Well TNT's summer schedule of six NEXTEL Cup races is over and judging by the amount of negative e-mails I've received from readers and fans, not too many were impressed.

Me neither.

Even when I'm at the track covering a race weekend, I record the telecast and try to watch it during the week to get a sense of what the fans and viewers at home are being presented. The six races TNT gave us this year were in my opinion flat and about as exciting as that last race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Let's focus on the positives. The chemisty between Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty was great. I had my doubts because when you think about it, both guys really are filling the same role - current or recently retired driver/analyst. Dallenbach - who I think is an unheralded analyst, had a good rapport with the late Benny Parsons. But he and Petty hit it off immediately and brought insight, some humor and a little bit of edge to the overall bland telecasts.

Pit road work was in capable hands with regulars Matt Yokum and Marty Snider joined by Ralph Shaheen - another unheralded and underused commodity - and Lindsey Czarniak, bumped up from some lower-level racing telecast work. On a whole a solid effort, although the Yokum-Tony Stewart connection is starting to get a little old and uncomfortable. Matt's a good reporter but he's hamstrung trying to get anything out of his pal "Smoke," as evident of their victory lane "interview" after Chicagoland.

Bill Weber is not a play-by-play announcer and should be relegated to feature reporting - I'll leave it at that. Larry McReynolds is okay, but he didn't fit on TNT with all of his FOX background and connections over the years. And host Mark Fein, a capable broadcaster with stick and ball experience, was weak trying to run a NASCAR telecast with limited knowledge clearly on display.

TNT's "Wide Open" coverage was something that will no doubt be in racing's future and the network should be applauded for trying something different. But the six race stretch was forgettable and I still can't understand how NASCAR can put two of its biggest races - the Pepsi 400 at Daytona and the Chicagoland race (it is the number three market in the country) on cable rather than a regular network, which would provide wider exposure.

ESPN/ABC is on deck and the bar is set pretty high based on the networks' past glory. They won't have far to go to surpass TNT's effort, but racefans have been waiting for their return for nearly seven years. The pressure is on.

Pete Pistone