NASCAR official critical of ABC's race coverage

A NASCAR official criticized ABC's broadcast of Sunday's Talladega race, stating in a blog that the network "missed a lot of very good racing."

ABC defended its coverage in a statement Tuesday, saying: "We feel we had a strong telecast."

Ramsey Poston, NASCAR's managing director of corporate communications, didn't see it that way.

"The ABC broadcasters certainly weren't happy with the race and they felt compelled to remind viewers of that virtually every lap," Poston wrote Monday night on NASCAR.com. "They seemed to blame NASCAR's enforcement of the rule prohibiting bump-drafting in the corners for every moment they didn't like. Along the way, ABC missed a lot of very good racing.

"... Interestingly, a caller on Sirius NASCAR Satellite Radio (Monday) morning said that he first watched the race on ABC then listened to the MRN broadcast and said, 'It was like two different races,' referring to the excitement and action portrayed on the radio broadcast."

The Talladega race has been scrutinized in light of its single-file racing and NASCAR telling competitors two hours before the race that bump-drafting would not be allowed in the corners.

ABC ran team radio communications noting the lack of excitement, including Tony Stewart asking his team to tell him something interesting "so I don't fall asleep out here."

WORK CONTINUES

After seeing two cars go upside down at Talladega, NASCAR is looking into what caused the problems for Ryan Newman and Mark Martin.

"You can't get geared up for every situation, but when something happens, we take the information and go to work on it," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. "We're already working on scheduling wind tunnel time and do some work with the cars."

UP-AND-DOWN YEAR

Jamie McMurray's win at Talladega gave Roush Fenway Racing its first victory since February, when Matt Kenseth opened the season with wins at Daytona and California.

How has car owner Jack Roush handled the drought?

"I keep waiting for the next race to see it turn, and, of course, it hasn't turned," he said. "We hit a brick wall when we got to Las Vegas (third race of the year), and it didn't improve when we got to Atlanta, and Bristol was a disappointment, so the year has been up in some regards, but it's primarily not been what we'd hoped for based on wanting to continue the momentum we had last year.... "

NEW RIDE

Brad Keselowski replaces David Stremme in the No. 12 Penske Racing ride beginning this weekend at Texas.

The move is being made to get Keselowski ready for next season when he drives for the team full time.

NEW LOOK

AJ Allmendinger will drive a Ford this weekend at Texas for Richard Petty Motorsports, in addition to the final two Cup races.

The team is switching from Dodge to Ford after this season.

The other three RPM drivers - Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Reed Sorenson - will be in a Dodge the rest of the season.

PIT STOPS

Sadler and his wife are expecting a boy in March 2010.... Jimmie Johnson's 184-point lead on second-place Mark Martin is one of the largest gaps from one position to the next in the top 35 in the driver standings. Only the difference between 12th and 13th (1,649 points, due to the totals being reset before the Chase) and the margin from 16th to 17th (315 points) are larger.