THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 22, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXC
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Oct. 22, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXC
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What to Watch: Thursday
- Today is pull-in day for the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series at Talladega Superspeedway. There will be no on-track activity.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
PEAK, BlueDEF Following Clint Bowyer to HScott Motorsports
by the Frontstretch Staff
PEAK, BlueDEF Following Clint Bowyer to HScott Motorsports
When Clint Bowyer was announced as a driver for HScott Motorsports in 2016 5-Hour ENERGY was also announced as following Bowyer to the Chevrolet team. They've got company now as Peak Antifreeze and the diesel additive BlueDEF will also follow Bowyer to HScott Motorsports. The blue and white Peak colors will be the primary sponsor for two races (Watkins Glen and Chicagoland) while joining as an associate for the rest of the season. Read more
Travis Kvapil, MAKE Motorsports Add Talladega Sponsor
Travis Kvapil, MAKE Motorsports Add Talladega Sponsor
MAKE Motorsports announced Wednesday that Bad Boy Mowers, most recently with JR Motorsports in the XFINITY Series will serve as the primary sponsor of Travis Kvapil's No. 1 Chevrolet in Saturday's Fred's 250 at Talladega. The company has backed several teams within the sport over the past few seasons. Read more
Andy Seuss to Attempt Truck Talladega Race
Andy Seuss to Attempt Truck Talladega Race
FDNY Racing has announced that recently crowned NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour Champion Andy Seuss will drive the team's No. 28 Chevrolet at Talladega. If Seuss can qualify, he would make his Camping World Truck Series debut. Seuss previously attempted to qualify at Rockingham in 2013 with the team but failed to make the field. Read more
Have news for the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots will return in the near future.~~~~~~~~~~
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The Critic's Annex: NASCAR Victory Lap
by Phil Allaway
Greetings, race fans. I know that you guys find some of the TV coverage that races have received during the Chase to be irritating at times. We've got five more weeks to go. Let's hope they're good ones.
This week, we're looking at NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN's studio-based post-post-race show and the network's answer to FOX Sports 1's NASCAR Victory Lane.
Honestly, NASCAR Victory Lane these days trends closer to NASCAR America's Post-Race show during the FOX portion of the season. However, NASCAR Victory Lap airs live around 45 minutes after the race. There is a revolving door of analysts at times but for this season, it's mainly been Parker Kligerman joining Carolyn Manno on the show. Sunday, they had Brian Vickers on set as an additional analyst.
The telecast is similar to the original version of NASCAR Victory Lane from back in 2001 on FOX Sports Net. Back then, the show was an hour in length and had analysts on the show watching clips of the race broadcast, giving analysis based on their opinions of what they saw. That's what we have here with Kligerman and Vickers playing the roles that Derrike Cope and Chad Little had back in 2001.
NASCAR Victory Lane covered the race back then in chronological order. That's not really the case with NASCAR Victory Lap. NBCSN's strategy is to hit on the main stories of the race, then follow them to their conclusion before going to the next story.
Neither Kligerman nor Vickers had much TV experience prior to this season. Vickers was planning on competing this year but only managed to do a race or two before health problems took him right back out of the seat. Kligerman, meanwhile has been without a full-time ride since Swan Racing "reorganized" in April of last year. They reorganized themselves right out of the sport..
Kligerman has been an interesting addition to the on-air team. In addition to NASCAR Victory Lap Kligerman is a regular contributor to NASCAR America, works as a pit reporter at times on Fridays at the track and does color commentary on K&N Pro Series broadcasts. Of the two analysts, he does have more experience and it shows. Kligerman is more comfortable speaking on camera and is more comfortable giving opinions. I've generally liked Kligerman's on-air work and wouldn't be surprised if 2016 brings more at the track if he doesn't find a full-time gig.
Vickers has done some pit studio work but doesn't generally appear as much. It showed on Sunday night. Vickers seems to speak off the cuff and might not prepare as much as Kligerman. That said, Vickers did note that Kenseth effectively put Logano in the wall right before their big wreck. That was not stated on the actual race broadcast despite the fact it happened.
