NASCAR Trucks better in Low-Def than the Cars in Hi-Def at Ford Championship Weekend

Fantastic pit strategy and iron will put Johnny Benson in position to capture the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship this past Friday. The final race with Craftsman as the series title sponsor was far more exciting and entertaining than either of the 2 "car" races this past weekend.

Maybe it was the nature of the championship beast with Benson grabbing the title by a mere 7 points over the crafty Ron Hornaday. Maybe it was that Hornaday and Kevin Harvick (Hornaday's truck owner) were, as one caller to Sirius' TMD put it, playing "Maverick and Goose". Four wheeled wingmen that weren't going to let anyone get in front of them and yet a no-guts-no-glory call in the pits gets Benson the position over Hornaday for the championship. Maybe it was simply that the Truck Series is better than either the NASCAR Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series'. No, for me it was the race presentation. The simple pleasure of sitting on my couch and watching/listening to people who actually gave a damn about the on-track action made the truck race tops for the weekend.

SpeedTV is not available in HD in my area thanks to the crappy selection and service of Charter Communications, but it didn't matter. So what if the trucks didn't look as awesome as the cars did on ESPN2 or ABC. The enthusiasm and delivery of information from Rick Allen, Phil Parsons, Mikey and Darell Waltrip,  Adam Alaxander and Ray Dunlap totally buried the coverage of the Mickey Mouse networks this weekend.

If you watched the Cup race on ABC this past Sunday, did you know what was happening to your favorite drivers in the last 10 laps with all of the fuel stops going on? Did you even hear about Scott Speed (outside pole sitter and part of the future of NASCAR) after the drop of the green flag? Where did Matt Kenseth finish? How the hell did Kasey Kahne finish 6th? What about Awesome Bill finishing 12 for the Wood Brothers? The lack of plot-lines discussed in a 400 mile race was staggering. We all knew the Jimmie Johnson/Cousin Carl story, but that's really all we heard about . Let me just say that the Championship points "battle" was not as compelling as some exec wanted it to be. WTF ABC!? 

Race fans are passionate and knowledgeable. ABC could at least pretend to be. Maybe you should just stick to America's Funniest Home Videos.