The popular saying is that the season actually starts in Fontana. Daytona is a unique experience, but the Auto Club Speedway is the type of track that teams will be seeing a lot over the course of the year.
For the NASCAR on FOX team, the real TV season may also start in Fontana. Daytona brings with it a level of media hype and expectations that are rarely met. Throwing in a pothole and several hours of red flag conditions did not help matters.
Chris Myers starts the day from the Hollywood Hotel with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond inside. No clue if the A-Team van made the drive from Daytona to Fontana. This pre-race hour is hit and miss. Myers is sometimes so over the top that it turns into amateur hour. This early in the season, perhaps things will be different.
Waltrip makes the transition to the broadcast booth late in the show to join Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds for the race. Joy is the consummate professional, but found it tough to get a word in last week. A very tired Waltrip simply rambled for hours.
Larry McReynolds continues to supply outstanding information and stats during the races. What he has ended is his independent thinking. Once a tireless advocate for change, McReynolds has decided to stick with facts rather than incur the wrath of NASCAR as he did last season. This has changed the dynamic in the TV booth.
While this trio has fun in the relaxed atmosphere of cable TV while on SPEED, they high-profile NASCAR on FOX telecasts are very different. Aimed at a different audience, they result in more theatrics from Waltrip and more gimmicks from the TV director.
Keep an eye today on the use of in-car cameras. Several times at Daytona, key moments in the race were hidden from the TV viewers because the FOX telecast was showing the in-car view from a roof or a bumper. On this big and wide track, it should be interesting to see if the director chooses to cover more of the action with wideshots.
In Daytona, FOX tried to use a TV effect with four video boxes on caution flag pitstops. The results were not good. It's hard to get all that arranged as cars slip onto pit road and then roll off with different pit strategies. Catching the race off pit road is going to be a priority for this telecast.
FOX has the best pit road reporting team, they just need the opportunity to offer more updated information. There is no RaceBuddy today and no live Tweets from pit road. It will be up to the pit road gang to tell the stories of the teams on this huge track.
Rain is in the area, but folks are optimistic that the race will be run today. This post will host your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race Fontana, CA. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.
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