Darlington Raceway always has an interesting event.
You never know what’s going to happen. Also, the weekend served as an unofficial throwback weekend for NASCAR.
A number of retired drivers were at the track for a reunion on Sunday (March 22). Dave Marcis was there, Goodyear hat and all, to wave the green flag. Mark Martin was in the house to drive the pace car. Harry Gant was the co-grand marshal.
Likely the most notable special guest was Darrell Waltrip. It’s been over 25 years since he retired from driving and about seven years since he retired from the booth.
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Waltrip joined his younger brother Michael for the grid walk prior to the race. Let’s just say that it was a complete 180 as compared to the one at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the week before. You didn’t have stupid shenanigans. The drivers seemed to have a much higher level of respect for Darrell than Michael, and it showed. It seemed like it was a lot more than just the drivers being happy to see him.
Darrell also joined the broadcast booth for the opening 42 laps of the race. During that time, he’d chime in from time to time. For being out of the booth for nearly seven years, he was accurate in that some of the teams didn’t compensate as much for the lower amount of downforce on the cars with most of the diffuser strakes being taken away.
There was a virtual cutaway car piece that showed that the removal of diffuser strakes and a one-inch cut in the rear spoiler height took away roughly 20% of downforce from the car. That’s significant. If you don’t account for that in your setup, you’re going to have a bad time.
In his time in the booth, Darrell spoke up maybe four times but got cut off at least once. This is one of the issues I have with more than three people in the broadcast booth during a race. It’s hard to get in a word edgewise, and if you do, you might cut someone off to do it. We discussed this after the Phoenix Raceway race when Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe joined the booth for stage two.
The on-track product Sunday was pretty interesting at times, but it likely won’t appeal to everyone. There was a lot of green flag racing, but it didn’t seem like there was a lot of racing for position shown at times.
When there was a good amount of passing, we didn’t really see a lot of it. For example, Tyler Reddick drove up from seventh to second and made up nearly 14 seconds after his first pit stop on Brad Keselowski. You didn’t really see a lot of his movement up the order. You just saw him when he got to the front. I found that a little frustrating. That happened multiple times on Sunday. If anything, viewers got a better idea of how Carson Hocevar was doing moving up the order than with Reddick.
NASCAR’s Loop Data indicates that there was slightly more passing Sunday as compared to this race last year (12 passes per green flag lap as compared to 11.8). However, we must note that last year’s race had four extra cautions and only one round of stops under green. As a result, it’s a little hard to compare the two events.
Likely, the part of Reddick’s day that FOX Sports covered the best was the charging issues with the battery in the No. 45 car. That resulted in Reddick having to go without air conditioning for the entire race in 90-degree weather. Not swell.
That said, Clint Bowyer noted that the replacement battery that went into Reddick’s car was much bigger than the old one. I feel like weight distribution plays a role here, but I wanted a more substantial explanation for that situation. That might not have been possible on Sunday since 23XI Racing didn’t have the time to diagnose everything, but I’d like to know more about that situation.
Also, during the race, there was a plea from Mike Joy to help with the ongoing process to save Greenville-Pickens Speedway from developers.
It should be noted that Joy is correct that Greenville-Pickens hosted the first live, flag-to-flag broadcast of a race in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was a 200-lap race on April 10, 1971, that aired on ABC’s Wide World of Sports with something of an all-star crew on the broadcast (Jim McKay in the booth with Ken Squier and Chris Economaki in the pits).
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Frontstretch has covered the recent hearings in South Carolina. There is a potential buyer for the property who wants to bring racing back to the facility, in addition to a developer, RealtyLink LLC, that wants to tear it down as part of an industrial development.
There were some technical issues with the pylon on multiple occasions during the race. Most notably, the pylon was showing the wrong drivers at the top of the order during the last round of green-flag stops and incorrect intervals. Joy explained what happened on X after the race.
The race ended pretty quickly due to the low number of cautions (yes, it was still over three hours, but it was within the scheduled time slot). Viewers got a few post-race interviews, a points check and some post-race analysis prior to FOX Sports 1 leaving for “Firebird.”
Thinkin’ Out Loud at Darlington: Putting the ‘Race’ Back Into Race Car
One of the big stories entering this weekend was that Darlington is using the short track package with 750 horsepower this year. The concern going in was that handling was going to be really tough.
Watching the broadcast, it was pretty obvious who was handling really well (Ex: Reddick) and who was not (Joey Logano). However, it seems the teams did really well dialing in their cars. Then again, the high tire wear can mask some of the handling characteristics.
