Fox responds to Roush's critical comments

Fox Sports issued a statement about car owner Jack Roush's comments about the TV coverage of the sport on Tuesday.

If you missed it, Roush was asked about the unity being talked about by car owners and drivers and how everyone is on the same page with NASCAR. Roush responded by talking about the TV coverage. This is what he said:

"We have not had the level of support from the TV studio box that the other sports have. I would hope that Fox and ESPN and everybody else really thinks about what they're doing. We had more passes last  year than we ever had. We had more passes for the lead than we've ever had. We had more different winners than we've ever had (NOTE: Actually, the 14 different winners last year were more than 2008 but less than there were in 2007) . We had more cars finishing on the lead lap than ever had. The competition was great. It wasn't bad. It wasn't subject to critcism for every move that NASCAR made or every move a team made but sometimes it sounded that way back from the communication box.''

"(International Speedway Corp.), they've done an analysis ... and for all of last year all of their race tracks had not had one complaint from anybody who bought a ticket about something regarding the race not working the way they thought. So there's no complaint from the fans regarding competition. The complaints have come from reporters and from media that has maybe a vested interested. if you look at Darrell Waltrip, you look at all the other ex-drivers, Rusty Wallace, the ex-crew chiefs that are out there, it's not unreasonable to say that they've got some ax to grind over something that frustrated them in their careers on the firing line. We need to reel that back in. That needs to be something that is not carried out front to the fans and to the public.  We need to talk about how many passes we're having. We need to talk about how close the racing is on the final laps, we need to talk about how contentious things are in the garage and the rest of it and not fault the teams for the decisions they make and not fault NASCAR for the government they provide. NASCAR racing is the best run form of motorsports any place in the world. They may be the best form of sport any place in the world.''

Here's a statement from Fox Sports spokesperson Eddie Motl in regard to Roush's comments:

“Our on-air team is as passionate about NASCAR as any driver, owner, crew chief or fan, and our analysts speak their mind based on the immense experience and success they enjoyed during their on-track careers.  The broadcast booth is not a pulpit, neither is it a mouthpiece, and FOX Sports respects that.  It is place from which to describe the action and provide thoughtful commentary, which all fans deserve.  NASCAR fans know their sport and they’ll know if a broadcaster holds back, and once you cross that line, all your credibility is gone.”

In case you missed it, this was the statement from George McNeilly, senior director of communications for ESPN:

We have a very simple to understand mission at ESPN and that's to serve sports fans. One of the ways that we do that, maybe the most pronouced way we do that is that we hire authentic and credible former athletes, former drivers, former crew chiefs, former coaches to analyze what is going on on the field of  play. That's what we do.

When asked about the critical comments that have been directed toward the networks and ESPN (particularly its broadcast of the fall Talladega race) in the last few months by NASCAR and how that might impcat creditibilty issues for broadcasters, McNeilly said: "Ultimately, like the drivers and athletes themselves, we are going to be judged by our performance and Talladega was a strong telecast and we pay our analyst to analyze. We hire the most authentic and credible people to do that. We're the only network with five former Cup champions. These are people who are very knowledgeable about the sport. You folks quoted in their active careers as drivers and crew chiefs and team owners. They were credible then and they're credible now.''

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