There was trouble in horse country. Kentucky Speedway had one story unfolding outside the track and another inside. It's going to take someone a little bit different to sort-out the real issues.
Adrian Monk used to be a policeman. Now, after some tough times he works as a private detective. The key issue is that he sees things very differently than most folks. That is going to be very important when we discuss the Sprint Cup Series race on TNT from Kentucky Speedway.
Perhaps, someone with his perspective can talk about two things happening at the same time over many hours both with incredible twists and turns. That was the situation in Kentucky on Saturday.
Lindsay Czarniak led Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds though the pre-race show. Tony Stewart was the on-set guest and Terry Labonte was the Pride of NASCAR feature. It was a very normal show, except for the passing references from Czarniak to the issues with fans still in traffic and trying to get into the race.
Adam Alexander, Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. knew they were going to have a very different kind of night in the TV booth. They were right. TNT called it "enhanced audio" and it featured the announcers taking long breaks and letting the fans listen to elements like pit stops and restarts. It certainly has been done before.
This absence forced pit reporters to offer info well after the stops and the booth talent to go back and try to review how some teams got into different positions during the announcer silence. It was very different.
The pit reporters were Chris Neville, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider and Ralph Sheheen. This veteran team, including NASCAR rookie Neville, offered solid info when allowed and sometimes sounded rather frustrated at having live pit stop calls taken away.
The new approach by TNT clearly sacrificed some information during the race, but TNT settled down with 25 to go and handled the rest of the race in normal style. As many suggested, the track proved to be a rather calm single-file racing affair dependent on track position and fuel mileage.
The big issue that is certainly going to continue until the early morning hours on Sunday is the traffic. Fans reported being trapped in traffic headed into the speedway for over six hours as it creeped along. TNT pit reporter Ralph Sheheen, perhaps out of frustration, tweeted that fans were still trying to come into the track with only 90 laps left in the race.
This issue was broached only by Bruton Smith on SPEED's RaceDay. He complained about the state roads. It was never treated as a story or updated amid the hype for this first Sprint Cup Series race. After the transition to TNT, it was mentioned in the pre-race and then really never followed-up during the race.
Now, due to social media, the fans trapped in traffic were able to relay the problems via Twitter and Facebook. They took pictures, detailed the awful situation and told NASCAR reporters about the developing situation. That information never made it to the TV coverage.
Adding insult to injury, TNT missed the late Clint Bowyer spin due to a Sprint in-program sponsor plug that featured the in-car cameras that had been shoved down TV viewers throat's from the green flag. It was a rough night in TV land.
We welcome your comments on the TNT coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Kentucky Speedway. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below.
72 comments:
TNT last year was a welcome relief to Fox telecast. They are trying way to hard to make changes within the small amount of coverage. There was no "side by side" coverage like some thought there would be. Hate to say it but bring on ESPN.
tonights race broadcast was a complete waste of almost 4 hrs of my life. Bad camera work, "natural sound" which means that no one actually called the race, an absolute BORE of a race with no passing. Plus the idiotic decision to put a full screen commercial for sprint during the last 10 laps of racing was so stupid there are simply no words that I can use here that wouldn't get me poofed!
TNT is my favorite of the 3 broadcast teams, but this was a terrble example of how to produce a race.
I enjoyed tonight's coverage - commentary is overrated!
I liked the enhanced audio in tonight's race. It's better than the mindless babble we get with DW on FOX. I also really enjoyed the pictures. TNT got off to a slow start, but they have made some great improvements. They even got a post-race sponsor in KFC to go the full distance in air time.
As for the traffic issue, how can you justify to the state upgrading roads that are hardly used 364 of the 365 days of the year? They warned Smith not to build the track in such a remote location and look what happened. I would suggest bussing people in. It works great for the Iowa State Fair, which gets a million people a year.
TNT JUMPED the shark big time tonight & I hardly watched it.
TNT looked like FOX with all the in car bumper cams. I don't give a flying fig about Fake "Enhanced audio that looks like a video game"
Give me back the WIDE ANGLES of the track to give the tv viewer the VIEWS of the racing.
VERY Disappointing. I will delete off the DVR.
I usually love TNT's coverage but tonight was RUINED by the CHRONIC in car cam "sound enhancement"
Want to give sound enhancement? Show the WIDE ANGLES & sounds of ENTIRE packs of cars starting up.
