What’s Happening?
When the Production Alliance Group 300 was delayed to Sunday following the Cup Series race, many fans looked forward to hours of continuous racing action on TV. With the doubleheader, fans got exactly that.
What racing fans noticed, beyond the racing action, was the contrast between two productions.
What You Need to Know:
- Fox announced Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 was the most watched sports event of the weekend with 4.315 million viewers, down 250,000 from the 2022 edition.
- Fans noted several discrepancies between the Cup broadcast and the one for Xfinity.
- With so many NASCAR fans being vocal on the broadcast quality while wanting NASCAR to grow, each week brings new critiques and statistics.
In the Stands
Fans quickly keyed on the lack of viewership from the “key” 18-49 demographic.
Other fans pointed out a trend in the market share.
Some even mocked NASCAR’s recent efforts to move more races out of the Southeast, and away from the fans.
While the ratings were met with mixed-at-best fan response, social media was also abuzz with how the broadcasts played out. The doubleheader featured back to back races with two different broadcast crews, one veteran and one newer. The Cup broadcast featured Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart. The Xfinity crew was Adam Alexander, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano.
While the take on Clint Bowyer is an overreaction, the contrast is glaring. Many on Twitter have pointed out that the incident involving Allmendinger actually took place off-air during commercial.
Given the backlash from missing action in Daytona, Fox tried to save face by showing the 16’s wreck as if it were live. If they did fool fans into thinking it was live, it was at the expense of Clint Bowyer.
Bowyer wasn’t the only victim of Fox’s production decisions.
That 4 wide pass decision confused everyone.
Amid production decisions and all around energy, fans made it known which broadcast they prefer.
From the Pressbox
Free agent journalist Cindy Yen provided her weekly analysis in a thread on Twitter.
Fans are speaking louder and louder that the broadcast is falling short of NASCAR’s on track product. Auto Club Speedway posted its first sellout crowd in several years. On the heels of a full sellout at Daytona, more fans are showing up at races. The numbers say people are enjoying NASCAR live, but are growing weary of Fox’s broadcast.