Pocono Preview: TNT Coverage Not That Bad If You Listen To MRN Audio Feed

by Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

The first 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup races are in the bag and we begin a march through the lean coverage of the season which is what I call the six race stretch that TNT covers. Not many folks give the FOX television coverage as much credit as it deserves. The coverage is always great and the announcing crew is by far the most entertaining and insightful group that has ever covered the sport.

The color commentary of analysis from Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty is dull, and very few times will they offer insight that wasn’t known to the common race fan, as opposed to the type of data and information routinely given by Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond on FOX. McReyonlds will be a part of TNT’s team, but only for brief moments as he’ll show insights on a cutaway car.

The lead commentator, Adam Alexander, will be new to the TNT team this year and has been solid in this past with his duties on SPEED and MRN Radio. However, there is nothing he can do to balance out the dumb and dumber commentary -- and not in the funny way either -- of Petty and Dallenbach. Alexander will also have the tough task of easing fans into his style and matching the top flight bench mark set by auto racing’s greatest commentator, Mike Joy. Tough shoes to fill for sure.

My strategy this week will be to watch the Pocono race, but keep the MRN radio feed on which gives constants updates from all corners of the track for each driver throughout the race. It’s still a race and still has to be bet on, but no one said you had to be annoyed at the same time. Somehow, I know I will listen to the TNT feed at some point in the same fashion we all rubberneck when there is a car accident on the highway.

Pocono Raceway is a unique 2.5-mile triangular shaped track with three vastly different turns that each get gradually flatter making it a difficult track for teams to set up. There is no way to get a car perfect for each of the three turns, so it’s almost like they have to choose which of the three they want to be quickest at.

Over recent years, the main ingredient for success has been flat out horsepower. Drivers that have done well on the down force tracks leading up to Pocono have fared well. Another driver, Denny Hamlin, who has become somewhat of a specialist on flat tracks like Martinsville has also shown that his particular entry and exit skills at smaller tracks have helped his cause to winning three times at Pocono.

It doesn’t hurt that Hamlin also has a great engine also, but what’s amazing about Hamlin is that he came in as a rookie and swept the Pocono season in 2006. This was after a disastrous 2005 season with Jason Leffler driving the same car -- well obviously it wasn’t the same car, just car number, owner, and sponsor.

Hamlin won for the third time at Pocono last season and currently has the best average finish of any current driver at just under 10th per race. When he won last season, it was the 21st race of the season and it was his first win of the season. Coming in this year, he’s already got three wins and is charging hard to be the one who stops Jimmie Johnson from winning his fifth straight season championship.

Juan Pablo Montoya is an interesting look to contend for the win this week. He’s been so up and down in performance, but if we look at last season through this year, Montoya fit’s the profile of a driver who should run well here. If there is one thing his Ganassi car isn’t missing, it’s horsepower. Their problem seems to be more about the car chief, crew chief, and pit road, because this team should have one at least one race over the last 39 races based on the equipment they have.

Last season Montoya finished in eighth and second-place in the two Pocono races and he’s shown enough horsepower at tracks like Atlanta, Texas, and Charlotte to believe he should be set in that category this week. As for the driver himself, nothing against Hamlin, but Montoya’s entry and exit through odd turns can’t be matched…..The guy won at Monaco!

Montoya’s teammate Jamie McMurray will also be one to watch this week just because of how fast they have been on the down force tracks. He’s a former pole-sitter at Pocono, but hasn’t mustered a better finish than ninth, which he’s done twice. Look for a career performance this week from McMurray.

The driver that really needs some love right now is Jimmie Johnson. Everything was so easy for the team out of the 2010 gate with three wins in the first five races, but since then, it’s been tough for the defending four time series champion. If including the All-Star race, Johnson hasn’t had a top-5 finish in his last six starts; that’s all this guy ever does is finish in the top-5. I’d like to believe things will get better this week, but he’s not exactly bringing a confidence builder to the track with him this week. The team is opting to bring a primary chassis that finished 16th at Dover and using a backup that has won three times. You can never count Johnson out, but it’s getting easier week by week.

Kurt Busch is riding high right now after winning the All-Star race and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte the last two weeks. He and crew chief Steve Addington have things figured out pretty good, especially in the horsepower department and that will give him a nice edge this week on the long straightaways. He’s bringing his chassis from the February California race that finished sixth and that Busch noted “was strongest late in the race”. With the way this team is running right now, it would be foolish to bet against him on any track that asks for pure horsepower like Pocono does.

Mark Martin has six career second-place finishes at Pocono with no wins, a NASCAR record. He’s always run well on the track but has come up just short, but he needs a good run this week to regain some momentum for the stretch run in the race to the Chase where he currently sits 10th in points.

Jeff Gordon is a four-time Pocono winner with his last coming in 2007. This race brings out the best of Gordon because he's able to use some of his road racing skills along with perfect car. His car has been one of the most consistently good ones all season long and that shouldn't change this week. Look for a strong run this week with a chance at winning.

