Knoxville and Nashville Review, NBC Rant, and Road America Preview | Chasing The Cup S1:E20

In this episode of Chasing the Cup, the host, Will Engelman, reviews the races at Knoxville and Nashville. He praises the improved dirt race at Knoxville, but criticizes Fox's coverage for missing key moments. He also discusses the hot weather conditions and suggests more races be held at night. Will shares his thoughts on the Nashville Super Speedway and predicts its eventual replacement by the Nashville Fairgrounds. He covers various news items, including sponsorship updates, TV ratings, and driver announcements. Overall, he considers it a good weekend of racing at Nashville. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I'm your host Will Engelman and in this episode I'm going to review the races from Knoxville and Nashville. I'll also go over the news and I'm going to preview this weekend's races at Road America. But first let's take a look at the results from Knoxville and Nashville. Todd Gilliam will be the last Cup driver to win in the Truck Series this year and he gets the victory at Knoxville for his father David Gilliam on Father's Day weekend. He's followed by John Harnoninichek in second, Zane Smith in third, Ty Majewski in fourth, George Torchfriesen in fifth, Dirk Kraus in sixth, Matt Crafton in seventh, Grant Engfinger in eighth, Tyler Ankerman in ninth, and Ben Rhodes rounds out the top ten. And so I cannot believe that a year ago that this race would have improved so drastically. This race was really good. It had multiple grooves and people were able to both pass on the inside and outside and allowed for a great dirt race for the Truck Series. It wasn't single file on the bottom like it was last year. It was just a really good dirt race. Although there's one thing that wasn't perfect in that list, Fox's coverage of the race. They missed quite a bit of wreck in that race. First, they missed Jessica Friesen's flip in turn three on the berm. I can't believe they missed that. That is just the craziest that they wouldn't catch that. Which shows how the production is very life-luster at Fox Sports compared to NBC who came back this weekend and they also missed Brent Moffat on his side on the front stretch. They also missed that. I think he was coming toward the line and he was coming over the start finish line on his side in that 22. And they didn't catch that. But there is video of both wrecks and some great photos of Jessica's. It's just ridiculous that Fox would miss that. And probably the most dominant car earlier, Carson Osavar blew an engine. That's just heartbreaking for him. Haley Diggins had a shot at a top ten but finished 15th after falling back on that restart. It's a shame because she could have finished better. So overall, that was a really good race. And to be honest, I'd like to see Knoxville come back. Because I think they can continue to improve on this race and probably next year could be the best Knoxville truck race. We'll just have to see. Now on to the previous weekend's races at Nashville starting with KEP. Chase Elliott gets his second win of the season. Followed by Kurt Busch in second. Ryan Blaney in third. Kyle Larson in fourth. Ross Chastain in fifth. Danny Hamlin in sixth. Austin Sindrick in seventh. Christopher Bell in eighth. Joey Logano in ninth. And Kevin Harvick rounds out the top ten. And so the cup race at the Nashville Super Speedway was really good. You had some multi-groove racing. You could run side by side with each other and as single as possible. But it was hard to do it probably because of how narrow the track is. But overall, the racing was really good because even after the rain delay, which took three or four hours for the track to dry, you still had multi-groove racing. Not sure if it's the tire dragging that stuck or the track was naturally multi-groove. But it stayed multi-groove. I'd say this race was more like Dover. Dover is a multi-groove concrete racetrack. But it's hard to pass because it's a very narrow racetrack. But passing is possible. And you can have some great side by side battles for the lead. Hendrick had issues with William Byron and Alex Bowman. Alex Bowman got wrecked out early, finishing last. And William Byron had a broken steering column, which led to him going to the garage getting it fixed and then heading back out to finish 35th. And now the one thing that I'm both equally happy and mad about is NBC's coverage. NBC Sports did a really good job with the broadcast. They made it very professional. And they didn't miss anything on the track. Which really shows how good the production at NBC Sports really is. Rick Allen has really improved his game from his early years. Remember problems, problems, and all those other things from the speed days and the early NBC days. Now, he's done really good, but he still needs to improve. I'd say he probably needs to do a little more research. And