Race Weekend Central

Couch Potato Tuesday: How FOX Can Improve Broadcasts Everywhere, Not Just Richmond

Kevin HArvick and Chase Briscoe lead a pack of cars at Richmond Raceway, April 2022. Photo: NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

This past weekend began a short track season, much along the lines of what NASCAR fans used to have in the 1990s. Richmond, Martinsville and Bristol in back-to-back-to-back weeks before a trip to Talladega. Good times? Toyota Owners 400 In the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that pre-race coverage for races on FOX or …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Bumper-Cam Overreliance Hurts Daytona 500 Broadcast

A pack of NASCAR race cars in the 2022 Daytona 500. Photo: NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The Daytona 500 is the biggest day of the year for NASCAR.  This year, things were even more important since it was the very first points race for the NextGen car (which must be renamed soon because the name no longer makes sense).  The race ended up being quite a bit different than I thought it was going to be: a lot more like a slower version of last year that somehow ended up with the same number of lead changes

Couch Potato Tuesday: FOX Still Leaves Question Marks Entering Start of 2022

The start of the 2021 Daytona 500

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

This week, Speedweeks gets truly underway with a buttload of racing to keep you occupied. Most notably, the NASCAR season gets underway today with the first practice sessions of the season. As has been the case since 2015, FOX will start off the season with Cup and Xfinity races. It will also have the full …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: For Me, Clash Broadcast Was a Nightmare to Watch

Kyle Busch takes the green flag to kick off the NASCAR Busch Clash heat races at the LA Colusseum.

(Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Welcome back to another year of critiquing of motorsports on TV. This will be my 14th year here at Frontstretch, giving you nuggets to think about in regards to race broadcasts. Crazy when you think about it. This past weekend, NASCAR ventured west out to Los Angeles to enter uncharted territory. The Los Angeles Memorial …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Martinsville Brings Brisk Action & Denny Hamlin’s Dirty Mouth to NBC

Martinsville

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Martinsville is a wacky weekend these days. NASCAR moving the race weekend to be the second-to-last of the season basically creates a scenario that breeds ridiculousness. Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race is what you get when drivers go crazy.  We’ll cover that craziness later this week. Crikey. Sunday was not that ridiculous. That said, …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Kansas Provides Better Racing, New Issues for NBC Sports

Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 19, Chase Elliott’s No. 9, Alex Bowman’s No. 48 and Joey Logano’s No. 22 race four-wide at Kansas Speedway in the fall 2021 NASCAR Cup series race, NKP

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

After a fairly unsatisfactory race at Texas Motor Speedway, viewers got a much more enjoyable race to watch Sunday (Oct. 24) at Kansas Speedway. However, there were problems early. Hollywood Casino 400 Knowing that the race started about 14 minutes after the Formula 1 race, then almost immediately got red-flagged due to lightning, I do …

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