Nascar News

Why NASCAR on NBC FAILED the First Time

Nowadays NASCAR on NBC is the favorite broadcast partner for the majority of racing fans. With such great moments and great progress with NASCAR it was odd though to many why they broke it off with NASCAR after the 2006 season. Today we look back, at the reasons they were good, the reasons they were bad, and everything in between 2001 and 2006. This is why NASCAR on NBC failed the first time.

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Thumbnail Credits:
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Outro Song:
Strange Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan

Songs:
Thunder (NASCAR Theme) by David Robidoux

#NASCAR #Motorsports #racing

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28 comments

The Iceberg May 19, 2023 at 12:25 am

What is your favorite NASCAR on NBC moment?

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NASCARJustinKent May 19, 2023 at 12:28 am

2021 Coke 400(the only time they did good in my personal opinion)

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20tTHCFOXNASCAR 2021 May 19, 2023 at 12:30 am

2022 Martinsville (Fall Race)

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Tobi Ojo May 19, 2023 at 12:31 am

My favorite moment was when they revamped themselves in 2015.

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Daniel West May 19, 2023 at 12:52 am

It’s probably pure nostalgia, but I could re-watch any race from the second half of ‘05-06 just to hear Bill, BP, and Wally.

Felt like they could make the most boring races exciting just by having a conversation on the side.

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Salty Flightdeck CPO May 19, 2023 at 12:52 am

Nothing beats Kellie Stavast lying live on a national TV broadcast saying that the crowd was chanting, “Let’s Go Brandon”. Epic Cringe became permanently etched into the nation’s political culture.

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Kaleb Miller May 19, 2023 at 12:42 am

I always thought NASCAR on MBC was pretty good back in the day. Not as good as FOX, but still really good

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Brandon N May 19, 2023 at 12:47 am

It was actually 1999 it started not 2000 but only for homestead

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Sean Thompson May 19, 2023 at 12:48 am

I had sort of drifted away from NASCAR during NBC’s first stint covering the sport, but my most striking memory of that era came before any car had turned a wheel on the network in 2001. NBC broke into its NBA broadcast (Lakers vs. somebody) with the news Dale Earnhardt Sr. was dead. In comparison with FOX, who broadcast that Daytona 500 but made no on-air announcement (until, I think, FSN’s National Sports Report;; confirmation of his death came after the telecast ended), it was a classy, respectful move.

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Corey Payne May 19, 2023 at 1:07 am

Rumor has it that Fox ran a crawl on the bottom of the screen during a Futurama episode

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Buynot May 19, 2023 at 12:49 am

One rumor that I remember reading a couple of years ago as to why Bestwick was moved from the booth to pre-race duties permanently was because he and Wally Dallenbach didn’t get along very well. Anybody know if there’s any truth to this or was it just hearsay?

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Jebediah Gentry May 19, 2023 at 9:24 am

I remember it very well. There was one race where they got into it with each other on air. Can’t remember what it was about but I remember it happening.

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Daniel West May 19, 2023 at 12:50 am

I think why it’s worked better the second run is because they went back to merge the best of what worked the first time and infused it with some sensibilities from the ESPN Speedworld era.

It always feels fresh because they’re resurrecting broadcasting concepts that sort of just died off around the early 00’s.

It feels like a race you’d put on in ‘98 or something.

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Justin Griffith May 19, 2023 at 12:54 am

Allen Bestwick is my favorite NASCAR announcer ever!

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Justin Griffith May 19, 2023 at 1:36 am

@Napoli41482 we all can have our opinions, that’s just mine.

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Napoli41482 May 19, 2023 at 8:32 am

@Justin Griffith Of course, and I respect that.

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Will England May 19, 2023 at 1:25 am

Correction: NBC broadcasted the 1999 and 2000 Homestead races probably because they had a deal with the track.

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Stig Rabbid May 19, 2023 at 4:52 am

Yeah, prior to 2001 the tracks picked their broadcasters

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Brycens988 May 19, 2023 at 1:40 am

I swear if they ever bring back fuel, I’m gonna scream like a school girl

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Todabeast May 19, 2023 at 1:40 am

I hated them moving bestwich with weber but tnt/nbc in 2004 was amazing and all their tenure in the early 2000s to 2007 was great with them. Perfect lineup of commentators. Then ESPN came in 2007 and fucked it all up as always

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Will England May 19, 2023 at 1:41 am

NBC was solid from 2001-2004 but the commercials, the decline of broadcast quality after 2004, and the Dateline race baiting incident gave NBC a bad reputation. NBC has mostly repaired its reputation with NASCAR since 2015 thanks to its broadcasts but there are still some big problems with NBC that FOX haters fail to point out.

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Stephen Holloway May 19, 2023 at 1:45 am

Besides the 3 wins by Dale Earnhardt Jr in 2001, and his 2004 Daytona 500 win, I would say Bill Elliott winning the 2002 Brickyard 400 Jamie McMurray getting the win at Charlotte in 2002, and Jimmie Johnson’s Atlanta win in 2004. Plus the last race in the Winston Cup era in 2003 when Bobby Labonte getting his last win and Terry Labonte’s final win in the 2003 Southern 500.

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bennyblizzard May 19, 2023 at 1:50 am

I liked NBC’s first run. they definitely made a mistake by putting bill weber as lead commentator. he was better off as a pit reporter

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SuperNASCARrocks May 19, 2023 at 2:24 am

Loved NASCAR on NBC during the early 2000’s. They had great coverage and great personalities as well.

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Todd Knaperek May 19, 2023 at 6:04 am

I always had a problem with Dallenbach in the booth. His biggest accolade was a pole win and yet he’s up there harshly critiquing Jeff Gordon of all people on his driving strategy. Typically the in-booth former driver was someone who had some sort of accomplishment to their name, with him it just felt like a guy which couldn’t cut it in the track got a job trying to tell those who actually still had a job of what to do. Just rubbed me the wrong way.

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Bobby Blair May 19, 2023 at 12:15 pm

Well Dallenbach is a legend in trans am/IMSA and has won some of the biggest sports car races in the world.

So he had the racing accolades but I get it’s not Nascar related. But the dude was a wheelman.

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RedGuy Sim Racing May 19, 2023 at 10:03 am

2001-2004 nbc/tnt NASCAR coverage was great, especially when the opening song fuel from Metallica really got you hyped for the race.

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SuperHamrick94 May 19, 2023 at 12:49 pm

I think it only failed at the end of the contract, but 2002 was great, especially the Sharpie 500 which is arguably the best coverage of a race that I’ve seen.

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