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December 27, 2006

Making the Grade-Grading NASCAR
By Dennis Michelsen

Every week during the race season I get out my marking pen and grade the NASCAR drivers, teams, and broadcasters on their performance at that week's event. But as the calendar clicks down to the last few days of 2006 it is time to grade NASCAR on their performance! Sometimes it is shocking that stock car racing has grown from its quaint southern roots to the mega-sport it is today. Today it's time to reflect back on NASCAR's performance in 2006.

Race Quality Nextel Cup
Grade: B
The rules encourage point's racing versus winning races. Since the introduction of the Chase for the Championship format drivers have been point's racing more than ever before! Those dreaded words "Aero-Push" are also a problem that detracts from the quality of the racing. But the second half of 2006 featured more exciting races than the previous few years. While none of them were instant classics, they at least featured interesting entertainment.

Race Quality-Busch Series
Grade: C
Only two races were won by non-Cup drivers in 2006, which made this more the Cup-lite series than its own entity. Too often the Cup regulars made a joke of the competition. Kevin Harvick won the championship by the biggest margin in many years. The Busch series needs to find its own identity in the years to come. This could be a tough assignment since so many of the quality Busch teams have been pushed out of existence.

Race Quality- Craftsman Truck Series
Grade: A
Again in 2006 the best racing in NASCAR took place week in and week out in the Craftsman Truck series. The shorter races and mix of veteran and up and coming drivers gave the fans an entertaining event almost every week. These drivers did not seem content to point's race and gave fans a taste of old-fashioned NASCAR racing at its best! The championship went right down to the last race without using any artificial means such as the Chase for the Championship to achieve that goal. The Toyota teams seemed to have a slight advantage over the Dodge, Ford, and Chevy trucks and that is something that needs to be watched closely in the years to come.

Television Coverage-Fox Sports
Grade: B
The overall product was good but a slip from previous Fox standards. Color commentator Darrell Waltrip seems to be falling victim to the "John Madden Syndrome" using the same old tired lines instead of providing fans clever insight. Meanwhile Larry McReynolds is getting better and better. Mike Joy's play-by-play slipped a little in 2006 but was still among the best in the business in any sport. The three-man booth works well for Fox since the announcers seem to get along and enjoy working together. Fox was again prone to missing re-starts, which is frustrating for fans that have to put up with so many commercial breaks.

Television Coverage NBC/TNT
Grade: C
No matter how great NBC's technical coverage of a race is the total package is dropped a full grade for having the most annoying play-by-play announcer in the business! Even worse is that fans get to compare announcers during stand-alone Busch events when Allen Bestwick subs for Bill Webber. The animosity between Webber and some of the pit road reporters is also quite visible to fans. Wally Dallenbach continues to improve and Benny Parsons fought through health issues to provide excellent analysis too. The technical side of NBC/TNT broadcasts is on par with Fox. But the frequency of commercial breaks on many of the NBC broadcasts ruined the flow of the race.

Television Coverage-SPEED
Grade: A-
Coverage of Craftsman Truck series events was excellent but only the tip of the iceberg of NASCAR coverage by SPEED. The best NASCAR show in the business is NASCAR RaceDay. John Roberts, Kenny Wallace, and Jimmy Spencer give fans the most honest NASCAR reporting in the business. SPEED's reporters Wendy Venturini and Bob Dilner also do an excellent job getting the stories, although Dilner was in the middle of a huge controversy last season. My only complaint about SPEED comes over the switch of hosts for their Inside Nextel Cup show. While Dave Despain is a great interviewer on Wind Tunnel, his demeanor on Inside Nextel Cup has hurt the show's chemistry. SPEED did a great job adding "Back in the Day" to the lineup last season too.

Brian France-Chairman and CEO
Grade: D
Not the most eloquent speaker, Brian France often gives non-NASCAR fans reason to belittle the sport. An incident on the roads in the Daytona Beach area in the final weeks of the season was horribly mishandled from a public relations aspect. But the biggest reason for Brian France's poor grade has to do with his "Head in the Sand" approach to the declining ratings and the dip in attendance at some Chase races. The fans are trying to send NASCAR a message but the leadership led by Brian France is not hearing them yet.

Mike Helton-President
Grade: B+
Mike Helton worked his way to one of the most important jobs in NASCAR. Whenever an on the track incident required someone from NASCAR to make a statement Helton was there to handle the duty. In a few live interviews Helton seemed to cut through the BS and get right to the point, this was a refreshing and straightforward strategy that fans wish others in NASCAR would employ.

Jim Hunter- VP of Corporate Communications
Grade: C
Jim Hunter was at one time a voice of reason within the ISCA leadership when he was in charge of Darlington. Hunter's statements on the famous track and its future in the sport clearly did not come from NASCAR management and the fans admired Hunter for being outspoken. Somewhere along the line the behemoth that is NASCAR ate up Jim Hunter's independence. Hunter still does a great job representing the sport in front of the cameras but more straight talk and less NASCAR-speak would please the fans.

Mike McCarthy-Manager of Public Relations Services
Grade: A
Mike McCarthy's job is not an easy one. This is also a job that goes unnoticed by most NASCAR fans. But McCarthy was very helpful on two occasions this year in directing me to the write person for an event I was involved with during 2006. Mike McCarthy streamlined our efforts to get the Hickory Museum of Art permission to use the NASCAR logo in their art exhibit "NASCAR Inspired."

John Darby- NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director
Grade: C+
John Darby should be commended with not having a major change to the rules, which has allowed teams to get the cars racing better. But there were too many debris cautions in 2006 that often were curious with their timing. Even the appearance of trying to manipulate the use of caution flags to get more cars on the lead lap can have negative consequences. The worst example of this was at Atlanta Motor Speedway when the official report mentioned "TBD" as the reason for the caution. One wisecracking media member suggested this meant "To Benefit Dale." Darby and his crew will have their hands full with two different sets of rules in 2007 with the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow.

Joe Balash-NASCAR Busch Series Director
Grade: A-
The best indication that a race official is doing a great job is when you don't know his name! Joe Balash's name is not well known to race fans. You also can't blame Balash for the wave of Busch Whackers that turned the Busch Series into the Cup-Lite series in 2006. Those decisions came farther up the food chain that Balash. Only one incident stands out in the running of the Busch series in 2006. Race officials almost screwed up allowing a car that pitted to exit the pits ahead of the leader. While they blew it not penalizing that driver they did take time to get the decision right in the end.

Wayne Auton- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Director
Grade: A
The best racing in NASCAR in 2006 took place in the Craftsman Truck series. While any race series has their share of controversial decisions during a season, the Craftsman Truck series was the best run of the NASCAR series. Series officials didn't use as many debris cautions as the Busch and Nextel Cup series officials either. The only question is whether the Toyota teams outworked the competition or had an edge in 2006. Perhaps one of the reasons Wayne Auton does such a great job is that the leadership in Daytona is not there to interfere!