This past weekend, TNT aired its ‘Wide-Open Coverage’ of the Coke Zero 400 from Daytona. Being as I was finally at home for a weekend where I could sit and watch a race in its entirety, I was happy to watch this once-per-season phenomena. While TNT’s coverage always ranks among the best of the year as far as I’m concerned, during the course of the evening a few things stood out to me as somewhat peculiar.

First of all, it was the 25th anniversary of Richard Petty’s 200th career win at Daytona in the 1984 Firecracker 400. We all know the story of how that one ended: a door-to-door slingshot battle with Cale Yarborough that went down the check … er ... yellow flag. President Ronald Reagan was on hand, giving the command to start engines from Air Force One, and then following Petty’s win, the President congratulated the King on his milestone victory, and NASCAR in the process was thrust once again into the national spotlight.

That said, why wasn’t there any mention of Petty driving the same friggin’ car he won the race with, pacing the field before the race?

The cameras and announcers seemed more preoccupied with showing the Camaro pace car than the seven-time champion behind the wheel of his race-winning car. There was one wide shot of his No. 43 STP machine driving down the short chute to Turn 1 for a second, and another brief glimpse of the “Punniac” (as Petty would pronounce it) running inches from the wall in Turn 2. Wouldn’t that have rated a mention or an all-encompassing shot to fill up your television with Petty blue and STP red? Nothing was said about it, Petty being secondary to a starting line up set by owner points and all but meaningless on a restrictor plate track.

During the course of the evening, it was brought to my attention numerous times that the constant coverage was provided to me by Coors Light, the world’s most refreshing beer. While I am forever indebted to Peter Coors for showing the same racecar/toboggan commercial that has been running uninterrupted for two years, I was given pause regarding its claim of, being “The World’s Most Refreshing Beer.”

How exactly is something that dehydrates refreshing?

Since it is fermented and therefore naturally preserved, maybe if I drank enough of it I’d pickle my brain and it would be forever fresh – but perhaps I’m putting too much thought into this. Having been a bouncer at a bar in the past, I can attest to alcohol not being a restorative chemical. It is after all, a depressant. Speaking of which, now that you’re thoroughly depressed and crestfallen, I have one more bone to pick with TNT:

Where the hell is Bill Weber?

The last time I saw those meticulously groomed golden locks was when I covered the Michigan race last month. Word is he got into an altercation of some sort with a fan at Loudon. While the thoughts of a properly refreshed ’Chowd having words with a recognizable member of the media is completely preposterous, what is even more so is TNT taking him off the air.

This is not to disparage Ralph Sheheen, who has done a fine job as an interim anchor (I always thought he did a great job back when TNT covered the ASA races in the 1990s), but rather to TNT’s double standard with regards to sportscasters. Why is Charles Barkley still allowed to cover NBA games after making racist comments regarding all referees being white (so white people would have something to do in the NBA) or his most recent drunk driving escapade. Yeah, we know he’s not a role model, and maybe Bill Weber isn’t either, but Weber has perfect weatherman hair, so that alone demands he be on the set every weekend.

One bright spot to TNT’s Summer Series coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – besides Lindsay Czarniak, who during qualifying at Michigan last month was picking at her fingernails, unfazed as Kurt Busch came rolling into the pits about a foot from her – is the presence of Kyle Petty alongside Wally Dallenbach and Sheheen in the booth. It is no secret that Petty is one of the best ambassadors of the sport one could ask for, and his knowledge of what makes racecars – and racing itself – work, is unchallenged.

Having said that, am I the only one who would love to see Kyle get a ride with a top-flight team one more time?

While in recent years he has served more of an executive role at the old Petty Enterprises while driving the No. 45 Dodges. The last really competitive car he had was back in the mid ’90s with Felix Sabates’ SABCO Racing team. That familiar No. 42 car was one of the best rides available in those days, but as Sabates once said, it became a “Club Med” of sorts, where winning wasn’t always the prime focus for all involved. While many would point to what Mark Martin has been able to accomplish this year in his new home at Hendrick Motorsports, I am reminded more of when Darrell Waltrip was subbing for the then-injured Steve Park in DEI’s No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet during the 1998 season.

Many had all but written off DW at the time, having to fall back on Past Champion’s Provisionals and buying rides to make races he couldn’t qualify for. This was during a time when he was forced to sell the team he built from the ground up just seven years earlier. During his brief stint in the No. 1 car, he was posting top 10s, running competitively, singing to the crew on the radio as he zipped by on the frontstretch and nearly winning the June race at Pocono.

I still think that Petty in a car that, if the car was capable of running up front, would be better for the sport than not having him on the track at all. While I applaud his abilities as a broadcaster, he’s still a racecar driver first and foremost, and a decent car of some capability would be a great compliment and present to a man who has given so much to NASCAR over the last 30 years.

The final event on the TNT calendar for the season is this weekend’s LifeLock.com 400 from Chicagoland Speedway. It is now a night race that hopefully will provide some semblance of competition – something that Chicagoland has not exactly been known for in the past. While the coverage won’t be a “Wide Open” Coke Zero infomercial, there will no doubt be plenty of commercials for The Closer, Leverage, Saving Grace, Dark Blue, and Raising the Bar. All of these shows seem to entail people making unnaturally stern faces and turning their heads slowly, often with something burning near them.

Maybe one of these shows will focus on finding the whereabouts of Bill Weber.

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