Update: Leaving this post up as the lead for Monday. Lots of folks visit us then. Originally published late Saturday night after the Cup race.
A good cowboy hat goes a long way. In the 1970's, Marshal Sam McCloud made his way from Taos, New Mexico to the mean streets of New York City. He was on special assignment. When Chief Clifford would yell at him, McCloud would always respond calmly with his signature phrase. "There ya go," he would say to his boss. McCloud was a solid hit for NBC.
Texas Motor Speedway has always posed a challenge for FOX. Jeff Hammond gets to wear his own cowboy hat, Darrell Waltrip gets a big stage and Chris Myers looks like a fish out of water. The NASCAR on FOX team repeated this again during the pre-race show Saturday night.
Mike Joy called the race with Waltrip and Larry McReynolds. As the cars came to the starting line, there was an awkward pause. That used to be the time when McReynolds said "Reach up pull those belts tight, DW." Apparently, the powers at FOX put the whammy on McReynolds and his signature phrase for this season.
Once the green flag flew, the emphasis changed to the traditional NASCAR coverage style of FOX. Showing one or two cars on camera was mixed with in-car camera shots with the "natural sound" turned up loud. Over and over again, the pattern was repeated.
Perspective was tough to get between cars on the track. Few aerial shots were used, even going to and coming back from commercial break as what are called "bumpers." This was a shame, as TMS has one of the most beautiful aerial views on the circuit.
Replays are crucial to the FOX coverage. The "hyper-tight" coverage rarely allows for something developing on the speedway to be followed until conclusion. This was the case early in the event when replays had to provide updates on incidents on the track and pit road.
The pit reporters added factual information, but were not integrated into the telecast as other networks do when covering NASCAR. The FOX TV booth is very busy with promo's, sponsor features and Waltrip stories.
It was almost impossible for Joy to update the positions on restarts. Joy worked hard for the first half of the race to keep things in order. It was not easy. Perhaps no one is better at directing traffic in the booth, but Joy is clearly playing second fiddle to Waltrip this season.
A backstretch accident after a restart showed the incredible love affair director Artie Kempner has with in-car cameras this season. At high-speed, Kempner took Mark Martin's in-car camera aimed at the driver live as the accident was in progress.
Martin had no steering and hit the inside wall very hard. He also hit it live on FOX. He also hit where there was no SAFER Barrier. Those of us who have been around for a while got pretty upset over that. NASCAR is about racing, not sensationalism.
While Martin had to sit down in his interview with cowboy/pit reporter Dick Berggren, he was luckily not injured in the accident. This one move may signal a change in the FOX production philosophy. Had Martin been injured, bloody or unconscious the reaction from fans would have been swift.
Years ago, we applauded Mike Joy and the SPEED staff for the way they handled the Michael McDowell accident during TMS qualifying. They waited until McDowell emerged to make any comment and kept the camera wide during the actual accident. Apparently, things have changed.
The last 100 laps were rough from the booth but contained good information from the pit road reporters. Green flag pitstops were tough for Waltrip but Joy kept the order updated for viewers. It fell to McReynolds to update strategy while Waltrip just continually reacted to what was appearing on the TV screen.
FOX has long since refused to peel-back through the field during long green flag runs like the radio coverage. This allows fans of cars not in the top five or even ten to get updates on their favorite driver. With FOX, the only info on teams struggling is provided by the silent scoring ticker at the top of the screen.
The event turned into a gas mileage affair and the coverage followed the stories as they unfolded. Joy's attention to detail got the facts right, despite the fact that Waltrip struggled to keep the pace. It was very clear he was tired toward the end.
The race ended under green with a very non-dramatic ending. Kempner chose to jump around again at the finish line. The scoring ticker never changed to show the winner, there were no headshots or drop-down scoring graphic. Coverage jumped to pit road and then back to the track as Joy called several of the races to the line.
It ended with a thud on TV, but what viewers saw at home seemed to be rather different than what fans at the track saw in the final laps. FOX seemed to be just as out of gas as several of the teams down the stretch.
This post will serve to host your race wrap-up comments on the FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from the Texas Motor Speedway. 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.
49 comments:
Whatever excitement existed at Texas Motor Speedway was not translated to the viewers at home.