FORGET the in car cam crap.
SOMEBODY sponsor the "Wide angles with headlights coming at us"
Stop this in car/bumper cam insanity.
TNT, we hardly knew ye.
Yup! Got all 11 min of post race in! Im outta here.
Jimm57
the uncalled pit stops were a bit interesting. but come on folks, we have to mute the waltrips. so i give it a thumbs up overall.
Bruton was complaining about the roads because he knew there were going to be problems. Now he wants a state that's broke and requiring state employees to take unpaid furlough days to spend millions so he can make more money. It was lousy racing, with lousy coverage but you can bet everyone involved will say how great it was.
Coverage was ok however ill never understand the fans that were on kentucky speeeways side of taking nascar to court for a race date.....the place is was and will always be boring as s***
I thought this was the worst race that TNT has ever done. Both the race and the broadcast of the race fell far short of adequate. The first three cautions were not necessary and appeared to be pure manipulation by NASCAR. The "enhanced" coverage was a total failure. It was difficult to know what was going on on the track with the in-cars, over the shoulder and bumper cams. I felt like I wasted my time trying to watch the whole mess. The "action"(lack of action) outside the track on the interstate was more interesting than what was happening on the track.
Giving them credit for trying, I would give TNT a D- for their production.
At the end of the live blogging thread, Sally said something I would like to quote so nobody misses it.
Every time I watch a 'race' like that with 'coverage' like this, I kick myself for spending an entire evening in front of the TV, it makes me feel stupid. I keep hoping that one of these cookie cutters will produce a race worth watching. The eternal optimist, doomed to disappointment. Sigh.
Right now, I think that's all I want to say. I tend to be more emotional than most about this stuff and I admit that is even more true than usual now due to the other issues surrounding this race that meant a lot to me as a son of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I am just very disappointed that "my" race was used for a TV experiment that, IMO, went so badly.
Actually, I will add one more thing. Sally, thank you for summing things up so well and, Mr. Daly, thank you again for providing us this form which, along with Twitter, was the only thing that made tonight even barely tolerable.
Wow. Another mile and a half snoozer....Thought TNT would finish the year strong. Bad broadcast and even worst post race on Racebuddy...Was like the whole cast took the race off. Congrats to the 18.
As I mentioned on the race thread, myself and my Dad went to the race (2 hour trip) only to wait in traffic for 4 hours, make the decision to turn around, come home and watch the second half of the race from home.
The race coverage I watched did not seem to be the same quality of a usual TNT broadcast and keeping up with what was truly going on during the race was difficult. Unfortunately the track put on a typical 1.5 mile race; combined with TNT's experimental coverage it made for a rough watch for myself.
As for the traffic going into the race it was no less than a giant CLUSTER of a situation. Waiting in traffic twice as long as it took to get near the track and then never getting within parking/walking distance of the place is inexcusable. Bruton hosed up and added far too many seats for the infrastructure. Local officials were not capable of dealing with the a crowd nearly double the size of the Nationwide crowds. NA$CAR messed up giving Bruton a race at a place that they HAD to know couldn't handle that size crowd.
Regardless, I have to place the majority of the blame on Bruton Smith for adding 50 K seats to a place that could barely handle the 57 K is seats it previously had. Bruton wanted to make as much money as possible and force the hands of state officials into fixing the problem he exacerbated by adding seats that a limited infrastructure could not handle.
Left the hotel at 3:12. On Thursday it was a 25 minute drive. On Saturday didn't get to the track's parking lot til 6:20. Was told it was sold out and we had to park 10 minutes away. Parked the car and there was no tram so we had to walk. Didn't get to our seats til 7:41. Got to the car and now waiting in traffic.
Kohoso
I kinda feel your pain. I wanted this to help Ky as well & be the SUPER positive event as promoted. OH is struggling too & my house mate lost a job recently...scary times for many of us. I wanted this to be POSITIVE for the entire Tri State Area & be SUCCESSFUL for Kentucky.
Tv news talking to people that got screwed out of the race...parked MILES away & left before getting in.
