In what was billed as the first time a driver in a top-tier NASCAR race simultaneously served as a TV analyst on race coverage, TNT’s #45-Kyle Petty took viewers a little too close to the action in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. After early glitches TNT’s other announcers initially couldn’t get through to Petty and when they did he said they were breaking up on him the multitasking seemed promising. Said Petty, at the green flag, “Everybody is a passenger today.” Too true. Driver #17-Matt Kenseth and Petty collided in the second lap in an accident that included driver #91-Marc Goossens. TNT analyst Wally Dallenbach speculated Petty “had no clue” Kenseth was nosing in on him. On a replay of the view out of Petty’s windshield, the driver-analyst seemed to confirm that: As Kenseth came into view, viewers heard a clear exclamation of surprise that seemed to come from Petty “What the f-!” TNT’s Bill Weber immediately apologized “for that language,” and Petty, who stayed in the race and finished 39th, came back on-air to say that “was not the kind of excitement I wanted” and later apologized on-air for the accident. All 43 cars in NASCAR races are miked, TNT spokesman Jeff Pomeroy says, and the audio that pops up on-air can’t always be identified: “We can assume that audio came from one of the three cars in the accident. But we can’t be sure it was Kyle.”(USA Today)(6-25-2007)
