Livestream: NBC Broadcasters Weekend Preview Press Conference

all right let me just get this down here so I can see everybody good afternoon everybody uh thank you for joining us for NBC Sports NASCAR IndyCar double header press event here at IMs this afternoon my name is Jamie palutini I'm on the NBC Sports Communications team uh we're going to be joined here by race analysts from our MVC Sports NASCAR and IndyCar broadcast teams Dale Earnhardt Jr Jeff Burton Steve latarte Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe we're excited to be presenting roughly 20 hours of live coverage surrounding the races this weekend across NBC USA Network and peacock and viewership this season has been strong across the board for NBC sports's NASCAR and IndyCar coverage year to date it's our most watched Cup series season since 2019 our most watched Xfinity series season since 2017 and on the IndyCar side it's our most watched IndyCar season since 2016 and that includes seven races thus far that have eclipsed one million average viewers so what we'll do is we'll begin with opening remarks from each of our analysts and then we'll open it up to some questions additionally we'll have a little bit of time on the back end for some brief one-on-one opportunities with the guys as well so with that I'll turn it over to the group for some brief opening remarks about the weekend and I'll start here with Dale Earnhardt Jr well um it's great to be back in Indy uh obviously um always amazing to be able to come to this Racetrack and a weekend where IndyCar and NASCAR share such a historic event uh uh in such a historic racetrack is always going to be a lot of fun and we get to see some old friends on the IndyCar side and we all get to enjoy a little bit about each other's uh discipline and uh so I'm looking forward to it it should be a lot of fun got a lot of cool uh drivers in the field for the Cup race uh it's gonna be exciting uh seeing how some of them do and uh so there's a lot of anticipation on my end and look forward to getting we can start it yeah it's always a uh it's always an honor to roll through the tunnel here it's um you always feel like a guest you know Open Wheel racing and IndyCar racing built this Racetrack and and NASCAR is here is always in my opinion we're always here as a guest of that and it's a it's a privilege to be here an honor to be here and the doubleheader makes it even that much more special the racing you know obviously we focus on the the NASCAR stuff but the IndyCar racing has been really good this year it's been fun to watch and uh NASCAR stuff's been crazy uh it's been really good racing so the main thing is I think we're in store for for three really good races and uh it's fun to be here with with these guys in IndyCar crowd and uh it's just a fun energy it's a different energy than what we normally have and and uh it's just it's just a lot of fun and a lot of anticipation for the weekend uh yeah it's great to be back I was here for a couple weeks in May for the Indy 500 um that event I've been fortunate enough to be a part of for a few years now it's spectacular and really Motorsports globally you talk about the ratings but I really look at like Global Motorsports it seems like the interest uh in every series by all the different fans is growing and I think we have that same um sort of feeling in the cup series for sure with so many International entries um so it's it's just a full great weekend of racing like if you love racing you have three races here and one over at the little track so there's just so much to do um I think it's a great benefit for the race fan uh to get a lot of racing in under one trip or one ticket yeah for me I I just love the the contrast of the two sports uh coming together I like you know looking across the aisle at at all the different stuff I feel like in the NASCAR world when I walk uh down Gasoline Alley and look over to the cup series garages I I almost smirk because I I love how efficient it appears in terms of just a handful of people preparing the cars and I know that it's just the tip of the spear that back in you know Charlotte or wherever their team is there's just a massive amount of resources and infrastructure where on the IndyCar side a lot of our stuff is kind of all with us all the time on display same thing in the in the booth uh these guys have bigger call boxes than we do and I can't quite figure out which one's better you're kind of looking looking over thinking is that call box better than ours why is his golf button bigger than mine so um anyways it's fun to just compare and contrast and in in the on the cup side it's just really exciting to see guys like SVG uh you know come back and and race again on road course after such an impressive performance in uh in Chicago I was teammates with him on the the Lexus racing team and and I'm not surprised he's doing well but uh it's pretty incredible how well he's doing so all that kind of stuff is just fun to see up close on the same weekend it's not the size of the cuff button Towson that's how you press it um no I mean for uh for me there's not a lot I can add you know they're uh these guys all kind of summed it up pretty nicely this event is is awesome I think for a long time I always wanted to see NASCAR and IndyCar run together on the same weekend and it might not have been the greatest circumstances that sort of forced it to happen I think the first time but I think it's been a huge success and uh hopefully it's something whether it's here somewhere else that can continue uh because ultimately it's about the fans right that's why we all do this and I think this is a great opportunity for fans to get to see the two best series in North America run together and uh pretty International Flair as I sort of mentioned you know I think across across both championships uh you know prettier National Grids this