NASCAR Would Prefer Viewers Not Be Told Their Races Are Boring

Even if announcers such as Joe Buck are capable of conveying with their blase intonation that they have no particular interest in a sporting event, it's generally frowned upon for any broadcaster to come out and say that the event they are covering is lacking in appeal.

Which is what NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston complains happened during Sunday's ESPN/ABC broadcast of the Sprint Cup race at Talladega. In a blog post on NASCAR's web site, Poston carped that the network's analysts certainly weren't happy with the race and felt compelled to remind viewers of that virtually every lap. Along, the way, ABC missed a lot of good racing.

On Sunday's race on a long track with steep banks, NASCAR cited safety reasons for prohibiting so-called bump-drafting to provide extra room between cars on turns.

Although ESPN/ABC let viewers eavesdrop on driver Tony Stewart asking his crew during the race to tell him something interesting "so I don't fall asleep out here," Poston says the event had "seriously intense racing." ESPN, in a statement, said only that it had a "strong telecast" and had no comment on Poston's post.

From an organizational standpoint, you can't fault NASCAR for being upset about their product being run down on-air by a network they have contractual agreements with. From the fans' perspective, however, one can't help but find it refreshing that broadcasters covering a race would actually call it as they truly saw it for once, instead of pushing the company logline.

(H/T to Sportstress of Blogitude)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.