he also needs to improve his game a little bit. Try to be more natural instead of being fed lines by his producer. And be more like Dale Jr. Dale Jr. looks out the window most of the time, and he's the first one to spit out a wreck. He'll say, where's the car in the wall, or we got a big crash! So I want Rick Allen to be more like that. And the other commentators were also helping out really well. But the one problem that I have with NBC is that it doesn't matter how good your coverage is. But if fans don't see your coverage, then it doesn't matter. And it really shows when NBC decided to boot the race to cable so they could put on a stupid rerun of America's Got Talent that probably would have gotten less viewership than NASCAR. That is just ridiculous. It once again proves that NBC just doesn't care about NASCAR. NBC Sports does because they take their sports seriously. But Big NBC just treats NASCAR as another part of their sports programming. Probably on the same level as lacrosse and track. Possibly even worse. NASCAR has actually had to wait for coverage because of lacrosse. And then NASCAR has been booted off for bigger sports, like the Kentucky Derby. Which I guess I get. But booting probably your most promoted race, besides maybe the championship or any of the other races on your big network? That's just ridiculous. Nashville is probably your biggest promoted race all year because it signals the return to NASCAR that half of the season. But if you push your most promoted race to cable, you're not going to return that much of the dividends. It just really shows how Big NBC just doesn't care about NASCAR. That's why when we talk about the TV contract, NBC is not a clear favorite for it. But instead, people like ESPN and CBS and even Fox are on that list. Because Fox doesn't push races off its main network for a TV show coming on. They've actually cancelled TV shows that were highly promoted so NASCAR can finish on their main network. Of course, after they finish, they'll try to rush it off. But rushing it off is better than completely booting it before it's even done. It just shows how much of a lack of respect there is from NBC. Because NBC doesn't see NASCAR as a high priority. Instead, their high priorities are these stupid January 6 hearings, as well as other things in politics. Which is kind of important with the 2022 midterms. But you don't boot something that's supposed to unite people just to put on programming that divides people, which they did a lot last year. I don't want NASCAR to get booted to cable so I can know how Donald Trump is guilty of something he didn't cause. So NBC, get your act together. Keep NASCAR on your main network. Because you're just shooting yourselves in the foot. You're not going to get any good TV ratings if you keep booting the biggest motorsport in America to cable. It just treats NASCAR with no respect. And that's why I continue to say I think NBC will not renew its contract for 2024 and beyond. Because it's stuff like this that I just know it ain't going to happen. Even though Fox Sports' production team treats NASCAR like a joke, Big Fox still sees NASCAR as a high priority for them. And that's why NASCAR and Fox gets the best TV ratings. Because they put more effort in their promotion than putting races on Big Fox. But NBC just doesn't have that. And they probably won't do that. I think NBC's big priority is IndyCar. Because I think NBC's leading motorsport in the future will be IndyCar. Because they have the Indy 500. And now their biggest race in NASCAR is the championship deciding race at Phoenix. And it's not even that popular. So NBC, even though you're not coming back, get your act together and focus on what you can do now with the NASCAR coverage. Next, let's take a look at the Xfinity results. Justin Altgaard gets the victory, followed by Trevor Bayne in second. Riley Hurst in third. Ty Gibbs in fourth. Sam Mayer in fifth. Ryan Preece in sixth. Jeffrey Earnhardt in seventh. Austin Hill in eighth. Ryan Seag in ninth. And Brett Moffat rounds out the top ten. And so I didn't really get to see that much of the race. I listened to probably over half of it on the radio. But what I did see was probably not as good as cut. Thanks to how the Xfinity car is designed. Which is based off of the COT and Gen 6. But you had some interesting moments. You had a few wrecks involving a few people. And then of course you have Ty Gibbs versus Sam Mayer again. I think Mayer gave a little bit of a shove to the back of Ty Gibbs. Nothing intentional. But I think I knew in the moment Ty Gibbs was angry because I think he tried a little bit to turn Sam into the wall. I saw it. And then when Ty Gibbs came back to the bumper of him, Sam Mayer just tracked to the inside line and let him by. Which is smart on his part. And afterward, they seemed to be very calm afterward. They didn't go try to fight each other like at