year and as a fan of this sport I love this weekend and I'm excited to watch both of these race and excited to be part of both of them as well so looking forward to it awesome thank you thanks thank you guys I think we've got some folks with microphones that are here and available to uh answer some questions so we'll open up to questions and we can start with the Jordan over there Jordan Bianca the athletic um anybody who wants to interest would be great you guys kind of touched on it but looking at the schedule for next year it's unlikely that IndyCar is going to be racing here on the road course at this time of the year NASCAR is more than likely going to be going back to the oval um the doubleheader weekend between NASCAR and IndyCar seems like it's probably going to come to an end how do you guys feel about that and what would you guys like to see going forward to try to preserve this well I think that everything has to work for it to continue and obviously if the schedules don't align then it won't happen next year but I don't think that that's because the right people in the right places don't want it to continue and if they do want to continue which it should they'll work together to find those opportunities in the future and I think that everyone's learned and experienced over the last several years at the two series to Townsend's Point are so unique to each other and so different that when they do come together they're both better off for it and so although you know there's some changes in the schedule for NASCAR um at least I can speak on that that may make it difficult to happen next year I'm certain that the conversation about how to continue it beyond that is happening at least I hoped it would be because um it's a great experience for Motorsports fans in general to have the two two Series in the same place at least once a year yeah I have a question for Dale and for Jeff to my knowledge it's only the third time it's a colorful and long history of NASCAR that the German driver is taking part in their Cup race back in 70 or 71 we had Fort Worth's driver of stumbling last year Mike Robin fellow and then here's this weekend again will you include system coverage that a German driver would raise here and cup 100 I mean we did one of the coolest things about this weekend is the nationalities that are racing in the cut series I mean it's it's really fun it's fun to see exciting to see people coming from all over the world they're running the cup series you know this car has changed a great deal in the sport and and there's a window there's this window that these guys are trying to take advantage of where the cup drivers are trying to learn this car that is very similar to what other cars are around the world and this is an opportunity for guys to jump in here and take advantage in the way SPG did like he took advantage of a street course he's extremely fast race car driver it was not a major advantage in um you know in the cars being completely unique cup cars in the past were just unique animals and so that's opened the door for people from all over the country to come and that's a that's a it's fun to cover that and and our guys gotta they gotta step it up I mean he showed them that like they need to be better and it's going to be fun to see them step up but without a doubt we're going to praise the fact that we have so many nationalities in this race hey Dale your your love of Motorsports and knowledge goes from short dirt tracks to Talladega you've been broadcasting at you and Stephen also been broadcasting the Indy 500 the last few years what have you learned about about Open Wheel racing you didn't know before oh my God well everything um you know I think you know there's a there's uh there's a lot of things about just the Indy 500 itself was is I can't even compare it to anything in Motorsports that I've ever witnessed um but you know just watching how um I had grew up my entire life watching Indy in the Indy 500 on television and so um you know and being that far removed from it I had no real understanding of the the aerodynamic and and and mechanical challenges that the cars are going through and the drivers are dealing with in the race he thought that well they just hold them wide open and if they can't hold it wide open they put more Wing in it and then they hold it wide open um but when I came down there and said on the pit box at the end of turn one and watched them start practicing and heard the exhaust pops and all the things I was like wow they're really um you know challenged uh to try to make the cars handle and I was taken aback by how much discrepancy there was in the field in terms of a great driving car and a bad driving car I never really had been faced with that reality before and then you know in any any television broadcast that I'd watched as a kid and a teenager growing up so that was pretty interesting that was probably the first thing that I learned right away was there's a lot more to it than just pure speed and stacking all the downforce in it you can and going around there as fast as you can and Drafting and passing and I mean there's it's a it's a handful for the drivers and then you know also throwing the wind in there and how that can affect a car and it's a little bit unique to IndyCar versus what we know in NASCAR so but I mean everything I walk you know just standing there and looking at the cars going through Tech it was like standing next to a spaceship it was fascinating for me it was um not what was unique but actually what was most similar so I've been able to cover NASCAR IndyCar imsa even Supercross um while everything Dale just described is 100 accurate the cars are totally different how they drive what tools you have to turn in the end there's this Common Thread from Ricky Carmichael to Dale Jr to Townsend to hinch that you know there's a start line and a