BRUTON SMITH is a JERK. He kept griping about the roads today on the radio, for several minutes!! & NOW I KNOW WHY! :(
I have to admit the natural sound wasn't bad. It helps to have a break in the commentary. When Kyle, Wally or Adam resumed, I was more prone to listen. Though, it was a little hard to keep up with some of the action on the track.
Oh boy where to start...
Is it bad that I dont get any of your cop references? Surprised you havent broken out The Closer yet.
Ok to the broadcast. Here's what I liked about it:
Heres what I didnt like about it:
The "enhanced audio" was an absolute freakin joke. The 40 mic's they claimed to place around the track had zero effect. It sounded exactly like any other broadcast. FAIL. What it turned out to be was extended period of silence with an annoying graphic on the screen and minute after minute of in-car nonsense. I made it to lap 50 before switching to PRN since they actually talked.
Same story, different race. 5 minutes of commercial, come back from commercial with presenting sponsors, then have Sprint take over the screen for a minute, show the 18 for 1 lap, then off to commercial land.
The silence, and the commercial tactics made it impossible to follow a race. I am sitting here typing this, trying to remember anything about the race tonight. I have no idea. I am lost. This was the worst broadcast of the year. It gets an F-.
Not gonna comment on parking. Could go all night on that.
I haven't been this frustrated with TV coverage since ESPN this fall. Not even PRN could make up for the disaster that was the Kentucky race and its horrid coverage.
Bad Bad night for Nascar racing.
Each TNT broadcast gets worse. Petty is too long-winded. Wally is worthless. Stupid commercials with less then 10 laps left. TNT refuses to address debris cautions. Either show the debris or say you can't find it.
but I should add this. I have no problem with hearing natural sound instead of announcers, but the audio was far from enhanced. Either have announcers or dont. They cant balance both.
After missing the first 2 races this weekend, I was excited to be able to watch this race tonight.
But I'm not sure how people could enjoy TNT's broadcast. The first half of the race was literally the worst race coverage I have seen since this site began.
The best way to describe the experience is to imagine watching the race from the stands. Now imagine you can only see the race through a cardboard paper towel roll that scans the track out of your control. You can only see 2 cars at a time. Every 7 minutes that hole in the tube closes for a 2 minute break. Now you can see the cars again, but an overwhelming feeling of confusion sets in as you try to understand what is happening. You don't have a scanner and must rely on the scoreboard briefly in sight as the only reference. You try to scan for your driver in the small scope of vision, but it soon turns black. The cycle continues all race long. Hey, at least it sounds good.
While TNT featured great sound and in-car camera shots, little to no information was passed to the viewers the first half of the race. Adam Alexander couldn't do his job, the pit reporters couldn't do their jobs. We could see the pit stops, but there were no reports. We only got reports on 4 drivers after pit stops and a commercial break. Frequent commercials turned the coverage from 'bad' to 'awful'. Through the field segments helped inform viewers about positions 1-12. But drivers having a bad day were uncovered, except for a surprised Wally Dallenbach commenting they were a lap down.
Around 100 to go, different strategies divided the field. TNT could no longer feature a silent pit road as fuel mileage became a factor. Finally, this silence nonsense was put to rest. The pit reporters could finally get information out. Larry McReynolds shined in this segment (let’s just forget about the spring rubber demo) while Wally Dallenbach was out of it.
TNT made a critical mistake bringing the audio segment back with fewer than 10 laps to go. Suddenly, a Sprint ad came on the screen. The race was in a box in the advertisement. Then we saw the damaged #33 sitting in turn 1. Alexander was allowed to give the late report that Bowyer wrecked.
The racing and rules on the track and awful broadcast by TNT have tested my patience with the sport right now. I may enjoy a few weeks doing something else instead.
Adam Wood, nobody warned Smith not to build the track in the sticks, because Smith didn't build it. He bought it three years ago. Feel free to blame him for adding the extra seats, though; something I was unaware of when I earlier questioned why previous N'wide and Truck sell-out hadn't cause traffic problems.
I hope 'enhanced audio' joins 'Draft Tracker' on the list of 'Seemed like a good idea at the time'. I was more active on this site tonight than all other times since I found it, combined. Why? Because I'm usually watching the race. Most of this one was unwatchable, giving me plenty of time to vent here. Credit to TNT for cutting back on this gimmick toward the end. Demerits to TNT for screwing it back up with an in-car shot of Tony Stewart's helmet and lap with six to go.
