Hey my fellow race fans I have another post for you all so I was like a lot of fans instantly jumping on the bandwagon of getting on social media and complaining about the amount of commercials during last nights race. Tonight as I was checking my nascar news I saw this article http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/news/daytona-commercials-coke-zero-400-ads-tv-ratings-nbc-broadcast/r512jeletb1n1w9ufpsx75ote it talked about the fans going crazy on social media and how the amount of the race shown was actually a decent amount and that last night wasn't the race that showed the least of the race this year. After reading that article I don't know if that is true but I know one thing if that is the case and those facts in the article are true it's not the way it felt. Either way it sure didn't feel like we were seeing racing last night and I'm not the only fan who felt that way. It got so bad I kept a close count one time and from when we came back from commercial to when we left again we had 4 laps of racing. That's just not right 4 laps isn't enough time to get back into racing and enjoy yourself. For me when a NASCAR race comes back from a commercial I look at the ticker to see where all my drivers are running and then I settle into to watch the race and glance at the ticker but don't pay as close of attention last night 4 laps I barely found my drivers before they went back to commercial and I had to do it all over again. Even before the sprint cup race I watched the xfinity race and found myself missing and wishing I had fox coverage back.
I have always loved the fox coverage and the way they present the NASCAR races I wrote a post that touched on that a while back and said I couldn't figure out why. After watching last nights race and the Xfinity race I found many reasons that I can point to as for why fox presents my favorite coverage one of the first things I noticed at the end of the Xfinity race was NBC kept saying they would show the ending and then kept talking and not showing us the ending. When they finally did they showed the in car view. I'm not sure if that was the only view they had at the time but it didn't really tell us who was in front at the time of caution. I also noticed they repeated things several times which could be helpful if your a new fan but it got a little frustrating as a experienced fan. One thing that is just a personal opinion of mine is I can't stand watching Kyle Petty. He just really annoys me the way he presents the pre race show and the way he talks about the drivers. I know he has done a lot of good for people creating the victory lane junction gang camp in his sons memory and that has changed so many children's lives. Even with that knowledge I still don't really enjoy watching him but I know there are many people who can't stand watching the Waltrip brother's and I don't mind them and actually find them enjoyable and funny. So that part is just a personal thing for me. One other thing I noticed was that at least for last night all of the interviews besides the winner were on a dish channel. I have dish but my dish wasn't working for the higher channels so I didn't get to watch my favorite drivers who finished up high give interviews until I found them online this morning. The ticker is different when Fox switched to the new ticker I hated it because i felt it wasn't better it was harder to follow. However following the ticker last night i realized just how much time fox saves with the way there ticker is and how long it takes for all the drivers to scroll across. However the one thing I did like about NBC's ticker is it's easier to see the names on Fox's ticker it can be hard to see the names and positions with NBC it's very clear. However the biggest comparison I noticed was the commercials. That article states there weren't any more commercials then normal, but maybe it was the spacing. That must have been it because it sure seemed like there were way more commercials. So it's clear that fox gets the same amount of commercials out but in a way that doesn't seem as disruptive to the fans as last night was. I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one complaining which showed me that I wasn't the only one noticing it. I wasn't turned off enough that I would stop watching the races. I couldn't stand knowing a race was happening and I was missing it but I sure hope they figure out a way to fix the commercials in better then they did last night. I know the commercials are important because it's how NASCAR is able to show the races through those sponsors and some commercials are actually pretty funny. My only request as a fan is to do it in a way that I feel like i'm seeing more racing then commercials.
After reading the article I feel a bit bad that I was so quick to jump on the bandwagon and bash NASCAR and NBC but I was frustrated. I wanted to watch the race and I didn't feel I was getting that. So going forward I hope they can make the experience better for the fans because otherwise I think other fans (not me) will get so upset they leave or start watching from their computer. I will still always love the coverage Fox presents best but I don't mind most of the people presenting the races on NBC and I feel they do a pretty good job presenting it. However coming from Fox to NBC felt like a huge change last night. I'm pretty sure as the races go on I get used to NBC's coverage but that first race after the switch it felt obvious with how the commercials were presented. So I would love to hear your thoughts on what you felt about last night's race and I can't wait for the race at Kentucky this weekend.
