FOX Sports is pushing hard with an aggressive strategy to make its inaugural NTT INDYCAR SERIES season a big deal with its full season of coverage.
Having all 17 races air on network television, including Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding at noon ET, already is a big deal. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the only premier motorsport series in North America with that distinction.
With Will Buxton taking on the lead play-by-play role and being joined in the booth by analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe, there's a lot of focus on how the broadcast will continue the aggressive momentum and engage viewers by telling the story of each race and the season in a unique way.
Race broadcasts are about much more than storytelling. They need to capture the intensity and real-time strategy of the drivers and teams, especially during crucial moments of the race. Bell and Hinchcliffe also must balance providing technical insight with the excitement of the on-track action to keep the broadcast lively and engaging.
Hinchcliffe and Bell praise Pam Miller, the FOX INDYCAR producer, for her approach in preparing them to offer a fresh style of coverage. Given her reputation for thoroughness, she’s set them up for success by ensuring they have all the necessary tools and insights to convey the race action in a unique way.
“We are encouraged to throw any and every idea out there,” Hinchcliffe said. “The number of things we’ve gotten to approve that I never thought we would get approved, it’s shocking and amazing. The pressure is now kind of on us to make sure the show lives up to that.”
Technical advancements are part of that equation, including the use of drones on the 1.8-mile street circuit at St. Petersburg.
“We'll have drones at St. Pete for the first time,” Bell said. “St. Pete, in particular, if you just think about the final corner that leads on to the front straightaway, the runway there at St. Pete, for so many years we analyze different racing lines through there. Do you kind of come in early and fire big entry speed and kind of double apex there? Do you come in with late apex, square it off to get down the straightaway?
“All of a sudden now we're going to have some tools to help us tell that story a lot better. I can't imagine how cool it'll be to have a drone following side-by-side action there."
The mix of Bell and Hinchcliffe and the superb storytelling abilities of Buxton make this a dynamic trio.
Buxton is diving deep into the series after two decades in Formula One to make sure he’s fully prepared, too. He returns to the FOX Sports family, having begun his television career on SPEED in 2010 as pit reporter for its Formula One coverage. Buxton transitioned with the F1 broadcast rights to NBC Sports from 2013-17, doubling up his F1 duties with a pit lane role at various INDYCAR SERIES races. With Liberty Media’s acquisition of F1, Buxton moved in house in 2018 as the sport’s digital presenter and played an instrumental role in the championship’s push into digital media and the launch of F1TV, where he became a central part of the channel as lead presenter, pit reporter, analyst and lead announcer.
His commitment to understanding the nuances and history of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES shows just how important this role is to him.
“I think it's our job to hero the drivers, to tell their stories, to make people care about them, whether they come from the U.S. or they come from outside of the U.S,” Buxton said. “They all have unique stories to tell. They all have unique backgrounds as to where they've come from, what their objectives are and the influences that will be affecting them throughout the season.
“We want (viewers) to feel an emotional attachment to these drivers, whether it's a love or hate relationship, that when they (the drivers) go to the line, when they roll to green every Sunday, folks sitting at home care deeply and passionately about who they're watching.
“It’s storytelling, and that doesn't matter what championship you're talking about, what country you're talking to or about. It's storytelling, and it's getting people to care about these incredible gladiators, these incredible daredevils who do this amazing thing that I've always wished that I could do but have never had the skill set to be able to do. They always say those who can do, and those who can't talk about it. I'm very excited.”
FOX NTT INDYCAR SERIES pit reporters and the FOX INDY NXT by Firestone broadcast team will be announced in the very near future.