I think Fox missed an opportunity in not having more wide angle shots to give perspective to what was going on. At night,TMS is spectacular in aerial and wide angle shots. Don't understand why Chris Myers started chiming in at the end. Nothing new with Mike Larry and DW---talk too much. The race could have been shorter. Bottom line....same ol',same ol'.
Mr Editor -
FOX was in hit-or-miss mode most of the night ...in-car shot during violent wreck lost perspective of true event with several cars involved ...good to see more than 1 car cross the finish line and adding shot of fight for position was step in right direction ...TMS under the lights is special, but FOX chose to tease with too few high shots instead of emphasizing the beauty of the scene ...race start best left to Mike Joy, that's good, but Mike needs to make the call that brings 'em to the line ...LarryMac and DW's silence should have enhanced the moment rather than seem out of place ...too many 'hyper-tight' shots, not enough wide shots ...thanks FOX for taking steps to improve ...take what worked tonight and make it better next time.
Walter
post race sucked as well
A better Fox coverage and a better COT will make for great racing. Unfortunately we don't have that now.
Compared to what I usually watch the race, on the network on the DVR, I really enjoyed watching it through RaceView tonight and the radio coverage. I was able to determine what battles to cover on the track. I was able to track two drivers’ telemetry and two three-way races on the track. The good thing was that I found out about Kyle Busch having troubles on lap 271, dropping from the top five to the position into the teens.
Thank goodness for RaceView. It’s too bad you have to pay to get good NASCAR racing coverage.
This is how it is on Fox -
Your favorite driver is the one in the lead.
If for some weird reason you want to know about another driver - look at the scoring ticker.
If anything happens on the track you will see it in replay.
One thing I really do not understand is the unwillingness to utilize the pit reporters. I know I saw Steve Byrnes at the very start of telecast, but I'm not sure if I heard from him again for the rest of the night!
Another frustrating Fox broadcast with far too many tight shots. I'd prefer they show battles on the track even if they are giving updates on other drivers if those drivers are running by themselves.
Someone on Twitter commented that it looked like practice with the tight shots. It reminded me of qualifying.
Another Aeropush 500 brought to you by Tight Shot Fox. "Sigh" :(
Sigh....I just don't understand why we are force feed all this useless pre-race coverage...They could easily start the race earlier and spend 30 min. after the race to get driver reactions. I can't think people need to hear from the 3 in the booth and the Hollywood hotel since we've heard them for the past 3 plus hours. I want to hear from the big name drivers as well as some drivers that had great runs. If they want more fans, get the drivers on the tv screen talking about how good or bad their race was. How hard can this be? We get maybe, maybe 2-3 driver comments and then they go back to the booth so Joy and DW can same something useless....
Didn't a Sports Ill. writer get canned because he cheered at the Daytona 500....I understand the three fox guys in the booth are not journalist, but DW is so afraid to blame someone for a wreck, and has anybody ever been heard saying they like DW's call to start the race? It's silly...
Overall, I thought this was FOX's strongest broadcast since Daytona. Mike Joy was especially on top of things all night. I was disappointed, however, in the lack of balance in their coverage of the different drivers. Marcos Ambrose qualified and ran in the top ten all night and was mentioned only once by the guys in the booth - when Waltrip said that he had come out of nowhere (which he hadn't) and McReynolds corrected him. Contrast that with Earnhardt Jr., who was mentioned during EVERY race break as well as countless other times during the race plus the prerace show. Finally, at the end of the broadcast, they mentioned Ambrose, Menard and Ragan - but no interviews with any of them (as far as I can remember).
With all the pit road speeding explinations and everything, i kept thinking "and they think the points are the only confusing
The race was just pitiful, if you're a person that like to sleep during Nascar races, tonight was the perfect night, fox butchering a lot of it, racing was usual cookie cutter racing, and it was night so you could sleep till tomorrow morning, as i will now do
As I have been saying here for a while now, I am only "running a partial schedule" with Fox this season. My local radio station that carries Cup races does not do so when they run on Saturday nights as they get better ratings with their regular country music programming. So, I decided to DVR the race and watch the college hockey championship game live. It was definitely the right choice and not just because of Minnesota-Duluth's exciting overtime win over Michigan.