Finish Line and a distance and who gets their first wins and why that sounds really simple that's like the common thread and I think that what makes us all race fans and I think back to your original question about crossover weekend that's what makes a race fan a race fan right they might like a series or a star or a car better than the other because of their personal experiences but the concept um you know we get lumped together like sticking Ball Sports well there's a big Variety in stick and ball Sports where if you put a circle around racing while the the venues or the vehicles or even the competitors may vary um the concept is very very similar and and the thread of the garages or the paddocks or whatever you want to refer to it is very very similar and that's probably the coolest thing I've seen going from series to series next Steve in Townsend I'm gonna pick on you guys um two different things uh one to follow up on that how do you sell it to the the fans you know something some of our race fans can be a little territorial um I grew up in a dirt track world and you know you can't you can't get some Sprint car fans watch a late model race and they're at the same track at the same time so how do you sell it to get these people to embraced the broader the bigger picture of of the you know they're still four tires they're still racing each other how do you get them to catch on to that I'd say just hopefully you know hopefully it's selling itself I mean we're we're really at least I'm not up there thinking about selling anybody other than trying to embrace um and evangelize the great action that's on the track um having been there and and lived it um as a driver um and and just try to let the fans as best we we can um into the stories of the drivers The Paddock and also what's going on behind the wheel and in real time you know it's great to have hints just coming fresh out of the cockpit over the last several seasons and into the into the NBC booth and um I think I think the the world's getting maybe a little bit smaller in that way and that you know we're going to see Kyle Larson come over next year and do the 500 we've seen you know Kurt Busch come over and do really well and Jimmy do his thing in the last couple years and I think it's maybe in this era a little less rare than it used to be to see that crossover I'm still waiting for the first uh Nascar or IndyCar driver to go race Supercross I haven't seen that yet but I'm holding out hope as a as a Supercross Enthusiast um but I do think that world's getting smaller on the NBC side I think it's a lot of fun that you know one of the common voices you do here in the NBC Sports World is is Lee Diffie and the funny thing happened in the The Paddock just earlier today a fan stopped introduced himself to Lee wanted this photo with Lee and said I said I was I am such a big and I thought the guy was going to say Supercross fan or sports car fan he said I am a such a big uh track and field fan and I've discovered IndyCar because of you Lee in your voice and I think as much as um our our NASCAR colleagues have bled over onto the IndyCar side at times or even the imsa broadcast at Daytona I just think that makes it for the Casual viewer that might have only been in one specific Motorsport it's a little uh maybe less I wouldn't call it intimidating it's a little easier to make the leap as a fan and say oh Aaron Dale Jr's voice at Daytona what's this all about I want to learn more so I don't know how you see it no I I think it's exactly that I don't think it's our job to sell it um or analysts we're gonna cover what's happening and just making sure we're doing it in a very welcoming fashion where if you want to tune in we're thankful you're here and we'll explain it from all levels from our hardcore fan uh they need to leave the broadcast thinking they were explained a why or how that they didn't see to a brand new novice fan we don't want them to think that we weren't including them in the broadcast as well that's really I think the biggest challenge is just make sure that you are inclusive to anyone that is willing to commit their time to watch one of our broadcasts totally different subjects um New Zealand we've got more New Zealand drivers in Indy cars we have Brazilians which 10 years ago you would have lost that bet if you would nobody would have bet on that and now we have a New Zealander comes in wins a cup race um he's gonna probably we're hoping I'm sure everybody hopes he does well but probably may not win tomorrow win on Sunday but where's have you guys looked at that and where is that coming from what's that why are they so good right now I mean that Dennis didn't start the two years ago it's the longer process but what's made them so good with developing drivers never mind never been to New Zealand so it's I mean it's a tough question to answer because it's a it's a country that's got a pretty small population for the number of top-level racing drivers they've produced um but they they have a pretty rich history in it right obviously going all the way back to Bruce McLaren and uh that probably got one generation of drivers going that got the next generation of drivers going and you talked to Shane or Scott McLaughlin they'll tell you that Scott Dixon was a huge reason why they got into Motorsports so I think because it's a smaller country successful Sports people from that country get celebrated in a pretty big way and uh and so guys like Scott Dixon would have been celebrated you know more even over there than as a six-time champion Indy 500 winner he probably is over here and that helps influence a Young Generation Australia obviously has a huge racing culture they're close to them there's a nice Pathway to Europe for uh for Australians so it's kind of an indirect way but uh it's impressive yeah that a country with so few people in the grand scheme of