Monday, June 4, 2012

Final Race Wrap: NASCAR On FOX From Dover

FOX produced the network's final Sprint Cup Series telecast of the 2012 season on Sunday afternoon from the Dover International Speedway. I recorded this race and will view it at a later time. This post is for your comments on the TV telecast.

Chris Myers hosted the pre-race show from the Hollywood Hotel. He was joined by Darrell and Michael Waltrip. After this weekend, Darrell will replace Kyle Petty on SPEED's RaceDay program for six races while Petty works for TNT as the lead analyst. Michael will continue as an analyst on the Camping World Truck Series telecasts, also on SPEED. Myers works the NFL for FOX when the season starts.

Jeff Hammond finished his first season as the roving reporter. Hammond was moved out of his longtime position by Michael Waltrip. The idea was to allow Hammond to move to locations in and around the tracks that the pit reporters could not access. He was also to focus on garage issues during the live races. Unofficially, Jeff Hammond will join Waltrip on the RaceDay program for the six TNT summer races.

Mike Joy hosted the telecast with Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds in the TV booth. McReynolds will continue on the air with his role as infield analyst for TNT. Joy works the Barrett Jackson auctions for SPEED and will fill other select roles for the network in 2012.

The NASCAR on FOX pit reporters are Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum. Berggren's contract with FOX has ended and he will not be returning. Neither party has commented on who made the decision to end his duties. Byrnes will continue to host RaceHub on SPEED Monday through Thursday. Voda continues her hosting role on the Trackside program on SPEED. Yocum will work pit road on the TNT races.

Monday will begin a series of columns updating the new TV and social media features TNT will be bringing to the sport. In the meantime, please give us your final review of the NASCAR on FOX team for 2012. Thank you as always for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

46 comments:

Dennis said...

Dick Berggren is a class act and will be missed.

As far as race coverage by Fox it was the same old same old.

Late in the race they finally showed 4 or 5 cars on the lead lap fighting for position. This could be interesting to watch. Instead, they showed it for a couple seconds then cut to Hammond giving us a report from the viewing bridge about the viewing bridge. That, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with Fox. They have NO CLUE.

Charlie said...

I turned on the race just as it started. When Fox missed a lead change I wasn't happy. Then Fox shows a replay of a car bumping and sliding under green and misses the first big wreck. I said that is it. Tight shots, missing lead change, missing wreck because of replay under green, I switched to Golf and never watched the telecast again.
Fox has helped destroy Nascar with it's telecast. If you don't see a good race on Tv, why go to a real race. Fox makes you think the racing is bad and people don't go to the track.
Two more years of Fox destroying Nascar yet to come.

Kevin said...

When the debris caution came out with about 50 to go, I was watching Dale Jr.'s Hot Pass channel on DirecTV. He says "there's no debris anywhere on the track."

Then his channel goes black (no picture, no sound) for about 20 seconds. Other channels were working.

Interesting.

AncientRacer said...

It was exciting. Really was. Sure do wish @GinaV24 would tweet from the track like I do when there. Or BuschSeries61 who also said he would be there/

Mayhaps a really good race can overcome bad production. No kudos to the Truck, but, dang, it was a good race.

That is all.

-30-

red said...

I will miss Dr Dirt.

Other than that, further affiant sayeth not.

Sophia said...

I listened to transistor radio in fanny pack while outside in the gorgeous weather & the yard. Came in when wreck happened.

Figures Fox DIRECTOR with in car cam obsession MISSED the huge wreck live.

Wonder if Dave Despain will mention this tonight. He called out the ABC director for in car cam obsession to miss major passes in the Indycar race.

So I did not watch the race today except a few laps. Missed the good bye to the good Doc. Will miss him.

I hope TNT has different director.

Not holding my breath. Enjoyed feed the flowers & listening to birds instead of sitting indoors.

THANKFUL MRN on free local radio this year. YAY.

10x more enjoyable than the tv broadcasts.

Anonymous said...

I turned off the race after they missed the big wreck for a full screen replay of a car getting loose on lap 9.

FOX doesn't provide coverage of live action. All they give are commercials, videos of drivers acting wacky and replays of everything they missed live.

With NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED I get the same highlights Fox provides in much less time and without the driver wackiness. Easy decision.

ThinkingBrian said...

