ESPN Has Some Trouble With Chicago Nationwide Finish

Written by Matt Yoder | 04 June 2011

For the second straight week, NASCAR had a thrilling last lap finish come down to fuel mileage. This time, it was in the Nationwide Series race at Chicago. Leader Carl Edwards and 2nd place driver Justin Allgaier were racing for the win. Edwards went to empty first down the backstretch, then Allgaier passed him and ran out of gas coming out of Turn 4 like Dale Earnhardt Jr. last week. Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne was in 3rd. Watch as ESPN play by play man Marty Reid's voice rises in excitement and anticipation for a photo finish with Bayne and Allgaier. As thrilling as the finish sounds, that white car that passed Allgaier was not Trevor Bayne, it was a lapped car. Allgaier coasted home first in front of Edwards... and then Bayne. Oops.

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That's unfortunate. It's tough to be too hard on Marty Reid because at least he got the Indy 500 finish right last week with Dan Wheldon passing a wrecked JR Hildebrand (and if you had to pick one finish to get right it's Indy, not a random Nationwide race... I suppose the alternative is to get both correct though). The circus-like finish and botched call makes this announcing moment an early nominee for the 2011 Ruben Rivera Award for the funniest screw-up of the year... basically it's a lame excuse and a made-up award to show you this clip of Ruben Rivera running around like a madman. I think it compares well to the action in the ESPN NASCAR booth. Plus, this clip never gets old...