Penalty Impacts Xfinity Playoff Picture | NBC Makes Some Big Changes

NBC changes commercial procedure NBC delivers a massive W and NASCAR hands out another big penalty this one impacts the exfinity series playoff [Music] picture how's it going y'all my name is Eric welcome to out of the groove the entire world is waiting on the appeal panel's decision on Austin Dylan that ruling is expected by the end of the workday today but I wanted to take this extra time to address a couple other stories usually when someone asks me hey do you want the good news or the bad news first I say get the bad news out of the way but we're going to do the opposite we're going to start with the good news because this W is way too huge to ignore NBC just announced that they will not show any full screen commercials during green flag action at Daytona Atlanta and Talladega this fall any commercial breaks during green flag action will be side by side so fans watching at home will not miss a minute of the on track racing action this is huge and this is this is exactly what I've been waiting for I have been begging the networks to evolve NBC being willing to at least try this is Oho refreshing audiences today have been conditioned to skip through ads so much content is available on demand at all times that if you cut away from the action for too long many people are just going to tune you out they're going to go do something else they're going to click away I truly believe at least part of formula 1's rise in America is that the US broadcasts are commercial free young people are used to being in control of how many advertisements they see so this is a brilliant move by NBC I hope it works like I hope they still see a strong return on their investment my theory all along is that side by-side commercials are actually more valuable to advertisers than full screen because when a full screen ad comes on my TV I leave the room I go get something to drink I go to the bathroom but if they're still side by side sure my whole attention isn't on the commercial but at least I'm still sitting watching the screen that's been my theory at least for years I hope this experiment by NBC proves my theory right and then Fox and Amazon Turner the CW follow suit it's only for three races again Daytona this weekend then Atlanta Talladega but those are three races where fans are often edge of their seat not wanting to miss a second huge W double thumbs up all around for NBC for trying this that's not the only big change coming to NASCAR on NBC this weekend Lee Diffy will take Leigh Diffey to the booth over play-by-play duties in the Nascar Cup Series Booth this Saturday night this has been reported on for months but finally NBC is shaking things up Rick Allen may have just called his final Nascar Cup Series race at least for NBC he instead will call the Infinity Series races the remainder of this season while Lee Diffy who just got done calling the Olympics he's obious obviously well known for his work with Indie Car he will now take over Cup Series play-by-play duties for the remainder of 2024 I like Lee like I said he brought the action during the Olympics he's a true professional I think he will be good Rick Allen grew on me over the years back in 2015 when NBC first picked up the NASCAR rights once again I wasn't so sure Rick Allen's got that great TV voice but you know he'd stumble over his words mix up names little things he still does that from time to time but he's had his fair share of great calls he has that great voice he's got good chemistry I think with Jeff Burton Steve lart but NBC making this move now I guess makes sense because with two actually three new broadcast Partners joining the NASCAR world next season I think we'll see the talent lineups Shuffle quite a bit Dale Jr obviously is already out of NBC he's joining TNT in Amazon rumors that Steve lart could join him what about Rick Allen could Rick Allen join D Earnhart Jr they worked together for several years I think it's absolutely possible that Rick Allen could again call Cup races next year just for a different network but he is going to have some steep competition as we've discussed earlier this summer Sports Business Journal reported that ESPN's Marty Smith has had talks with both Warner Brothers and Amazon about joining the booth he's good buddies with Dale Earnhart Jr and someone on Reddit found this the other day but Allan bestwick apparently follows the prime Sports Instagram account that could be Absol absolutely nothing or it could be something I would love to hear Alan bestwick calling cup braces once again with d Earhart Jr by his side woo in the words of Martin Scorsese this is absolute Cinema I've asked yall this in the past I know but I do want to hear again what would be your dream broadcast booth for Prime for TNT but some big changes coming to the NBC broadcast this weekend at Daytona so I started off with Kligerman penalty mostly the good news I guess the Diffy Rick Allen news is sort of mixed depending on Whose Camp you're in let's finish with the bad news especially if you're a Parker cerman fan because today NASCAR dropped the hammer they handed the big machine racing number 48 exfinity Series team in L1 penalty for illegal spoiler modifications found pre-race at Michigan as a result cerman has been docked 20 driver owner points he's also been docked five playoff points should he qualify for the playoffs and his crew chief Patrick Donahue was fined $225,000 again again there was an issue with the spoiler the car did pass inspection before going onto the racetrack this modification was found pre-race hence I believe the slightly slim down penalty if they found an illegal spoiler post race that could be L2 maybe even L3 territory as it stands though a 20-point penalty is still a big hit for cerman as he is locked in a heated battle for one of the final exfinity series playoff spots this knocks him from plus 36 to only + 16 above the xinity series playoff cut line line cerman still has Samy Smith between himself and the cut line but I mean Sammy Smith and a JRM car Brandon Jones not too far back there we know that Junior Motorsports is extremely fast at Super Speedways Daytona this weekend Atlanta coming up Ryan SE nearly won at Texas we know those cars are fasten even a little further down Anthony Alfredo he's LED laps at Daytona has a couple of top 10 shoot he finished third in the xinity race at Talladega earlier this year so watch out heck even my guy Brennan P there he's not going to point his way in but he was leading coming out of turn four at Talladega in the spring so man this penalty for Parker cerman could potentially hurt there are still five regular season races left for the xinity series Daytona this weekend obviously then Darlington Atlanta Watkins Glenn Bristol so a road course two Super Speedway style races a short track Darlington goodness me going to be a very intense stretch for cigman for Sammy Smith SE and everyone in the Xfinity series playoff picture before we go here ahead of the Austin Dylan appeal Dillon appeal prediction ruling I'm going to make a prediction as to how it's going to go I think the penalty will stand I don't expect the appeal panel to modify the penalty certainly not in any significant way see NASCAR changed some of the wording last year in Wake of lgate remember when hendrik Motorsports was found guilty by the appeal panel yet they reduced the vast majority of the penalty NASCAR said hey you can't do that anymore if you find that the defendant is guilty you can modify the penalty but you can't erase any portion of it so the whole point of this appeal is to get their playoff eligibility back that's an all or nothing call you can't give half of their playoff eligibility back right Austin Dylan explained when he was on Marty and McGee last week that the whole point of this appeal is to regain playoff eligibility he said last week we deserve to be in the playoffs we want to reverse that decision Nascar has made to take our playoff eligibility away we feel like we have a case to stand on so when it's all or nothing I think the odds are likely against the defendant in this case you know maybe Richard Childers racing will get some of those 25 regular season points back maybe the spotter suspension will be reduced by a week but I have a feeling they will be found guilty Nascar has a rule in their rulebook it's a very subjective rule that says they can penalize overaggressive driving they rarely enforce that rule but they do Reserve that right I'm sure RCR will point to past examples that weren't called and say hey there's been no past precedent set why are you using us as an example I just don't think that's a winning argument and because they are trying to fully reverse one call I think the odds are stacked against them but we'll find out here in a few hours I'll come on this show we'll react let's see what happens but that's going to do it for this episode y'all thanks for watching leave a like if you enjoyed subscribe for more NASCAR content and commentary every single day and a big thank you to my generous patreon supporters as well I will be at Daytona this weekend be sure to stop by the NASCAR Experience stage Friday at 4:30 p.m. I'll be doing a short live show with NASCAR driver Brenan po should be a lot of fun hope to see you there thanks for watching folks I will catch you in the next episode [Music]