Remember FOX Sports’ massive blunder last year? Fans were hurtling critical shots at the broadcasters during the season-opening Daytona 500. A year has passed by, and nothing has changed. From factual errors to missing leaderboard names, the mistakes are still showing up. However, Denny Hamlin threw the spotlight on one particular shortcoming.
The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix featured a few memorable caution flags. The most notable among them was probably the one with Ross Chastain. Yet fans were left scrambling for the videos after the wrecks happened. This led Denny Hamlin to make a demand.
Denny Hamlin calls for a more proactive approach
Christopher Bell put up a sparkling show on Sunday, beating Kyle Busch’s race-high 42-lap lead and staving off a hard-charging William Byron. But while the Joe Gibbs Racing driver raced to his triumph, chaos unfolded in other parts of COTA. On the very first lap of the race, Ross Chastain rammed his No. 1 Chevrolet into Chase Elliott’s No. 9. The damage that the latter sustained was heavy and called for immense repairs. So this jaw-dropping wreck elicited shocked responses from fans – FOX did a good job in covering it. Interestingly, however, Chastain was not in the media availability after the race. However, Denny Hamlin pointed out where the broadcaster could do better.
In a recent episode of ‘Actions Detrimental,’ Travis Rockhold lamented about FOX’s late response. “The replays of these wrecks are out like 30 seconds after.” So he made a simple demand: “Let’s get some replays to these reporters – that’s not hard.” Denny Hamlin agreed, highlighting what the media needs: “I like that, Travis… You know what, for us media members, it’s crucial to getting those comments and those snippets of quotes from the driver when they’re hot -right got out of the car and out of a wreck – show them that they got wrecked. And then we’ll get those bold comments from them.”
FOX could not record Ross Chastain’s immediate comments – neither for the wreck nor for his subtle apology. Yet media officials could not even find him post-race, whereas Chase Elliott blurted out his infuriated sentiments. Elliott said, “I haven’t seen it, so I don’t wanna comment yet, but it’s the first lap of the dang race.”
Denny Hamlin continued capturing the emotions of these drivers amidst their rivalry is what FOX needs to do. “So it would be better for Fox and others to like, ‘Hey, here’s what happened.’ You know, right before Jamie Little… she asks you, ‘What did you see out there?’.. I think Travis has got a great gripe here… Let’s get these drivers replays and their honest take.”
FOX missed crucial elements of the conflict between Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott. However, it also missed an accident within the JGR fold.
Hamlin collided with his teammate
Denny Hamlin himself ran into chaos multiple times at COTA. The most memorable incident occurred with 18 laps to go. Hamlin unexpectedly locked his brakes and slammed his No. 11 Toyota into Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet. The latter went off for a spin on the gravel patch. While FOX covered this, it missed out on another jaw-dropping encounter that Hamlin had with his own teammate. While Ross Chastain rammed into Chase Elliott on the first lap, FOX’s cameras were focused on them. At the same time, another chilling wreck could have unfolded on Turn 1.
Going hard left with a logjam of cars up front, Denny Hamlin was on the inside. His teammate, Ty Gibbs, was sandwiched between the three-time Daytona 500 winner and rookie Xfinity driver Connor Zilisch. The in-car video from Hamlin’s No. 11 car clearly showed the No. 54 Toyota suddenly appearing. Then it went airborne slightly, with the left-front wheel cartooning up on Hamlin’s hood. As a result, Hamlin lost his right fender – but the damage was slightly higher for Zilisch.
Clearly, FOX could have done a better job serving fans with updates on wrecks. Hopefully, Denny Hamlin’s plea will be implemented in some form.
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