CONCORD, N.C. -- Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing, often seems to use the Cup preseason media tour each January to get something off his chest. This year, on Tuesday during an event in the Nationwide Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Roush went off unsolicited on what he perceives as skewed television coverage of the sport he loves.

"I was not prompted to make this comment -- but I will go on and make it anyway because I speak my mind most of the time," Roush said. "If you look at our sport and the way it's reported, and the way the communications box and the television box works in relation to the rest of what's going on, there is not a sports activity in the world that's got better critics and more knowledgeable critics than NASCAR does as we go to competition in front of the fans. We have not had the level of support from the TV studio box that the other sports have.

“

The competition is great. It wasn't bad. It wasn't subject to criticism for every move that NASCAR made or every move that a team made.

”

- JACK ROUSH

"I would hope that FOX and ESPN and everybody else really think about what they are doing. We had more passes last year than we've ever had; we had more passes for the lead than we've ever had; we had more different winners than we've ever had; we had more cars finishing on the lead lap than we've ever had. The competition is great. It wasn't bad. It wasn't subject to criticism for every move that NASCAR made or every move that a team made. But sometimes it sounded that way, coming out of the communications [or television] box."

Roush insisted that the state of the sport is strong and even claimed that fans have not complained about anything regarding competition at any of the 12 tracks owned by International Speedway Corp.

"ISC has done an analysis and looked at what they've got -- and for all of last year, from all of their race tracks, they have not had one complaint from anybody who bought a ticket about something regarding a race not working the way they thought. So there is no complaint from the fans regarding competition," Roush said. "The complaints have come from reporters and the media that has maybe a vested interest -- if you look at [announcers and former driving champions] Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace and all the ex-drivers and ex-crew chiefs that are out there. It's not unreasonable to say they've got some ax to grind over something that frustrated them in their careers when they were on the firing line. We need to reel that back in; that needs to be something that's not carried out front to the fans and to the public.

"We need to talk about how many passes we're having. We need to talk about how close the racing is on the final laps. We need to talk about contentious things are in the garage and the rest of it, and not fault the teams for decisions they make and not fault NASCAR for the government that they provide. NASCAR racing is the best-run form of motorsport anywhere in the world. It may be the best-run form of sport anyplace in the world. I don't know enough about tennis and golf and football and basketball really to make an absolute statement there. But NASCAR from a motorsport point of view does a better job with their house, keeping things fair and consistent and safe, than anybody else in motorsports."

When a reporter interjected that many disgruntled fans have been sending e-mails to various news outlets expressing at least some level of displeasure with the competition on the track, Roush replied: "You write about that then. That's your job."

But he quickly added that when NASCAR receives input from fans about issues, it tries to respond -- citing the recent decision to replace the rear wing on the Cup cars with a spoiler. The wing has been used only since the new car was introduced on a part-time basis in 2007, with it being put into use full-time in 2008.

“

I tell people all the time: the race is a picture -- and we as commentators just create the frame. That's our job. I shouldn't get in the way of a race.

”

- KYLE PETTY

"They're changing the rear spoiler as a response to fans saying they didn't know why they needed a rear wing," Roush said. "They're looking at a number of other changes that can make it interesting as well."

In the 2010 season, ESPN will televise 14 races, FOX (for which Waltrip is an analyst) will televise 13, TNT six and ABC, which is affiliated with ESPN, three. George McNeilly, senior director of communications for ESPN, defended his cable network's analysts, which include Wallace.

"Ultimately, like the drivers and the athletes themselves, we're going to be judged by our performance. ... We pay our analysts to analyze -- and we hire the most credible people to do that. We're the only network to hire five former Cup champions," McNeilly said. "These are people who are very knowledgeable about the sport, who you folks [in the media] widely quoted during their active careers as drivers and crew chiefs and car owners. They were credible then and they're credible now."

Kyle Petty, a former driver who now serves as an analyst for TNT, said that it is important for announcers to know their roles while also having the freedom to say what is on their minds when situations call for it.

"I tell people all the time: the race is a picture -- and we as commentators just create the frame. That's our job. I shouldn't get in the way of a race," Petty said. "If you're a race fan and you're tuning in to watch the race, you tuned in to watch the race and not to hear Kyle Petty talk. You didn't tune in to hear [fellow TNT analyst] Wally Dallenbach talk. You tuned in to watch Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon and the rest of the drivers. They're the stars; we're not the stars. We just create the frame."

Petty said he has always spoken his mind, and has never had anyone from within the NASCAR community tell him he couldn't or shouldn't even if they might have disagreed with him from time to time on one of his opinions.

"I think it's our job to do the best we can to show people what's going on out on the race track, and to talk about what's going on out on the race track," he said. "But never in the three years that I have done this have I gotten a call where anyone said, 'You said this and this is wrong. You said this and it was too negative about our sport.' "

While NASCAR officials have in the past often boasted of how their sport is unique in that competitors can be heard on team radios during events and interviewed "in the heat of the moment" following wrecks and completed events, Roush said he believes that approach might be part of the problem with skewed perceptions.

"If you come back and you approach me on a day when I have not been able to do what I might, I might wish that I had more rear spoiler or less rear spoiler or better tires or something," Roush said. "But that doesn't mean that's a valid criticism in the broader scheme of things. That just means I'm frustrated with what's just happened."

He also attributed many of the negative fan comments to the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has not performed consistently well in recent seasons.

"I think with some of the comments that have come back from fans, certainly Junior is the most popular driver -- and his fans have to be frustrated with the fact that he couldn't do more. And the fact is that he couldn't," Roush said. "That doesn't mean the racing wasn't good between everyone else."

McNeilly, meanwhile, said his network stands by its in-depth coverage of the sport.

"We have a very simple-to-understand mission at ESPN, and that is to serve sports fans," McNeilly said. "One of the ways that we do that -- maybe the most pronounced way we do that -- is we hire authentic and credible former athletes, former drivers, former crew chiefs, former coaches to analyze what is going on out on the field of play. That's what we do."

Eddie Motl, publicist for FOX Sports Communications, similarly echoed his network's commitment to producing telecasts that utilize its on-air talent to the best of their individual abilities with the overall goal being to provide valuable information and sometimes opinions to fans.

"Our on-air team is as passionate about NASCAR as any driver, owner, crew chief or fan, and our analysts speak their mind based on the immense experience and success they enjoyed during their on-track careers," Motl said. "The broadcast booth is not a pulpit, neither is it a mouthpiece, and FOX Sports respects that. It is place from which to describe the action and provide thoughtful commentary, which all fans deserve. NASCAR fans know their sport and they'll know if a broadcaster holds back, and once you cross that line, all your credibility is gone."