I guess for some reason TNT just loves commercials. It made the race unwatchable. So much for the hype of Kentucky getting a cup race. What a snoozer.
First off I'm sorry to the fans at Kentucky who couldn't get to the race. But I'm a Nascar fan in Atlanta and this race took away my Spring race...so enjoy Bruton's way of handling things! It will not get better any time soon! Atlanta had huge traffic problems too..mainly because it's so far off the interstate. They built a 4 lane highway from 75 to the track...and they pull a date. Bruton is a jackass and couldn't care less about the fans. Either in Atlanta, Charlotte or Sparta.
Broadcast was quirky. I didn't mind the sounds of the pitstop deal. Maybe every once in a while. But the thing that frustrated me the most was the Tony Stewart headshot w/ less than 10 to go. Crazy.
Boring race at a track that produces boring racing. What did TNT have to work with? Not much.
Nascar has lost it's way so bad it's not even funny.
HATED the coverage. Several times I screamed at the TV, "Show the race!"
The enhanced audio seemed like a ploy to allow the announcers to take extra breaks.
The oddball in-car & out-of-car camera work was disjointed and irritating - especially on the restart near the end when they claimed that the fans voted to see Tony's view. Yeah, right. Real fans want to see the race.
I feel bad for the people who had to sit in traffic for hours - especially those who were turned away from the race when they got there.
Congrats to Kyle & 18 team. They seemed to be the only ones who did anything right.
Give TNT some credit for trying different tactics to make some boring races more interesting.
The race was a snoozer, but between RaceBuddy and the broadcast, I found it much more interesting. The in-car cameras, especially over the shoulder of the 14, were great. The enhanced audio in surround sound was not quite as good as Fox's but still very good and cut down on the filler that the other networks must use to overcome the lack of action.
What I would like to have seen more of was pit reporters. Were there any, or were they stuck in traffic getting to the track?
Got go overboard on RaceBuddy. I sure am going to miss that when ESPN takes over. The quality of picture on an iPad is better than my HDTV. I may just watch that next week from New Hampshire and not worry about sitting in front of a TV.
Don't diss TNT. The problem with the evening was not the broadcast, but rather the track, the traffic and, oh yeah, the winning driver.
Not a lot to add. Didn't care for the coverage. Don't like aero-push mile and a half's.
I wouldn't have minded the enhanced audio style pitstops if they only did it for a couple of cars per cycle.
And, yeah, that full screen Sprint ad at the end about took the cake.
I dunno, I didn't see the 1st 150 laps (was @work), but it seemed to me I saw a fair amount of contested passes during the last 100 or so. BUT -
Just like its baseball coverage TNT booth (cringe) has ZERO energy. I love KP and John Smoltz, but neither of them do much for my viewing experience on TNT. At least nobody yelled at me.
I enjoyed "enhanced audio" on my flat screen & didn't even have the stereo on. Didn't enjoy the tight shots - way too many as usual.
Were it not for Delana Harvick, I'd have known 85% less about the race, and she wasn't even providing video. Thanks to her less than 140 character Tweets, I knew where cars were on the track, if they were on the lead lap, got a wave around, free pass, etc. I remember seeing some idiot with a shoe pounding repeatedly on a cell phone with a picture of a spider on it. (I will NEVER buy a phone that has Sprint as its carrier.) And based on the race video I think there were only 10 cars in the race even though I heard there were supposed to be more according to Speed TV. I'm so confused...
Jenna Fryer re-tweeted statements made by people at the track that when you parked, you were handed a paper telling you what time you could leave the track. They shut down areas and only let one area of the parking leave at a time. I'm reading lots of tweets saying that it's near riots trying to get out. Jenna also tweeted that a "NASCAR spokesman apologized for the terrible traffic situation". Big deal. No apology will help this situation. I'm just hoping some mainstream news outlet really takes everyone to task on this debacle.
As for the broadcast, all I can say is, what happened since TNT's first broadcast of the season? It started out so promising, but went to Hades soon after.
Will the last person to leave the Kentucky Speedway turn out the lights for the entire sport of NASCAR? That should happen sometime around noon, tomorrow.
