Mike,
Though I am unsure if you saw any of my tweets where I mentioned you in the past several weeks, but I saw your apology on Twitter that I’ll share here.
With that in mind, I, too, would like to apologize.
I will own up to the fact that I was harsh in what I said, and perhaps I could’ve been a bit more measured in my approach.
Since you will not be responding to negativity, I will do better to make my voice heard to you more respectfully going forward.
I know how much time and effort you’ve put into your work over the past few decades you’ve been involved with NASCAR broadcasting.
We have even interacted before, and while I did not agree that the race to get into the 2022 Daytona 500 wasn’t exciting enough, we parted on amicable terms.
I also run this blog as a labor of love as I have been a student of the sport since the day I was born. There is a photo of my dad holding me and watching qualifying for the 1996 Dura Lube 500k while I was just hours old.
Not only that, I got ahold of my baby book in college only to find out that my first word was neither “Mama” or “Dada”.
It was car.
I learned how to count with my parents watching races, learning my 1-2-3s with Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, and Dale Sr.
Sadly, your first points-paying broadcast with Fox is one of my first vivid NASCAR memories. I was at my neighbor’s birthday party at a knockoff Chuck E. Cheese.
We watched it all on a 17in tube TV hanging in a corner beside the skeeball tables, and while I didn’t understand what was happening, you, Darrell, and Larry helped me to understand what happened over the next few weeks and how it would be okay.
My love of the sport grew throughout that season as I saw Kevin Harvick’s first win and Dale Jr.’s win at the Firecracker 400, watching the sport start to heal itself.
I went to my first race that year for my 5th birthday, a rained-out race at Martinsville in fall 2001. I have not stopped wanting to be at the track ever since.
I imagine you and many fans of the sport know that feeling.
I’ve poured a lot of my free time as a child and an adult into learning more and diving deeper into the sport’s history. I gained an admiration for the roots of the sport, wanting to learn everything I could about bootlegging and Junior Johnson.
Being active in social media regarding this sport, I have gained an absurd amount of friends, finding more and more great people virtually day-by-day.
I met so many people in fact, that I even met my fiance through NASCAR Twitter if you can believe that. I’m a keyboard lover, not a warrior.
I say all of this to let you know that I am extremely and undoubtedly invested in this sport, and your sterling career have been a key part in keeping me engaged.
We’re learning something interesting from you every single broadcast. My qualms have hardly been with you and broadcasting style.
You’re a legend, and you don’t need me to tell you that.
That’s what has been so disheartening as the years have gone by; try as you might, something is missing in the NASCAR on Fox broadcast and has been for a bit.
I know a lot of that is not within your control as you can only do so much good, and there are a lot of people that have to pull their weight and work together.
I won’t pretend to know what exactly isn’t able to connect to have consistently good video production and engaging camera angles to choose from.
With that said, that and other issues (I don’t think the stage meter is necessarily a bad thing, though I don’t feel it is necessary) present themselves every week, and I know you want to put on a good show.
I know you try hard, so I know that it hurts to be told that people didn’t like it. I can’t speak for others; I personally am not coming at you from a place of knowing how to do your job better than you.
What I am saying is that I am a fan of this sport and watched practically 90% of Fox’s NASCAR broadcasts over my lifetime. I know the history of your product.
The quality of the product has soured. I want to be part of the solution by speaking up. As I said earlier, I will make sure I approach you more respectfully next time.
There are aspects of older broadcasts (such as The Cutaway Car, highlighting midpack battles, and missing notable strategy calls) that I would like to see be revived in the near future.
If every spot matters, then we need to do a better job of displaying the importance of Justin Haley and Todd Gilliland climbing into the top-15 to threaten for stage points.
Y’all used to do that, and you don’t. The product loses its luster when quality, well-rounded narratives crafted by the booth are set to the side.
COTA’s broadcast was a drastic departure from that. The racing throughout the field certainly helped, and while there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen, you did a good job facilitating conversation and keeping everyone in check.
It was touching to hear you and the boys let Kurt have that call, and it was even more touching to see you defend it from people that were complaining about it.
I am not buttering you up to boost your ego or make you like me. This is what I think and how I feel.
I simply felt that you may have seen mine in a few of the NASCAR Twitter dogpile. I don’t you want to think that we hold any ill will toward you.
It just hurt us to feel belittled for having what we feel are valid criticisms of the NASCAR on Fox broadcasts over the past few seasons, and I hope you can see from here on out that I am at least approaching you from a place of respect.
Again, apologies to you for my prior harshness. I hope to see more broadcasts like COTA’s and learn more from one of the sport’s best play-by-play voices.
The Wide World of Dirt 
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