Martinsville. Ty Gibbs just said that he didn't think Sam did it on purpose. And Sam was just struggling because he was suffering from heat exhaustion. So he didn't really seem too worried about it because he was focusing on recovering from the heat exhaustion. Which a lot of people suffered through. Brian Vargas had to be carried away and taken to the medical center due to heat exhaustion. And so were others. Because it was hot in Nashville. Luckily the cup race was delayed into the night. And the truck race was at night. But as soon as they were in the day, and they were suffering. When that race was over, they were struggling from that heat exhaustion. They were just worn out. So in my opinion, I think more races need to be at night in the summer. Because it's moments like these where it gets really really hot in Nashville with that heat wave. That really prove that it would be much safer to have it at night. You wouldn't have more examples of heat exhaustion like that. Of course, suffering through the heat is a sign of strength. But I think it would be a lot safer to do it at night. And finally for the truck race at Nashville, Ryan Preece gets the victory going back to back at Nashville. Followed by Zane Smith in second. Carson Hosavar in third. Ty Majewski in fourth. Stork Friesen in fifth. Christian Eggis in sixth. Tyler Ankrum in seventh. Mike Scutieris finishes eighth. Controversially, John Henry Niemicek finishes ninth. And Matt Crafton rounds out the top ten. And so that truck race was really chaotic. Of course, that's just the normal for truck races now. Very chaotic and a lot of wrecks. And you had some contenders that DNFed. Matt DiMenegdotto, Grant Enfinger, and Corey Hawn finished 34th and 33rd because they wrecked out. Especially with that four wide wreck in turn three where Majewski got into someone and that just started a big wreck and Tyler Smith got involved in that as well. And then, as I mentioned a little bit ago, you got Max Scutieris with a no talent moment just straight up dumping Kaylee Deacon. And I'd say that's because that kid is very inexperienced. He definitely does not know how a break works. Kaylee Deacon is on track to finish in the top ten again. But as the pattern goes, every time Kaylee Deacon takes a step forward one weekend, she takes another step back the next. Either because of her pit crew or getting wrecked out. But this time she finished, although a lap down. Which is probably a lot better than DNFing. So next, you have a lot of things that you need to improve on. You finished eighth, which really shows that you have a good amount of raw talent if you got a good truck. But you need to smooth out your rough edges. Because after what you did on Friday night, you need some work on improving your skill. Because just dumping someone like that isn't a sign of tackling it. And so overall, I'd say it was a good weekend at Nashville. In my opinion, if we do come back next year, which I think we will, I think we'll continue to see Nashville Super Speedway improve. But I don't think it'll be like that for much longer. Because I think when SMI figures out the Nashville Fairgrounds, Nashville Super Speedway will be dead. And everything will move over to the fairgrounds. I do not think that two Nashville trucks will live in harmony together owned by the same company. It's just more cost effective to move one race state to the other. That's probably why they did it in the first place. There's a reason why Dover Motorsports reopened Nashville. And that was probably because SMI was going to buy them out. And as I said earlier this year, I think Dover will stay because it's a unique race track. But Nashville, it's just a cookie cutter with concrete that's slightly smaller. Meanwhile, you got a short track in downtown that would bring a lot more fan interest. So with that out of the way, let's get to the news. Daniel Suarez will sport the Made in America Jockey branding at Road America. Chase Elliott of Wednesday joined a celebration of Georgia champions in Atlanta. Winning the college football playoff national championship trophy and the Atlanta Braves 2021 World Series trophy. NASCAR is working on a new Dale Earnhardt merchandise line. Of course, they're working with the Wicked Witch herself, Teresa Earnhardt. And that's because of the Intimidators brand is fashionable thanks to the recent trend of wearing old NASCAR shirts and stuff. Pick and Save Pharmacies will be sponsoring Rick Easton House Jr. at Road America. The American Hat Company will provide cowboy hats for the Texas Motor Speedway winning tradition. Jeff Hensley will be returning to GMS Racing to serve as the crew chief for Grant and Finger. Junior Motorsports is still eyeing a cup entry. Junior, of course, blurted out his live Dale Jr. download show at Old Red. I actually went to Old Red a few weeks prior and tried it out. Of course, no Dale Jr. but I'd say I think it was