ESPN and Yellow Flag Restarts

Opinion by Bruce Simmons

It is a constant complaint from NASCAR fans. Why do the networks seem to miss so many restarts? I've noted this on my own blog at Yellow Flag Restarts on ESPN , and apparently I am not alone.

ABC's broadcast of Saturday night's Nextel Cup race from Richmond missed a few of the 12 restarts. One time, the network missed the restart and before commercials ended, caution came out again for oil on the track.

Ah, according to their best 'reason' for being the only broadcaster to miss restarts, ESPN is quoted to saying:
"Extending caution laps when we're in a commercial -- we try to do our breaks after pit stops around yellow flags -- could ultimately affect the game or affect the race because so many fuel-mile stories are involved in any given time."

And this shoddy coverage isn't going to change any time soon:
"The idea of running extra laps is not something under consideration at this time..."

Well, as I've heard time and time again, at least our sport is ON TV, even if it's sub par to what I have become accustomed to on other networks who manage to catch ALL the restarts.

See the entire detailed article over at The Roanoke Times