The pre-race show on Fox for Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 was nearing completion, it appeared the national anthem and those four famous words ‘Gentleman, Start Your Engines’ were just moments away when Fox cut away from the NASCAR coverage and all the Hardcore Race Fans out there began screaming at their televisions.

A two-hour rain delay had stopped the Yankees-Red Sox game in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Fox baseball analysts assured the viewers the green flag would be seen and the coverage of the conclusion of the game would switch to FX.

Viewers were shown a box at the bottom of the screen informing them of a start time of 8:53 P.M. EST. 8:53 P.M. rolled around and still no racing, just more baseball. The game quickly cut to cars hurtling down the backstretch as they roared off Turn 2 for the start. The time was 8:55 P.M. Fox dropped the ball on this and disappointed many a Hardcore Race Fan out there.

Fans have continually complained throughout the years about the TV coverage and Saturday night’s fiasco was just another item to add to the list. I’m sure there are plenty of baseball fans out there who were eager to see the end of this game – one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports – and I can not blame Fox for showing the end of the eighth inning.

The problem comes when viewers are told the game is going to switch to FX in order to show the start of the event. This never happened and angry race fans were left to sit at home and worry about missing the start of the race. Granted, we should all be thankful there is racing on television at all.

Many times, we as race fans take our sport and its continued coverage for granted. Ask any longtime Hardcore Race Fan and they will tell you how it was hard to find any racing on TV at all. The race continued without a hitch for the remainder of the event. Those on the NASCAR side of Fox are not necessarily to blame for this, but still the issue deserves to be addressed.

NASCAR continues to fight for recognition and respect when compared to the stick-and-ball sports – primarily football and baseball – and this is another example.

Without the Hardcore Race Fans out there, NASCAR would be nothing. Seemingly never-ending commercial breaks and inconsistent start times have left many fans to simply turn off the television in favor of satellite or radio broadcast. Incidents such as this will further this trend if no one stands up and voices their discontent.