Yeah, the producers play a role. I have no doubt that Larry McReynolds probably knows more about stock cars than I do, but FOX really want the dynamic of goofy-trying-to-be-cool dad Mike Joy and his two obnoxious kids Larry and Darrell taking a five-hour road trip every Sunday afternoon.
ESPN's booth is by far the best. The studio is so pathetic I actually enjoy their cluelessness. The pit reporters? Jamie Little has always lacked situational awareness, from her forgetting that Paul Dana had died the morning of the 2006 Homestead IndyCar race to her inability to ever pick the right time to try to talk to someone. I am surprised she has yet to jump over the wall with the crew during a pit stop and stick her microphone in a driver's car. More of her interviews end in..."oh...he's busy right now...we'll talk to him later."
Of course, I love when ESPN gets to the NNS road courses, too, because then I get to play a little game I invented:
By the way, a younger Allen Bestwick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMos7zYHO5Q#t=03m40s