NBC Sports' NASCAR coverage has been met with "enthusiasm" as the network heads into its third race weekend of the season, and the reasoning for the reception is "all about the approach," according to Allen Gregory of the BRISTOL HERALD COURIER. Analyst Steve Letarte is "engaging," and he, fellow analyst Jeff Burton and play-by-play man Rick Allen have "tackled their new roles with professionalism." Fox tends to focus "far too much on the announcers and their gimmicks instead of the drivers and the on-track action." In some ways, NBC telecasts "are like a version of the old Saturday morning animated Schoolhouse Rock! musical segments where the viewer was not only entertained but educated." While NBC "needs to make a big splash in ratings, the producers have not resorted to crazy gophers, morning radio zoo-crew sound effects or mindless pre-race comedy sketches" (BRISTOL HERALD COURIER, 7/16). In Boston, Chad Finn writes it is "early, but there are signs that the Letarte/Burton pairing could be even more effective" than that of the Fox duo of Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. Letarte and Burton "don’t mind a good disagreement, and neither overwhelms the conversation like Waltrip often does." Letarte acknowledged that his "change in perspective -- literally more than figuratively -- has taken some getting used" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/17).
