Jeff Gordon's win at the Pocono 500 on Sunday June 10, 2007 had several stories within the race that made the rain-shortened race very interesting to say the least. But one story that will not be talked about too much was the story inside the TNT broadcast of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race.
Pocono was the first of six Nextel Cup races TNT will broadcast following FOX airing the first 13 races of the year. Larry McReynolds has joined the TNT for their broadcast after working for FOX since 2001. Mid-race pit strategy would create some interesting battles of the mind, both on the track and in the broadcast booth.
With a caution on lap 65, Jeff Gordon and a hand full of drivers stayed out rather than pitting. They had just pitted eight laps earlier and rain clouds were making their way towards Pocono Raceway. It was clearly looking like a race to lap 101 instead of 200.
The pit window was about 26-28 laps for gas, so everybody would have to pit once more to reach the half-way mark for the race. With the difficulty of passing, track position was very important.
We know how the race unfolds, but it's the call from the broadcast booth that strikes me as funny. As Gordon nears time to pit for gas and tires at lap 82, TNT broadcaster Bill Weber said that, "they may be rethinking staying out under that last caution." No TNT broadcaster seemed to be able to see what was actually playing out in front of them, except McReynolds.
McReynolds presented Gordon's strategy as having everybody cycling through the pit stops and the rain comes after lap 101 to get the win. The guys in the booth all but laughed at him. In fact, Kyle Petty said if that would happen, he would retire because he could not compete with that.
That just makes me wonder what those guys were even thinking about in the booth.
We knew that everybody had to cycle through the pits to make it to the half-way mark of the race. If the rain came before lap 101 it would not be an official race anyways. So the big question was will the rain come before Gordon needed gas on about lap 114, or would Ryan Newman run him down before then.
If they would have restarted after the lap 106 red flag, almost all the drivers would have pitted for gas and tires. Gordon may not have won if that had happen, but with the current Chase for the Cup format, it was a risk worth taking.
McReynolds seemed to be the only broadcaster to understand the strategy as it was playing out. The FOX Network had to be happy that their man was on his game before the rain came down.
