Fan Bias
A large number of fans were biased against NBC's coverage, claiming that it was largely inferior to Fox in terms of both technological capabilities and bland commentators. Wally Dallenbach and Bill Weber were viewed as monotone and boring compared to Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. Statistically after its first season Fox Races had more viewers than NBC Races in 2001.
NBC was also criticized by fans for having long commercial periods during the race, much longer than the commercial periods when Fox televises a race. Two glaring problems on NBC were that restarts were often missed due to long commercial breaks, and the frequent breaks during green flag runs. The name itself, NBC, has been used as an acronym for "Nothing But Commercials." This cliché was poked fun at in the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, when NBC is shown to take a quick commercial break (with an Applebee's commercial) when Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) and Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) wreck their cars in a very long-lasting crash (then-NBC team Weber, Dallenbach, and Parsons cameo as themselves covering the race).
By 2004, however, NBC had made substantial improvements in regards to both technology and commentating. Although NASCAR and NBC ended their partnership after the 2006 season, many fans are hoping that they can reunite in the next television contract in spite of problems with new partner ESPN.
Read more about this topic: NASCAR On NBC
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