Last Friday night saw the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series determine their champion in the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway. It was a good race where Zane Smith took the victory and claimed the championship. That's great and Zane deserved it. He had the best truck all night and did what he needed to do.
Despite Phoenix being a tripleheader weekend, FOX Sports chose not to send their broadcast booth to Phoenix. Instead, the trio of Vince Welch, Michael Waltrip and
Phil Parsons called the race from FOX Sports' studios in Charlotte.
There are reasons why Camping World (via Marcus Lemonis) chose not to renew their title sponsorship of the now-NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after the 2022 season. It appears that the TV coverage could be one of them. Money is money, but you
couldn't be bothered to send your broadcast booth to the championship race? That's ridiculous.
Granted, it's not like either of the three men in the booth had responsibilities that would have required their presence in Phoenix outside of the Truck Series, but this race is supposed to mean a little more. FOX Sports apparently doesn't
agree with that. It just comes off as sad.
I have no idea who came up with the edict that if they're not airing the NASCAR Cup Series race there that weekend, the booth doesn't go, but it's not a good move. Whenever something notable happens and the cameras aren't zeroed in on it,
everyone is clueless.
I would argue that auto races on
ovals, especially those on shorter tracks, are some of the toughest sporting events to call remotely. There's so much going on that if you're not there, you're going to miss a bunch. That is one of the reasons why Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s contributions to NBC's broadcasts are so helpful. He's the guy looking out the window of the broadcast booth, scoping out things. You can't do that from a studio 2108 miles away.
Having said that, FOX Sports did bring in an extra pit reporter for the evening as Jamie Howe joined Jamie Little and Josh Sims. That does signify
the importance of the championship race to a certain extent.
The race broadcast itself was very focused on the Championship 4 drivers (Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski), but not as much as the broadcast of Saturday's Xfinity Series Championship Race. This race was also less
competitive at the front for most of the race as compared to Saturday.
Zane Smith had the field covered for much of the race. It only really got interesting when Hailie Deegan cut a tire and crashed with 16 laps to go to bring out the yellow. That set up Rhodes to use pit strategy in an attempt to retain his
title.
It was at that point that things got
interesting. Had Majeski not wrecked while trying to take second from Zane Smith, Rhodes just might have won the thing. I suppose we'll never know for sure.
There really isn't all that much energy put into the Truck race calls from Vince Welch. I don't necessarily feel bored watching Truck races on FOX Sports 1, but it does feel like they're just going through the motions at times.
Having Phil Parsons on the broadcast was a good move. He's solid in that role and has
been for the past 20 years. Even Michael Watlrip has become less annoying over the years and more respectful of his colleagues. He isn't really jumping over them all the time anymore.
Post-race coverage was completely based around the Championship 4. Viewers saw interviews with all four drivers and the winning crew chief (Chris Lawson). We also saw Ben Kennedy present Zane Smith with the championship trophy before FOX
Sports 1 left Phoenix.
Here's the problem with FOX Sports'
broadcasts at this point. Welch and Waltrip are the regulars at the moment, while the third seat being a revolving door. I'm not a fan of guest analysts. It means that you have a new voice every week and it's very difficult to get used to that. There's no real flow to the broadcast and a lack of chemistry.
I'd like to see FOX Sports either cut the booth down to two people or hire a permanent third person for the race broadcasts. I'm not particularly picky as to who that
third person is. That person could be Kurt Busch since he's no longer going to race full-time. It could be Phil Parsons or Todd Bodine. At this point, I'd lean towards Bodine, but I'm not sure if he'd want to do it regularly.
On play-by-play, you have Welch, who is really nothing special. If he were to leave, I think a fair number of race fans would not miss him. But, who would you replace him with? The cupboard is pretty bare at FOX Sports. This role is eventually
going to go to Little full-time, but I don't think she's ready yet. She's probably a year away.
Aside from Little, you have Adam Alexander, who does play-by-play for FOX Sports 1's NASCAR Xfinity Series races and that's about it. It's thin. Welch will be back next year the booth alongside Waltrip unless he doesn't want to do it
anymore.
Friday night's broadcast was really
more of the same. Nothing particularly stood out, other than the fact that FOX Sports thought that it was a good idea to do the race remotely (it wasn't a good idea). The now-Craftsman Truck Series seems to be getting the short end of the stick these days. It is nothing short of a crying shame.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