A few thoughts on NASCAR on FOX:

1. Thanks Dick Berggren for all the years of covering NASCAR and good luck up in New Hampshire.

2. I think the Hollywood Hotel and its people inside need to go. Replace that with just Jeff Hammond as a moving reporter that can also explain a few details.

3. Mike Joy is the one I want to here call the action, Larry Mac and DW both need to relax. Just call the race, the entire race and not just who is running up in the top 5.

4. You can't please everyone.

Bottom line, less people talking, more covering racing action throughout the entire field.

Now I am looking towards TNT for the next 6 races and ESPN for the rest. Who knows.

Sally said...

I will not miss Fox. In spite of their 'coverage', this race seemed slightly more interesting than usual...I actually interrupted my housework to occasionally look at the picture. At least DW didn't get all choked up like he has before.

Zetona said...

So, as promised, I spent at least some of the race paying close attention to what DW said to provide some concrete evidence of his bias/incompetence/whatever.

Here's everything I wrote down from "Boogity Boogity Boogity" to the first commercial break just after the big wreck (and it's not quite everything he said because I couldn't write it all down fast enough; if there's one definite criticism, it's that he speaks too much and in this first segment he and Mike Joy dominated the conversation). Apologies when I can't provide the context, or when I've misquoted him slightly out of haste in writing his statements down.

"Boogity Boogity Boogity! We’ll see you in Daytona, boys"

“There's so much pride in leading the first lap”...[asked why Mark Martin chose the inside on the start] “old-school. that would be like, 'I qualified second, man!'”

“That’s why I asked him in the prerace can you drive too hard? I don’t think you can, it’s a 400 lapper”

“Yeah, Busch ran fourth here yesterday...these guys know what they are dealing with”

On the first lead change (Mark passing Jimmie) “Maybe did [wave him by]—pretty planned, looked to me like”

“The way JJ qualified, the way JJ is running, the way he’s owned this joint—I’d be pretty worried”

“Oh my gosh” —at big pileup on the backstretch

After the first commercial break, I wrote down a few things over the next 150 laps:

On the big wreck: “You're comin' out of that corner, Mike, at 150 miles an hour...ya can’t slow down”

Mikey chimes in for the first time: ”That was some really nifty driving by both those guys especially Stremme. Darrell, when youre down in Turn 1 and 2 you can’t see what’s developing up in front of you”

From his call under the red flag to David Ragan: “Have you got your nerves back? …”What do you do in a situation like that? I didn’t see any tire smoke...did you keep accelerating, did you back off? ...Mighty fine job there, young man, hope you don’t have any more incidents like that the rest of the day”

“Since we gone to double file restarts, where does the leader always start? ...On the outside” (This was the first truly questionable statement in my opinion, though in retrospect so was his comment about Mark choosing the inside line on the start)

DW noted how Jimmie changed his line and gained a lot of ground on Mark before passing him.

Lap 57 was the first and only thing I noted as a sponsor plug: “The ole’ Dew Crew”

“There’s limits to what you’ll do for a friend, but there’s NO limits to what you’ll do for a sponsor”—what do y'all think about this statement?

When Reutimann (whose car has a tribute to Dick Berggren on the hood) loses an engine: “Hey Doc, you’re smokin’!” —this I found a bit questionable.

“Do they make a lotta noise in baseball? ...Not as much as we’re getting ready to!”





That's all I wrote down. I left the race around lap 175 to watch the Brazil vs. Mexico soccer game and fast forwarded through the DVR recording. I didn't hear too much of the DW people complain about—although he talked a lot, and plenty of the stuff he said was fairly predictable, he didn't say too much that was outright wrong, dumb, or biased. Maybe I tuned him out in favor of watching the race, which was fairly entertaining through the first half.

From what I saw, the broadcast wasn't too offensive by FOX standards (though it became more single-car focused in the second half) but it had far too many commercials. The lack of intervals on the ticker was very noticeable in the middle portions of the race as it didn't show Jeff Gordon's closing on the lead. While they did well to show the first debris caution, they missed the second one entirely from what I saw, which annoys me because that was the caution that kept the 24—possibly the only car capable of hanging with the 48—from overcoming his green-flag pit stop.

Buschseries61 said...