overpriced and the food was just not that good. Apparently, Earnhardt Miller also confirmed the Cup Series entry when on Series 6M earlier this week. So, I'd say that they're going to be part of the Cup Series in the future. But who should be their first driver? I think if they go part-time, they should go with a mix of their current drivers as well as a veteran that can get the most out of their equipment. Right now, I'm thinking Parker Klickerman. Parker has really shown what he can do in the 75 in the trucks and the 96 in the cup. And so, I think he would be a great first choice to run for JRM. Ty Dillon and Black Hole Emma will be joining forces with JD Motorsports to run the Enrode America Xfinity Race. And of course, that leads to Ryan Vargas going to the 47. Hector Eniogata will be running two Xfinity races for NBM Motorsports. Now let's take a look at the Nashville TV ratings. Prior to the first red flag in the cup race, NBC was averaging a 1.81 rating with 2.1. 921 million viewers according to Adam Stern, which was beating the full race on NBCSN, which got a 1.5 rating and 2.59 million viewers. Of course, both races were promoted very heavily, but it shows once again that A, cable is dying and two, who knows what would have been if NBC didn't boot NASCAR to cable and if the rain did not happen. They could have maybe gotten into the 2.0 range or higher in ratings and over 3 million viewers. But we'll never know thanks to you, NBC and mother nature. Bubba Wallace has been nominated for Sportsman of the Year at the BET Awards. A tire test has been held at Martinsville. This was to come up with a new tire compound for the racetrack after the bad race in March. Fox has said that they are interested in moving the NASCAR All-Star Race. In my opinion, this is a big win for NASCAR fans for Fox to do this because it's clear that now their fans and drivers and now the network does not want the All-Star Race at Texas. And so, like with Bristol Dirt, I think Fox will get what it wants. They're going to move it elsewhere. I see this as probably the guarantee that the Texas All-Star Race is dead because I think TV has a final say on the schedule because we saw that with the Bristol Dirt Race. And if TV doesn't want Texas Motor Speedway as its All-Star Race, then they're going to move it. I think they are definitely going to move it if Fox doesn't want it. Josh Ferroni has said that his goal is to race in a NASCAR Cup Series. Not sure what rides will be available in the future, but we'll see. Martin Trucks Jr. has finally said that he will return to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, although they are still working on a contract as far as I know. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has signed a multi-year extension with JTG Geordie Racing, which means that probably JTG Geordie will be staying in the sport for the long term and will not be selling their charter after this year. And here's one that I'm very happy for. Toyota Racing has brought back the Sponsifier Program for 2022. At first, this will be for customizing a paint scheme for the Sponsifier Contest and apparently after that, they'll have the Sponsifier Program for all fans available like they did in the past. And that's something that I'm really excited for because that was my childhood man. I remember when I'd spend hours customizing paint schemes. It was just fun and you can come up with all kinds of custom paint schemes. Any time that I have access to a computer during that time, whether it be on my parents' Windows XP laptops or my grandfather's Macbook or iMac, I would do it. NASCAR is changing the process on calling cautions. After the controversy, we'll be routinely calling a caution flag before riding the lane across the finish line at the All-Star Race. We'll just get on them. Australian supercar driver, Roddy Casticchi, is interested in NASCAR and is looking to run part-time in the Cup Series along with his Australian commitments next season. So keep an eye on that. Kevin Harvick has gotten new pit crew members at National, probably after the whole debacle at Sonoma. The Pocono Xfinity Race has been named the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225. Rachman Raceway has partnered with Worldwide Express for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff Race entitlement. Next, let's take a look at the Knoxville TV ratings. The Knoxville Truck Race had 625,000 viewers, up 4% from last year, and up 16% from the Nashville Race that ran on the same weekend last year. So that's very good for the truck race. Kyle Tilley will be returning to WinFast Motorsports for the Road America Race. Kyle Petty's chariot ride across America has raised $1.8 million for Victory Junction, which is great to see. Vavoline and Hintergarten Sports have extended their relationship through 2027. The Truck Series race at Pocono has been moved from FS1 to Fox at noon on