Once I started my DVR rolling, it did not take me long to realize that it was an almost complete exercise in futility. Once again, Fox gave only the rarest peeks at the full scope of the action. I cannot say much more about this abysmal telecast as I had my "whiz button" pressed most of the time while Fox went from tight shot to tight shot. For all I know, the rest was fantastic...but what does that matter when the pictures -- kind of the whole point of television -- were not telling any story other than how many contingency sponsors each of a handful of cars has.
I really wonder at this point who can really watch this stuff from start to finish anymore without supplementing their experience with online extras either to get more information (such as Twitter) or to make fun of this disaster as to not have it drive one mad (such as The Daly Planet). The only thing I can think of is that there's still enough people out there that consider it almost a patriotic duty to watch NASCAR no matter how terrible or insulting the coverage is.
I also wonder at this point who but the most pointy-haired of pointy-haired bosses would get suckered into sponsoring a Cup car these days. With only the chosen few receiving any screen time unless there is a wreck (and even then it's iffy), I don't see how any company in its right mind would find it worthwhile when Fox won't even bother giving each car at least one small mention with a brief moment of screen time.
This whole situation literally makes me feel miserable knowing that the next three races are at some of my favorite tracks and Fox is going to turn their presentation into an abomination. Then, we only get a six-race break with TNT's mostly competent coverage before going into Chase-fest mode with ESPN and Marty "Mr. Gaffe" Reid. Ugh. Between the horrible coverage and the issues I still have with on-track matters, my 40-year interest in NASCAR is on life support and the beeps from the heart monitor are growing further and further apart. :-(
A couple of mentions regarding the ticker at the end of the race not showing the winner. I went back and looked and a graphic saying Kenseth as winner came on screen the moment he crossed. It then immediately started showing how the field finished. No problems with that and actually quite good.
Back from a great weekend at the track, catching up on the posts. So no TV comments, though I am watching the replay. But I'm disturbed that they had a live incar camera while an accident was going on :(. PTL it wasn't more serious :(
@Charlie--my friend Bill who covers IRL has this saying, the reason that whatever the source is, is not telling you whatever you want to know is because they treat it like IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
@anon 12:05--I like it :) Years ago I had it as part of my voicemail message :). Had a greeting then it ended with him doing his Boogity, Boogity, Boogity :).
I agree with the point that the pit reporters were underutilized. It was really annoying the way we got the 'Bums Rush" when the race was over. A few seconds with Kenseth and "Good Night". Lame....really lame.
The media may be right in saying that the racing this year is the best ever. Unfortunately, the viewers at home will never know that. By covering only the top 10 cars all night, the races certainly seem extremely boring if you're at home. By giving no perspective of the race as a whole, the point is lost. catching incidents only on replay is lazy. Squinting at the crawler (SO aptly named) trying to see what drivers are moving up or down makes watching a chore rather than entertaining. If they are hoping to increase ratings with this type of coverage, they're dreaming. Poor Mike Joy. Trying to get the cameras to cover what's happening on the track must be exhausting. And Fox, DW had his day. Fans are now interested in the drivers that are actually racing. If you fail to connect fans with the drivers currently racing, you will continue to see ratings sag.
I agree with anon 11:57 pm. Cut the pre race and post race bs and focus on the drivers. Why in the world there is three hours of pre race garbage is beyond me.
Enjoyed the showing of the pit road speeding program and the ticker showing the lead lap cars near the last 25 laps. Camera work is still not in sync with the booth! Camera work shows lack of knowledge or care from the director. The racing still takes second fiddle to the noise from the booth. Did we not get RID of that RODENT. Was it too windy for the blimp? The best was the shot of the finish line during the race and the lack of that shot at the finish TO the race. I thought Paul Menard and David Ragan deserved to be interviewed post race, instead we got an empty promise of a Tony Stewart interview. All in all, I enjoyed the nightime racing, I just do not like the way its directed.
I think the only way we are going to get rid of the Howard Cosell of racing is for Darrell Waltrip to run out of gas due to age or health issues. I survived the original and I will survive this one.
I thought the telecast improved slightly. It is still tone deaf and blind to what race fans and even casual viewers want to see and hear. I don't know how a new race fan or new viewer could watch the telecast and have any idea what was going on in the race.