Just leaving the track now. Dover definately shows the COT has a lot of aero push problems. Passing was very difficult all day long. A lot of drivers complained about the way the rubber never stuck and spred to make a strong second groove.

I started my Sunday exploring the festivities outside the track. Your's truly was on RaceDay as anonymous bystander #77 around Kenny Wallace at the beginning of the program. It was scripted what we would say with Kenny to start the show, and redone about 3 times until the producer got a cut he liked for the show.

Inside the track, I sat in turn 1 up high in the 39th row. Kenny Wallace did the driver introductions, the people around me got tired of him screaming and rambling. Finally, the race started - theres nothing like the sound of 43 cars screaming by. Restarts had great racing, but passing was more difficult as the field spread out. In the big wreck, the track ran out of wreckers and had to take shifts bringing back damaged cars. The garage was the most exciting place both days this weekend, it was a parking lot both days. The FOX yellow shirts were all over the Tony Stewart garage stall, then the Edwards garage stall, and finally the Ky Busch garage stall. All the reporters had Dick's trademark hat, so it was hard to determine who was who.

As for debris, the first debris caution, I saw officials pick up something small out in turn 4. The second debris caution I didn't see a track worker pick up anything.

I took a peak at SprintVision once in a while, I assume FOX had the same video. When FOX used the incar cameras and digger shots the field was single file. The main problem I noticed is FOX cuts to the battles once most of the pass is complete. They miss one car closing in on another, setting up a different enterance and exit angle in the corners and working on the guy in front. Usually, once one car peaked inside, the outside car yielded the position immediately. At home, we only see the yielding of position and that's it.

I thought Jimmie would lose the lead as his car had aero issues trying to pass lapped cars, but as soon as Kenseth caught the lapped cars, he went nowhere. Same for Jr. Once Clint Bowyer moved to 4th, he pulled away from the 3 cars he was racing once he had clean air. But as soon as he caught Jr. And the lapped cars, he stalled out just like the rest.

Not thrilled JJ won, but still, I had a great time. I went with a great group of people and enjoyed the weekend.

Zetona said...

@Buschseries61 They showed the first debris caution, but not the second...from what you say, as a Gordon fan, I have a right to be pissed. Had the race gone caution-free Jeff could have salvaged a top 5 or even a win.

KY1WING said...

Watch race or take son fishing for the first time ...

Watch race or take son fishing for the first time ...

So how was the race again?

Anonymous said...

The only positive today was the tribute to Dr Dick. He is a class act. I'm S-O-O glad we're done with Team Fox---Every last one of them except Bergrenn. The stands were almost half empty. Jeff Gordon also questioned that last debris caution after the race. I don't expect things to be better at Pocono, but who knows. Too bad it's too insulting to watch Victory Lane with Kenny and Petty. How did this all happen to our Sport???

The Loose Wheel said...

Tight shots. Missed pretty much the entire first wreck. Knew about it 8 seconds before TV showed it via PitCommand. They ignored Jeff Gordon's charge until he got to 5th, instead focusing on the top 2.

Went to commercial with 20 laps to go.

Pit road has been this network's only strong suit.

Jimm57 said...

Typical lousy Fox broadcast with blabber mouths flappin' away and tight one car shots. Couldn't help but think I had something better to do. Nothing ruins a Sunday like Jimmie Johnson winning a race and looking stupid in a rainbow wig. Sheesh. Its no wonder ratings and attendance is down. This sport has become a total joke.

Will give TNT a chance, but Pocono and Michigan are so boring I'll probably only tune in the last 30 laps.

Dot said...

Other than Mike Joy, I am not going to miss fox. I hope those at TNT were paying attention to how not to show racing.

JD, sometime ago in one of your columns there was a list of what fans deserve while watching at home. That list should be submitted as the TV Viewers Bill of Rights. Two main things, show more than one car and show us the debris. And what's up with the side by side commls showing the view of the track from a roof cam? Or, the inside of the car? Why even bother?

If I may go OT for a moment. They at ABC are no better. At 3:45PM PDT, Indy racing left ABC so they could show their regular scheduled programming. Luckily for me, I saw on twitter where the end of the race would be. I turned to BSPNnews. Twenty minutes later, they announced they were switching to BSPNnews for those on the west coast. For those without twitter accounts, I suggest you get one. It's the only way you know what's going on.

Bobby O said...

Jeez, (trying to be the DA fan fox wants)... I tried to watch a little of the race... but I was more interested in golf today! I don't like tiger, never did, but when I switched to the race, all I could ever get was commercials.

I don't watch commercials, sorry to all of you who advertise! Even if they are on and I can't change the channel, it is white noise to me!

So really I gave up on even trying to watch! Who won by the way?

Maverick24 said...

Krista Voda did an absolutely fantastic job in providing relevant information during the 24's loose wheel fiasco. Chad Avrit is a name I won't be forgetting any time soon.

I also noticed they finally brought back the timing clocks for pitstops. While discrepancies between pit crews, and as a result, significant position changes on pit road, are getting harder and harder to come by, it was nice to have that info back.

I'm going to sorely miss Dick Berggren. He, like my favorite driver, is one of the last ties to when this sport and its coverage didn't completely suck.

Buschseries61 said...

Anon 6:33 - I'd say the place was about 3/4 of the way full today. The crowd was pretty solid from the exit of turn four to the center of turn one. At the Nationwide race, the frontstretch grandstands were 90% packed and the rest of the place was empty with a few scattered fans in the turns.

adamtw1010 said...

First, thanks to Dick Berggren for all his hard work.

As for everything else, NASCAR on FOX needs to look at the last couple NASCAR on ESPN races & the NHL on NBC. Today was one of FOX's better telecasts, but there can be improvement, and here's some specifics:

1) Eliminate the pre-race show & the Hollywood Hotel. SPEED already has NASCAR RaceDay for 2-3 hours, that's a plenty long pre-race show. We don't need another 30 minutes-1 hour on FOX.

2) Get a new director. We don't need these hypertight shots-that's not what HD is for.

E-Ticket said...

Thanks to Dick Bergeren for all he has done for our sport, what a great ambassador for all of Motorsports in this country from all the networks he worked at.

Two things sums up the Fox Coverage today, Fox cut to commercials about 1/2 way and ran a ton, came back for the at the half segment, talking heads split screen with a driver they are talking about, went through all the annoucers pretty much. Barely mention Kyle Blew a motor and the when they where done, went back to commercial. Really how horrible is that?

Side by side late in the race consisted of ads and empty sponsor logos on track or head shots in car of the driver in the ad.. Artie and the entire Fox Crew should be ashamed of these two simple things bar none , there is not excuse for this.. None I would love to hear them justify this.. Moody we know we have to have ads on TV for the races to be shown. These 2 things are ridiculous, just plain insulting..

Is it Football Season yet??

Andrew Maness said...

I quit watching at the drop of the green flag when DW remarked, "Boogity, boogity, boogity; see you at Daytona, boys!"

That was way too self-absorbed. You're here to cover a series which will be racing next week. You are not here, however, to promote your own agenda. Perhaps that little sentence was a microcosm of the entire year-to-date.

glenc1 said...

I'd have to agree with anon 6:33 on attendence. Didn't look more than half full to me. The people were scattered in the turns where I was ( between 1-2) so it made it look more full than it was; you could have easily put us all in half the place, we could have all laid down for a nap in our row. They offered people discounted tickets if they renewed by a certain date. *Really* discounted. Otherwise it would have been worse. A shame because it was a nice day & an okay race.

The turn 8 disaster took so many cars from the track, I really think that's what caused a lot of the spread-out-ness of the cars. As Jeff Burton said later (on MRN), when you're all going the same speed, you can't catch up and you can't pass. I think the problem here is too much parity. This was one of those cases where there really *wasn't* much passing going on after they got settled from a restart. That was your only chance to pass, so they may have been right about the lack of a second groove (which again, may go to the tire compound.) MRN made it sound like it was coming in, but it didn't appear that it ever really did. It was like they just could not make a bad car better. (And the crew chiefs & drivers make suggestions which NASCAR just seems to ignore.)

I had the same experience from people annoyed by Kenny Wallace's introductions. It was annoying, plus hard to understand on the PA system.

I particularly enjoyed Mike Joy giving the tribute to Dick Berggren; I assume from the comments that that was broadcast for the folks at home. We'll miss you, Dr. Dick. I think the drivers will too, he was one that they always showed respect to. If the TNT team can make Pocono look good, I'll be impressed. I had always liked Pocono, but recently it has been less than stellar, and going there twice seems ridiculous.

