Last week, NASCAR unveiled its new TV deal, which will commence in 2007. Just about everyone who keeps up with NASCAR has heard about it.

FOX will televise the first 13 races of the year, including the Daytona 500. Since 2001, FOX has televised the Super Bowl of Auto Racing every other year, as they have shared broadcast duties with NBC. Now they will become the official home of the Great American Race.

TNT remains a partner, as they will televise the next six races. Finally, ABC/ESPN will broadcast the final 17 races, which includes the chase for the championship, as they make their much-anticipated return to NASCAR. They will also televise the entire Busch Series schedule.

The SPEED Channel will cover all but two of the Craftsman Truck Series, as well as the Gatorade Duels, the Nextel Cup All-Star events, and the Nextel Cup Pit Crew challenge. Sound complicated?

The most popular component of the announcement was the return of ABC/ESPN to NASCAR. ESPN was an ambassador in early NASCAR broadcasting, as they televised races throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Old school fans will remember Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Dr. Jerry Punch as they paved the way for announcers such as Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip. A lot of these fans were bitterly disappointed when the first big TV deal was announced back in 1999.

A lot of fans are under the false pretense that with the return of ABC/ESPN, all the broadcasting flaws will disappear. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Broadcasting has changed dramatically since the final ESPN broadcast back in November of 2000. FOX and NBC have made it into more of a show.

Back when ESPN dominated the broadcast, they focused primarily on the race. Yeah, they had Buffet Benny, and Hat Of The Week, but there was more discussion about the actual racing and we saw fewer commercials.

When ESPN returns, the broadcasts are not going to be like the ones you see on ESPN Classic. They are going to follow in the footsteps of FOX and NBC. The commercials will still be of abundance because sponsors are pouring more money into the sport than they were five or six years ago.

ESPN will fill the need to begin each broadcast with long drawn-out pre-race show. And the majority of fans who moan and groan now about NBC’s and FOX’s broadcast, they will be the ones who will complain about ESPN and say that they aren’t what they used to be and that they have sold out. It’s inevitable. Some race fans are just too hard to please.

FOX and NBC have done a decent job over the past five years. Each network has brought something new to NASCAR broadcasting, whether it’s the FOXtracks, or NBC’s "thru the field" segments. Maybe there are a lot of commercials, and maybe the announcers are corny. It can be annoying when we miss a restart every now and then, but what some fans easily forget is that 30 years ago, fans had to tune into AM radio just to hear a full broadcast.

Fans shouldn’t expect the broadcast to be perfect. They should except the imperfections and enjoy the race. It’s not like the current coverage is unbearable.