NBC Sports presented its first ever NASCAR broadcasts
with Saturday's coverage of the HotWheels.com 300 Busch
Series race and Sunday's coverage of the Pennzoil 400
presented by Kmart from Homestead, FL. NBC News anchor
Brian Williams, who hosted the broadcasts, introduced
Sunday's race by calling NASCAR "the number one spectator
sport in the country, the fastest-growing sport in America."
Williams said he was "on loan" to NBC Sports, as NASCAR is
his "hobby" (NBC, 11/14). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand
writes that Williams "hosted adequately, standing out with a
tie that might have pleased Yves Saint Laurent." Hiestand:
"In a sport where constant on-air graphics seems to cover
everything from car RPMs to drivers' horoscopes, NBC offered
sparse screens -- except, of course, for its constant five-
ringed Olympic symbols which, like Williams' anchor outfit,
constituted a stock car TV first" (USA TODAY, 11/15). In
Houston, David Barron: "As for stylistic differences from
traditional NASCAR networks, NBC featured wide-angle shots
instead of tight, track-level shots favored by CBS, mixed
down trackside microphones and ran several features ...
which CBS would never do." Barron: "The result was a
quieter, perhaps friendlier atmosphere for new viewers NBC
hopes to bring to the sport. And you have to wonder if the
absence of Southern accents among announcers was an effort
to put a new face on NASCAR for new fans" (HOUSTON
CHRONICLE, 11/15). In Miami, Terry Jackson reports that
NBC's telecast of Saturday's BGN race was "a little
tentative, bugged by minor glitches." By Sunday, the NBC
team "seemed more at ease and delivered a show that was
solid if not flashy or particularly insightful." Overall,
it "was not a bad start" for the network. Jackson writes
that Williams "was there at the start of each race, setting
the tone for the event before handing off" to Allen
Bestwick. Williams would "then pop up in from time to time
from his special infield post with taped features or tidbits
he picked up in the garages" (MIAMI HERALD, 11/15).
