A NASCAR insider reacted to the harsh criticism NBC was getting for its Cup Series broadcast, when it cut to commercial during heavy action.
NASCAR switched broadcast partners again over the weekend at Iowa, with NBC and its family of networks taking back over coverage of the Cup Series. The first race was not without incident.
One NASCAR insider, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, panned NBC for opting to cut to commercial during one of the most riveting segments of the race. It was a common complaint from folks after the race.
“I did see a lot of negative feedback about the coverage of the race for whatever reason,” said Freddie Kraft, a spotter for Bubba Wallace on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. “I heard they cut to commercials when they shouldn’t have.”
The segment in question came when Brad Keselowski was pushing William Byron for the lead in the thick of the first stage. Just as Keselowski appeared to be getting there, the NASCAR broadcast cut to a full commercial.
When the broadcast returned, the battle was all but over. There was very little explanation of what had just happened, too.
“It must have been when they were all, like the leaders, it was a four-wide battle in front of the leaders for the lucky dog and then the leaders were on their ass,” Kraft said. “I was actually commentating this for Bubba, I was like, ‘They’re getting ready to wreck up front here because they’re racing their asses off for the lucky dog.’ And then I think Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) was the one that got flushed out.”
The NASCAR Cup Series race had a relatively uneventful finish. William Byron won after saving hard on fuel in the closing stretches.
The post-race interviews were fairly on point from NBC, so that wasn’t problematic. Still, the choice to cut to commercial early during a heated battle was an interesting call.
“But like if they cut to commercial during that, that’s always, I always tell everybody if you want to watch something when you’re at the racetrack, watch the race for the lucky dog,” Kraft said. “Because they’re racing harder than anybody else on the racetrack. So it’s a shame that I saw that. I think Gluck tweeted like, ‘Oh my God, they didn’t just go to commercial did they?’ And they did, unfortunately.”
Category: General Sports
