Pocono

[egspeedway]

Other than restarts not a lot of competitive passing but nice to see an underdog team pull one off especially the way he has driven the last three weeks. Reminiscent of Bobby Allison with his chevelle on the NASCAR north short track tour as an independent in the 60s. At that time he had few peers in short track pavement racing and was always a threat when he showed up. Congratulations to Martin and his team.

[Matt Albee]

Wish i could have seen it, i don't get that channel. Truex and the team do deserve a win, they've been very good at most of the races this year.
I'm impressed with Harvick. Seems like every week he's either 1st or 2nd. That team has it figured out.

[elmer]

[QUOTE=Matt Albee;160654]Wish i could have seen it, i don't get that channel.


The good news is that starting July 5 the races will be on NBC for the remainder of the season.

[egspeedway]

The racing will have to improve for that to be good news. Perhaps the sponsor market will improve now that the TV audience will grow expotentially.

[OldSchool+]

And in order for the racing to improve at Pocono, they will have to shorten the track at least enough until it is all in the same time zone.

[Phil Jacques]

And in order for the racing to improve at Pocono, they will have to shorten the track at least enough until it is all in the same time zone.

... they need to integrate the infield road course for at least 1 race out of the year... I believe they should do the same at Daytona... Big 3 NASCAR is stale... The my way or the highway mentality is hurting the entire sport top to bottom.

[OldSchool+]

"The my way or the highway mentality is hurting the entire sport top to bottom."--Phil

Oh yeah, I can certainly agree with that!

[Matt Albee]

... they need to integrate the infield road course for at least 1 race out of the year... I believe they should do the same at Daytona... Big 3 NASCAR is stale... The my way or the highway mentality is hurting the entire sport top to bottom.

Now that's an excellent idea. Phoenix, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Fontana, Daytona, Homestead, Indy, and many other nascar tracks have infield road courses. Why not use them once a year. And a big dirt track like Springfield, or a shorter dirt track like Eldora wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

[egspeedway]

I completely agree about the my way or the highway. NASCAR has always been thin skinned and punitive towards drivers who openly express their concerns. I would hope the recent sit down between the drivers and NASCAR has been an opportunity to express their concerns. Reading between the lines about driver comments regarding handling and aerodynamics it seems the drivers are as frustrated with their inability to engage in good side by side racing as we are for not seeing it. It is time for NASCAR to put the good of the sport ahead of their attempts to insure manufacturer parity. Simplify the aero package to facilitate more racing and let the manufacturers keep up with their product on the track rather tan doing it for them.

[andre]

Raise body work so air gets under the car, put them back on springs and shocks, and less tire grip. Then you'll have a show.

BUT, the saying says we cannot regress, so it only get worst and worst.

[Ryan29]

Just so you guys know, half the NBC races are on NBS Sports Network (NBC's version of Fox Sports 1). So the T.V deal is going down hill just like the racing.

[Phil Jacques]

Raise body work so air gets under the car, put them back on springs and shocks, and less tire grip. Then you'll have a show.

BUT, the saying says we cannot regress, so it only get worst and worst.

Been saying this for years my friend... A static ride height is not enough... There are ways around it with suspension packages. Give them a package that limits their dynamic ride height. NASCAR had it's best racing from the 70s to the late 90s when the cars were up off the track and aero didn't play as big of a factor. Remember the all star race in the early 2000s when it rained and everyone wrecked? Remember Steve Park battling for the win with a half wrecked car? This is my point... Air got under those cars and they were not so aero dependent... Watching Pocono on Sunday I saw a HUGE part of the problem. Ryan Newman passes AJ Allmendinger on the high side and without even touching him, disrupts the air so much that it starts to pull the back end of AJ's car around unexpectedly, causing AJ to have to try and chase it and ended up wrecking both... THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY THERE IS MINIMAL PASSING IN NASCAR!!! And a HUGE problem! The air matters TOO much...

[jacko241]

As far as the television deal goes, I think you guys are looking at it wrong. If the networks could sell the products to the sponsors for the prices that are commanded on their main networks, they would. But, with the declining interest in Nascar racing, they can only afford to buy time on the secondary networks with less viewership. More viewers = more money for ad spots.

[Darren]

are you saying that more people watch golf? every Saturday and Sunday on CBS golf is on and not the CBS sports channel

[OldSchool+]

Jacko,

Makes perfect bidness sense to me.

A question, though. Am guessing that the networks look at total expense--including what NASCAR is charging them offsetting the incoming commercial spot dollars--effectively reducing them, and then factors that bottom line against other "competing" coverage ad dollars.

IF we assume that to be factual, then could it be argued that NASCAR is relegating themselves to back-burner programming, essentially cutting off their own appendage to spite themselves for the up-front cash?