I Think He Finally Gets It!

I have been going back and forth with SBNation's Jeff Gluck (pictured on the left) over TV issues for several years now. Like many writers who travel to the track, Gluck's view of TV coverage is skewed by his ability to see the race and then interview the participants. TV viewers have no such luck. What they see is what they get.

Last weekend, Gluck did not travel to the race and instead simply watched on TV. The results were priceless. From the drop of the green flag, Gluck's frustration began to build. The same topics debated on TDP for four seasons eventually drove him over the edge.

This is the result. Click here for a link to his most recent SBNation column expressing for the first time what many of us have been repeating since 2007.

Here are some excerpts:

Many fans have yelled and screamed and jumped up and down, insisting you knew the answer all along: The TV broadcasts are unwatchable. I didn't believe you. I figured, "OK, there might be a lot of commercials and you might not like what some of the broadcasters say, but c'mon. It can't be that bad." It is. Saturday night's broadcast was that bad.

If you're a fan, you may be reading this and smacking your forehead while saying, "DUH!" Apparently from the comments I see every week, it's like this all the time.

Well, I apologize. I didn't get it before. Now I do.

Unless you're truly hardcore about NASCAR, you can't just sit there and watch the race from start to finish. Casual or even semi-interested fans would be turned off by the broadcasts.

But as I sat there on Saturday night, I thought, "If I didn't have to watch this, I'd turn it off."

Well, thanks to Gluck for sending a strong message in a timely fashion. This Sprint Cup Series off-week will mean lots of folks will read his column and this one. Maybe there can be some help brought to the table for the remainder of this season or the next.

As Gluck says, it just might be a good idea to get some top NASCAR officials, owners and drivers and make them watch in real time the final TV product that was delivered to the NASCAR fans at Chicagoland.

Who says some things never change? We welcome your opinion on this topic. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

Live Blogging Camping World Trucks In Iowa (SPEED - 1:30PM ET)

After a big Friday and Saturday of racing, the weekend winds down with the Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway.

Krista Voda opens with The Setup pre-race show at 1:30PM. Ray Dunlap will be on pit road for this show, then he will be joined by Voda for the race.

Upstairs will be Rick Allen, Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons. Allen and Waltrip called the ARCA race on Friday night, while Parsons worked the Sprint Cup Series race for TNT from Chicagoland.

This track makes for good truck racing, it's fast and has multiple grooves. As the field strings out, the backmarkers also come into play in terms of lap traffic.

SPEED should present the solid type of no frills racing presentation that has worked for the trucks for several years now. Allen provides the excitement, Parsons provides the analysis and Waltrip provides the entertainment.

This post will serve to host your comments about the SPEED coverage of the Camping World Trucks from Iowa Speedway. To add your comments, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series From Chicagoland On TNT

The final race on TNT proved to be a challenge in more ways than one. Other than the National Anthem, excitement was in rather short supply on the track after a series of long green flag runs.

Chicagoland features high speeds but little passing. That was on the menu again Saturday night. Lindsay Czarniak started the TNT coverage from the infield with Kyle Petty and Larry McReynolds.

Kyle Busch was the guest and Allan Kulwicki was the featured NASCAR personality on the Pride of NASCAR. The track description was done during the Wally's World feature. McReynolds and Petty talked about various issues, mostly supporting NASCAR's policies.

Adam Alexander called the race with Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. in the TV booth. It was quickly clear that Alexander would be having a long night. In this race, the cameras continually left the best action and moved to the leaders of the race. In addition, the normal TNT commercial schedule made it rough on viewers.

As the race continued, the commercial breaks fell in the worst possible manner for TNT. Time after time, viewers missed important events and incidents while the network was in commercial.

Petty and Dallenbach talked about everything under the sun. Larry McReynolds showed all kind of things on the cutaway car and the pit reporters followed the stories. It was just a single-file aero race.

This post will give you an opportunity to offer your opinion on this race and the TNT coverage. There will be another post up during the week asking your overall opinion of the six TNT races.

To add your comments on this race, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.