Darrell Waltrip: NASCAR’s story will be told better in new TV deal
Former NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip sits in his Franklin, Tenn., office. (July 19, 2011) Credit: AP, 2011
Longtime NASCAR fans remember the days when sitting down to watch the race required both a remote control and a quarter -- the remote to change channels and the quarter for flipping to decide which network to try first.
Darrell Waltrip remembers, too.
That was back in NASCAR’s smorgasbord TV days, when individual tracks negotiated broadcast deals. All that changed in 2001 with NASCAR’s first consolidated broadcast deal -- featuring Fox and NBC.
“Think back to 2001 when we started the new deal that we have with TV now,” NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and Fox analyst Waltrip told Newsday by phone last Friday during a media tour hyping the 1 million bags of M&Ms that will be given away if its driver, Kyle Busch, wins the Sprint Cup title. “It was NBC and Fox. There were two groups of people that did the races. We knew where they were going to come on, we knew what time they were going to come on and we knew who was going to be doing the races. And then at the halfway mark of the season we switched over to the other group of guys and the same consistency was there. It was a continuing story.”
In 2015, NASCAR’s newest national TV agreement will resemble its first, with Fox and Fox Sports 1 doing the first 16 Sprint Cup races and first 14 Nationwide races before NBC and NBC Sports Network takes over for the balance.
The deal that expires after 2014 features six Sprint Cup races on TNT and 17 on ESPN following the Fox races -- along with ESPN taking the entire Nationwide schedule.
Waltrip thinks there are currently just too many voices.
“We have gone down that road once again of too many people trying to tell the same story,” Waltrip said. “On Sunday afternoon, I want to turn on the race, and I want to know it starts at 1 o’clock and I want to know DW, Larry [McReynolds] and Mike [Joy] are in the booth. And when NBC takes over, it starts at 1 o’clock and I know who the three guys are going to be in the booth.”
To build on that theme of consistency, don’t expect Fox to copy ESPN’s attempt to use different booth announcers for Nationwide and Cup events. Waltrip isn’t sure of exactly what Fox will do when Nationwide and Cup events are in different places on the same weekend, but when the two series are together Waltrip says the plan is already in place.
“With all the companion events me, Larry and Mike will be in the booth on Saturday and Sunday,” Waltrip said. “It’s no big deal, we’re already there, we know all the players, we know what’s going on. So, it’s really no big deal to us. I think it is a big deal to the fans, though ... who they can expect to hear from. I think that’s a big plus.”
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