Vickers has done some pit studio work but doesn't generally appear as much. It showed on Sunday night. Vickers seems to speak off the cuff and might not prepare as much as Kligerman. That said, Vickers did note that Kenseth effectively put Logano in the wall right before their big wreck. That was not stated on the actual race broadcast despite the fact it happened.
I do think that Vickers was looking a little too much into Kenseth's post-race interview. Here, Vickers stated he was a little concerned that Kenseth didn't seem to be showing visible anger toward Logano. Believe me, you don't need to be throwing haymakers to show anger. Kenseth was plenty ticked off. He just knows that you can't go around cussing on network television and throwing punches in Victory Lane. At age 43, you should know better than that.
In reality, despite the show being an hour (with commercials) in length the race analysis really only took up the first half of the show. The second half included input from the broadcast booth and all four pit reporters from Kansas, interviews with the various drivers of note, a preview of the then-upcoming Scan all 43, which aired Tuesday, and a brief preview of Talladega before going off air for the night.
Since the show airs immediately after the race and post-race coverage much of the second half of the show is repeat material for the viewers. The driver interviews were the ones that aired either on the coverage immediately following the race or during the NASCAR America Post-Race edition that immediately preceded the show. It makes me feel like this one-hour version would be better as a tape-delayed show at 11 p.m. Ironically, that's when the telecast normally re-airs already.
If NBCSN's plan is to continue airing NASCAR Victory Lap immediately after NASCAR America Post-Race they could almost cut it down to a half-hour and still get roughly the same amount of analysis. My suggestion is that they could expand the talking points section of the show to more than three big stories in order to fill the gap. That would allow for the show to highlight much more than just the Chasers, which I found to be pretty annoying. What can I say? I'm a "Completionist."
In regards to the Chase focus, it's an extension of what I've been writing about in the weekly critiques for the last few weeks. There's very high focus on the Chase here at the expense of everything else. Yes, the Chase is important, but those drivers aren't the only ones out there. Every story of note should be covered on a show like this one. I also don't need all that much radio chatter, much less a preview of an entire show dedicated to radio chatter. There was enough in the race clips to hold me over.
I hope you liked this look at NBCSN's NASCAR Victory Lap. Next week, we'll be back to take a look at what happens when The Soup invades Talladega. Expect some infield shenanigans from them at some point. Beyond that is anyone's guess. Until then, enjoy the action this weekend in Talladega, Beijing (for Formula E) and Austin.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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"I would say the biggest struggle would have to be having to get in and out of the car and the lack of seat time that I have. When I am in the car for one week and then out of it for a month and a half, it is hard to be on the same page as everyone. I try to go to the race weekends with the team whenever I am not racing to keep the communication and that relationship going. But when I get back in the car, it is very hard to get readjusted." - Ben Rhodes, on his struggles in JR Motorsports' No. 88
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Eyes on XFINITY: Amid Uncertainty, Ben Rhodes Looking Forward to Future
From Eyes on XFINITY: Amid Uncertainty, Ben Rhodes Looking Forward to Future
"I would say the biggest struggle would have to be having to get in and out of the car and the lack of seat time that I have. When I am in the car for one week and then out of it for a month and a half, it is hard to be on the same page as everyone. I try to go to the race weekends with the team whenever I am not racing to keep the communication and that relationship going. But when I get back in the car, it is very hard to get readjusted." - Ben Rhodes, on his struggles in JR Motorsports' No. 88
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by P. Huston Ladner
by Aaron Bearden and Sean Fesko
by Toni Montgomery
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the first few years after Cup cars were downsized in the early 1980s to the current 110-inch wheelbase spectacular crashes at Daytona and Talladega were a common occurrence. The 1984 Talladega 500 was no exception. What happened to put Trevor Boys out of the race?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Terry Labonte claimed his one and only restrictor plate victory in the 1997 DieHard 500 at Talladega. In doing that, Labonte made an unusual achievement. What was it?
A: By virtue of winning, Labonte became the first (and only) Chevrolet driver other than Jeff Gordon to win a Winston Cup race during the 1997 season. Gordon did win ten races on his way to claiming his second championship but the rest of the "Bowtie Brigade" generally underperformed.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll cover breaking news from Talladega and preview this weekend's action.
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have a suite of great columns to prep you for this weekend's action.
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Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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©2015 Frontstretch.com
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Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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