What the hell are you talking about? Kelly went soft publicly on Noah....Junior goes hard. Kelly runs the place, but it's called Junior Motorsports for a reason. I am not calling into question Kelly's authority....just saying that it only goes so far, but at the end of the day, Junior is her brother, and if she can't settle it in the boardroom, then she will have is ass with the sister card.
missing the point. Throwing your driver under the bus among other things is bad business. Of course JR is a media star and reads his audience so there is that. The fickle fan base wants blood lol. He wins a race and they will be falling all over themselves being the first to say he is great. You should know that with the boy you follow.
I am agreeing with you.
www.nascar.com
Noah Gragson fined, loses points for Road America driving that led to wreck
NASCAR officials handed out a points penalty and fine to JR Motorsports driver Noah Gragson after sparking a wreck at Road America.
Jr.'s approach was TV personality friendly. I liked Kelly's approach....Not embarrassed, and she will deal wit it.
No question, but how Jr. looks in front of his colleagues at NBC should not be part of the equation.
If JR. feels uncomfortable with the position Noah put him in, then he should either get the hell out of the booth or sell his race team. No way in hell should an active car owner be in the TV booth. Brett Griffin told JR as much on a podcast JR owns.
I certainly did, and I'm a big fan. One, it's a conflict of interest, two, I never thought he was all that good at it.
There were some posters here who said it was a conflict of interest as well as fans saying it on multiple outlets of social media
I think Jr should be on Cup Broadcasts exclusively because I do agree with you in that him being on the Xfinity broadcast with cars in the field regardless if one thinks he’s just a figure head and his sister is the one running things behind the scenes, is a conflict of interest just because his name is on the team. That’s what most fans think of when they see JRM they think Jr, not Kelley....and then you have what happened on Saturday....well it’s not an optimal look. It doesn’t bother me that he’s in the booth for Xfinity, but I can totally understand why some are voicing their displeasure that Jr is a broadcaster and owner at the same time.
Jeff Gordon didn't throw any of his drivers under the bus. JR could have kept his mouth shut and kept it in house, but he chose not to.
I certainly don't recall everything that's happened at Hendrick during Jeff's managerial stint, but did any of his drivers put him in a position similar to where Noah stuck Jr.?
There wasn't any requirement to get on social media, sirius radio etc. There were plenty of others running their mouths about it.
Okay, I'm not on social media or Sirius so I missed those comments. Yeah, that's too much. Thanks.
It can affect the owner / driver relationship, which can impact future races.
For a period of times during Jeff's tenure in the booth, Hendrick Motorsports as a whole should have been thrown under the bus for mediocre performance, but that didn't happen. I want somebody in the booth who's not afraid to call them as they see them, good or bad. There are SO MANY announcers that have personal connections to teams, manufacturers and drivers that I question almost everything they do and do not say. At one point early on the only member of the Fox broadcast team that DIDN'T have a personal interest in Toyota Racing was Mike Joy. I think Chad Knaus is absolutely one of the best guest announcers I have ever seen, but I don't want him within 100 miles of a broadcast booth as long as he is employed by HMS, and maybe not even then, because I would ALWAYS wonder if he is holding something back.
I agree 100%.
I don't mind the conflict of interest so much....but as an owner, I think you are accountable to your drivers and teams first. I don't like that part of Jr.'s thought process was worrying about Noah's behavior would make him look while he was in the booth. Maybe have the stones to tell your "colleagues" to stay away from said topic? Gordon was terrible. Period. I'll take Burton over him...that's terrible.
I agree with this. JR worried about HIS image over something one of his drivers did? So he throws his driver under the bus. Like I have said before, his old man would have never done that. Futhermore, I have never seen that happen before and there have been many announcers with ties to who is involved on the track and that includes Rusty Wallace talking thru gritted teeth watching son Stephen's clown show on the track.
His old man didn't have a TV booth job, didn't have to deal with social media or dedicated radio networks, and unfortunately didn't have half the tenure as an owner. I'm not supporting what I'm told Jr. said, but I don't think you can compare how an owner of 20 years ago handled media relations.
He would have said "that's racin"
I think you could find plenty of good people who while they may have worked for teams recently, are not long standing employees with entrenched reputations there to consider and protect. I'm not a Bowyer fan, but I don't feel like he is connected enough to the two former teams he drove for that still exist that he has a bunch of bias to throw around. Jeff Burton wouldn't be a problem either, if not for his son and for the fact he stinks as an announcer. I think there are some former crew chiefs too that aren't really tied to anyone that could be good. Todd Parrott comes to mind for one. When you are talking about someone like Gordon or Knaus, or Latarte, they have Hendrick in their DNA.
