Monday, October 08, 2007

ABC breaks new ground in race broadcasting.

ABC/ESPN departed from race broadcasting as usual, Sunday, by foregoing post-race interviews. Not even the winner, Jeff Gordon, was interviewed in Victory Lane, which has been, in the past, the traditional conclusion to NASCAR broadcasts. Most NASCAR fans enjoy listening to the post-race interviews, but ABC,a long-time leader in sports broadcasting should know what it is doing in attempting to set a new precedent to reduce their viewership, which they obviously feel is too high.
Tony Stewart was disappointed and frustrated again. He clearly had the best car in the field, having posted the best qualifying time of the cars that qualified in race trim, and the fastest times in both practices, Friday. On the last lap of the race, he was moving up the outside lane, with the help of Kasey Kahne, when The Gordon made his move to get around teammate and race leader Jimmie Johnson. After being blocked by Johnson, Gordon moved up in front of Stewart. Stewart gave him the push he needed to take the lead, but, after that, Tony was left hanging without a drafting partner and was shuffled back in the field. He finished eighth, which dropped him back to 155 points out of the lead.
It seems that nobody, not even his team mate Denny Hamlin, wanted to risk helping our Smoke get back to the front, and maybe bettering their finishing position for themselves.
Still, with six races left, Tony Stewart is still well within striking distance to take the lead in points, and the Cup championship. Frustration only adds to his edge, and he will use that edge to drive himself to excellence.
Meanwhile, The Gordon, on SpeedTV's Windtunnel with Dave Despain, criticised Stewart for helping him win the race. It seems that nobody really wanted to win at Talladega, anyway.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

WTF, Gordon critisized Tony for helping him win the race? I forgot about Windtunnel last night and I'm a little upset that I did miss it.

He should have won though. Tony's been getting the shaft a lot lately.

- Karah
www.trackbunnyfilms.com

Anonymous said...

The only one who worked consistently with Smoke yeaterday was Waltrip..they ran together for awhile..other than that he was on his own..I figured he was in trouble when The 55 had the tire blow....don't get me started on the television coverage...they wanted that start time...I get tired of the networks dictating that..It should have been a 1 p.m. start

Cheyenne said...

And yet another reason why I also listen to the radio ~ they interview all the necessary drivers at the end of the race. I hate network coverage. Like the RO7 engine, it sucks.