It was a snoozer all right. I watched the race broadcast, (except during commercials when I watched an old movie) until around 10:30. At that point since it was apparent that Fox wasn't going to suddenly catch a clue and actually show me the race on TV, I went to bed.
As with so many other races, I can find out the results the next day on the internet.
The choice to show Mark Martin's wreck with a live camera was stupid and unkind to his family. I'm very glad that he wasn't hurt.
Fox knows how to do a race broadcast right, they simply choose not to. I'm pretty tired of it.
OSBORNK...the difference with Cosell was that, if he became to irritating to bear, one could still easily follow the action with the volume turned off. With Waltrip and Fox, it is still impossible thanks to the disjointed, no-perspective camera work that dominates their telecasts.
Bringing up Cosell brings back some memories. One of the highlights of any game (especially bad ones) was when Don Meredith would finally have enough of Howard and put him in his place (not that Cosell would then shut up but it was still fun). At least on the announcing end, maybe Fox would have be better served to have two more adversarial color commentators so that, every once in a while, the third could tell ol' DW that he's full of bull, especially when he's in the middle of a bromance rant or bandwagoning on whoever is in front.
Overnight ratings are out. FOX had repeats for competition, but won the broadcast network ratings for Saturday night.
In the very general 18-49 year-old demo, FOX had over 6 million viewers in both the 8 and 9PM ET hours.
Expect Saturday night races to become a topic in the mainstream media this week!
JD
I remember O.J. Simpson sitting in the both and telling Cosell that "He had a good grasp of the obvious..." That phrase could be used against Nascar talking heads.
DVR'd FOX & HOTPASS. I only do this in case my driver crashes out.
Was forced to watch FOX for first 116 laps because of the technical difficulties on HOTPASS.
As I have said before, I could probably put up with the booth if the pictures were better. Again; single and/or tight shots, bumper cams, jumping bean shots.
Another positive about HotPass, I can FF during commercials which are on the FOX screen shot and still watch race on driver view.
Side note. What a pleasure watching the Masters. Although I DVR'd it as well I actually watched some of the commercials. A lot classier and no couples with bath tubs. (Who has bath tubs outside and based on the product why wouldn't there just be one...LOL!)
Did Artie ever think what if the in car cam had been on Dale that awful day?
I guess I'm not a "real" race fan, since the MM in car made me sick.
I hate hyper tight coverage.
I'm grateful that the cars were shown crossing the finish line.
The pit road speed segment was very interesting.
Wish we could have seen multiple cars in wide angle under the lights racing each other.
As far as DW my offer of duct tape for Mike joy to use at his discretion still stands.
Fox won the ratings for 8 and 9 p.m. huh, what happened after that, I wonder? Considering that the race didn't end until what 11 p.m. or so?
I was just reading other comments and came across the lack of sponsor recognition pointed out by one of our faithful. I could not agree more, there was a time when the regular sponsors got the same respect as the "Offical Sponsors of NASCAR". One is led to believe if BZF is not lining his pockets you are second class and treated as such! With the lack of sponsorship on some teams not being funded for the entire season, the old NASCAR, would bend over backwards to see that sponsors were made welcome and their presence was touted at every chance available, thinking that what was good for the teams was good for the sport. I am saddened by this as I have always supported companies that sponsored teams. It is wrong that this practice is no longer being held to its once high standard. The sponsors are the second most important part of the equation, the fans should always come first. SO, why would a sponsor want to come to NASCAR if the exposure on tv is less than it once was, Digger comercials are not helping anyteam but team DW!
I just wonder when we are going to get rid of DW. I watched about half on tv and frankly got bored until I turned the radio on and listened to the PRN broadcast and that was more exciting and more enjoyable. They seem to really respect each other and don't try to take over or talk over each other and there are members of the Fox broadcast that could take some real lessons in excitement and respect from their radio counterparts.
I'm afraid if we get rid of DW, we will end up with his brother instead,,,,,less pre-race more post race, let us see the drivers that the fans buy all the die casts, t-shirts, and hats from...I want to hear their emotions not from the hollywood hotel. ESPN in the 90's was a treat, now with better computers and graphic and HiDef , one would think it wouldn't be that hard to get it right...Back in the 90's there wasn't as much nascar tv outside the race, now there is plenty, which is nice Mon.-Fri. On race day they should go over the starting line up and drop the green flag, then have a solid 40 min. post race reaction. Those pit reporters interview many of the drivers before the winner even gets to victory lane, yet I have to listen to DW and Hammonds talk about the race they just watched, C'MON MAN GIVE US THE DRIVERS!!!
