Ryan Newman is NASCAR's Rodney Dangerfield

Ryan Newman #31 (Photo credit: CANDID1PHOTO)

 Ryan Newman gets no respect

When Ryan Newman ran his qualifying lap Saturday, who knew? Despite posting the second fastest run at the time, Newman was one of the few, if not the only driver that wasn't shown on television. 

I was watching, waiting for him, but never did get a glimpse of the red and white #31. It was merely announced that Newman placed second. I an so tired of not seeing his lap. And, this isn't the first time.


As usual, Newman's on-track performance took a back seat to other more important broadcasting priorities. There must have been a commercial or a vital interview.  ESPN is not the only network; FOX likes to ignore Newman too. I wish Newman's fans would start calling them on it. 

NASCAR broadcasters need to do a better job, to at least appear unbiased, if they ever expect to be taken seriously. A reputation in journalism, like any other profession, needs to be earned. 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Photo credit: kagilbert45)

Newman is smart and witty. He has an incredible sense of humor that I, for one, would like to see more of. Newman speaks his mind though, NASCAR doesn't like that. For NASCAR, it is all about control. Perhaps NASCAR should realize that attitude lacks traction with the viewing public. Perhaps it is NASCAR itself that keeps fans from filling those seats at race venues. It was shocking how many empty seats there were at Indy during the Brickyard 400.


It is somewhat ironic that ESPN should ignore Newman, since he was last year's Brickyard winner. Until Kevin Harvick qualified, Newman held the track speed record. Imagine this year's coverage, had Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won last year...

Sunday's race

While Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway did not end quite the way I wanted--with a second consecutive victory for Ryan Newman and his #31 Quicken Loans car--Jeff Gordon deserves congratulations for a well-executed race. His fifth career win at Indy is impressive.

Newman, who ultimately finished in the top 12 fought hard to better his track position all day. With an error in his first green flag pit stop, he lost positions that were difficult to make back up. But, his perseverance will keep him eligible to make the Chase for the Championship, as of now. 

I miss the Speed Channel

Speed (TV channel) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There could not have been a better illustration of what was lost to fans of motor sports when Fox Sports 1 took over the SPEED channel, than the race at Chicagoland that was postponed because of rain.

If it wasn't for Twitter, it would have been impossible to have known if or when the race would restart or where it would be broadcast. The too many ESPN channels, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 were void of updates on the restart of the race. I'm sure plenty of race fans missed out because they had no information about when the race would restart or where it would be broadcast.

Eventually there were comments on Twitter claiming the race would restart and be telecast on ESPN2, but that was of little consequence when funny cars and rails sped down the quarter mile. There was no hint of NASCAR either on the television screen or in the programming guide.

Gone are the days when events related to a race were shown on SPEED. It was nice to have a place to go for information. Now, that is completely up in the air.

There were jokes on Twitter about the jet dryer 400, but I can't tell you how many times the progress of drying the track and monitoring the chatter among race analysts provided a helpful backdrop while cooking dinner or other household chores. When a race is pending due to rain, life may go on, but it doesn't go on far from the television. It is difficult to admit, but just being able to check in on progress being made was oddly comforting.

While I understand a desire to portray NASCAR as a sport on a par with football, baseball, etc., it is not the same thing. For anyone that follows NASCAR but has no interest in college basketball or national football, we seem to be out of luck.

It is very frustrating to watch Race Day and then experience a complete void for an hour or more before the race starts. I assume the whole idea behind Race Day was to get fans pumped up for the race. Now it simply leaves us hanging.

Specifically this weekend showed the frustration in trying to stay on top of NASCAR news. This had to be very frustrating to fans that are not users of social media or subscribers to Sirius XM radio. If it wasn't for Twitter, I would not have known how to watch the end of the race.

If you are not a Twitter user now would be a good time to start.

Talladega bites Newman again

Image via WikipediaIts Talladega, a wildcard race 

Once again, high hopes were dashed at Talladega for Ryan Newman. 