I was mulitasking during the telecast.Thought most of the race
was really good except for in car and silence from booth when disjointed voices from radios talking to unknown drivers were found distracting.The ticker is much easier to read than FAUX.The
finish and interviews were very good.JMO.
Seems if Bruton wants the road situation fixed, he has the $$$ to fix it himself.
What a mess.
Sorry, KY. The hype was just that - hype.
Give the date back to Atlanta.
Darn!! there was a race last night and I completely forgot about it. I wonder if I had scheduled it on the DVR?
I guess NASCAR has completely pushed this 50+ year fan out of the picture...darn...I used to be a true fanatic about NASCAR.
Anyone remember the traffic and parking at the Daytona 500? Terrible. These tracks that have the biggest hype are not fan friendly. Race was a bore. Sorry I wasted my time.
I can't wait for my NASCAR fan survey to hit my in box this week.
Terrible racing on a junky looking track. No information during pit stops. Dallenbach stumbling his way through the night. Alexander unwilling or unable to take charge of the broadcast.
And I'm sure Sprint lost more potential customers last night than they gained.
At least we had a happy ending!
What we needed was another mile and a half parking lot! The fans (as usual) were taken for a "ride" last night. I guess we know why NASCAR was reluctant to give Kentucky a Sprint Cup date. The days of the states governors building NASCAR a modern highway onto its grounds are long over, as the states are all as hard pressed for bucks as the fans are. I guess we all know now we have been had again!
For a network to start as TNT did and then digress to what was a very poor effort last night has to make one wonder, and SPRINT has lost more fans than it ever could have imagined with the stupid placement of a lengthy commercial in the closing laps of what was destined to be a long boring event. With all the mid race mind numbing coverage Sprint knows little about when to get the most loyal sport fans in the nation to support their products! I am starting to think that the NASCAR fans are being squeezed to their limit.
The only good decision that TNT made last night was to UN WALTRIP us, after watching the "special" tribute yesterday afternoon, I had my daily fill of the FACE OF NASCAR. It was the only redeeming effort shown the long suffering fans.
Back in the early 80's the in car cam made its debute, then came the roof cam, bumper cam, flag cam, and in its flurry of technology we forgot the camshaft! I believe we got the SHAFT last night!
Again, I am asking myself why spend four hours watching live "coverage", when I can watch any number of replays of the race commercial free in an hour long viewing of RACE HUB! AND get more related enjoyment at my local short track! They are driving me away! It is no longer FUN, this is painful to watch!
AS always thanks for a place to vent and share.
This track is a bore for cup racing.They should repave the track to make for some better racing or give the date back to Atlanta. At least that track produces great racing.
Guys, NASCAR can't 'give' the race back to Atlanta or Rockingham or North Wilkesboro. If Atlanta or the others (read: owner Bruton Smith) apply for only a single race (or none at all), then a single race (or none) is all they will receive.
JD, as planned, we left early, 9:15AM for KY Speedway; 60- 70 mile trip. In our parking spot @11AM. (Live N of Cinti). The day was long, hot, but we had fun. Saw some drivers, but did not get to the Speed stage for RaceDay. At our spot by the road, we kept wondering WHERE are they going to put all of these cars???? Our lot was filled @noon and there weren't anymore handicapped spots left according to the parking people. Oh, I wish I could tell you the stories over the years about these "parking people". KY has NEVER been able to get this right. We have been worried about this since they announced the Cup race coming here. Everyone, including SMI, did not do their due dilligence on this. Missed out on any social media during the day and race. Race was kind of boring, but my guys did good. We had people get to the race from Louisville around 10PM. Not sure how they got in. They reported fights on I-71 and a mess getting in. We purposely left @1:15AM but got home @4AM because it took 2 hrs out of track to the 71/75 split. KY should be ashamed of itself for not planning. WLW700 had the KY Transportation Dr. on several times during the week. Saturday morning she admitted she had never been to the track but they had "done their best" to plan. LOL! How could you do this if you have never seen or been to the area! Enough...sorry for the rant. My husband said he will think very hard about going back. Again, this is not a new problem for KY. Now w/this had increased with the addition of the seats and not enough parking or access. Did I tell you we are going to Bristol in Aug?? HAHAHA!! Missed out of the blog yesterday. DVR'd everything and will catch up today. However, not sounding very good on the TNT broadcast. Hope everyone else got home OK.