Sam said...

I also am glad Fox is done for the season. DW was on HMS overload yesterday. How many times did they mention Jeff Gordon during the race?

To me Fox is like your old uncle that has stayed at your house for way too long. They need changes from top to bottom and I truly do feel they are causing a big negative impact on the sport.

I'm ready for the change to TNT and hopefully they do a good job.

LpMv2407 said...

The announced attendance was 85,000(63.91%) which was up from both races last year (83,000&82,000). Capcity is 133,000. This is the same attendance as the highest attended team average by an NFL team last season, Dallas(85,000).

glenc1 said...

that should be 'Lap 8', not turn 8. only 4 here :)

dave in lincoln said...

Thank Goodness Fox is done. Although I have enjoyed the radio broadcast with the TV sound off.
Fox is just embarrasing, they must know how horrible they are!

Lou said...

Good Morning JD,

Yes, I was at the race. Live 12miles from track. Had a great day from 0800 to 1830hrs at the track and tailgating time with friends.

We sat in sec 111 as always for the spring race. Had the row to ourselves. In my opinion, it looked like turns 2 and 4 were not well attended, I did take pics,the front stretch seemed full and the sec at turn 3 had a lot of Ollies yellow shirts and was about half full in the top sections And enjoyed the race without the tv stuff.

But anyway to the TV stuff and other things. One big one on lap 9. took out 10 to 12 cars. But after that it was team stuff like the 24 and 29 problem or a caution for junk on the track that was there or not or individual team issues. In other words the 99,18,51 and 14. Which I watched and understood what happend well before fox told you. And here is where attending a race is why I nolonger watch or the DW and MW factor of the race on FOX.

This time on our scanner not only did we listen to the driver channels and MRN, but added fox. That was a mistake to listen to fox.

Wish I took notes but had such a good time watching the race. Watched the 10 lose the engine on the front stretch well before fox let you know. All during the race(not a 20fan)the 20 was up and down. It was fun to watch the 20 race with others. Knew about the 18 problems well before fox knew and fox I would think listens to the scanner better than I do. The 93 was a real soldier in this race and finished well for the team. It was fun to watch the 93 try so hard for the finish they got, Travis Kavpil did well. To bad you all did not see that on TV. I think fox covered the 29 from their pitstop deal to his recovery. But that was expected. same with the 24. Watching others race for position and how it was or was not accomplished really made for a great race. And this is what I miss on TV, there are 43 cars(today less) all racing for the best they can be, and i add the S&P cars to that.

Guess I could go on but Busch61 and glenn1 covered my other opinions of the race. And Kenny Wallace was terrrrrrible on driver intro. Hope fox did not cover his side remarks to the dirvers on live tv.

Looking forward to the fall race at Dover.

Missed you Red

Lou

MRM4 said...

Since the Fox portion of the season is over, here are my takes on their coverage:

Overall, I'd give them a fair rating. They do some things well such as audio and their replays.

But they do some things poorly. Camera shots are often too tight, especially in the second half of the race.

What is on the screen is not what's being called from the booth.

Jeff Hammond's role was a waste.

The split screen is a joke. They wait too late into the race to do it. And when they do it, a broadcast sponsor who sponsors a car in the race is what's on screen. Nothing else.

I respect DW's passion and knowledge. But often times, he's rambling on about something that turns out to be quite wrong (i.e. Danica Patrick teaching the other drivers to let go of the wheel in a crash).

All networks need to get active car owners and drivers out of the booth and studios.

Larry Mac's knowledge is under utilized. He'll seem like a different person on TNT.

Sadly, many of these things have been said about Fox in the last 12 years. They seriously need a director who knows about racing and knows how to present it on TV.

Anonymous said...

West Coast Diane said:

If it wasn't for HotPass & especially Twitter, not sure I would watch anymore.

Frustrated that I am watching 2 boxes on a 46" TV. I try to watch FOX, but I never get more than 20 or 30 laps in before switching over to HP.

Twitter gives me so much more information than the TV (can still see/hear FOX on HP).

In my opinion there is absolutely no reason a broadcast can't be more informative of what is happening through out the field.

Add missed passes, incidents, debris cautions, along with tight shots, bumper cams, etc, etc, etc.

