Well, what’d know? The COT can fly. I mean other than Michael McDowell’s memorable Texas’ qualifying wreck, the car generally sticks to the track. I’m sure Carl Edwards was as surprised as anybody to be reenacting Bobby Allison’s famous attempt to bring racing action closer to the fans. Thankfully, the track safety equipment worked the same now as then.
It’s very strange that a car that’s so aerodynamically unstable and hard to drive during a race, suddenly becomes manageable in situations that typically flip racecars right over. Ask Michael Waltrip, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex about that. Then ask Matt Kenseth, who ended up getting turned over easy in the old-style Nationwide car the day before.
Once again, I was reminded not to starting mentally writing these things before I’ve actually seen the race. I was planning on comparing and contrasting ESPN’s Nationwide coverage with Fox’s Cup coverage this weekend. This is moot. The races and broadcast styles were different, but ultimately the quality of the races itself was what determined the fans’ enjoyment. In these two cases, both races were good.
I would have to give the edge to ESPN’s pre-race. It was professional and energetic. Actually, Brad Daugherty can handle “energetic” by himself. I like Brad, and say what you will, he didn’t get the job through Affirmative Action, but from experience and sheer enthusiasm. The good attitude starts with Alan Bestwick, who sets the tone well. Andy Petree and Tim Brewer both did a good job of setting up the technical side of the race. The rest of the crew acquitted themselves well. (I’m being nice to Dr. Punch.)
On the Fox side, there was a Digger cartoon rerun, a pointless radio chatter feature, and a Talledega memories segment that didn’t seem to pay off. But, they did a good job of talking to several drivers. The Carl Edwards’ interview while he was showing off his flying skills race turned out to be unintentional foreshadowing. Anyway, as I’ve said before, NASCAR is personality-driven and all drivers have their fans. Giving Kyle Busch some promotion makes his fans happy and gives his legion of detractors more to hate. Everybody wins.
I can’t believe that Fox is even promoting Digger in their baseball broadcasts now. (Sidebar: Since I’m not covering baseball at the moment, I have to put this here. The best moment of that 4 ½ hour Yankees vs. Red Sox game had to come from a Sox’s fan. After Jeter had fouled one off, a heckler, either very loud or too close to the crowd mic, shouted, “That would have been a home run in your ballpark!” Good smack.) Frankly, Fox’s broadcast seemed like a steady stream of constant commercials and product placements, more so than ESPN’s.
For that matter, I have to ask, what is up with Goodyear? Not their tires, but fact nobody mentioned them during either broadcast (except for an Indy tire test story). Is there some sort of feud? Are they not paying enough to get mentioned, like Sunoco and their freaking race fuel? Toyo Tires was sponsoring the pit stops on ESPN! Goodyear must be gnashing their teeth like Sprint does during all those other those other cell phone company sponsorships that happen during the race. Apparently, Goodyear is going to have to start messing up their tire compounds again if they want to get any airtime.
The Nationwide race featured big three-wide packs and lots of mixing it up for the lead. Kenseth took flight, as no race at this venue is really complete until somebody gets flipped. The action was thick enough near the end that the broadcast team could hardly keep up with it. In good Talledega fashion, the winner was a mystery until somebody crossed the finish line. On another note, did I hear Michael Waltrip actually flirting with Jamie Little? I hope his wife wasn’t watching. He looked a little discombobulated after his wreck. Then again I remember Dan Wheldon in the IRL doing the same thing. Who can blame them?
The Cup race was a tale of big crashes. I picked the first one to be early, solely because there hadn’t been one the day before. I saw the second one coming right before it happened. The broadcasters seemed unsurprised when it happened as well. That typical Talledega mad dash for the checkers had a crescendo that no one saw coming. That wreck will be replayed for years to come. Fox reported fan injuries from the wreck, but gave no details. Thankfully, the injuries were later reported to be minor. Thankfully, this wasn’t another Dale Sr. moment for the network.
The COT gave a good report of its self in the race. Sort of. Plenty of pluses for safety. While the old-style car flipped at the first opportunity, the COT passed up on all but one, and Carl Edwards not only walked away, but jogged. After that first Big One, it’s amazing how many cars involved were competitive afterward. Chalk that up to toughness. On the other hand, the car is an aero brick in undamaged form, so even at a super speedway, it’s not that surprising that they’re still racy after being damaged. While the Nationwide cars could run most of the race three-wide without incident, the COT could not maintain that formation for long without either wrecking (the first Big One), or reverting to double or single file racing. I’m not sure if this is good or bad. Take your pick.
One race later, I’m already lifting my ban on Junior coverage. He ran up front and finished well, so I don’t feel too bad about this. He got plenty of attention. In both pre-race interviews, Junior was way too uptight. Even Matt Kenseth was more lively when he was interviewed. As the in-race reporter in the Nationwide race, Junior did an excellent job of explaining the differences in drafting between the Nationwide car and the COT. Not surprisingly, he liked the Nationwide-style car better. Junior finally lightened up after blowing yet another pit stop by missing his stall on Saturday. After the Cup race, he looked much more relaxed as well. Did he, “Get his mojo back,” as Dr. Jerry Punch said repeatedly? Stay tuned. As the Junior turns.
There’s a lot of racing kudos to spread out here. Congratulations to a pair of first time winners in David Ragan and Brad Keselowski. Both were involved in wrecks that took another driver out, but neither intentionally. Both handled the post race well. How great was it in Cup to see somebody not on a big team win?
Congrats also to Aussie Marcos Ambrose, Scott Speed, and Jeff Burton for their top ten finishes. Burton certainly made some new fans. Not so much coming back from three laps down, but for spinning out Kyle Busch from the lead. Speed did very well considering he started the race from pit lane.
Special praise must go to Carl Edwards. He executed a race-long strategy on the last lap that came oh-so-close to paying off. He’s easily in the lead for the stunt crash of the year award, and Edwards is also in the lead for the showmanship award for crossing the finish line on foot after that crash. He’s made the Talledega historical reel forever.
While NASCAR may be basking in the glow right now, this race has exposed a couple of issues.
For the lesser matter, we return to Scott Speed. His car was tricked out for qualifying and had to be reset for the race. If the initial adjustment hadn’t been done, likely a “start and park” team would have gotten in and would have dropped out after a couple of laps. As unfair as the top 35 rule may be, a fully funded team, who intends to run the full race, that is knocked out by a team that is essentially funded by NASCAR to fill the field is worse. This issue is complicated and I don’t have a solution, but I’m sure others do, and they should be considered.
The more serious matter is safety at Talledega. No, it’s not the fences or the cars. The unanimous opinion of drivers, commentators, and myself is that it’s the double yellow line penalty. Regardless of how many times it’s explained, it sure looked like Tony Stewart got away with one last year but pushing Regan Smith below the lines. Keselowski and Edwards were certainly watching last Fall’s race and the result was predictable in the same situation. It’s also predictable that there’s going to be plenty more close finishes at this track. NASCAR needs to make a rules adjustment. Giving the drivers the whole track to work with in the tri-oval area on the final lap seems like the easiest solution.
Do a couple of great Talledega races make up for a so-so season to this point? We’ll see.
J.
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