What can I say that you guys dont already know??
I came to a realization last night that I can deal with the horrible camera angles on one condition- they keep with one camera for more than 5 seconds. I honestly woudlnt mind being on a roof cam if we followed it for 2-3 laps, I wouldnt mind being on only 2 cars if we stayed there. Do you know how many times on a restart they flipped to 1000000000 cameras where you started to follow something and then you had no idea what was going on because it was gone and never shown again?
I loath DW. Pretty much to the point. He is just so abrasive to me its incredible. Maybe its because I am from NY and I tell when someone is full of sh-t from 20miles away.
All I can say is if you have the money take a long hard look into getting Raceview. I know it is a cartoon but I get so much more enjoyment listening to TJ Majors(Jrs spotter) and Steve Letarte talk to Jr all race and watch what he is doing on a cartoon than I do watching TV and having no clue what is going on. If you have Time Warner Cable they give a discount and it is $23 approx for the year which is more than reasoanble for your sanity.
I thought the coverage was better than usual.
-- THE GOOD --
* Fewer tight shots.
* There are at least two field rundowns to 20th place.
* spent more time with the top ten than the leader during the closing laps.
* saw more cars cross the finish line
-- THE BAD --
* radio covers the race MUCH better
* not enough updates on retirements and penalties.
* too many commercially sponsored segments with on-screen graphics that filled 50% of the screen.
* Don't need talking heads to sum up the race. They had the whole race to present the story.
We complained about these majort points last year. We've been complaining this year. I'll take any improvement I can get but remain disappointed and will continue to follow the race by radio and only turning to Fox when I NEED visuals.
I agree that the coverage was better. It was more zoomed-out, especially at the beginning of the race before those horrid green-flag runs. (FOX really didn't have much to work with for a lot of the race.) The big problem was the focus on the leaders even as the camera work improved. The director was very reluctant to cut to battles further back in the field, and would snap back to the top 5 at the first hint of action there. There were a couple times when this resulted in a top-15 battle appearing onscreen for about a second before cutting to the battle for third.
The booth seemed to have trouble keeping up with these shifts, maybe because they were talking about other things, I wasn't paying too close attention. They are undoubtedly more timid this year. DW has license to talk, so why wasn't he more assertive about some key incidents? There was a time when an incident like Bowyer's near wreck would have provoked a yell of surprise, which would have made the incident significantly more exciting. No one in the booth took charge during incidents, perhaps because the director was focusing elsewhere.
Joy and Larry Mac sound as if they spend some time preparing for the broadcast so as to be able to add some depth to the race, but DW comes across as an ill prepared broadcaster. He is so wrapped up with being a celebrity that it seems like he doesn't add anything close to what he should be able to. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I think he owes the fans more than just showing up and doing little sit down giggle fests with the drivers.
To those of you that havent watched Fox baseball coverage, you'll see a copy of what you see during a race. Closeup shots face after face, then replays of the action that you just missed. I watched the F1 race as well as the Indycar race today. Even though Speed doesnt have control over the shots you see during an F1 race, the ocverage paints a picture you dont get anymore during a Cup race.
The announcers are the best by far, they know when to talk, dont step over each other, and work well together.
Versus' coverage of todays race from Alabama was a solid effort as well. Wally Dallenbach is a good addition to the crew. The camera work as a good mix of car shots,wide angles and 2-3 car shots.The crew also isnt afriad to put blame where it's due.
Its a shame Fox has allowed Darrell Waltrip to become the show.Knowing hes been signed thru 2014 means to me that things probably wont change very much. To go over his antics everyweek is getting useless as it seems no one in charge seems to worry. As radio coverage inmy area is gone, and I wont sit in front of a computer during a race, my willingness to give 3-4 hours to Fox is at a all time low.