Nevermind......

Anonymous said...

LpMv2407--thanks for the numbers. But I would say comparisons to stick & ball stadiums are pretty irrelevant. NASCAR tracks have only 2 (at most) Cup events a year, and sports teams have many, many more than that. Even if 133,000 were there at Dover, it doesn't make racing is as popular as the NFL since racing is more a 'regional' event, not like a city. Like many tracks, Dover is probably overbuilt. But I think at racing's most popular point, these owners could see nothing but blue skies. I never thought the seats at Richmond or Bristol would ever not be full either, but I think Tony Stewart was right to make the point about hotels a few weeks ago. It's not that the tracks are necessarily doing anything wrong (and many have lowered ticket prices) , it's people making choices.

fbu1 said...

My problem with Fox has always been with the invisible folks behind the scenes: The directors, producers, product placement people etc. I think Mike Joy is a great lead announcer when he is allowed to do his job, but for some reason, Fox wants DW to be the louder voice. If true, that is pandering to the lowest common denominator. It may not actually be DW's fault. He may be simply following orders from the anonymous truck. This will not change until Fox can find a director that comprehends racing and understands that the "on track" action IS the product, not "gee whiz" graphics, cool in-car driver shots and high energy bumper music. BTW, that often applies to TNT and ESPN as well.

The pit reporter focus this week was deservedly on Dick Berggren, but what sometimes gets lost in the Fox broadcasts is that their pit reporters are all quite good. They are under utilized by the production team. I think that Jeff Hammonds roll as a roaming reporter was conceived in a pre-season production meeting, but was poorly planned and executed. He seemed lost.

Fox is what it will be for the balance of their contact. As long as they are successfully selling commercial time, they are happy with the status quo. Judging from the number of commercial breaks and on-air promos, the Fox sales folks are the stars of the show.

Just my opinion.

fbu1

GinaV24 said...

I was at the race so I didn't watch it on TV. Considering how poorly TV has done lately I didn't bother to record it either.

Being a Gordon fan, I was busy watching the 24 drive through the field only to find misfortune again with a loose wheel and then one of NASCAR's phantom debris cautions. I was at the track - a truck drove out there, they sat for 15 seconds and picked up absolutely NOTHING and drove off, but it sure put the nail in the chances for the 24 to recover.

So I was bummed because once more, he who can do no wrong won the race.

It was a very pleasant day at the track, no tv blathering (other than kenny wallace did the driver intros). He was really amused by himself. My brother wanted to know who that idiot was -- I told him it was the idiot from RaceDay.

I could see the whole track, it wasn't full but it wasn't empty either.

Not sorry that Fox is done. I am considering cancelling the tier of channels that Speed is on, I really don't need it any longer.

GinaV24 said...

Ancient, sorry, I don't have a smart phone, so no tweeting from me while I'm at the track.

There was no debris. Not sure what Jeff did to offend NASCAR or the racing gods, but he sure has been in a world of bad luck hurt.

glenc1 said...

Gina, my friend the Gordon fan has been wondering that too...but I'll say this much...he can take misfortune in stride a lot better than some other drivers I could name...

I looked from where I was for that debris & never saw anything. So maybe TV had nothing to show.

LpMv2407 said...

I havent heard this from anyone posting on here yet, but id like to point out FOX did show the ENTIRE field finish with a split screen of the 48 incar. Ive heard many people gripe about this all season. thank you fox for listening.


@GinaV24 - as long as you have SMS texting on your cell phone you can do just about anything you can do with a smart phone or a computer FOR FREE.

@Anonymous12:30 PM - i wasnt really trying to compare, just put it in perspective that 85,000 ppl is still a lot. its not gloom and doom and dying when u are drawing as many people they are. if that track had 80,000 seats we wouldnt have this convo & people would be talking about how good the attendance was.

Jonathan said...

A better broadcast than last weeks. But they need to give a better presentation before the race. Fox seems like they wanna rush into the race.... I miss Larry Mac throwing it to DW before the boogity boogity... Show the crowd, give it that big event feel heck this is the Sprint Cup Series not the K&N Pro Series... Watch the way TNT does it they make every race feel like its a big deal! Better pictures better everything. I hated last weeks broadcast sooo much... Sundays race was a little better so I will give it a D+

I will Miss Crank It Up and DW but thats it. TNT thank goodness its your time.... but please let us hear the cars at times so I can give my speakers a BLAST~! Same with EPSN

Jonathan said...

