Jimmie Johnson Almost Clinches in Phoenix
Sunday November 9, 2008
Jimmie Johnson had a chance to hold the 2008 Sprint Cup today in Phoenix. He did everything he could including leading the most laps and winning the race. However Carl Edwards finished fourth and forced the Championship to go to the final race next week in Homestead.
Today's race highlighted the love that ABC has for NASCAR. When two red flags sent the race past its scheduled time ABC bumped NASCAR to cable on the eastern half of the country. To make matters worse ABC didn't want to disturb SportsCenter on ESPN so they bumped the Sprint Cup race all the way to ESPN2.
If ABC hates NASCAR so much that they would rather show America's Funniest Home Videos than the finish of a live NASCAR race then they need to give the coverage to a network that cares.
Comments
ABC probably realized that no one gave a damn any more.
Well, for those of us that dvr the races so we can fast forward through hours of commercials, that really sucked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any company that continually uses Brent Musberger for their biggest games / events is definitely over the hill. Use FOX year round Nascar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If the race would have been a nail-biter, then ABC would have probably shown it in its entirety. However, everyone knew that Jimmie Johnson was going to win. It seems very strange to me that Johnson could not dominate until the chase. And it seems even stranger to me that a team that clearly had the dominate car for the first 26 races has done nothing but struggle in the chase. Does Nascar favor the Hendrick team? I believe the answer is a profound yes. Tony Stewart was exactly right when he compared Nascar to the WWF last year.
Let not pick on ABC. Isn’t it still a Mickey Mouse outfit? Obviously there is more of an income loss from preempting America’s Funniest Home Videos than keeping NASCAR live coast to coast.Also, what about those poor fans still in the dark ages that don’t get ESPAN 1,2,3, 12 etc? Bottom line counts race fans. Lets not blame Jimmie either just because Cousin Carl’s car was faster and seemed not to be able,strangely, to pass the last few cars to take him. That’s NASCAR’s programed racing. Oops that implies that the race is rigged Tony. My bottom line as a 62 year old fan from the good ole boys days. Stay with Fox all year round. Get rid of this chase bull(fill in the four letter blanks). Except for safety considerations remove all the other rules and get back to what made auto racing fun. PURE COMPETION AND YANKEE, OR SOUTHERN INGENUITY.
ABC You Suck! Nuff said
Don’t forget that NASCAR took away horsepower from the Toyotas because cousin Carl and boss Jack cried because they were winning too much.Maybe they will take away from the Chevy’s and Carl can win a championship. The announcers will be happy on ABC, because thats all they seem to want to talk about is Carl Edwards.
I don’t live in the dark ages and only use an antenna. I CHOOSE not to pay for a bunch of programming that I never watch. I agree, switch all races to FOX. Even if it was a close race, it sounds to me like they would have moved it to ESPN2 anyway. And you got to be kidding that Funniest Home Videos is watched more than NASCAR?!! They must have really strange contracts to MAKE them switch to the regular programming. I was really upset…and this time along with my wife! Would they do that to game 6 of the World Series?…NO…They will probably do it next week if the same thing happens…GOD FORBID!
All I can say is that ABC did a lot of people wrong. I do have ESPN 2, but my Dad don’t and he had to call me to see who won. If ABC is going to show sporting event they should show the WHOLE thing. If this was a football game it would have been showed all the way to the end. I seem to remember a football game that was not shown all the way though because the network had to start “The Wonderful World of Disney” on time on NBC, remember the grief they got! As Nascar fans we need to stand up for our rights and have the whole race show on ABC, and I mean all of the races that ABC has and not put most of them of ESPN.
Well the car of the future is now looking as if it is the car of yesteryear. Ratings are off, sponcers are getting scared, auto manufactures are going to withdraw there support it looks like, and ABC has a thight grip on there groin as well, and chose to air a higher rating tv program.
The good ole boys like myself have not accepted change very well and now our economy has delt another blow to the younger generation of racing fans.
Points to ponder, Has the car of the future truly made saftey and interest or racing any better?
Has the chase program been a very good decision for the viewing audiance?
Can NASCAR still put on a program next season if General motors or Ford go out of business? OR broke I might add.
I am looking forward to those of you who live the rush of racing to put your feeling on here.
Please don’t take me wrong here, I am just trying to see if I am the only one who disagree’s with the managenent!
Good luck to all the drivers and their saftey!
IF IT WWAS FOOTBALL OR ANY OTHER SSPOTS EVENT .. IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN PRIORITY… JUST A CROCK OF B.S. THE WAY IT WAS TELEVISED!!
CW,, fotball has a higher rating than NASCAR anymore.
car of tomorrow? thats B.S..lets get back to real racing.NASCAR in the safest sport out there.the drivers now that they could get hurt or worse.the reason they drive is because the have the cahonies to get in the cars in the first place.get back to racing the way it is supposed to be.as fast as you can go.
I don’t give a s–t anymore what they do. My supposed significant other reamed me out big time just because I did’t want Johnson to win, so i’ve sworn off nascar. When you aren’t allowed to express your own opinion what’s the use of caring? Thought this was a free country, seems I was wrong, at least in this household. Good luck to all of you out there. I’ve enjoyed being able to express my opinion amongst all of you without being reamed out. It’s been a true pleasure.