<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3Y9xiS_0vpfQxwn00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3Y9xiS_0vpfQxwn00" width="640" height="426" ><figcaption>(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)</figcaption></figure>Kansas Speedway has slowly become one of NASCAR’s most competitive tracks in recent years. Outside of the three superspeedway tracks (Daytona International Superspeedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway), Sunday’s (Sept. 29) race had the second-highest number of lead changes (30) all season.Compared to recent weeks, there was a little more discussion about the race itself during Countdown to Green. It was a welcome change as compared to the race being treated as nothing more than a means to an end with the playoffs. I suppose that’s mainly due to the fact that it was the first race of the Round of 12.The first lap saw the biggest incident of the day break out when Ty Dillon and Harrison Burton collided exiting turn 2 and spun, collecting Josh Berry and Jimmie Johnson. Everyone continued except for Berry, who ended up with four flat tires.A lot of the focus here was on Chase Elliott, who started at the rear of the field after his team changed engines following qualifying. NASCAR considered Elliott to have been involved in the incident, but he didn’t make contact with any of the other four drivers.The biggest takeaway from this incident (other than the fact that Johnson just can’t buy a break in the Next Gen car) is that Berry was ruled out of the race because of a complete refusal by NASCAR to tow the car back to the pits. Once again, this is infuriating. If I ran NASCAR, one of the first things I’d do is kill the Damaged Vehicle Policy. It is an embarrassment to the sport.On USA Network, this situation really wasn’t discussed all that much at all. We caught up with Berry at the infield care center and he was a frustrated man. I don’t blame him.<div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e2LYASlY_Qg?feature=oembed" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div>This is a topic that really should have been covered on the broadcast, especially being so early in the race. USA Network did a disservice to the fans by not doing so. Due to this dumb rule, Berry’s race was over 25 seconds after the green flag.I’m still really confused about it knowing that NASCAR instituted a rule change a few weeks ago that allows lifters to be installed on the rear shock absorbers of the car. It allows the rear of the car to lift at the push of a button solely for this reason.After watching the above clip and reading Berry’s quotes from Ford after the race (which is literally our video), I’m unclear whether or not Berry’s car had the lifting system installed as it was never mentioned. Perhaps that system could have prevented this stupidity or mitigated it a little.Sunday’s race had quite a bit of racing for position. The broadcast did a decent job of showing it, but the early portion of the race was definitely not the best at the front. Christopher Bell dominated that action, leading 121 of the first 161 laps. It would have been more than that had Bell not hit the wall on lap 73.According to NASCAR’s Loop Data, the race was a little less competitive than last year, but there were more lead changes. The difference was minor, though. We’re talking two-tenths of a pass per green flag lap and 95 passes total over a 267-lap race that had two more laps under yellow compared to last year. That’s effectively nothing.Compared to Bristol Motor Speedway last week, this race had much less of a playoff focus. As a result, it was just nicer to watch in general. Having additional racing for position definitely helped, but the constant point updates were just crushing in Bristol.The expanded focus allowed additional drivers to get coverage. Zane Smith had an excellent run on Sunday to finish 10th. Prior to the last six weeks or so, Smith’s rookie season has been miserable. That’s why Leigh Diffey made note of the fact that Smith was legitimately up front without any kind of alternate strategy with 30 laps to go. Yes, he used a two-tire stop to get up front just after halfway, but he pitted from 11th.Naturally, the aforementioned expanded focus didn’t really apply for the whole race. While Smith had been running in and around the top 10 for a good chunk of the race, the broadcasters didn’t really mention him much.The coverage of Kyle Busch’s incident late in the race was pretty definitive. Chastain was running down Busch for the lead when Busch caught Chase Briscoe. I was getting a little nervous when Busch went to the outside. When he caught the wall and spun, everyone thought heck was going to go down.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">KYLE BUSCH SPINS FROM THE LEAD! 📺 : <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NASCARPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">#NASCARPlayoffs</a> | USA Network <a href="https://t.co/1FcHvLej3b" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">pic.twitter.com/1FcHvLej3b</a>— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASCARonNBC/status/1840511714627907827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">September 29, 2024</a><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);"></blockquote>Sure enough, heck did not go down. The replays showed that there was no actual contact between the two drivers. Yes, Briscoe pinched Busch a little, but there was nothing evil here.Ross Chastain, Sunday’s winner, really didn’t get all that much coverage on Sunday. He was around, but not really for that much of the race. He only came to the forefront in the final stage thanks to a bit of pit strategy.Post-race coverage was quite a bit shorter than that was originally planned. For some reason, USA Network only scheduled the race for a three-hour timeslot. I have no idea why this keeps happening. Just looking at recent races at Kansas would have told you that it wouldn’t have worked.As it stands, the race ended with roughly five minutes remaining in what would have been the slot for NASCAR America Post-Race. Despite this, there was still a decent amount of post-race coverage. Viewers got a few post-race interviews, not all of which were with playoff drivers.Overall, Kansas delivered a great race for fans to watch. It was very competitive and fun. I’m very happy with the on-track product. The problem is that this type of track might be the only one where the on-track product is good right now.The broadcast itself had good aspects. Yes, there was discussion of the playoffs during the race, but it didn’t control the race.When Kyle Larson smacked the wall on lap 19, USA Network did a great job showing how the right-rear tire went down that put him in the wall and how his pit crew was able to affect repairs to the rear splitter.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">KYLE LARSON HITS THE WALL! He continues on but brings out the yellow. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NASCARPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">#NASCARPlayoffs</a><a href="https://t.co/i3yP2apfZp" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">pic.twitter.com/i3yP2apfZp</a>— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASCARonNBC/status/1840473079266369927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer">September 29, 2024</a><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);"></blockquote>Other stories emerged during the day, and they were properly covered. The exception to the rule was the aforementioned Berry issue. That was frustrating to me and should have gotten some coverage.That’s all for this week. Coming up this weekend, there will be stomach-churning as NASCAR returns to Talladega. Once again, it will be a tripleheader at the 2.66-mile tri-oval since the NASCAR Xfinity Series is back on the schedule.ARCA has two of its series racing on Saturday (Oct. 5). The national ARCA Menards Series will wrap its season up at Toledo Speedway with the green flag set to fly at 4 p.m. ET. FS2 and FloRacing will provide live coverage. Then at 10:45 p.m. ET, the ARCA Menards Series West will compete at All American Speedway with coverage also provided by FloRacing.Outside of Talladega and ARCA racing, the Intercontinental GT Challenge will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 8 Hour. TV listings can be found here.If you have a gripe with me or just want to say something about my critique, feel free to post in the comments below. Even though I can’t always respond, I do read your comments. Also, if you want to “like” me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, please click on the appropriate icons. If you would like to contact either of NASCAR’s media partners, click on either of the links below.As always, if you choose to contact a network by email, do so in a courteous manner. Network representatives are far more likely to respond to emails that ask questions politely rather than emails full of rants and vitriol.Sign up for the Frontstretch NewsletterA daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.comWe hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Couch Potato Tuesday: Kansas Brings Competitive Racing, Lack of Josh Berry Coverage

Kansas Speedway has slowly become one of NASCAR’s most competitive tracks in recent years. Outside of the three superspeedway tracks (Daytona International Superspeedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway), Sunday’s (Sept. 29) race had the second-highest number of lead changes (30) all season. Compared to recent weeks, there...

Couch Potato Tuesday: Kansas Brings Competitive Racing, Lack of Josh Berry Coverage

Comments / 0