There is an elephant in the room. Racing at Talladega this weekend is a tag-team affair. A single car racing alone or a big pack of cars racing together cannot compete. Only two cars, running tightly together, will produce the fastest lap speeds. The picture above is the view from the NASCAR on FOX broadcast booth of the finish line.
The challenge for FOX is clearly to put this item out front to the fans and TV viewers quickly. This is not racing. FOX knows it, NASCAR knows it and the fans know it. It has to be sold as competition by FOX even though drivers have been saying all weekend long this event is nothing more than an exercise in two-car drafting.
Chris Myers, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond are up first from the outdoor infield stage. This week, it is located at the end of pit road. Waltrip will move up with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds to call the race. On pit road are Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda, Matt Yocum and Dick Berggren.
There is no opportunity for change, so Joy has to get used to offering information in groups. There will be no leader, but a two-car team leading the race. There will be no individual passes, but one two-car team passing another. The scoring ticker at the top of the screen is meaningless.
FOX director Artie Kempner has been in love with in-car cameras this season. In this race, the roof cam of the pushing car has been the favored view. The bumper cams are not going to show anything but another bumper for the entire event. It should be interesting to see how Kempner cuts this event.
The stories of pit road will include teams coming in together under green and who is going to be forced together when the race restarts after pitstops under caution. The pit road reporters are going to have to frame their comments in a completely different manner.
Accidents have been a big part of this new drafting tactic. The second car simply cannot see ahead and as a result there have been numerous incidents of the first car being spun or even running into cars ahead as the closing rate is so high. Any way you cut it, this is going to be an interesting telecast from start to finish.
This post will serve to host your comments on the Sprint Cup Series race from Talladega on FOX. To add your Tv-related opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.
260 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 260 of 260Hey, did we ever see the debris this time?
Tony just asked Darrien "How many laps left?" They can make it on fuel they think...
I've been watching this wreck of racing 2x2 style & not digging it.Fox is not helping - Indy in Long Beach was/is interesting Getting to watch a lot of it due to commercials on Fox.
Maybe I was typing,but I didn't see them showing the "debris". This gets really stupid after awhile. It seems every time we have a phantom caution, everyone starts talking real fast and they quickly touch on three or four topics to distract you. Some things never change.
No debris sighting here - yet
Searching for it during commercials!
Charlie, good comment about the money to sponsor a car!
And FINALLY we get to watch what they got planned for the finish! This is very difficult to watch! More than usual.
"Debris" is apprently the Nascar version of the TV timeout we have in basketball.
This year NASCAR has been pretty good about not throwing debris cautions late in a race. But then again, this is Talladega, and the big one hasn't occurred yet.
You would think the first question when you ride in a ski lift and it stops would be - Why did we stop.
I'd help you look for it, but I can't see much out of Helmeton's in-car-driver nose cam...
Usually, the truck can hear Nascar Communications talking about reported "debris" sightings before they throw the caution, so everyone can start thinking about a possible upcoming caution. Sounds like the WWE!
I think it's funny that Mike Joy thinks the most important thing about this racing is getting the perfect partner.
Said it was a piece of metal on the backstretch. This time, the sprintvision guys saw it!
Charlie, and I would be asking when are we going to get going again. That happened to us at Disney World we got stuck on the Magic Mountain and we had to be rescued!
They should always show the debris on TV (even if they have to pull it out of their pocket).
15 Laps to go.
I'm glad someone saw it,but they need to show these things. I've gotten really tired of Mr. Joy. He's just a trivia nut.
not unusual for lifts to stop if someone has a problem getting on at the bottom.
"Well, he prob'ly got four tires..."
CNN's Robin Meade on Twitter:
I'm watching #taladega at airport. Can't hear announcers. What's with all the bumper-riding?
DW saying that was Ryan Newman's dirt track skills that saved him is getting a big groan from the NASCAR reporters.
@Editor - Even if Robin could hear the announcers she'd still be as lost as those who can!
There you go! Montoya pits,gets a new right front tire and with broken suspension, scatters debris for three miles. Brilliant!
