2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Thirty-Two Martinsville

It is a cloudy day in Martinsville. Jackets and caps are visible everywhere. On the front row Brandon Jones (19) and Sheldon Creed (2) will lead the field to the green flag. There are 38 cars in the field. The stages for today’s race are: 60-60-130 laps.

Brandon Jones gets the early lead as Sheldon Creed spins his tires.

Yesterday I was watching Xfinity series qualifying. The initial portion of qualifying was enjoyable as it looked like single-car qualifying with, seemingly, one car on track at a time with the viewer able to see the entirety of the qualifying laps. Then things changed. Suddenly the nice view of the car qualifying was replaced with shots of the car that were too close for context with nauseating jump cuts. I tried to watch a few of my favorite drivers qualify, but found myself literally getting dizzy and nauseous. I couldn’t watch. That showed me that NBC is capable of showing decent race coverage. They simply choose to show horrible visuals. I believe the initial qualifying was straight-forward because they decided it didn’t matter. So instead of ‘wasting’ their stupid video tricks on the ‘also-rans’ they simply provided great coverage of the back half of the field. After a commercial break they decided to break out the toys for the front half of the field resulting in a broadcast that induced car-sickness in me. The logic seems flawed though. It seems they’re using the gimmick shots to enhance the qualifying efforts of the top dogs in the field. If the audience is most interested in that group, it seems they would be more interested in actually seeing the efforts of their favorite driver, rather than having the on-track action obscured by terrible camera work. If they back half of the field is of less interest, then wouldn’t the visual gymnastics be employed for that section? Personally, the simple camera shots of the actual cars qualifying at a good distance from the car too allow the viewer to really see how the car is handling on each lap was the best qualifying I’ve seen on television in years. I got to see how different set ups worked. I got to see how different drivers handled different situations on the track. I got to see the improvement for some teams. It was enjoyable. When the drivers I was looking forward to seeing their setups took the track the camera shots were too tight to see the setups and too tight to see the handling and seemingly we weren’t shown all of the drivers’ laps. It was disappointing, because I couldn’t see what I wanted to see and quickly found I couldn’t watch due to the nausea. NBC needs a better producer and director and technical director. They seem to have people attempting to recreate a video game in those positions, rather than sports television professionals with the skill and experience to broadcast an exciting NASCAR race. The people in the booth are lacking the skills to call a NASCAR race properly. NBC’s coverage is lacking the elements needed to grow fans of the sport through the television broadcasts.

On lap 8 of 250 tv is bored and showing the track surface and the tires and rear bumper of a car for no apparent reason. This will likely be an unwatchable race judging by how early they’re going to the gimmick shots.

Caution on lap 32 of 250 for an incident involving Joe Graf Jr (07) and Patrick Emerling (35)

On lap 55 of 250 Dave Moody of MRN reports Bayley Currey (4) hits the wall with a right rear flat. The race stays green. Bayley has to navigate his way to pit road while trying to stay out of the way of the racing cars since the caution was withheld.

Brandon Jones (7) wins stage one.

The replay shows Bayley Currey’s (4) car never turned; heading straight into the wall. It’s on the hook headed to the garage.

Noah Gragson (9) pitted during the caution for the incident involving Joe Graf Jr and Patrick Emerling (35). Noah and Rajah Caruth (44) stay out during this pit sequence

Restarting on lap 70 of 250.

Dave Moody of MRN seems to be the only person on the radio capable of saying Rajah Caruth’s name without making it sound like he’s struggling with a foreign language. It is so weird to hear most of them pronounce it like they’ve never seen the word, nor ever had phonics in school. They’re all old enough that I don’t believe they didn’t learn the basics of reading including phonics.

Caution on lap 105 of 250 for Landon Cassill (10) wheel-hopping sending him into the outside wall. The way his right front wheel is leaning and wobbling he broke something. Kim Coon of MRN reports the team told him to bring it straight to the garage, ending his day.