I forgot to mention that DW & MW made an appearance on the stage at the start of the race and DW did his "boogity, boogity, boogity..." Everyone around us booed. Too funny. He did, however, have a paid consulting job with the track when it was built. So there is a little he has to be proud of.
OK, we have a new speedway for the drivers to tackle. I was looking forward to seeing how they raced, especially the first 20 laps or so. NOT. Thanks TNT for not showing us the race. On lap three we go to bumper cam or roof cam so the viewer can't see a thing. By far the worst coverage of the year. As for the race, a complete bore on another cookie cutter track. Turn it into a landfill, the racing already stinks.
Kyle Petty commented about Darlington a number of years ago that "They should fill the place with water and hold bass fishing tournaments." Replace 'Darlington' with Kentucky Speedway and we might have something.
I see where the Kentucky Speedway director has acknowledged "...challenges related to traffic....."
I believe that ESPN's Brad Daugherty has a serious challenger for the title "Captain Obvious".
I guess I watched enough to make a comment, (Tiger's were getting beat up really bad by KC sooo) Dis-jointed,confusing,frustrating. You Planeteer's had me laughing my "a" off, read everything and loved it. Lot of really smart people hang out here. Cool tanks JD (Loved all the inside info tweets you posted for us)
@ Debby Thanks for updates like that. Soooo funny he got booo'ed. I guess most of us aren't 8 years old,and easily amused. Good stuff.
Debby, the Bristol handicapped lot behind the backstretch fills by about 9:30 or 10:00. If you don't already know, you have to apply for a permit from the track in advance; a handicapped tag alone will NOT get you in. See the Bristol web site.
Another unmitigated disaster. Only thing worse than the race was the coverage. ADHD director jumping around from camera to camera, never staying with one view for more than a few seconds, with no view providing any actual information in any case, being in-car cameras, nose views, and tight shots of single cars. Add to that totally incoherent babbling by announcers who seem to be watching an entirely different race. As bax as Fox, and worse than ESPN.
I attended this event and I must say I've never seen a more unprepared venue. The traffic you're hearing about speaks for itself. No trams, no shuttles (even though they had 50-60 school buses lined up to do so. they sat silent), 45 min lines inside to purchase food and drink all race long. Allowed to only take 1 bottle of water in the venue and no snacks, then the track ran out of bottled water and hot dog buns. Need more?
It was embarrassing for the sport in my opinion. Then there's the race..............yawn.
Didn't see the TNT but wanted to give you another first hand experience. I've attended races for the last 20+ years and I've never seen a venue create such a mess for many first time fans and what should have been a marquee night for our sport.
What a mess!
This was not the type of TNT coverage that I enjoyed last season.
Too many in-car shots, too many bumper cams, and too many roof cams. For some reason, too much Kurt Busch coverage.
Since I watch the race delayed through my DVR, I depend on the TV for race coverage. The pogo stick style of directing did not cover the race.
TNT was so excited about covering the sound of the race that they missed covering the race.
I've just finished watching a recording of the race (I'm in the UK and it was on in the middle of the night). I have to say that was the worst coverage I've seen of any race in years. There were huge periods with no commentary and a total lack of reporting on the pit stops which meant there were times when I had no idea what was happening.
At least I didn't have to watch to commercials since we the international feed continues to broadcast during them and the channel it is shown on here doesn't show commercials. Still there was a big section of the race when I put the DVR on 6x speed and made up my own commentary.
The biggest nail in the coffin for the coverage was cutting to Smoke's in-car shot for a sponsor plug then Clint Bowyer spinning out. At no point was his tyre failure shown, just the carcass on the front of Marcos Ambrose's car.
I liked the enhanced audio portion of the race. It allowed a viewer to see what's going on and actually think about what they were seeing instead of being told what they were seeing.
A good example of this was on a late pit stop by Kyle Busch. He told the crew to put some tape on the front of the car. I specifically watched the crew and that never happened. One crew member tried, but didn't have time. You could see the frustration on his face as Busch left his pit stall.
It's a shame TNT never commented on the fiasco taking place on the roadways leading to the speedway. I was gone most of the afternoon and actuall started watching the race on my DVR. I never knew about the traffic issues until I got online after the race and saw the complaints on message boards and Twitter.