I just learned that I can only watch races live and not with DVR. Watching live I can MUTE the TV and use PitCommand and Scanner to follow my favorites and see where they are while listening in. I tried to watch the DVR recording of this race and I just FF'd all the way through just to see who won. I just can't take the corny and cliche and country-fied banter of the booth. I'm used to the video shots so I can let that go but I hate to watch something with no sound. And I used to like DW. Especially on WindTunnel.
Ditto M-G Don. Speed's F1 is the gold standard. The Versus coverage is basic but solid. The color guy's do a nice job debating both sides to most issues. I'd add that the guy calling the race (Bob Jenkins) as many of you know, was the ESPN guy for NASCAR back when their coverage didn't reek. When IRL gets engine competion next year, it could get fairly watchable.
MortonGrove Don -
A list of NASCAR radio stations, some of which can be streamed.
http://streamingradioguide.com/streaming-sports-affiliates.php?teamid=104
You don't have to sit in front of the computer, just have it within earshot. I usually use WMRK in Alabama because it's the first stream on the list.
Green is good, yellow is OK, red is poor, blue is not rated
A major advantage to F1 coverage is that the races have a two hour time limit from green to checker.
The network knows how much time to allot for pre- and post-race. The announcers are less tired.
There are half as many cars to cover and virtually no passing after the first turn of the first lap. Moves take over a lap to set-up and execute and pit stops count for a large part of position changes. So it's much easier to cover and keep viewers informed.
I recall that Varsha & Hobbs do almost all the talking so they step on each other less.
In short, no valid comparisons can be made to F1. Indycar is fair game though.
Good - I liked showing the speeds for the timing segments on pit road.
Bad - Why can't they show a complete stop - jumping from one pit shot to another every few seconds shows me nothing. I want to see how the crews complete teh stops.
Did you ever think about maybe NASCAR requesting a tight shot format as a way to make Trackpass more attractive? As a way to put butts in seats. You want to follow your favorite driver?, then buy Trackpass or a ticket.
Ever think about someone's palm getting greased for getting in tight on those sponsor logo's?
Not making a statement, just sayin', y'know.
And DW's mouth took the lead when he was driving, no reason to think he'd shut up now.
Back in the '90s, I trusted radio more and would usually have them as audio to supplement what I saw on tv, until one day they described a "side-by-side" battle when the cars were 2 seconds apart.
Haven't trusted tv or radio for good coverage ever since. I just listen to or watch what I want without expecting any great advancement in coverage.
I've been following this blog for a couple of years now. Clearly it has not had a positive effect. In fact, it looks like things have gotten worse. The powers that be have inflated egos. Do you really think they're going to take advice from a bunch of random people, many of whom can barely spell? Bubba six pack and Ethel tube top think they can broadcast a race better than us and our degrees? Hardly. I know it's a good sounding board for those who are frustrated, including myself, but that's about it.
You want change? Stop watching. Simple as that. The networks will finally realize what an overpriced package NASCAR is and the top 2 series will finally be relegated to Speed alongside the trucks where they belong.
@Don
a little off topic but do you know of any stations that broadcast the PRN call in post race show? I listen to a stream of WKML from Lumberton NC and they dont broadcast the post race show.
Morton Grove said it best, they need to take a page out of Speeds coverage of F1 and Grand AM. Lee Diffy and Bob Varsha are fantastic and the supporting cast is so knowledgeable its nothing but a joy to watch.
Roland -
Sorry, no I don't know who broadcasts the call-in, I listen only for the races.
@Sameasit...
That idea about steering to Trackpass sounds good - until you realize since it has been "improved" it no longer works on a computer without the new Windows. It will not work without it and a LOT of memory etc I know I tried it as an upgrade from Pit Command and after lots of time on hold was told so by the Tech person. S o to get it I would have to buy a new computer which is not in budget this year. ;) We just paid off the TV's.
@Don when Fox doesnt show you half the cars in the field, shouldnt that make it easier for them? When you mention that F1 pitstops account for most of the position changes, possibly, but in recent years it seems that Fox has made it clear they will show every pit stop, so I dont see much difference.I hear Steve Matchett quite often during the race, as well as the on-scene pit reporter.
I think the FOX director got his start in the TV biz by doing ping-pong matches
I thought Fox did a great job by going into the race control booth and showing exactly how the pit road speed monitoring works.
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