista Voda and Dick Berggren reported from pit road.
The race was not interrupted by rain. The technical portion of the telecast was without problems. The race coverage ended before the scheduled "off time." All the FOX local stations joined on time and there were no problems reported.
There were lots of comments flying about the pictures selected by the Director and the comments provided by the upstairs announcers. This is a long, grinding race and requires a lot of effort to keep the excitement level high.
This is your opportunity to let us know what you thought of the NASCAR on FOX coverage immediately after the race is over. To add your personal wrap-up of the race, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.
Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
78 comments:
I think fixing Fox's problems would be as simple as blowing up the production truck and starting from scratch with actual NASCAR people. Unfortunately we're dealing with David Hill here and as we can see with his treatment of Speed Channel he very clearly doesn't give a damn about this sport or improving his network's coverage of it.
JD, just curious how have Fast Track to Fame and the Racing Chef been doing in the ratings for Speed this year? Big ratings boost as Hill envisioned, big flop, or somewhere in-between?
Well, I guess I can't comment on the TV coverage since I was at work, but I did want to say that I was listening to the 24 scanner and he sure thought he had the white flag and NASCAR didn't give it to them. But then, NASCAR and Fox wouldn't have had the "excitement" contrived or otherwise of the G-W-C finish.
Sorry, JD, you don't have to use this post, I saw the posts on the live blog that TV didn't show how close the 24 was on camera so it seemed relevant to me, but then I'm biased.
I followed along using Nascar.com's lap by lap coverage and the radio and it sounds like I "saw" a better race than if I had stayed home to watch it. The radio coverage says there was an exciting race.
You asked "why would anyone come back after the Easter break?" with coverage like this. Honestly, I'm not sure I will. The weather will hopefully improve and this TV product is not worth wasting nice Sunday afternoons indoors.
I was working from home today and could really only fully watch for the last half of the race. Disjointed, confusing, lost, that hideous cut-away from the later three-wide when there was not yet a threat to the leader...what else can I say? It's pretty much the same horrible product that Fox has given us all year. It is almost getting to the point where I would agree to seeing more of Digger again without complaint if Fox would go back to how it used to do races.
The finish was a mess.....cars are crossing the line, but they didn't show what position drivers were finishing in.
I'm sure it was a good race. I wish we had seen it. The TV coverage would not make anyone want to go and see a race in person. NA$CAR needs to look no further than the poor TV coverage and their own manipulated race managment to see why both attendance and viewership is down.
Was nice to see finally the whole field finish for the first time this year. Based on the closing "get well soon message" from Myers I think it's obvious why that happened eh?
The Good:
The camera shots were better, the booth was observant, and the entire field was shown finishing the race.
The Bad:
Pit Reporters were underused, stories were not followed, play-by-play was a mess.
The Ugly:
The production truck had its own agenda today. The viewers only saw the cars the production truck were interested in. The booth would comment on a battle on the track and a single car running circles would remain on the screen. At the end of the race, cars were 3 wide at Martinsville, yet the truck cut away to observe the single file leaders.
The Conclusion:
I'm done. I gave FOX a chance. Some aspects of the broadcast have improved. But the production truck does not care about the racing.
At least Denny Hamlin won. The Jeff Burton caution was BS, there should have been no caution. Many other cars did the exact same thing he did and there was no caution. Then the next caution blew my mind. Gordon was 100 feet from the finish line and white flag. There should have been no caution, everyone got going. Instead we got a GWC and idiotic driving. Maybe I'm just fustrated.
I watched fifty laps. Stormed out and went back to work. No video was shown on TV of the race unless product placement counts. To hexx with watching this xxxx on TV. I have concluded if I want to watch a race from start to finish I will have to drive to a speedway somewhere and scale the grandstands. No more Sprint Cup on TV. Every weekend I want to watch racing I will drive to a short track and watch their show. My hypertension will thank me.
Captcha: stragic
And is it ever stragic.
What a fascinating finish where of all people, it took Denny Hamlin to spice up the ending of the race.
