Saturday night brought the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series back to Bristol for their second assault on the dirt. It was a very different race as compared to last year, but Ben Rhodes was the dominant man on the night.
NASCAR RaceDay - CWTS Edition ended up being bounced to FOX Sports 2 for the first six minutes as the Atlanta Braves-San Diego Padres game ran a little long. Since we're now in baseball season, I'll make a note of every game that could cut into pre-race coverage, or cancel it outright.
The pre-race coverage for the Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series has always struck me as a bit more mature and that's what we got Saturday. We had drivers like Zane Smith talking about how the track surface has changed compared to last year and drivers to look out for during the race.
There was also a feature on Matt Crafton helping his daughter Elladee learn how to race at Millbridge Speedway. Admittedly, you really don't hear much about what Crafton does away from the track, so this was quite touching.
It also explains what Elladee was saying to Matt on the radio during the Xpel 225 at Circuit of the Americas last month. He explains to Elladee that they're more or less racing for fun as opposed to solely for victories (which she does have). Still not sure how she ended up on the radio during the race, though.
What I will remember the most from the broadcast is Kurt Busch's explanation for dirt track conditions. He described it as "baking cookies." Seriously. I understand where he was going with his explanation, but it came off as weird. Then again, I've likely spent way more time at dirt tracks than most fans of the Camping World Truck Series over the years.
Dirt track veterans were likely cringing when this explanation was given. It strikes me as something Busch pitched during the production meeting. It was met with chortles, but he decided to press forward with it. I think he really believes this. It wasn't for show. However, they kept going with this, to the point of everyone having cookies in the booth.
This is an example of things getting run into the ground and why a lot of people don't really respect FOX Sports' NASCAR coverage anymore. It's gotten a little too silly. I thought that when FOX Sports hired Ricky Craven a couple of years ago that this could be a step in the other direction. Unfortunately, he never got a chance in the booth during his time with the network and ultimately chose to retire at the end of
2020.
Another strange aspect of the race was when Matt DiBenedetto and Austin Wayne Self somehow got hooked together on lap 96, which drew a caution and red flag to free them. In NASCAR, a situation like that almost never happens and I don't think anyone in the booth has ever seen it before.
On dirt tracks, it likely depends on what kind of cars are racing there, but my experience is that it's quite a bit more common than the broadcast would have you believe. Especially if you have exposed bumper bars in play. For instance, Saturday night is opening night at Lebanon Valley Speedway here in New York. If I were to guess, I think that I will see something like that happen about three times this season. Of
course, there are differences in play there. In the incident Saturday night, all Self had to do was hit DiBenedetto's rear bumper in a way that DiBenedetto's bumper bar was exposed and went into Self's nose.
The race was really not that long. The first two stages were actually really clean. I don't really understand what my colleague Bryan Keith was talking about last weekend when he said that this race was too long. Take the stage breaks away and this thing could have been over in 75 minutes.
The on-track action was fast and furious Saturday night and FOX Sports 1 did a decent job bringing that action to viewers. Remember that this race technically only had three lead changes (Ben Rhodes passing Joey Logano on the first lap, Carson Hocevar getting John Hunter Nemechek on lap 92 and Rhodes passing Hocevar on lap 147).
With not a whole lot going on up front, they had to show more than the very front of the field to make this race look exciting. FOX Sports 1 did this, but they also failed to catch Hocevar's lead change on Nemechek live. It was right after the restart at the beginning of the final stage, which was rather weak.
Post-race coverage was fairly typical. Viewers got interviews with the top three finishers (Rhodes, Hocevar and Nemechek) and the point standings before FOX Sports 1 left Bristol.
Overall, FOX Sports 1's Truck coverage had some good moments and some confusing moments. While I found Busch's cookie analogies to be kind of silly and that it was clear that he was trying to have fun, it infuriated other viewers. I'd try to stay away from really silly things like in the future. By all means, have fun up there, but be professional as well.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