I know the network's focus should be the race. But when the race isn't that good and so many fans were stuck on the interstate, it should have been mentioned at some point. During one shot, I could see blue lights and a lot of cars in line behind turn 3 with about 100 laps to go. I thought it was fans leaving early. Come to find out, they were just getting to the track.
Mike from Detroit -- LOL, is that a reference to the Anon from earlier this week who told us that the polls all say how popular the Waltrips are with all the ADULT fans?
The only reason I was home to watch the race last night was because my plans for Saturday got postponed. I was planning to watch the rest of TNT's coverage and take the rest of the summer and fall off when ESPN picks up the coverage but I may start early based on this.
The poster who made the comment about Daytona! Amen, I couldn't believe how disorganized they were - New Hampshire (now that Bruton owns that too) - don't use the shuttles back to parking - walk, you'll get there faster.
When Bruton Smith speaks up and says the rich people in his tax bracket should be paying the kind of money they did back in the 50s when we were able to build our interstate freeway system then I will stand up and say the state of Kentucky screwed this up. Til then, suck it up little people. Stay at home, camp out or leave before dawn. Lack of roads is a tax on your time, remember that. Pay up.
Anonymous nailed it. Once again Bruton wants the taxpayers to finance his improvements so he will make more millions.
Its not like they just decided to hold this race yesterday. It is up to the promoter, not me to figure out how to get his customers in.
The question is who is the greediest, the Frances, or Bruton Smith?
I only caught the final 60 laps or so of last night's race, but I absolutely hated what I saw.
I didn't hate the "enhanced audio" portion of the telecast, but Adam Alexander has no business being a play-by-play guy. He makes Dr. Jerry Punch (circa 2007) sound like Ken Squier. Dallenbach is just collecting a paycheck -- notice how he isn't even doing the practices or qualifying on SPEED anymore? Kyle Petty is good when he makes a focused comment, but no one is willing to interrupt him.
Kentucky Speedway just isn't capable of producing a solid Sprint Cup race. It also isn't capable of anything else, apparently.
There are no words in the English language that could accurately describe how bad this broadcast was. All the 'enhanced' audio traxx did was allow the booth and pit reporters to take multiple breaks. It added nothing to the telecast. I can't believe that someone actually thought it was a good idea to do it with 8 laps to go and on a restart. Someone should've been fired on the spot. It's the end of the race for crying out loud. What are you thinking? Pathetic coverage.
Palmetto - personally, we don't need a handicapped space, but if you have any hints or advice about getting to Bristol, please let me know. My husband is already holding his breath!! BTW - we did have fun. The venue outside of the racing and parking was vastly improved for KY Speedway. Well, maybe they did need more port-a -lets. Ugh...
There are no traffic problems at Rockingham, North Wilksboro, Gateway, Memphis or Lucas Oil Raceway.
The traffic debacle sounds just like New Hampshire when they had the 1st Busch Race.
Went with my father, the last 10 miles took a couple of hours. At the end of the race, we are stuck behind the track. At 10 or 11 PM the track turns the lights off. The transporters and track people had boogied hours before.
When we got to the main road, they forced everybody North (I live in Western Mass.). This was before GPS Navigation and cell phones.
Stood in line at a pay phone at a McDonalds for about a hour so we could call my mom and tell her we were still alive.
Made it home about 4am.
Never went back.
Isn't that sad? Kentucky whined for a race and moaned until they got one. They couldn't even get the cars parked. Why would anyone even want to go to a race with this ineptness? No wonder fans are leaving in droves.
Personally, that was the worst racing telecast I've seen in my life. The enhanced audio is fine every once in a while, but they went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overboard with it Saturday night. I actually like to hear some commentary on re-starts and most definitely during pit stops.
I liked the "natural" sound for a few laps each on the start and restarts, hated it on the pit stops and during the racing. Using this new toy seemed to throw off the whole broadcast -- which simply stunk.
Bad race, bad broadcast, bad reporting that ignored the traffic storyline because it made NASCAR look bad. Since they weren't using the pit reporters, they should have sent one of them out to cover the traffic situation. That may have added some entertainment to an otherwise dull evening.
