Sunday afternoon brought the Xfinity Series back to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second half of their doubleheader.  Personnel-wise, there was one change.  Obviously, Clint Bowyer could not be on the broadcast since he was scheduled to race in the Dixie Vodka 400 at 3:30 p.m. (despite the fact that the race didn't go green until almost 5 p.m. due to rain).  As a result, Michael Waltrip was drafted in to replace Bowyer.

Pre-race coverage was relatively brief, but they did air a pre-race interview (taped) with Noah Gragson, who complimented his team for how strong his Player Unknown's Battlegrounds Online Chevrolet was and how he had to come from the rear of the field in the race.

Gragson had to come from the rear because he hit the wall a few too many times Saturday, forcing his team to make repairs.  I think that FOX Sports 1 needed to give a little more coverage to the fact that a number of drivers had to come from the rear.  I believe that viewers were aware that teams got three hours after Saturday's Hooters 250 and one hour Sunday to fix up their cars, but anything more than basic maintenance got you sent to the rear.

Ultimately, Sunday's race looked somewhat similar to Saturday.  Tires were a big deal and the midday really didn't do anyone any favors.  It was hot and humid, which taxed a lot of the drivers.

There were some issues with how some aspects of the race were shown.  For instance, on Lap 33, Tommy Joe Martins and Caesar Bacarella crashed on the backstretch.  The broadcast missed part of the crash, but the commentators came to the conclusion that Martins and Bacarella collided, causing the incident.  This is not what happened.

According to Martins himself, he had a big moment exiting Turn 2 and struggled to regain control on the backstretch.  Eventually, Martins spun and hit the outside wall.  Bacarella never touched him.  Now, the plowing through the Turn 3 grass?  That's probably on Bacarella.

Something I noticed during the Xfinity races at Homestead was that Justin Haley's car had tinting on their side window.  The reasoning for such a move is pretty obvious.  The sun's almost directly overhead this time of year in South Florida (at the Summer Solstice, which is this Sunday, it's directly over the Tropic of Cancer at a little more than 23 1/3 degrees north latitude).  Basically, the track is about 170 miles north of this point.

The only reason I bring this up is that I was under the opinion that NASCAR banned window tinting a long time ago.  It used to be a thing in the 1980s when cars still used glass windshields, but it was found that tinting the glass tended to weaken it.  I'm operating under the opinion that Kaulig Racing simply put film on the window instead of outright tinting the Lexan.  No one really mentioned it all weekend on FOX or FOX Sports 1, but it was something that I noticed.

Speaking of tires, we still never got an idea of what tire wear truly looked like on Sunday.  You saw a number of drivers pit with flat tires, like Justin Allgaier and Harrison Burton, but they got in the wall first.  We know the wear was significant, but if you don't have a good worn tire, you nothing to compare against it.

Racing on Saturday was quite a bit closer than on Saturday.  Yes, Gragson still had the best car, but he wasn't opening up a 10-second lead on the field.  That said, he still had the race won before Austin Cindric spun with a couple of laps to go.

Saturday's race ended up running long due to two Green-White-Checker restarts that extended the race an extra 10 laps.  As a result, there was very little post-race coverage.  Viewers only got an interview with winner Chase Briscoe before they left Homestead.  The broadcast teased an interview with AJ Allmendinger, who won the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus, but said interview never aired on the broadcast and is unavailable on FOX Sports' website.  I'm assuming that it happened.

Overall, the racing was pretty exciting to watch.  There was a good amount of passing and more than enough action to satisfy viewers.  Not having the commentators at the track does continue to hurt the TV product.  Technically, this might be on NASCAR, but I'm not sure.  Ideally, this setup hopefully won't last much longer, but I couldn't tell you whether that's true or not.  

If the remote broadcast booth is FOX Sports' call, then we could have commentators back on-site as soon as Indianapolis in two weeks since NBC Sports sent their booth to Texas for the INDYCAR season opener (they also sent two pit reporters, which FOX only did for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte).  If not, then we'll have to wait and see.

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via Getty Images

This weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series travels to Alabama for the second restrictor plate race of the year.  Coverage of the GEICO 500 starts with NASCAR RaceHub at 2:30 p.m. EDT on FOX.  Race coverage begins at 3 p.m. with the green flag around 3:15.  It can be heard on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Records and facts

In last year's GEICO 500, Chase Elliott was able to take the lead away from Joey Logano with four laps to go.  He then held on until a multi-car crash broke out exiting Turn 2 on the final lap involving William Byron, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Kyle Larson.  Larson ended up blowing over and going for a spectacular roll on the backstretch.

The caution came out halfway down the backstretch, freezing the field and giving Elliott his first career victory at Talladega.  Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman was second, followed by Ryan Preece.  Logano was fourth, while Daniel Hemric was fifth in his best career Cup finish.

Brad Keselowski is the winningest active driver at Talladega with five career wins, including his first back in 2009.  Logano has three wins, while Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson have two wins each.

All-time, Dale Earnhardt had the most success at Talladega, winning ten times.  The last of his 76 career wins came in the 2000 Winston 500 with his infamous charge from 18th in the final three laps.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. is tied for second all-time with former teammate Jeff Gordon.  Keselowski is next with five, while Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker and Darrell Waltrip all have four wins each.

Track Facts

Track / Race Length: 2.66-mile tri-oval, 188 laps (500.08 miles)
Banking: 33 degrees

Frontstretch: 4,300 feet, banked 18 degrees in tri-oval

Backstretch: 4,000 feet, banked minimal

Grandstand Seating: 78,000
Pit Road Speed: 55 mph
Pace Car Speed: 65 mph
Opened: 1969

Website: http://www.talladegasuperspeedway.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talladegasuperspeedway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/talladegasupers

Say What?!

"You kind of look at what Denny (Hamlin) does and what Brad (Keselowski) does, the guys who are good racers at Daytona and Talladega and the guys who are fast at those places. Denny makes the most out of what he’s got for equipment, and I’ve got the same stuff and I’m not quite as forceful in situations as he is, and he makes that work for him. Our cars have been better at the speedway tracks and I’m hoping we can have a good run at Talladega. I won’t try to put myself in a bad spot to cause something, but it’s always a challenge and it’s always different. I feel like, every time you go to Talladega it’s the same, but it’s different and you just don’t know what to expect. A lot of new drivers who are out there don’t have wins, yet, in our series who are going to be hungry and looking for wins, so they’re going to be trying to punch their tickets to the playoffs and be very aggressive. You’ve got to be mindful of that, too." - Kyle Busch, on what drivers can control at Talladega.

"I have no idea. You just show up and see how it develops. All you can do is show up for a weekend at Talladega and see how it develops and go from there." - Kevin Harvick

"Sunday is a big day for both me personally, as well as our race team. I don’t think there’s any doubt we’ve shown what we can do at a superspeedway track. We were right there last fall and just missed it, and obviously felt good going into the last lap in Daytona in February. As always, being one of the ones left at the end will be key, and we hope to be one of those come Sunday in the Castrol Ford." - Ryan Newman

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  The picture above is courtesy of our own Christian Koelle.