“It’s a Tough Watch”: Denny Hamlin Calls Out FOX’s ‘Ill-Timed’ Decisions Triggered by Wild Cautions

Last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma marked the end of the FOX production broadcast for this season. NBC Sports will now take over broadcasting duties, a change that will be very much appreciated by race fans. Throughout these 16 races, the viewers were not impressed by the rampant commercial brakes, lack of camera angles or replays, or even the weird production strategy by FOX.

There have been instances where the race coverage would be interrupted by a commercial break every 7 laps or so. Not to forget the pain of the viewers relying on updates online via X to know about a major crash or accident, just because the broadcast was under commercial. As it turns out, even Denny Hamlin threw a jibe at FOX coverage after their last event of this season, covering the wreck fest that ensued at Sonoma.

Denny Hamlin believed the caution streak at Sonoma worked in favor of FOX

The newly paved race surface in Sonoma was expected to deliver one of the blockbuster race events of the season. But the early runs in the race were marred by multiple caution flags—a total of seven of them. It all started with Hamlin’s incident of blowing his engine, and it soon turned into a wreck as multiple cars were involved in accidents and wrecks.

However, this was a perfect opportunity for FOX to roll out their commercials promptly. During the recent episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin was asked about his opinion on caution delays, and how they affected racing. In response, he aimed a dig at FOX, suggesting it was all pretty much lined up in their favor to roll in their commercials without abruptly ending the broadcast. “I think that it’s a good opportunity for FOX to get their commercials out of the way because they definitely have some I’ll timed commercials at times.”

He further explained how FOX’s outdated method of keeping viewers engaged does not help the situation. “But certainly it’s a tough watch on TV because the cautions are just so long, the pace laps are so long that I mean you’ll spend on a general easy cleanup caution 15 minutes maybe 20 under caution… you’re gonna see some old highlights from 1950 and 1960. You’re gonna see a couple of people in the stands eating snow cones. And this camera kind of pans off into the wilderness.”

Fortunately, the final stage of the race was caution-free, which saw Kyle Larson get back to winning ways. However, with NASCAR Cup racing making its debut at Iowa, Hamlin is concerned about the partial repave job. Given that the new repave at Sonoma led to a chaotic race, a half-hearted effort leaves the door open on how a half-hearted attempt to repair the track could affect racing.

Why is the repave job at Iowa Speedway a concern for NASCAR drivers?

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Prominent NASCAR reporter Jeff Gluck from Athletic pretty much summed up the repave job at Iowa the best. “Iowa repave is kind of Frankensteinish.” Ever since the race track opened its doors for racing, the surface had undergone massive wear and tear, therefore, the repair work was essential to accommodate an event like the NASCAR Cup Series race. But fans and drivers were left puzzled to see only the bottom of the track get the new layers of asphalt.

Although NASCAR, in its defense, stated that they had a small window to get the repair work done, Hamlin wasn’t sold on the explanations for not getting the whole racetrack repaved. “We don’t have surface standards or anything like that. I don’t buy the fact that we ran out of time, and it’s too cold. They literally just patched this thing up … I understand NASCAR has to pave tracks and that’s understandable, but leaving at least two lanes worth of paving is a head-scratcher.”

It will be interesting to see how the race track behaves when the driver takes the field for the practice run. And if things do go south, all attention will be on NASCAR’s judgment call and the questionable repair job.