Tuned in for the last 25 laps. I don't understand why we needed this last caution. Newman did n't hit anything and there's just tire pieces on the track.
They'll restart with around 10 to go.....this starts to be money time. We'll finally have the excitement we've been waiting for. Key thing here is can DW contain himself as we get closer and closer to the checkered flag, and let Mike Joy call the finish. He's had difficulty doing that with past RP races.
I'm no expert, but it seems like they make a way bigger deal out of that dirt track stuff than the drivers ever do.
Hey, come on! Everyone knows what an expert Robin Meade is when it comes to Nascar. Heck, she'll probably be in the booth soon!
Four Steps:
Looks like Ryan, after saving it the second time, just plain stopped on the backstretch. Stalled, or on purpose? *shrug*
@Four Steps:
He stopped on the apron. Well, officially, anyway.
NASCAR wouldn't throw a caution near the end just to make it more exciting, would they?
hey, that shot of Newman's spin ...where's that shot from the backstretch grandstand been all day?
Why wasn't Newman penalized for stopping to bring out a caution?
The 22 still has time to cause another caution.
Enjoyed listening to MRN in the car. I'm already sick of FOX and DW contradicting himself.
Obligatory movie mention...
Jerry, they said he was stalled with the motor off when he stopped. He restarted and drove off as the caution came out.
Hope this stays safe.
Didn't Carl wreck Biff once?
Kurts having a tough day w/partners
I called that one! 22 is a wrecking machine today!
Should have been Junior in front!
hendrick had his teams sandbag on restrictor plates races before adn won. He proves the first 90% of the race is simply riding around and staying out of trouble. Restrictor plate racing is a 10 1ap race proceeded by practice.
typical 'Dega finish ...can't give up that inside lane ...many wins picked up that way ...finish line placement creates some of the best race finishes anywhere ...off to IndyCar @ Long Beach
Since this was a pairing win they should have Dale Jr. out there doing a victory lap to.
Well - the end was exciting at least. Now back to Indy cars
Crumbs that team 48 won.
Have a great rest of your weekend.
As usual - Thanks JD!!
That was awesome...
Holy sheeet...
Mercy!
Yesterday we were stuck with Kyle Busch winning again. Today we got Mr. Vanilla. Somethings gotta give.
Might as well have 10, 50 mile races, instead of 1 500 mile races at these speedways.
JimBot's doing a Polish victory lap
That was the best finish ive ever seen. I told you the final laps would be insane. The race sucked but holy crap that was unbelievable. Idc if your a JJ fan or not that was wild!
Can't sell as much beer if it's a 50 mile race.
Heh - my feed just switched over to the Indy race. Already enjoying it more than Fox.
If only junior earned that checkerd flag instead of JimBot
Methinks that if this so-called style of racing continues, NASCAR should start naming "co-winners" of RP races...
Really getting a lot on Twitter and email saying JJ was over the yellow line and advanced his position on the final lap.
Hey, he got the trophy so it's all over but the shouting.
I just can't see how a big pack driving around for 180 laps is any better than two car combos driving around for 180 laps, and I think the two car draft endings are much better.
The last five or six laps was probably the most exciting finish I've ever seen.
I noticed that too, but surprisingly, the superior Fox camerawork failed to give a definitive view...
Matt, the difference is that individual cars come and go from the packs in Dega under the old rules.
This way, it's just team driving with no chance of one car making a move.
Totally different.
The highest priced ticket for the most exciting rides at the county fair.
Dave Blaney doesn't get to do many interviews, but he never mentions his sponsors. He just said the EGR engines were strong,but he never mentioned his sponsors or car manufactuerer. Don't know how he gets away with it. Once Jimmie Johnson forgot to mention the "employee associates" at his sponsor. The CEO made him come to their headquarters nearby, thank them and apologize for forgetting to mention them. Blaney gave Toyota some of its first real Cup accomplishments and never mentioned it when interviewed. At least he's consistent! Lol. I wish he had finished better.
Thanks for hanging with us for this very weird race.
The "TV Police" post is up for your TV comments about the good and the bad of the day on FOX.
Thanks again everyone!
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