Overall, the race was a little light on actual racing for position at times. We did get some split-screens of multiple battles, but it seemed like there was only so much to go around at the front of the field. Bubba Wallace crashing in stage two ruined his day and likely hurt the amount of passing at the front of the field.
My advice would be not to be shy to search for action. It doesn’t have to be at the very front of the field. You can find something eventually.
For example, NASCAR Channel showed the 1991 TranSouth 500 Sunday night, and that race had a 235-lap run under green. Michael Waltrip was dominating and at one point was 27 seconds ahead of second-place Ricky Rudd. How do you make that exciting for viewers? Cover other stories up and down the field. I feel like that FOX Sports just doesn’t do enough of that when it would benefit the sport at large.
That’s all for this week. Next weekend, NASCAR will make its first visit of the year to Martinsville Speedway. The Cup Series will headline with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on the undercard.
The ARCA Menards Series East begins its season with its first-ever trip to Hickory Motor Speedway. That race will take place on Saturday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. ET with live coverage on FloRacing and the NASCAR Channel.
The NTT IndyCar Series will be back in action at Barber Motorsports Park, while Formula 1 will be at Suzuka and SRO America will begin its 2026 season in Sonoma. TV listings can be found here.
In next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here at Frontstretch, we’ll take a look at the Cup broadcast from Martinsville. The Critic’s Annex will look at the Drivers Only broadcast from Friday night in Darlington.
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I think the coverage is fair however I totally agree that they leave out alot of other story lines that could be reported on. Like Logano, McDowell, and other names that fans are interested in. They just don’t spend enough time on why they are having a bad doy or any explanations of any issue etc.. You really only get good intel on 5 or 6 guys each race. Happy to see DW and some of the others..for sure!
Covering just the front of the field has been an issue for a long time. TV seems to forget that every driver has fans, and they would appreciate an update on their favorite, no matter where they are running. Attending in person allows fans the chance to keep track of many drivers in the field, not just the leaders.
i thought it was interesting when joy asked dw if he wanted to stay around and dw said no.
i miss pre-race and grid walk. it should had been apparent to michael how the drivers acted towards dw vs. him. but alas, michael doesn’t have a clue. he’s still dw’s younger brother in his mind.
I was listening when Joy asked the question and they all laughed afterward, so he was joking when he said no. He also stayed for 42 laps so that should have been a sign as well. Unfortunately, that meant we had to hear that stupid boogity call at the green flag again.
Its no secret how low Mikey has stooped over the years to keep his gig. As long as he gets paid for it, he doesn’t have to find a real job.
1. Michael Waltrip’s Gridwalk has to go. It’s just about Michael’s ego.
2. I wonder how much the weight distribution changed in Reddick’s car after the much bigger and therefore heavier battery was installed. Something sure changed when the big one was installed.
Jammie Mc and Parker are starting to get as bad as Mikey W. There talk off each other and never stop. Adam A. gets a word in every once in a while.
Thanks as always, Phil. Your skill for distilling down broadcasts is impressive, and you often write things which affirm to me I’m not going crazy. Well, maybe I am, but I nearly always agree with your observations.
I thought this was one of Fox’s better broadcasts in recent years, though that’s not a terribly high bar to cross. Most key events pertaining to top runners were covered, and well explained. I also enjoyed this race in general. Drivers mattered, setups mattered, pit crews mattered, and the fastest team won.
I also thought it odd Reddick’s drive back to the front mostly went ignored. Was watching the ticker, and thinking he was storming back to the front, which seemed low hanging fruit for the announcers to inject more excitement.
I also agree Fox spends too much time at the front of the field, often when nothing interesting is happening. Much rather see a battle down the order than the top five strung out.
I realize having drivers in the booth brings interest due to them being somewhat famous, but I do miss the days of a professional announcer by trade truly controlling the broadcast. Barney Hall is the greatest ever in my opinion, Bob Jenkins was great, and there are of course others. Find a great anchor (Mike Joy is OK, but not really magnetic), keep one driver in the booth, and let them go.
Also wondered about Reddick’s weight distribution with the new battery, and also wondered whether the car would fail post race due to weight, but this was never discussed on air.
I’ve noticed at the beginning of races the ticker doesn’t show the running order until the 3rd lap. I wonder why this is the case? They know the running order at the start and have timing loops all around the track, it seems the running order should be available right from the start.
forgot how much I haven’t missed Waltrip. Still the same loudmouth he always was…..
He didn’t get the nickname “Jaws” for nothing!