things can produce this many top level racing drivers I think Dustin had a question in the middle there I'm gonna go to him foreign Sports uh James you know as it's referenced um the next time the Indycar series back here Kyle Larson will be in a car he hasn't done any testing yet um so you know what what has he got ahead of him in in the coming months to be you know not just to be a part of the field but to be good and to be a competitive one and and I guess for Steve I asked from a from a crew Chief's perspective obviously Rick Hendrick's behind this and and and Kyle's done a lot of the Sprint car racing but if you're his crew chief knowing the challenges and demands he's going to be facing what what are your expectations or what are your demands of Kyle while he goes in moonlights in IndyCar well from the driving side I mean he's got the the advantage of time I've I've never seen a 500 deal done 500 days before the race happened so he's got that you know certainly on his side um which means they'll be able to prepare I think better than anyone else in in the history of like the crossover I guess you could say and um I know he's going to be on a simulator he's going to get a test at some point and you know that's a driver that's so used to jumping into different equipment and and getting up to speed pretty quickly you know I was I was on hand when Kurt came and ran with us he was a teammate of mine in Andretti Auto Sport back in the day and it was super impressive to see how quickly he adapted the questions that he asked you know how much of a student of the craft he became and I expect nothing less of Kyle so he's surrounded by an incredible group there over at McLaren he's got a lot of great teammates that are going to be helping him certainly having TK on on on staff over there uh is going to be a huge asset as well but then he's honestly he's he's looking forward to one of the most exciting and one of the most terrifying I think experiences of his life it's gonna be a blast and I think everybody in this room is super excited to speak to him or hear from him after that first run in practice after that First Quality Sim maybe on on Fast Friday and then certainly after the race but I'm looking forward to a good show from him if I was this crew chief I would tell him we'd need to get a really hot start um so you can really enjoy the month of May you know in NASCAR world if you win you're basically in the playoffs um to James's point about 500 Days to prepare I think another huge thing in his corner is that his cup series owner is a part of it as well so I don't believe he's gonna um have to make the tough decisions on where should I be cut practice or or you know Indie Car prep or whatever there's going to be these decisions in the two weeks leading up to the 500 and I think if I was this crew chief my goal would be to make it where those decisions are really easy uh that you know you only get to run your first Indy 500 once I would try to get us some Victory Lane very very early so my owner and my driver can not just take part in the Indy 500 but are really absorb it and to do that I think you do have to commit some time and energy that would be my goal then I'd convince him to take me with him if we win so I could come hang out and check it all out too um we'll go to Bruce this is likely going to be the last time for a while that we'll see IndyCar in NASCAR at the same track same weekend how much do you guys believe we need more of that and how disappointed are you see the possibility that go away next year well I don't you know I don't know if it's going away or not but I do I do believe that you know we just talked about the opportunity for Kyle Larson to run both races I remember when John Andretti did it and the buzz that that created was great for for Motorsports in general and we are seeing a a worldwide excitement about Motorsports now and so when you get you know one of our biggest drivers driving in their biggest race that's great that's great for all of us so anything we can do and we you're right I mean race fans are very territorial but anything we can do to expose NASCAR to IndyCar fans and vice versa it only helps all of us I mean you're not gonna you're an IndyCar fan is not going to say wow I like NASCAR now so I'm not gonna watch any car I mean it's it's great racing you know and there and so it's it's important for us to find ways and be Innovative and be honest with you one of the coolest things about him announcing so early is they got to make the schedules work and you know you got to make schedules work there was a period of time there where the times didn't work out you couldn't have gotten from here to there to do it so uh you know when John did it his dad you know I remember his dad walking up to John and saying that's pretty cool I mean or something to that extent you know and and so here you took our great one of our greatest drivers ever and certainly the hero of the time and he thought it was great for Motorsports and I'll never forget that and so uh we anything we can do like that is is good for all of us so we doubleheader or whatever it happens to be is good for Motorsports and it's good for each individual series I'll just add that that while the doubleheader is great you know I don't think it's the only option um I think that the the way that the series interact with one another within their schedules within the series within circuits I mean all of that adds value as well he brings up the schedule for the Indy 500 but it's more than just that it's what would the Rolex be if it was up against the Indy 500 of the Daytona 500 right it like it's more than just where you're at on the same weekend it's what's your what's your Global footprint look like looks like from January to to November and I think that if stars like kamui are willing to come around a NASCAR race or Kyle Larson