The chase was stopped for laughter.
In a move that brought back memories of the infamous “Heidi Game,” when NBC abruptly cut away from a 1968 telecast between the New York Jets at the Oakland Raiders, ABC cut away Sunday from NASCAR’s next-to-last race of the season with 34 laps remaining.
Viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones were switched from the race, which had been delayed about 45 minutes because of two red flags, to show “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Locally, KMGH-7 switched over from the race for news. The rest of the race was shown on ESPN2.
“I knew we were in trouble when I looked at the monitor and saw a monkey scratching its butt,” a member of Jimmie Johnson’s crew told The Associated Press after Johnson’s victory.
