Top Row Seat - Texas Motor Speedway
One week ago NASCAR saw a future hall-of-famer get his fiftieth victory. This week, one of NASCAR's future stars broke through for the first Winston Cup win of his career.
For most of the afternoon there was little doubt that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the car to beat in Texas. The real question was whether or not the unforgiving Texas Motor Speedway would allow a rookie to escape with the victory. But Dale drove a smart race (even though his crew had to keep reminding him to slow down) and escaped one of the toughest tracks on the schedule with his first win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr is the 150th person in history to win a NASCAR Winston Cup event and he is now just 74 victories (and 7 championships) behind his father.
Frustration
It's a shame that CBS and Ken Squire had to be in victory lane to interview the Earnhardt family. This was an historic moment rich with tradition and emotion as the senior Earnhardt sees his son achieve success in the big leagues. Then race fans everywhere cringed as Ken Squire arrived in victory lane.
First of all talk to the winner first, not his Dad. Let's hear the first time winner struggle to remember all of his sponsors and crew names while the excited crowd climbs all over him. Let's hear the emotion in his voice and see it in his eyes. Instead we heard Dale Sr. give his son's victory lane speech for him because Ken stuck his microphone in the wrong face first.
And don't even get me started about the lack of post-race interviews. I know CBS was behind schedule because the race was running long but what do the others drivers think of the win? How about Jeff Burton? Did he think he had enough to catch Jr? Bobby LaBonte was strong all day, how was his car running at the end? Does anybody but me care that Kevin LePage had a career best day? I'd have loved to heard his reaction after the race. And the list goes on and on....
If the networks are not going to bother to provide quality race coverage then they should leave the races to ESPN. Thank god for RPM2Night.
I am afraid for the future of NASCAR. Beginning next year all of the races are on broadcast television. Is this the level of commitment that race fans can expect?
