Whats the excuse this time Nascar

[NickFalzone]

Dont worry everyone its ESPN and ABC's fault the racing was sh@ at Dega

NASCAR takes ABC to task for 'boring' race: Almost everybody who watches TV sports is an instant critic. One exception: Sports leagues themselves, who almost never publicly criticize the networks that cover them. And when it comes to ESPN, and its various TV platforms including ABC, the last criticism you'd expect is that the worldwide leader in hype wasn't enthusiastic enough about something it had paid to cover. But NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston, in a blog posting on nascar.com, specifically knocked ESPN/ABC's coverage of Sunday's Sprint Cup race in Talladega, Ala. At issue: Whether the race was boring.
Usually, TV sports analysts go to great pains to avoid even hinting what they're showing is boring. But Poston suggested ESPN/ABC analysts, including Dale Jarrett, "certainly weren't happy with the race and felt compelled to remind viewers of that virtually every lap. ... And along the way, ABC missed a lot of very good racing." On Sunday's race on a long track with steep banks, NASCAR cited safety reasons for prohibiting so-called bump-drafting to provide extra room between cars on turns. Although ESPN/ABC let viewers eavesdrop on driver Tony Stewart asking his crew during the race to tell him something interesting "so I don't fall asleep out here," Poston says the event had "seriously intense racing." ESPN, in a statement, said only that it had a "strong telecast" and had no comment on Poston's post.(USA Today)(11-6-2009)

Poston is a moron. That's the sort of ego and lack of insight into their product that is going to hurt them in the long term. The racing was terrible up until the last 20 laps. Other leagues are smart enough to either talk about the problem behind closed doors, or admit it publicly and suggest changes are coming. To go out and say that the broadcaster is wrong in giving an honest commentary is unfair both to the guys in the booth, and the fans.

[Sparky1329]

NASCAR can't handle the truth and doesn't want to hear it. Following the recent lengthy interview with Larry Mac, Kyle Petty and Jimmy Spencer on Sirius NASCAR suggested that SPEED channel should fire them. Now they're blaming the lousy racing on ABC and their broadcast. Give me a break.

[harvick#1]

the problem is Poston, France, and Helton are so smug they never want to admit they screwed up something people loved back in 1999-2003 when Nascar took off, but since this change for the worse with the "playoffs" and killing off historic races, as well as calling the races for themselves to see who they wanted to see win. the fans got pissed and alot of them left, I still watch nascar but not like I used too, I've become a bigger fan of other Motorsport series and really back ALMS and after being at Petit Le Mans, I don't think you'll ever get that kind of service at a track and host like ALMS did, you of the most fan friendly events ever for cheap too. I almost cant wait for next year to hopefully take that trip again

[Wade91]

well, i was at the race, so i dont know what ABC's coverage was like

but the race was pretty good, i know there was alot of single file racing. but the racing was still alot closer than it is alot of the time on some cookie cutter tracks,

it might have been a little better if they hadn't enforced such strict rules on bump drafting, but it was still a pretty good race,

[Mark in Oshawa]

It floors me the amount of animus NASCAR has created with people who post on this board ALL THE TIME. People who HATE what NASCAR Sprint Cup racing is now, and yet continue to post.

Guy's I don't agree with everything they do, but I understand 90% of what they do. I can tell you no one would be paying any attention at all to the championship race at this time of year if not for the chase. I can remember a number of years where the champion was pretty much selected by Sept. Just look at the Nationwide series. It has been obvious to everyone since AUGUST that Shrubbie was going to win that title if he shows up. How many years in Cup has the outcome been so clearly obvious? Even last year, as good as JJ and Knaus are, Carl still had a shot at him in the last race. One bad motor and a good run by Carl and Carl wins the championship.

The chase has given more interest to this series at a time of the year when College Football, NFL and the Baseball playoffs are big stories. NASCAR was falling off the radar every fall. In sport, attention from the press is an important factor.

As for empty seats, blame the economy and the cost of going to a race. The tickets for the seats are not bad, but hotels, gas, souveneirs and all the rest make any race expensive. With the economy, we will have some empty seats. Even at a boring track like California tho, almost 80000 showed up. Hardly a failure....

[Haulin'AssAndTurnin Left]

I dont hate everything NASCAR has done i do however think they could do things differently. The racing this year has been pretty good.

Im not a big stat guy but we would have had a few close championships under the old system that we have missed out on. The chase is kinda entertaining but is also kinda fake. NASCAR was great because it was so simple, no gimmicks racing. The last 5-6yrs thats changed, thats why people are pissed.

The Jimmie Johnson Effect has to be hurting NASCAR as well, people are bored of the guy but thats what happens when you put a system like this in place. Im not knocking him though hes playing the system and winning trophies doing it, but thats gonna piss off alot of fans when one guy is leading the championship then with 10 races to go its all changed.

[woody2goody]

In my opinion I'd take the broadcasters to task if they DIDN'T mention it if the race was boring. Countless times, commentators have commented on a boring 0-0 draw in football, a dull F1 race with no overtaking, an uneventful boxing match, and yes, a boring NASCAR race. NASCAR is just being ridiculous and desperate by calling out ABC and ESPN.

On Talladega, I actually think increasing the speeds is the way to go. We need to get to the point where only the best cars can go truly flat out most of the way around. That will create field spread and better racing.

I'm aware of the risk of cars getting airbourne, but surely NASCAR, and the teams, have some clever people who can come up with maybe an aerodynamic solution to substantially lower the risk to where it's almost negligible.

[djparky]

compared to some of cookie cutter races which have sent me to sleep, I didn't think Talladega was that bad- compared to some of the other plate races it wasn't great, but not a total disaster.

It's always welcome when the commentary team are prepared to admit that a race is boring- lord there have been some truly stupendously dull F1 races over the last 10 years- would have been welcome to hear that from them as well

as for NASCAR- well personally I think the Chase is a stupid idea- always have done, and this year certainly has been a huge non-event as JJ keeps racking up good points finishes week after week- and even when he has a bad week the rest aren't good enough to really close the gap significantly.

I'm not sure the new car has helped the racing- aero dynamics and dirty air seem to be a problem, but I don't see how with something that has the aero properties of a breeze block