One of my favorite trends this year is how Darrell reports information that has come and gone on Twitter or the live race blog 10+ minutes before he says anything. I think that's where he gets his material!
I am rather nuetral on the man, but he seems to have an interesting, almost evil-like snicker about some things when they happen.
Waltrip is NOT a nuetral reporter and it feels very unprofessional and distracting at times.
Other wise, I guess there was a race going on somewhere. Thank god they cut away from the 3-wide racing at Martinsville to show us the lone car up front or I feel like my adrenaline would have burst out the top of my head! Fox saved my life! Whew!
For me, SIRIUS, Twitter and The live blog on the NASCAR site saved the excitement!
Funny how some people bash announcers for being listless, but yet others see excitement as being unprofessional and bias....I don't think anyone could fill the role folks are looking for.
Also any idea if the # of in-car camera shots is in any way dictated in the contract of the company that is paying for that advertising?...
Thanks for the enjoyable coverage again Fox. I really like the bumper cam. I am a big advocate of using the drop down finish screen, but in this case with everyone so close at the end I don't think, other than the top 5, the announcers could safely call the fininishing order.
I have been informed that in order to get my Tourette’s Syndrome under control,
that I should not subject myself to poor motor racing coverage and, even more so, to the bombastic blathering of color commentary boobs that add nothing to said coverage.
However, in order to keep up with this fantastic blog, I will probably still watch some of each FOX broadcast, albeit with duct tape wrapped around my head so as not to offend the rest of the household.
Say it with me: It takes all kinds to make a world.
What happened to Victory Lane on SPEED?
I had the race on TV but was only listening until close to the end. I thought it was bizarre that they chose to show the first 4 cars in single file while the rest of the field was three-wide behind them. I just don't get it.
I guess the good news is there was no "Pizzi" segment today.
Richard,
SPEED left. There was no one hour RaceDay like there has been in the past. There was no Victory Lane.
My personal opinion is that Race Hub had something to do with it.
No answers from SPEED to my questions on this topic.
JD
The guys in the booth as well as those in the truck act like people who are burned out with their jobs but can't be fired due to their contract. They are just beating in their time until their contract expires or something better comes along. They don't put any effort into their jobs and it is glaringly obvious. Fresh blood with a new outlook is called for.
I believe the drivers dictated no VL show this wk. Read on twitter that they were flocking to their choppers rite after the race! I could be wrong tho. Listened to the race on MRN-sounded exciting. Guess TV didn't show it, from what I'm reading.
Pammmmm,
The winning driver, crew chief and usually the owner are on VL.
The other interviews are gathered by Bob Dillner after the race and used on SPEED Report and Victory Lane.
If I get an answer, I will pass it along.
JD
I watched the first 25% or so of the race. Gave up and went back to work where things make sense. Sometimes anyway.
From what I saw, the coverage was...
In a word.. Horrible..
In more words.. Disjointed, confused, not covering the race, camera shots from one car to another with no information relevant to the video being shown at the time.
I think Ken has it correct, these broadcasters are done. Tired, wore out, and a total waste of time to listen to at this point.
Commenting specifically on the TV coverage of the race . . . for a rain delay, with everyone on overtime, it was not that bad.
Could it have been better, sure.
If you were the director, but you're not, would you have picked a specific camera, maybe, maybe not.
Fox has never been the leader in NASCAR coverage, so if they don't live up to expectations now, it should not come as a big surprise.
Fox seems to cater to to lowest, ie cheapest, common denominator. When they think they're being cute, they're lame. When they think they are being cutting edge, they're not.
Just because Fox threw an obscene amount of money to NASCAR for the TV rights to the first so many races for so many years, does not necessarily mean that the consumers, (we) will get what we want (deserve).
Fox is milking their investment. It's bad news for everyone, including Fox.
Is it me or did Mike Joy "shhh" Larry Mac during the final shootout.
Another pet peeve of mine is Larry Mac you are the analyst and not the Play by Play, please leave the race calling to Mike Joy who is much better at it.