Oh and if I had a dollar for every time Fox missed something and showed us a replay id be able to drink for free every weekend. Has to be 5 or more times every race and thats enough for a 6 pack every race! Such a shame and funny all at the same time ha

Jonathan said...

Sorry for three post in a row but I had to post this from Febuary!

"First off, if you're going to have a debris caution, you'd better have debris, right?" said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. "That's starters. I mean, we don't randomly call something."

what happened??? LOL

sue said...

Glad to see the Fox portion end. Just so very tired of the same 'ol. Watching a single car go around the track during the race. If I want to see single car shots I'd watch qualifying. The Hollywood Hotel was just unwatchable. Mike never seemed comfortable and really did look like Howdy Doody between Chris Meyers and DW.

Now onto a 6 week stretch which I really wish would last all year. TnT has been innovative in the past and enjoyable. Its a shame that Fox and ESPN are so arrogant that they refuse to watch other programming or listen to the Nascar fans.


Loved what Krissie Newman wife of Ryan Newman tweeted this past Sunday. "18 blows an engine and they go to commercial. Hellllo Foxxx anybody in there" Also reading tweets from Jim Utter during the race is also insightful

I think that summed up the Fox season nicely.

AncientRacer said...

@LpMv2407

Yes, FOX did show most of the finish. I was, honestly, stunned as I sat in the Comfy Chair and watched.

@Gina

Well someone proposed a work around and mayhaps you can make it work. But beware, please, Tweeting at the track is like Tweeting elsewhere: it is the "Great Potato Chip, Charlie Brown". You cannot stop with just one.

All of this social media stuff is JD's fault, BTW.

And since I got several e-mails and Tweets today asking why I thought the race was good here is the answer: Jeffrey R. Gordon who, except for the "phantom debris" @Gina told of would have won it. Poppa hauled the mail, and his post race comments showed he knew the screw was in someplace but he is (despite his delightfully foul speech in car) a diplomatic soul

:)

jdh417 said...

It's difficult to imagine any coverage being worthwhile in 5-minute chunks. As many commercials as there are with other sporting events, you don't miss any of the action.

As another poster mentioned, I too kept flipping over to the Mexico/Brazil match. Funny how they can go 45-minutes without commercial interruption. (Of course soccer sucks, but then NASCAR hasn't been much better lately.)

Anonymous said...

Dw, I am glad is gone, his pandering to HMS and others is beyond sickening. Tony Stewart caused a 13 car wreck and not a mention that it was Tony's fault..it WAS a 100% racing deal..however the Gibbs boys do it out come his pitchfork and he storms the castle. Rusty Wallace hammered Logano during the NNS race for the very same thing and was wrong to do so, called Logano out personally..Rusty calling the kettle black..please. Then Rusty backtracked when his favorite Ryan T. was in the lead and got held up for lap traffic and then put down the lappers but when another driver was leading(read:Logano)Rusty said needed to respect the whole field..in Rusty's estimate, with the Ryan T. situation the lappers needed to respect the race leader..see where I am going with this...big mouths, no professionlism, just biased, ego's. Rusty and DW are the worse..They worshhip at the Hendrick and Patrick alter..Its racing "thing" when its their favorites, if not look out. How dumb. Bye Bye Fox...good riddence.
Dick, if I am back in New Hampshire, I will stop by and say hi!

Zieke said...

As usual w/ Fox, I watched the race with "mute" energized. Bye, bye DW. Don't let the door hit ya in the A$$ on the way out. I'll miss Dr. Dick, but his hat always looked a bit out of place in the NASCAR format. Luckily it didn't hurt his fine reporting. Dover looked quite empty in some places, but a lot of the tracks are that way nowadays. Just another reason why there are probably too many races, especially with the 2 race per season tracks. Knowing and watching Krista has been a real treat for me. Hope her duties are increased in the future.

Anonymous said...

i gave up on FOX a long time ago. It only gets worse, so why waste my time? Hopefully TNT will be better, but I see LM will be going over, and DW will be filling KP's space on RaceDay. Just can't get rid of the fools.