FOX Let's The Debris Black Helicopters Continue To Circle

Last Saturday night's Richmond race was pretty interesting as fates of drivers changed hands quickly during the different late-race cautions.

But one in particular, was when Tony Stewart was trouncing the field in his clean air and looking like the race was his to lose.

That is, until the debris caution.

Now maybe I looked away and maybe they just didn't cover it, but I don't remember seeing on the TV coverage from Fox, the debris.  Tony Stewart's been quoted in grumbling about the debris being a plastic water bottle.  But he had additional issues when his pit crew flubbed it up a bit too.

But others saw a piece of sheet metal being picked up, so maybe Tony was focused on the wrong thing.

Regardless, Dave Moody said he saw the metallic debris getting picked up and that is wasn't a water bottle.  He added during his Sirius XM NASCAR broadcast that drivers constantly toss out water bottles after leaving pit road and the they usually drift down the embankment towards the inside wall.  And we don't see cautions for those.

So be it as it may, while fans are getting in a tizzy about the mystery caution, it seems the Fox dropped the ball again on covering the debris.

Why?

Because fans get suspicious when yellow flags come out at wonderfully opportune times to gather up the field and they need to be soothed.  At least the logical ones do.

In jest, some were suggesting that the track man who picks up the debris should hold it up and pose with it until the TV coverage catches it.  I say put a helmet cam on the man, or make him tweet a picture of what he picks up.

Either way would be good evidence that would circumvent telecast oversights.

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What? No Digger Mentions From Fox?

So far this year, Fox has avoided calling out their underground camera that they nicknamed Digger in years previous.  They've used shots from the in-ground camera, and I have seen the animated furry friend on the side of the TV frame, but no mentions.

I remember the pain of Digger when it premiered and it got worse when Fox added an animated feature in 2009 for Digger, hoping to entertain the Nielsen demographic of kids.  But it seemed to not really work out.  The viewers felt insulted and I didn't hear too many good things from those fans.

So this year, as I tuned into the Fox telecast, I sit and wait for the inevitable mention... and yet, nada!  They've used the camera angle, and it is an awesome angle as the cars drive over the installation of Digger.  And I've seen the animation pull out some ads from the side of the screen and such.

(Back in the day, it had been noted way back when, that Fox's David Hill wanted an animated mascot, much like Cletus from the NFL.)

But I got wondering why they stopped mentioning Digger?  Why, after all that effort, would they be mum!

Maybe because the name Digger, as cute as it might seem, isn't the first time something animated has been named Digger.

I hate to say it, but Digger is the name for the Lamisil medication.  Digger is the animation used to represent toe-nail fungus.  Ug.

So maybe fox caught that and backed off a bit.  But with that said, I still love the camera angles the in-ground camera provides!  It's a unique and rare perspective. 

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