I bailed on Fox with about 1 and 1/2 hours left in the race and listened to the MRN call on Sirius. Difference was like night and day. Steve Post, Alex Hayden had plenty of information from the pits on everything from information on the cars to strategy. The call of the finish was a classic.
What I saw on Fox was a crew going through the motions. DW once again was on his own planet with many of his observations that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were watching. LM has pretty much given up on using his insight as a former crew chief and turned his sights on replacing MJ as the play-by-play guy. Which brings me to the saddest development this season on Fox - what the heck has happened to Mike Joy? Until this season I think if the majority of fans were asked who the voice of NASCAR racing was they would say in unison Mike Joy. He has almost disappeared from the broadcast. He does the intro when it's thrown to them from the pre-race, takes them in and out of commercial breaks and occasionally calls on replays of accidents. When he does get a word in edgewise there is no emotion. Something is wrong.
Folks
For those who believe the coverage suffers becasue the "announcers are tired", I think you are on the right track but not accurate.
The boys in the booth can only perform based on what the boys in the truck give them. Its the FOX dolts in the truck who are tired....or bored.....disinterested
or maybe just incompetent.
FOX sports is based on gimmicks, misdirection, enormous egos at the highest levels and the fatal character flaw, they believe their own PR!!
NASCAR is spiralling down the drain with their so-called "partners"
Hey, I'm no fan of Joy, DW or Larry "he-done-come-up-through-the-pack" McReynolds, but if the truck isn;t leading them thru the race telecast, they are sunk
had to work yesterday so couldn't watch on tv but i certainly "saw" a fantastic race on twitter! (boss agreed it was slow so my laptop was my "tv.")
for me, this comment from jd yesterday sums up my frustration with nascar television the past few seasons:
"What a daggone shame. The racing is good, just the TV coverage is bad."
the vast majority of fans watch each week's race on tv and the quality of the broadcast is, in my opinion, the sole factor in shaping the fan's perception on the state of racing in nascar. when tv puts forth a broadcast that shows a single car racing ahead of the rest of the field, fans are left with the impression that there isn't any racing and it's "follow the leader."
when tv relies on gimmicks like in-cars, bumper cams, digger cams, lipstick cams, the fans are left with the impression that there's just no racing to be shown so the truck is "doing the best they can with what they have."
when the booth is lackluster, "bored," or rambling, with "discussions" going far afield and the race seeming to be an afterthought, viewers assume it's because there's just no excitement on the track.
put together a few weeks of this (let alone a full season!) and it's no wonder ratings plummet and track attendance goes down. why pay to go to the track if all you've seen on tv is boring and predictable? and why put aside 3-4 hours to watch the race on tv if all you're going to see is producing and directing that creates and then reinforces the perception that the racing is non-existent and that the entire sport is failing you, the fan?
i "saw" an amazing race on twitter yesterday and if i had a chance, i'd get to the next martinsville race. wonder how many fans who only watched fox yesterday feel that same way?
Am I wrong in saying this, or hasn't Fox's coverage always been like this? I remember when they took over how aggravated I was over missing key elements, announcers trying to hock merchandise, and other things we never saw from the old ESPN gang. You know what you're going to get when Fox does a race. If they haven't changed for the better in 10 years, they're not going to change now.
A loud, excited yell of "Here comes Johnson on the outside of his teammate Mark Martin." Right. It was immediately apparent that Martin was actually passing Johnson, not the other way around, as Martin pulled away and Kyle Bush then pulled alongside Johnson.
Less than a minute later, "Ragan bounced off the curb and hit Ambrose." I replayed it three times; Ragan was never within six feet of the curb. The car behind Ragan was closer to the curb than Ragan was and he was not in danger of "bouncing off of the curb."
I swear, these guys just run their mouths in order to hear their brains rattle.
One other thing I forgot to comment on was there was no explanation of how Hamlin and Busch can pit with less than 10 laps to go with only Dale Jr, Biffle, and a couple of other drivers also pitting and those two come out 9th and 10th. There were around 23 or 24 cars on the lead lap. They should have been around 15th or 16th. But nothing was ever said about how they ended up so high in the running order after their pit stops.