Carl Edwards is another driver who needs to start piling up solid finishes as he sits 11th in points. He’s a two-time Pocono winner, but that was in the glory hey-day of Roush racing super power under the hood. He should be expected to finish within the top-10, but a win may too much to ask this week. This week he’ll be using the same chassis that finished 15th at Darlington.

Tony Stewart won this race last year, but he’s a hard sell this year with the way they have been running. He’s got two wins at Pocono, but what’s more telling is that he’s run on just about every type of track thus far and only has one top-5 finish this season (Bristol). At this stage, Ryan Newman is a much better candidate to finish better than Stewart.

Kyle Busch started his Pocono career like a monster worth a fourth-place finish in his first race, but has yet to match the effort in nine races since. What’s worse for Kyle this week is he’s got an angered Jeff Burton looking to even the score after getting wronged last week by Kyle at Charlotte. Burton isn’t the type of driver Kyle should mess with because Burton never forgets and will get even. Kyle dismissed the anger of Burton who got in his face after Charlotte race, but you can bet he’ll stay as far as possible away from Burton this week and beyond. It takes a lot to get Burton going, and Kyle pushed that button.

Top 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #11 Denny Hamlin (5/1)
2) #42 Juan Pablo Montoya (15/1)
3) #2 Kurt Busch (8/1)
4) #24 Jeff Gordon (8/1)
5) #48 Jimmie Johnson (5/1)

TNT's Wide Open Coverage: Fantastic!

by M Roberts

In the aftermath of the spectacular ending to Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, not much has been said about the fantastic “Wide Open Coverage” TNT offered to NASCAR fans home across the country.

Saturday’s race was the third straight season TNT has offered the coverage of the summer Daytona race as a means to give the fans uninterrupted coverage of every green flap lap during the race.

In 2007 and 2008, despite the attempts, TNT missed a combined 12 green flag laps. On Saturday night, TNT didn’t miss any. We viewed the entire race uninterrupted and it was wonderful.

Much to the dismay of NASCAR fans everywhere on a normal week, there is nothing more irritating when watching a race that goes to commercial and when they finally come back, the announcer says, “While we away, we have a new leader” or “While we were away, a big crash on turn three”, and that’s after they go through thirty seconds of sponsors on graphics leading back into coverage from the break.

Unfortunately, the ’Wide Open Coverage” is a one race and out deal with Daytona. The deal was struck as part of the original NASCAR negotiated package deal with the networks, which at least shows NASCAR understands their fans wishes. However, going back to the standard coverage is like letting someone drive a new Mercedes for a day and then telling them to go back and enjoy their daily routine in a Pinto with no air conditioning.

The real question is how did this standard coverage with commercial breaks going on during live action begin, and how has it been allowed to go on for so long. NASCAR remains the only major and minor sports broadcasted on television that goes away while play on the field, court, track, course, or pitch is live. Bowling and Darts get continuous action, why not NASCAR which is paid a little bit more for their coverage?

The theory I come up with most, beyond the obvious of NASCAR being paid heavy to litter the races with commercials, is that all the other major sports were around when television made it’s sports debut in 1939. Fans were delighted to be able to watch every play from their home and the few networks there were made it a point to get better each year with their coverage.

Fans got used to the coverage and then sponsorships got on board with a product that was already in place and set by the Networks.

NASCAR came on board to network TV with only a few laps being shown of each race on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. It was a concession that NASCAR was glad to make just for the coverage and exposure.

Then came the 1979 Daytona 500 on CBS which became the first Nationally televised race from start to finish. Again, NASCAR was happy to just be there and made concessions with their product for the sake of coverage. They didn’t have a lot of leverage.

After the great returns of that race with a fantastic infield fight between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarbrough, NASCAR was on it’s way with the Networks.

The first major Network deal began with a $2.4 billion six year deal beginning in 2001 and that was followed by a gigantic $4.6 billion eight year deal that currently exists. Through that whole time span, the Networks crammed more commercial breaks than ever to get the most out of their deal. They marketed NASCAR fans loyalty to sponsors everywhere with pie-chart comparisons to other sports about brand loyalty and it worked.

Prior to the big contract deals, NASCAR coverage still had commercial breaks while racing was going on, but not like today. ESPN and The Nashville Network did nice jobs on their coverage and gave the fans more live racing, but NASCAR wasn’t getting the big bucks from them.
So essentially, NASCAR’s growth and desire to get the big money diluted the coverage for the fans and they were fully aware that their product wasn’t going to be properly covered.

With the way the current ratings have decreased all season long in 2009, It’s likely that more concessions will have to be made in order for NASCAR to better their last contract with the Networks.

The one hope NASCAR fans may have for better coverage is the rating results from Saturday’s Daytona race. The last two seasons of ratings from TNT’s “Wide Open Coverage” have risen from a 3.7 share in 2007 to a 4.5 share in 2008. If the trend continues for the cable network after Saturday’s race, which had a drama filled ending, some of the suits at the Networks may take notice and say this is the way to future success in covering NASCAR and a win-win for the fans and sponsors.

If the NASCAR fans hold to their stereotypical loyalty for the ten sponsors of the “Wide Open Coverage”, that coupled with ratings increase could see changes in how NASCAR is covered.