At one point the MRN crew were discussing the 16 team’s interaction with a very unhappy AJ Allmendinger. They said the team decided AJ was just complaining and chose to just leave him out there. Sounds like Chris Rice tries to placate AJ and make him nicer and calmer on the radio and if that doesn’t work they just ignore him. Sound strategy if you ask me. He’s always whined and complained on the radio. Rarely does it relate to the reality of his performance on the track. Then again rarely does most of what he say have anything to do with reality or the truth. He makes me question what kind of people does NASCAR really want involved in their sport and representing their sport.

Restarting on lap 112 of 250 with Ty ‘LittleJoe’ Gibbs (54) and Justin Allgaier (7) on the front row.

Justin Allgaier (7) gets the early lead.

We were stuck watching some cars somewhere in the field racing while the lead change. We had to see a replay to see it. NBC’s racing ‘coverage’ sucks.

Ty Gibbs (54) holds off Justin Allgaier (7) to win the stage.

Several drivers stay out on this pit sequence so Josh Berry (8) and Austin Hill (21) will lead the field to the green flag on the restart on lap 128 of 250.

Josh Berry (8) gets the early lead.

Too often the television camera shots are too tight to really see the performance of the cars and of the drivers, not to mention the whole lack of context of the relevance to the overall on-track race.

Caution on lap 159 of 250 for a spin into the outside wall by J.J. Yeley (66).

Restarting on lap 170 of 250 with Brandon Jones (19) and Josh Berry (8) on the front row.

Jones gets the early lead.

I wonder if other people find the announcers constantly telling you who would be in the championship four ‘if the race were to end right now’ for hundreds of laps entertaining, exciting, or just tiresome – like me.

Caution on lap 193 of 250 for an incident involving Kris Wright (68) and Howie DiSavino III (45).

Restarting on lap 201 of 250 with Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones on the front row.

Ryan Sieg (39) spins into the outside wall bringing out the caution on lap 203 of 250.

Restarting on lap 210 of 250 with Ty ‘LittleJoe’ Gibbs (54) and Noah Gragson (9) on the front row.

‘LittleJoe’ (54) gets the early lead.

Caution lap 212 of 250 for an incident involving Stefan Parsons (78) and Austin Hill (21). Hill goes around gets into Jeremy Clements (51) who gets into Parsons sending him into the inside wall.

Austin Hill pits for damage repair.

Restarting on lap 218 of 250 with LittleJoe (54) and Noah Gragson (9) at the head of the field.

‘LittleJoe’ gets the early lead.

Caution on lap 219 of 250 for crash involving CJ McLaughlin (38), Patrick Emerling (35), Myatt Snider (31), Howie DiSavino III (45), Stefan Parsons (78), Mason Massey (91), Brandon Brown (08), Jeremy Clements (51) and Ryan Vargas (6).

Unfortunately we’re stuck watching an Austin Hill (21) pit stop instead of the clearance of the big wreck to determine who was involved.

Restarting on lap 227 of 250 with LittleJoe (54) and Noah (9) still up front.

Gibbs (54) gets the early lead. Gibbs (54) got a push on the restart. Noah’s (9) teammate Sam Mayer (1) did not get a good restart and therefore was unable to give Noah a push.

The MRN call, mostly by Dave Moody, is so exciting I keep glancing up at the television. I’m typically disappointed, because they’re rarely showing the exciting thing MRN is calling – the action currently occurring on-track. Usually they’re showing the track surface with a bumper cam or the front bumper of cars with the pace car cam or the dashboard and windscreen of a car with the in-car camera, or some other idiotic shot that shows anything besides the excitement on the racetrack.

AJ Allmendinger (16) has a left rear tire down on lap 235 of 250 after hard door-to-door racing for several laps with Justin Allgaier (7). They were banging on each other, though racing cleanly overall

Restarting on lap 241 of 250 with teammates Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson (9) as Gibbs’ teammate Brandon Jones (19) chose to restart behind Gibbs on the front row. Gibbs is locked in and Jones has to win to get in.

Gragson tags the fence and gets sideways but saves it.

Jones passes Gibbs for the lead.

Caution on lap 243 of 250 for a crash involving Kyle Weatherman (34) and Brandon Brown (08).