The coverage was the usual.. Still so-so.. I did notice that there was not the best coverage on pit road. They did give a graphic as to spots lost or gained in the pits but not why, 2 tires, 4 tires, problems, etc.. Example, the 88 lost spots on every stop but it wasn't mentioned even once..
I think Mike Joy is getting tired of the other 2 guys not knowing their roles up in the booth. Many many times during the course of a race, McReynolds and Waltrip start calling the race instead of shutting up and letting Mike do his job. Mike is one of the best play by play guys out there, but he is being brought down by the other 2 in the booth. DW seems to point out the obvious for most of the race when he's not trying to do the PXP and McReynolds I"m not really sure what he's supposed to be doing.
For an organization like Nascar who is trying to shed their red neck image, you would think they would have something to say about the ridiculous Boogity boogity boogity that is chanted at the start of every race. It makes the sport look about as redneck as it gets.
Maybe I should have had [choose one](more coffee, less coffee, more beer, less beer). I enjoyed the broadcast, but not the finishing order.
I guess I'm just easy.
DW has gotten very very old. Not a very accurate call of the race from upstairs. Daly Planet is the "promotional consideration paid" credit list at the end the selling of car exposure during the race?
brucer,
Not exactly. There are always companies that provide services to the TV networks in exchange for something. Could be an in-race feature, in-car camera or something else.
Nothing to do with race exposure...in theory!
JD
I watched the race end to end. Thoroughly enjoyed the racing commentary and video coverage by the Fox team. NOT a DH fan at all (pretty much the opposite). But, it was a good charge. I was more loving to see JB up front, as well as JG, MM, and GB.
Are there areas to improve in the broadcast and video coverage? YES.
Worth throwing them under the bus every single week (like what was required to get Dr. Jerry Punch back where he belonged)? NO. The Fox coverage is not near as horrendous as the EPSN coverage. Hardly watched anything but the last 30 laps of their coverage in 2009, especially once the chase hit. Wasn't really listening either. Just watched to see the end.
How can an announcer/pit reporter, for example, beat the news that is Twittered by a drivers wife? Get real. A pit reporter/announcer can't listen to every radio transmission live, nor get the info as fast as someone sitting in the pit box. Technology is making everyone a reporter nowadays.....
Just like some on here think the announcers are just there to hear themselves talk, it's quite obvious those same people here are here to see themselves type.
Listen to the coverage with what you know about the broadcaster's backgrounds, and it's much more fun.
Just saying....
I watched the race at work via the Leaderboard and Twitter. I watched it on TV later.
I rarely watch the race without also being online. What I noticed yesterday was, what they talked about in the booth wasn't being shown on TV. And vice versa. A common complaint. Weren't we waiting for FOX's return after BSPN's coverage? To me, they're one in the same.
Here's hoping there are no more rained out races run on Mondays.
@Red -- your post summed it up for me very well -- When the majority of fans only ever see a race on TV and that doesn't show them the fun and excitement of racing, then perception becomes reality and it all becomes "boring". Not that there aren't boring times during any long race, but honestly, if TV would just show us the racing, we'd be able to experience the excitement. I feel like I've said this so many times here on this blog and to NASCAR and Fox and ESPN. The NASCAR policy of "speak only good things" should have the addendum to the TV partners "show us the RACE!"
I wonder where the real problem is in the production truck? Kempner wasn't there (hope his shoulder gets better) and the producer is the same one that produces such great TNT shows. JD, you've said the camera people are mostly the same for all the networks. Is Mike Wells just that good? It's got to be the announcers presentation, right? What gives?
"Saw" a great race via Twitter and other internet updates. Watched the DVR of race last night, mostly FF to the highlights and watched the end so I can't really comment. On Sun night we watched DVR of rainout coverage, really liked the driver interviews that FOX got. REALLY liked the 50-win Club segment with Ken, Junior J, Ned & Jimmie. Pizzi, NOT.
I've heard complaints that twitter is "useless", and I'll say it again- carefully choose who you follow to get the best experience!
