This week, we’re going to switch things up. I spent this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway covering both the NTT IndyCar Series PPG 375 and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 for Frontstretch along with Mike Knapp and Stephen Stumpf. Let’s just say that this weekend had everything.
This week, we’re going to take a look at Sunday’s broadcast of the PPG 375 and see how it plays in relation to how the race was live at the track. By all indications, Sunday’s race was the best IndyCar race at Texas in years. In regard to Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway, I’ll have thoughts on that broadcast later this week.
The forecast for the PPG 375 was rather grim. I initially thought that there were going to be rain delays. That did not turn out to be the case. Regardless, IndyCar announced two hours before the race that the command would be moved up to 12:01 p.m. ET, 14 minutes earlier than originally planned.
Did it eventually rain at Texas Sunday? Yes, but it came nearly two hours after the race ended. Not long after the checkered flag flew, the whole Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was put under a tornado watch.
Since the start was moved up, Leigh Diffey introduced the race broadcast, then they went right to the command to start the engines. Got to be honest with you. Not used to major races starting at 11 a.m. local time.
Recently, there’s been issues with FOX’s NASCAR Cup Series coverage in reacting to, really, anything. That was not a problem Sunday at Texas. Granted, there were only a couple of moments, but they were quick to react to them.
The best example of this would be the Graham Rahal–Devlin DeFrancesco crash. The booth was talking about the battle at the front, then you had a quick cut to the wreck.
You also had some interesting commentary. For example, Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi collided on pit road during the first caution.
There was a significant amount of time given to James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell explaining the situation and why Kirkwood was really in the wrong here. Essentially, he shouldn’t have tried to duck into his pit from the far outside. Bell also thought that Kirkwood probably wouldn’t have even made it into his stall had he not had contact with Rossi.
What was the result of this? Rossi ended up with a bent steering arm and lost six laps in the pits, while Kirkwood…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …