Day Two: NASCAR On FOX From Kansas Speedway

The weather was the story in Kansas as cold temps and a green track from rain Saturday night made things pretty interesting. Teams were fooled on gas mileage and set-ups early on, while favorite son Clint Bowyer suffered engines woes and ultimately retired.

NASCAR on FOX began with a pre-race show that featured a focus on the promotion of the speedway, the sport and the series. It was a tough sell. The truck series race on Saturday showed fans exactly the issue facing the Sprint Cup Series today. Passing was going to be at a premium and "aero" was a word that was going to dominate.

Michael and Darrell Waltrip are exactly what FOX ordered. They invite controversy with their statements and together on the pre-race show are a walking conflict of interest. It gets TV viewers riled up and that is what the FOX executives enjoy doing.

The downside of all this pre-race gushing about the sport is that the kind of content presented by Jeff Hammond is missing. Darrell and Michael are from different eras, but both speak primarily from a driver's perspective. What has been lost is the crew chief perspective. Michael cannot provide this even when speaking as a current Sprint Cup Series owner.

Hammond once again tried to present a variety of interesting reports from different locations, but since there were few caution periods it was awkward at best. This new role has proven to be tough to integrate into a telecast. Surprisingly, Hammond is rarely seen in the garage following up after a key competitor has engines woes.

Mike Joy had an opportunity to flash the magic he used to show regularly on the older FOX telecasts. His calls of the restarts were stellar, but eventually the familiar routine of Waltrip dominating in the booth returned. TV commentary is now conversational instead of exciting, it's just the nature of the beast.

The pictures told the story. Tight shots were so frequent that when one aerial shot was used on a restart it was almost shocking. FOX has a style, they are going to stick with it and once again they did. Pit reporters were stellar, but again not used down the stretch. That is Waltrip time.

FOX continues to use the wideshot at the finish and ended the coverage with some of the lead lap cars finishing the race. There were no technical problems and once again the pictures and sound were solid. In many ways, this was just a repeat of a familiar formula that is being used for the TV coverage of this series.

We invite your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from the Kansas Speedway. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button. Thank you again for stopping by.

Truck Series On SPEED From Kansas Speedway

Tim George Jr. is on the pole and the trucks are ready for an afternoon battle at the Kansas Speedway. The track surface is worn and will be repaved once the NASCAR teams depart on Sunday.

SPEED has the usual cast of characters ready for the race. 1:30PM ET for pre-race with race coverage starting 30 minutes later.

We are hosting a live Twitter stream using the #TDP1 hashtag starting at 1:15PM ET. This will be the final live stream for the trucks this season, although the Sprint Cup Series coverage will continue.

Thanks as always. Please feel free to leave a comment on the TV coverage here by clicking the comments button .

White House Visit Works Well For NASCAR

Tuesday was a big day as the entire 2011 Chase for the Championship field along with Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart headed to the White House. As with the other championship sports teams from across the country, the NASCAR gang put on a good show during this meet and greet with President Obama.

After a tour of the White House, the Chase field assembled behind the President as he delivered prepared remarks. He joked that he was going to take some lessons in dealing with the media from Stewart. Obama acknowledged Jimmie Johnson's past championships and that Carl Edwards was a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

He also spoke about NASCAR's efforts to support the military, including the annual visit to the Walter Reed Army Hospital in the DC area and the efforts to bring awareness to the Wounded Warrior Project.

The White House provided a live video stream that was very professionally done and showed the ceremony and then the President and Stewart chatting next to the #14 championship car. The drivers all looked great and many of them provided pictures and comments via social media. We thank NASCAR's David Higdon, Kurt Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing PR for the images.

It was a nice photo op and NASCAR did a good job to get all the competitors in the same place for this moment. Happy to have your opinions on this White House visit.