Nuts and bolts: News, notes and quotes from Pocono

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Nuts and bolts: News, notes and quotes from Pocono

Published Monday, August 3 2009 - (0) Comments

ESPN may refer to itself as the "worldwide leader in sports," but when it comes to NASCAR coverage, the network is still a lap down.
Sure, the folks in Bristol, Conn., have thrown plenty of money into fancy sets and carved out valuable airtime for "NASCAR Now." But a general lack of knowledge among the pit reporters and a weekly conflict of interest during coverage of Nationwide races make it hard to take ESPN seriously.
The problem with the pit road reporters flared up again on Monday in Pocono when Vince Welch stepped in it, so to speak, during a post-race interview with Juan Pablo Montoya.
After Kasey Kahne got into Montoya during a restart late in the race, Kahne came by Montoya's pit to apologize to Montoya for nearly knocking him into the wall between turns 1 and 2.
"It's good Juan Pablo is one of the best drivers or he would have been wrecked," Kahne said to Shannon Spake after apologizing to Montoya. "I missed the corner and drilled him. Most guys would have wrecked right there and the 42 kept going so good job to him."
Montoya recovered to finish second behind Denny Hamlin, so Welch hustled over to interview Montoya. After witnessing Kahne's apology, Welch asked Montoya on live television what Kahne said to him when he came over with "some angry words for you."
"I think you always take things the wrong way," Montoya said as he patted Welch on the arm and went from zero to sarcastic in about half a second. "I'm very impressed with you. He actually came to apologize."
Montoya then walked away from Welch, who was left to look silly in his ESPN fire suit. Maybe it would be helpful if Welch actually paid attention to what was going on out on the track during the races.
The other issue ESPN has is with Rusty Wallace in the Nationwide booth. It's bad enough when he commentates races that feature two cars that he owns, but all objectivity flew out the driver's side window on Saturday when Wallace did a Nationwide race on at Iowa Speedway, a track he designed.
I can handle Rusty making excuses when his son Steve plows into somebody, but an afternoon of hearing him sing the praises of the progressive banking he designed was a bit much.

* BITTERSWEET: Hamlin's victory on Monday was emotional because it followed on the heels of the death of his grandmother, Thelma Clark, last weekend. Hamlin, who was choked up throughout his interview in Victory Lane, was torn between his desire to race and his desire to be in Florida with his family.
With 30 laps left, Hamlin was in 14th place, but he never quit digging. In the end, Hamlin was able to score a victory for his No. 1 fan.
"She had about a 30 inch TV that she looked at," Hamlin said. "But that's how she could see me, see my car. She had a bear, FedEx No. 11 bear she always had. She always wore her No. 11 socks. She would always tell me she put out a prayer to St. Jude for us this weekend. So she was a big fan of mine. I feel like today, she's pretty proud."
* CHASING THE CHASE: A week after narrowly missing out on winning in Indianapolis, Montoya brought the same car to Pocono and took home a second-place finish. With Watkins Glenn coming up this week, Montoya's chances of making the Chase are starting to look pretty good.
"If we get a top five out of (Watkins Glen), the points for the Chase would be huge," Montoya said. "Let's get into the Chase and then let's have some fun. I think we got fast racecars. I think if we make it, we might have a shot at this."
* A WHOLE DIFFERENT ANAMAL: To fans, all road courses may be created equal, but drivers are painfully aware of the differences between Sonoma and Watkins Glen. Clint Bowyer has averaged top-10 finishes at Sonoma, but he said he's still trying to get the hang of "The Glen."
"Watkins Glen is so much more high speed," he said. "Wide open, balls to the wall. Sonoma is a lot more technical, a little bit slower. I've got the hang of Sonoma obviously. Just working on Watkins Glen. We're getting better."

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