July 23rd. The last time that they did that was in 2020 when they moved to Fox, probably because of the introduction of Haley Deegan, because she made her first start. And that was probably the big moment that put Haley Deegan in the spotlight for the first time, when they put that truck race on Fox. And they haven't done that in a while, so I wonder if there's something interesting that Fox is planning for the Pocono race for them to do that, or they're just a scheduling conflict. We'll have to see. After winning the SRX race at Five Flags, Helio Castronippus is looking to run in an X-Car race, particularly the Daytona 500, and apparently someone he knows from the SRX is apparently getting him a ride. So, in my opinion, I see Helio Castronippus going to Project 91 and running the race with Track House, and maybe running some more if he wants. Maybe he could run the Breakyard 400 if it comes back. Maybe he'll attempt the Memorial Day Double, but we'll have to see. The Chicago Street Course is looking likely for the 2023 Cup schedule, and apparently it'll replace Road America. So this weekend could be the last weekend that Road America is on the schedule for a little bit. Maybe they come back when another race gets replaced. Maybe they don't leave. Maybe they replace another race. We'll have to see, but the future is looking grim for Road America. Camping World has yet to renew its Truck Series sponsorship deal. Dexter Bean will be returning to DGM Racing at Road America. Richmond Raceway names Lori Collier Warren as track president. And finally, some sad news. A NASCAR Hall of Famer and a legend in the track promotion and ownership industry, Bruton Smith, has passed away. He was the founder and executive chairman of Sonic Automotive, Speedway Motorsports, and Speedway Children's Charities. And he passed at the age of 95 due to natural causes. And look what he did. He lit up Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 90s when everyone thought that a mile and a half was too big of a track to light up. He turned Bresta Motor Speedway into the last great coliseum. He built state-of-the-art venues for NASCAR in the 90s, despite how bad the racing was. And overall, he just helped NASCAR become relevant in the 90s with the ATTRAC experience. And it was him promoting his races, as well as his promoters like the infamous Humphrey Wheeler that led to the rise of SMI as probably the dominant force of track ownership besides ISC, now NASCAR. And I actually met him in 2012 when I went for the All-Star Race weekend. I remember walking around the midway when all of a sudden I see this Mercedes driving up it and security moving people out of the way. Guess who it was? Bruton Smith. He stopped right by us and so me and my dad asked for his autograph. And he was happy to. He signed it and I still have that program today. And he drove off toward the track. And I will never forget that day, thanks to the kind gesture he made by signing my program. May you rest in peace, Bruton. And I'm praying for his family who's going through this right now, that they get through it. And so that's it for the news. Now finally, let's preview this weekend's races at Road America. Starting off with the Xfinity race, we have the Henry 180. The race will be on July 2nd at 2.30pm Eastern Time. And the race will be on USA and MRM. So for my pick, I gotta go with AJ Almendinger. AJ is just the dominant force on road courses. He won at Kota and he won at Portland. Although this time, he'll have a challenge with two drivers, of course Tyler Reddick's in the race. And Kyle Larson is also in the race, driving for Hendrick's first entry in the Xfinity series since 2009. But I think AJ as a veteran will come out on top and win at Road America. And finally the Cup race, we have the Quick Trip 250 presented by Jockey Made in America. The race will be 62 laps and 250 miles. And the race will be on July 3rd at 3.00pm Eastern Time on USA and MRM. So let's take a look at the weather for Road America. Intervals of clouds and sunshine with a high of 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds southwest at 10-15 mph and a chance of rain of 24%. So it'll be a little breezy, but I think there'll be enough shade from the clouds that you won't overheat. And there's also a slight chance of rain, probably I guess the possibility of a pop-up, which could also cool things off a little bit. So for my pick, you gotta go with Chase Elliott. Although Chase Elliott hasn't won a road course race since this race last year, I think this time he'll go back to back and he'll get the victory at Road America. And so that's it for this week's episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe for more. And if you're going out to Road America this weekend, or if you go to the SRX race at Stafford, I hope you have a good time. And if you're not, have a good time wherever you are. And I'll see you next week.