Restarting in overtime with Jones and Sammy Smith (18) up front as Gibbs chose to line up behind Brandon Jones (19)

They, teammates Jones, Gibbs, and Smith (18) went three-wide and eventually Smith spins bringing out the caution on lap 250 of 251.

MRN reports NASCAR Race control is saying Brandon Jones will go back to the race lead in front of Ty Gibbs for the restart.

Another overtime restart on lap 259 of 263 with Brandon Jones (19) leading and Riley Herbst (98) outside followed by Gibbs and Sheldon Creed (2).

Caution on lap 260 of 263 for a spin and crash involving Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry as teammate Sam Mayer (1) got into the back of teammate Allgaier (7) sending him up into teammate Josh Berry (8).

Restarting on lap 264 of 269 with Gibbs on the front row alongside Noah Gragson (9) with Brandon Jones (19) and Sheldon Creed (2) on row two, Riley Herbst and Allgaier on row three.

Jones takes the lead and the white flag

Jones spins out off the bumper of teammate of Ty ‘LittleJoe’ Gibbs (54) bringing out the caution. Gibbs slammed into Jones’ bumper.

Ty Gibbs (54) crosses the finish line first.

The championship four are:

- - Justin Allgaier (7) JR Motorsports
  - Josh Berry (8) JR Motorsports
  - Noah Gragson (9) JR Motorsports
  - Ty Gibbs (54) Joe Gibbs Racing

The crowd is loudly booing as Ty ‘LittleJoe’ Gibbs (54) gets out of his car after his burnout, as well as during his tv interview and also after the tv interview as he waves the checkered flag.

Ty Gibbs admitted it wasn’t a clean move, but he feels since he lost one with a move like that earlier this year he was justified in doing that to his teammate. He used people getting penalized as an excuse for not holding off on his teammate to help two Joe Gibbs Racing cars get into the championship four.

Noah said, during his MRN interview, the 54 “made a couple of dirtbag moves in his thinking.” He also said he “doesn’t know how well the 54 will do next week with moves like that”. Noah also made reference to the boos for the 54 that were audible during his interview. He said he doesn’t “know if he agrees with the moves by the 54” and he “appreciates the 19 racing him clean.” Noah went to say he believes ‘you would want to help get a team car in but….’. He seemed completely mystified why Ty Gibbs would race a teammate like that and keep his teammate from making it to the championship four.

Brandon Jones said in his radio interview he “assume anyone behind him will give him heck, but not take anybody out of the show. he said time will bring that back around again.” When asked if he would have a conversation with Ty, Brandon said, “I know Ty enough to know he doesn’t care about what he did. He was locked in. I don’t understand the move. Maybe he likes to win that way. We’ll just take it to Phoenix and go for it.”

AJ Allmendinger (16) said he and Justin raced each other clean and they knew there was a risk of that happening when they were racing. He was disappointed, but not angry, or upset.

Josh Berry (8) said on MRN he “told Brandon he deserved better than that.” Josh said he “saw it and couldn’t believe what he was seeing and then he saw it again, and then he saw it again. He couldn’t believe it.” Josh said he believes “Brandon will be on team JRM a week early at Phoenix”. Berry said he’s “been racing since he was a little boy and he’s never seen anything like that.”

MRN said the majority of people Brandon Jones (19) passed on pit road came out to shake Brandon’s hands and give him a few words of comfort. Alex said crew members have also come over to him to pat him on his back and shake his hand.

NASCAR digital reports Austin Hill (21) and Myatt Snider (31) fight after the race. I’m curious to see that. I saw a little of it – not enough. It’s funny that MRN’s Alex Hayden was talking about Austin Hill (21) needing to come from the back and probably being aggressive and possibly angering someone. Alex concluded that because Austin Hill is a ‘big ole Georgia boy’ that he would like to see it if anyone did that, but he thought no one would make that mistake. Sounds like Myatt Snider might have proven him wrong. So far it doesn’t appear that anyone has full footage of the incident. I’m keeping my eye out for it, just in case.

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2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Thirty-Two Martinsville

Next Race: Phoenix

GO JRM!!!!