Wait ... what? Part Deux

 Kyle Larson won the Brickyard 400 yesterday, even though it took three tries to finish the thing because NASCAR gonna NASCAR. In other words, a bunch of allegedly professional race drivers commenced driving like idiots down there at the end.

So there was one crash and then another crash and then, I don't know, three or four more crashes, even after it went overtime to a green-white-checker finish. Somewhere in there Brad Keselowski, who was leading at the end of 400 miles, finally ran out of gas, and then Ryan Blaney inherited the lead, and then Larson took the lead on the second green-white-checker restart.

He took the white flag as the leader, and then someone else crashed, and so after all that the race finished under yellow.

Of course, NBC decided I didn't need to see that last part.

No, as everyone waited for the second green-white-checker to begin, NBC abruptly told the viewing audience it was switching the finish of the race to its subsidiary platform, the USA Network. This was because it was 6 p.m. and the evening news was about to begin, and the evening news couldn't wait.

"What the hell?" I yelped, and I probably wasn't alone.

And, yeah, before you say anything, I understand President Biden announcing he would not be seeking re-election was way more important than a stock car race. Especially a stock car race in which some people apparently were still on their learner's permits, thereby ruining a rare compelling finish.

However ...

However, the Biden news had broken some three or four hours earlier. NBC had already broadcast the entire race (and then some, as it turned out) in the interim. So they'd waited that long, but they couldn't wait, what, 10 more minutes?

Apparently not.

This is not to say we missed all that much, even before the switch-over. I tuned in hoping this Brickyard would be less a parade than it usually is, but it wasn't. Instead it turned into the Economy Class 400, with everyone on different fuel strategies following one another like beads on a string, hoping the other guys would run out of gas first. It was like watching a really loud math class.

That was interesting, I have to say. But it wasn't exactly racing.

And then it was just crashing.

And then it was the evening news, reporting on a three-hour-old story.

Brought the grumpy old coot right out of me. Surprise, surprise.