Lastly, VERY disappointed that SPEED, the so-called racing channel, didn't stick around an extra day and at least do Victory Lane. Fans robbed of some great stories! Nascar Now had a few but Race Hub hardly touched IMO.
All I'm going to say is that I took a nap in the middle of the race.
I saw the first 100 laps, and the last 100 laps --- felt like I didn't miss a thing. Except the constant jabbering from the booth.
Well, watched the race last night, via the clean "World feed" being shown here in the UK now. The good point of the world feed is that we miss most of the screen junk (Digger, Aflac duck, Verizon in-car graphics etc.) - still hear them though. (What on earth does "Budweiser - it's what we do" mean anyway?)
You know, in balance, Fox are ok. Are they perfect? No. Are they ESPN from 2009? No.
From my point of view, and in a random order:
1. Pizzi is Fox's answer to Rutledge, and they have found someone more annoying. A waste of space.
2. The booth can hardly be blamed for talking about something more interesting than single file cars on the track. A good director will take cues from the commentary. Fox need to find to a good director to be able to achieve this.
3. DW is a salesman, but he seems to be better this year. Not heard him flogging anything, so that is a big plus. In addition, he is the better on screen presenter called Waltrip.
4. I agree Mike Joy seems a little off this year, but he is still the BEST DAMNED PLAY-BY-PLAY GUY THERE IS. All he needs is to sort himself out, whatever is going on.
5. Direction: down to ESPN levels of poorness. That guy from TNT needs to run classes. I am not sure if the problem is the truck or David Hill. I could guess though.
So, could Fox be better? Yes. Is it irritating me to ESPN 2009 levels. No, far from it, despite the issues, I am enjoying Fox coverage as a rule. It helps to watch on a PVR, to fast forward the irritating bits. Makes for a better viewing experience.
Let me try & get this straight. Mike Joy is the pxp guy, and if the other two "monkeys" would let him do his job, he would be good at it. Larry is the analyst, and he would be ok if the other "whatever he thinks he is" would let him do his job. In conclusion, two guys in the announce booth, and one guy in your neighborhood Wal-Mart.
I personally thought that the camera selection was the worst that I have ever seen on Fox. They missed was too much action.
What I find ironic about all of this is that I saw people giving FOX good nods on Truck RaceBuddy on Saturday.
But, then again, we are talking different kinds of NASCAR fans. Where is TNT when you need them?
I dunno if it was lack of cameras for a Monday, but I was disappointed by a lack of replays for most of the race. Scott Speed, who has had a decent year was shown smoking with lots of damage, yet I have no idea what happened, cus a replay was never shown.
I also wish they did a better job with commercials. There was a point yesterday when they came back from break, and they were already under caution, and pit stops were already done.
RPG,
They showed Speed get into the back of the 12 on the backstretch. Took them a few laps, but they got there.
Time for FOX to change, 10 years of NYUK,NYUKING and Hillbilly coverage of a great Sport. Let's get some real broadcasters, more professional coverage, so we can enjoy the races.From what I hear from other fans and what I read here and other sites,it's time to change things at FOX. Those in charge need to heed this warning before things get much worse.
I have about 30 die-hard Nascar fans over on my page at MySpace. I thought I'd post this because their relevant. These were just comments that came through via the status stream for those familiar with that. There were zero negative comments and these two. There was some personal stuff eliminated, but zero edited as far as their Nascar thoughts.
""Hi J, Did you get to watch the race today? Was a great one!""
""Great race yesterday, I think Bowyer got up to 3rd ONCE, lol, Have a Great evening""
Note: These are NOT my opinion. I thought the coverage sucked. But, just trying to be fair.
We went to the race, suffered, er, sat in the stands during the rain and cold on Sunday until they finally called it for the day, spent two hours stuck in the mud up to the truck's hub caps on Sunday, sank in the mud over the tops of my rain shoes (wet socks all day, mud to our knees from trying to dig the truck out), and it was ALL WORTH IT!