At least the drama surrounding the crash that ruined his day was minimal, with all four wheels still on the ground, thank goodness. 

The race started out so promising, with Newman and Tony Stewart working together and leading laps. They seemingly figured out how to make it all work. Who would have thought that a mistake by the boss man would ruin Ryan's day? 

Newman's quick short-cut from one end of the track to the other after being nudged in just the wrong way by Stewart, resulted in so much front end damage. Newman didn't even hit anything. But, what a mess! Leave it to Newman's rocky relationship with Lady Luck to screw up his day. 

Race Buddy

One of the positives about watching the race this weekend was Race Buddy. It was nice to see Race Buddy back on ESPN after it wasn't excluded from last week's coverage on ABC. Race Buddy is a real enhancement to enjoying the race, especially one at Talladega. It is sometimes difficult to follow a specific driver, who doesn't happen to be the ever-popular Dale Earnhardt, Jr. no matter where he is on the track and who is talked about incessantly by commentators. I really Race Buddy allowing me to enjoy enjoyed riding with Tony Stewart as he pushed his teammate to the lead several times. The varied camera angles make watching racing much more enjoyable. I hold my breath though, with the hope that this service remains consistent and free. 


Image via WikipediaCongratulations to Clint Bowyer,...

While the last lap of the race was stellar, and it was great to see Clint Bowyer win again, the racing at Talladega leaves lots to be desired. Tandem running really isn't racing. For drivers to have to rely on other drivers to achieve success at this track, taking their own driving prowess out of their own hands, just doesn't seem right. 

That isn't to say that parts of the race weren't exciting. I have to admit that I enjoyed much of the race, even though it was a very different kind of enjoyment. It is certainly an improvement over the single-file stay-in-the-back-until-the-end kind of racing it used to be. But, it would be nice to watch drivers back in control of their own destiny. 

Sprint Cup Race at Michigan

Whew! What an interesting race. I don't know how much of the actual race I saw. I was so busy monitoring points, positions, and times on NASCAR.com's live leaderboard that I probably missed some of the action on the track.

The early part of the race was disheartening as I watched a very frustrated Ryan Newman struggle with an ill-handling racecar. I have to hand it to his crew, however, because they pulled together to get the car drivable again. And the two-tire strategy to get track position was just what the doctor ordered. It was enjoyable to watch Ryan start picking off positions once again. This race could have been a total disaster for him in the points standings, but they pulled it out, leaving him with a no-gain, no-loss scenario. The way this race started today, that is good enough for me. Ryan remains 9th in the points standings. The pressure is really on, however.

A few of my other observations in this race include:

• Congratulations to Brian Vickers. He deserved to win one. He fought hard, especially when considering his run yesterday when he was so close.
  

• If I were Jimmy Johnson, I wouldn't listen to Chad Knaus next time he wants to try the fuel strategy game. Johnson finished 33rd. That marks twice at Michigan that he led most of the laps of the race and came up short at the end.
  

• Good run for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. However, even though it has been some time since he ran well enough to gush over, it was disgusting to hear the ESPN guys, especially Andy Petrie rave over how Dale Earnhardt, Jr. could win this race, even though he was running sixth. Yes he was the fastest on the track at the time, but that has happened before only to see him lose it and smack into the wall. Can we not have a little reality check boys? They actually put up a graphic showing Jimmy Johnson, Brian Vickers, and Dale Jr. as the commentators talked about the amount of fuel each had left. Trouble is they were running first, second, and sixth at the time. C'mon! They were practically salivating over the possibility that Jr. could win this race, totally discounting the other drivers ahead of him, not to mention those behind him who could have come from behind to win it. This Dale Jr. thing is just a wee bit sickening!
  

• Kyle Busch was not a factor in today's race. And I'll bet he wasn't happy about Vickers' win after the way the two behaved in yesterday's Nationwide race.

• Poor Kurt Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya. They were doing great until lady luck bit them where the sun doesn't shine.
  

All things considered, that's racin'. So now -- it's on to Bristol.