Watched HotPass. What I saw of TNT in the split screen reminded me of FOX. Kept seeing 1 or 2 cars or TS's head shot for forever. The race was incredibly boring. Who decided these tracks produce exciting racing.
Gina commented on AA using fake announcing voice. That is exactly what it sounds like. Or someone doing an SNL skit of a phony sounding announcer.
I also did something I don't think I've done before. When JR blew the tire I just stopped watching an then deleted everything. By the way, JR asked if he flat spotted his tire before he got to his pit box. TJ said no. BOOM!
I like a bunch of other drivers but the race was so boring I couldnt believe I wasted all that time. And I was watching on DVR. Do not understand how anyone can watch live. It seems I am constantly picking up remote every 5 minutes to FF.
Sorry, I'm rambling because I don't know if I even care anymore. I think if it wasn't for TDP & now Twitter NASCAR would join MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL as sports I no longer follow.
@Debby...the best thing to do for Bristol is to get there early...I mean, like 9 or 10 in the morning. Take snacks and books/games to pass time until the gates open at 1 PM. If you can park in one of the lots off White Top Drive you can usually get away fairly quickly...if you don't wait thru all the burnouts and celebrations. Use the Bristol website for info on routes in and out of the track, and if you email or call them, they are great about giving helpful information.
I found someone to play Eucher with on the concourse waiting for the race to start. People watching from the concourse is always amusing!
Race cast was awful. But has anyone seen the KW tweet making fun of the fans that are complaining about not getting to the race??? It's beyond TPTB NOT getting it...:(
Used to go to all of the Atlanta Races, before and after they fixed the access. We got to the point where we just started camping out and staying the Sunday night after the races because you just could not get out of there. I missed most of the race, really forgot it was on last night, but what I saw a what I expected. These flat mile and half tracks are not good racing. A few good laps after a restart then single file. As for what I saw of the coverage, it is the same to me with all of the networks. They all love these in-car cams. I don't care about what a driver sees out his window during the race! I want to see as many of the cars as can be shown. The in-car is great for replays but not live. IMHO. I am also so sick of hearing about how tires are so important. The days of tires making a difference are long gone. It seems anymore that track position is the only thing that makes a difference. You never see 4 tires really make the difference that is used to make. I think about Darlington where Smith stayed out and won the race and the cars that pitted for tires could not run him down. I know it was a green white checker but come on, that was Darlington, there used to be a huge differnce on new and old tires. If they want better racing they need a softer tire, or better yet go to what they do in F1, where you have different tire compounds so it puts more strategy of when to use those tires into play. This year I have seen more competitive passing in F1 than NASCAR.
I'm in the minority. I would have been happy if the announcers had kept quiet until they had inside information about the competitors. Put up a wide shot and a ticker and I can figure out what's happening without having every pass explained.
I don't have pit reporters in my ear when I'm in the grandstands and they didn't have them wghen I first began watching on TV. I don't care what you did, I only need to know if you're gaining positions. Seems to me that racing today suffers from too much information. right down to the tutorials on spring rubbers.
great comments from all. From Louisville but could not make race. Went to 1st busch race there and was cluster with 67k people
This was a lousy race at a lousy track with lousy coverage, period.
After listening to DW flap his trap for the last few weeks about how great this race was going to be, I'll be interested to hear his comments about this fiasco. I'm glad I wasn't one of those poor individuals who attempted to drive to that place.
Funny really, I never even wasted my time watching another cookee cutter race with cookee cutter cars, and even cookee cutter useless coverage.
It was background noise for me once I realized how boring of a race it was going to be. So chatted on Twitter & did some other things. Sadly the only "excitement" was when Jamie Mac blew up :(.
Yes I know there was RaceBuddy but in chatting about the issues with folks was much better.
I did like the enhanced audio of the natural sounds but can understand how folks who actually were paying attention would be frustrated at not receiving information during those segments.
They should have called the race the KFC 400 I swear there were at least 400 commercials for them.
Nothing went right logistically on this race. There is a lot of damage control to be done by Bruton Smith and his crew.
Can't build an interstate in a year. What an embarrassment after whining and the lawsuit.
All the stuff he claims he does so well - bathrooms, traffic, concessions went bad. Wonder what Humpy Wheeler thinks ?
It's never good when Brian France actually makes a statement via press release on Sunday !
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