The race was great, all kinds of racing going on from front to back, a killer ending. Did you see Hamlin put on that power move? He was going to win or take out the field. My husband listened to the drivers (KyBu's cursing after wrecking was expecially creative), I stuck mainly with MRN, and it was all good. No kidding - the raced restored my joy in Nascar racing.
Fox just about had me not caring a fig for what happened on Sunday at the track. Saw a wonderful race Sunday: live. So sorry you all didn't get the same experience.
I am real anxious to see how Ricky Craven does on Sat.'s N-wide race. I am always impressed with how very well he can explain things and his insight. Ricky and Randy were super on N-Now Monday. Angelique was good, but I thought Ricky and Randy really stood out.
Richard, I also thought Randy & Ricky stood out on NN on Monday, well along with Allen. Great show except needed Ray in there. Looking forward to Ricky's Nashville race he'll do a good job, that's for sure.
Post removed due to saying something bad about NASCAR.
I loved the race. I had a rare Monday off and loved the coverage. The finish was exciting not only because of the amazing action on the track but because of the excitement in the booth. I loved the race and kudos to Fox!
Anon 11:43,
I think what you said about the director situation, and the producer being the same as the TNT producer, says it all: the problem here isn't the production truck, it isn't the announcers, it's Fox management telling them what to do. David Hill probably threatens there jobs if they don't put this crap on the air like the fat Pizza guy only he thinks is funny. David Hill probably tells Larry and DW how to act on screen, and probably put it in there contracts too. I don't know what else to think because all these guys are much better when they aren't on Fox. I enjoy Larry on Speed and TNT. DW is at least tolerable on Speed. The producer does a great job for TNT but a bad job for Fox. If all that doesn't spell out what the problem is, I don't know what does.
IMO, I think we are stuck with this NASCAR clown act on Fox as long as David Hill is in charge. I hope he retires soon or gets fired.
Too many times, the boys in the booth started to talk about what was on the screen, only to have that shot replace by another one. The director's got to pay attention and can't arbitrarily jump around like that.
Oh..and...why did we miss so many wrecks that affected the race? No replays for many of them. Are we just not shooting the track anymore?
And it seems like an awful lot of cautions came out while Fox was in a commercial break.
I think Anon 10:12 may be on to something. I see Larry Mac on SPEED and TNT and he is much better on those programs than he is on Fox. I see DW on SPEED's stage show on Friday's and a guest on Wind Tunnel and he's great on Wind Tunnel. It's like when they put on the suit and tie, they get goofy. And I'm sure Mike Joy is getting tired of reading as many promos as he does call race action.
I "watched" the race live via Pit Command (with MRN) and Trackpass Scanner (JJ ) while I worked so I was significantly distracted but knew generally what was going on. Twitter unfortunately is blocked on the company computer. I then got home a watched my DVR version without my usual multitasking. I found that Mike seems to be better than earlier in the year but I really think the problem is the truck. He wants to call the racing and the truck is showing what they want and unfortunately it's not the same thing in many instances. Even when they are yelling about something I am seeing something totally different on the TV screen. It's like he's getting directions in his ear which contradict what he wants to say so there is a lag time and unfortunately DW trys to fill it. Larry Mac doesn't doesn't bother me but he also appears to be trying to help and between the 2 of them the flow gets lost in the shuffle. If the director would get his priorities in order I believe everything else will be fine. It's almost like they are trying to do it the same way as practice when the truck tells Mike who they are going to show next and them Mike, Larry and DW talk about that driver/car/team/etc. It can't work that way in race it needs to be about the racing when and where ever it happens. OBTW I actually like DW too but I think he might just be a little too far removed from the current racing, how about Kyle Petty although he has really helped RaceDay a lot so I'm on the fence with that one.
Looking forward to Ricky Craven. If he can give the perspective and insight he gives on NN he could be one of the top in the booth. Not too sure about LaJoie though, he's a good enough guy but rarely gives insights or info like Craven, who I enjoy listening to.