willing to come in IndyCar race I really hope there are weekends somewhere that that whoever paddle wants to come running at like whoever you just hope that the their time allows it um and I just think these Stars don't really control a lot of their time so you just hope the people that do in the series that do um hope that is in some sort of consideration and a question for James uh Graham Ray Hall was in here and he and he brought up your name as an example of somebody who you know you could be crushed by this place one year and come back and be on the pole for the Indy 500 the next you've experienced the highs and the lows to see what he's been able to do since he missed got bumped out of the Indy 500 this year and then now he's back a few months later and he's on the pole yeah I mean it took me 12 months to do that he did in a couple months um experience kind of both ends of that in this place but no it's an incredible turnaround it just shows you you know how unpredictable this series can be and uh how how competitive it is you know a guy that's at the bottom of the Barrel in May is is sitting on the top of the pile here in August and uh huge congrats to that you know team and to Graham for the effort they put forth it's like I said I've been there I know how tough May was for that group and uh to only be a few months removed from that and have not just him on pole but Christian up there on the front row and Jack in the top 10 as well before the penalty is uh is a huge result for them [Music] uh James uh a little technical question for you NASCAR is running on good years Indico on Firestone do you think there would be a bit of grip wise at this harmony Well normally different manufacturer rubber doesn't really is isn't very compatible with any other manufactured rubber so uh I I suspect as they saw last year there'll be a little bit of a little bit of an issue right after either the Xfinity cars are on or or you know cup practice or whatever but uh but we're you know we're used to that for a long time the junior categories have had different rubber and so um even though a Cooper rubber versus Firestone versus Goodyear is all going to interact a little bit differently it's it's nothing that they haven't dealt with in the past so these are these guys are Pros they'll figure it out athletic on this weekend are you guys surprised that we haven't seen more crossover like an IndyCar driver kind of running the Nascar race or a NASCAR driver venturing over and running the IndyCar race because that was kind of part of the Allure if you will of this weekend I'm not a lot from a planning standpoint and um it's tough to bounce back and forth between cars like that I I think you've seen that with some of the greatest drivers in the world coming to the Indy 500 with months of planning and preparation and all the testing uh that's available to you for for Indy and you see an Alonso come over or Kurt Busch or whatever they've done well but boy they'd be a lot better with three or four attempts you know um and and I think vice versa for an IndyCar driver to just hop in maybe save for Scott McLaughlin um you know he's got a pretty good Bedrock of of experience that obviously with svg's performance could transfer but it would be very difficult to just hop in um on sort of a spontaneous basis and I think so much planning goes into making these things happen that it's it's prohibitive against uh spontaneity go on the front first [Music] sorry to put you on a spot deal I'm gonna do it anyway uh two seaters are out running around right now have you ever gotten a chance to drive one of those no if you did get a chance who would you want to give a ride to oh I don't know I probably wouldn't want anybody to be in there with me the first time I mean I uh I think the ship sailed man I sure missed some opportunities driving any car around here and I probably should have done it and I'll be regret of mine for a long time but um I rode with Mario and that was cool I couldn't see anything but um just riding with him was great uh in any in any kind of car so uh but yeah if I was going to take a lap in in a car around here and in any car it probably wouldn't be the two-seater I'd want to be a full-on strap a bunch of downforce to it though make it pretty easy but I'd want it to be the real thing there's nobody you want to know you want to take out there to scare a little bit no no I'd be scared enough for there wouldn't be room for anyone else do I want Rick Allen to ask a question here oh boy okay you've been to so many uh Street courses within car after the success that we saw NASCAR in Chicago could you ever see NASCAR and any car running on the same street course I mean the thought crossed my mind The Moment I Saw the the track on on your broadcast Rick because um it looked like a great a great setup I obviously it wasn't there I forget where we were Chicago weekend somewhere Mid-Ohio thank you um it looked fantastic and turned out to be a a great race there was a lot of skepticism I know leading up to it on on a number of fronts um in terms of how it would work out but it seemed to race well it was super entertaining from where I was sitting watching the race and um you know save for Paddock and pit space that's usually the issue right I mean when we go to uh Saint Peter when we're in Nashville you're just always space constrained um just within the Indycar series and Indie next and our other support series SRO that might be running uh or even an imsa combined weekend like what we see at Long Beach but uh it was one of my first thoughts is wow that that can be a great possibility anybody else all right um thank you all as I said we've got a little bit of time um for some one-on-one opportunities if you're interested I'll be up here and we can work to arrange those uh quickly but thank you all for coming and thank you guys we appreciate it