WOW what a race, I just saw the replay on Speed today, was sooo sick on Monday I didnt even want to get out of bed to watch it but was impressed, that was a great race! Awsome
Are the announcers on Fox and MRN required to refer to the outside wall as the "safer-barrier"? Sort of annoys me.
Fan council question - if you went to work, how did you follow the race?
Why hasn't there been a press release on Jayski for the Bristol TV ratings? Were they that bad?
Did anyone see Bill Deditch get his butt kicked at Glassmart the other morning?
@Anon 10:26 March 31st: Ive been wondering that for two weeks now. Those are the overnight ratings and there always out on Tuesday following the race. Been following it for a couple years now. Quite frankly, Martinsville overnight ratings should be there too. I've asked about it but gotten no answer as of yet. I can't find them anywhere online.
@GinaV: Watched the first quarter of race on tv. Got discusted with the coverage and went to work. Followed it via live timing on Nascar.com.
Excellent race, great coverage, thanks Fox. Now if the people here who constantly tell us that they no longer watch NASCAR on Fox would stop posting how much they hated the coverage they did not watch, maybe we'd get some constructive criticism going. If I remember correctly, last year was Beat Up ESPN Year. In 2010, the gang's all Fox Is The Great Satan. It makes one wonder.
Allison,
Great coverage? Seriously? What race did you watch? They missed the cautions, the pictures on the screen rarely matched what the announcers were talking about and FOX missed Denny Hamlin coming back through the field after his last pit stop.
This live sports telecast from "Slice of Pizzi" through the outbursts from Waltrip and McReynolds was a disaster.
After three seasons, ESPN moved Jerry Punch back to pit road. This change and the addition of Marty Reid has made the ESPN broadcasts fun to watch.
When FOX decides to make some changes, perhaps the product that they put on the screen might result in something other than low ratings and angry fans.
Thanks for stopping by!
JD
Are the announcers on Fox and MRN required to refer to the outside wall as the "safer-barrier"? Sort of annoys me.
They call it that because it is just that. In places where it's just a wall, they say so. Not sure what you;'re saying here.
I hope this is the last year we see Joy, DW, and McReynolds together in the same booth. A shakeup is long overdue.
@JohnP -- sorry, I wasn't clear - that was an actual question from the fan council survey -- obviously they knew a lot of people wouldn't have been able to stay home on a Monday and watch live, so they were asking "how did you follow it if you went to work?". The options to choose as an answer was pretty wide ranging, too - from nascar.com, twitter, radio, other (which for me means The Daly Planet), etc.
I was supposed to be AT the race but work got in the way, so I set the DVR to catch it (in case there was something worth watching when I got home) but followed it via trackpass, this site and radio.
My personal opinion is that ANY and ALL of those options are preferable to watching a race on TV these days and actually necessary to follow the action. And that makes me very sad because I was so happy when NASCAR came to TV on a regular schedule and the first couple of years by Fox were excellent. They have rested on their laurels a little too long though - much like NASCAR in thinking that because the sport had experienced a huge surge in popularity, they could do ANYTHING and people would watch. Wrong!
@ GinaV.. Lol.. Yea I sure read that one wrong.. See, knew I should of had that second cup of coffee. To bad you didn't get there.
Read LarryMac's piece on Fox about how exciting the race was and how great the last 50 laps were etc. I just think to myself, if true
It to bad Fox didn't show it to the TV fans.
JD, how is Fox or any other network supposed to avoid missing a caution? It's just dumb luck on their part that they miss it. Their only other option is to break in from commercial or go to a split-screen, something NASCAR and many of its advertisers do not want.
Pictures not matching the announcers have been a problem with Fox since day one. That's on Mr. Kemptner. Since he's Fox's #1 director, they're not about to take him from that role. I don't blame the announcers for calling out a spin or something else that's on the screen. That's where something is going on. It's up to the director to be on top of it and switch quickly to that spot. But he doesn't, so we're stuck with what we have. I've almost gotten used to it over the years.
I do think Fox's coverage to this point has slipped a notch. Like was mentioned earlier, their announcers seemed to be programmed to become goofier when they're in the booth because they're not as bad when on the stage or on other shows.
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