NASCAR on television in the 2020s
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On October 15, 2012, NASCAR and the Fox Sports Media Group (FSMG) announced a new $2.4 billion eight-year deal, a 30% increase from their previous deal.[1] On July 23, 2013, NASCAR and the NBC Sports Group announced a new $4.4 billion ten-year deal.[2][3][4] Ten days later on August 1, 2013, NASCAR and Fox extended and expanded their agreement, paying an additional $1.4 billion to do so, to complete NASCAR's new TV package through the 2024 season.[5][6] NBC reportedly bid over 50% more than ESPN and Turner for their portion of the package, despite Turner and ESPN expressing interest about continuing their relationship with NASCAR.[7]
2020
In 2020, NASCAR created a worldwide television feed for broadcasts outside the United States. International broadcasters include Nippon TV, TSN, Viaplay Sports, Fox Sports Australia, Ziggo Sport Totaal, Arena Sport, Abu Dhabi Sports, FOX Sports Mexico, and BandSports.
Also in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic after the fourth race of the season Fox started using their Charlotte Studio to the maximum extent possible to avoid travel, ensure social distancing, and limit the number of staff onsite at races. The only on-air talent onsite was at most two pit reporters per race, all other talent was stationed at the Fox Studios in Charlotte.
Also due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBC team initially broadcast all races from the broadcast booth at Charlotte Motor Speedway with only 1-2 pit reporters onsite. Although NBC has a small studio in Charlotte for NASCAR America segments, the studio was deemed too small to be able to do race broadcasts and maintain social distancing. For the Indianapolis race weekend, Mike Tirico hosted from the track; Tirico lives close enough to Indianapolis he was able to drive to the track to host. For the final five races of the season (starting with the Charlotte Roval Race) the NBC on-air team resumed travel to race sites.
NASCAR America stopped airing when the pandemic began and has not yet returned to air. NBC has cited other conflicting live events as the reason the program has not returned to air; NBCSN aired the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs throughout the show's timeslot in July and August.
On July 28, 2020, it was announced that Brad Daugherty would be an analyst for NASCAR on NBC from the first Michigan International Speedway race onwards.[8] At the conclusion of the 2020 season, Krista Voda revealed on social media she would not be returning to NBC. Voda stated NBC had elected to eliminate her position from race broadcasts.
2021
On January 22, 2021, an internal memo sent by NBC Sports president Pete Bevacqua announced that NBCSN would cease operations by the end of the year, and that USA Network would begin "carrying and/or simulcasting certain NBC Sports programming," including the Stanley Cup playoffs and NASCAR races, before NBCSN's shutdown. Peacock, NBCUniversal's new streaming service, will also carry some of the network's former programming starting in 2022.[9][10] The move was cited by industry analysts as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sports and television industries, the acceleration of cord-cutting, as well as formidable competition from rival sports networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports 1.[11]
During Summer Olympic years (three during the contract, in 2016, 2020, and 2024), NBC will assign different NBCUniversal channels to air races as a result of scheduling conflicts. In 2021, the Cup Series will take two weeks off to minimize any conflict with the Olympics; the Watkins Glen race will be run on the day of the Games' closing ceremony. The two Xfinity Series race that will take place during the Games (at Watkins Glen) will air on CNBC. If a NASCAR race is postponed to Monday and it conflicts with an English Premier League match, the race will move to USA (CNBC is also unavailable on weekdays due to its stock market coverage), though this has not happened yet as of the end of the 2020 season.
2022
After the 2021 season, Jeff Gordon left Fox to work for Hendrick Motorsports full-time as the team's Vice Chairman. (He had previously worked with the team during the second half of the Cup Series season when NBC was broadcasting the races, after spending his entire full-time career with them).[12] Fox did not replace him with one permanent color commentator and instead filled his spot with rotating guest commentators as they do in the Xfinity, Truck and ARCA Series. Retired Cup Series driver Tony Stewart was the first guest color commentator and was in the booth for the Clash, the Daytona 500 and the race at COTA.
2023
In July 2023, broadcast network The CW signed a TV rights deal to broadcast the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2025 to 2031 for an estimated $115 million annual fee.[13]
In November 2023, NASCAR announced a television and streaming deal for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Truck Series from 2025 to 2031 for a $1.1 billion annual fee.[14][15] Fox Sports and NBC Sports will distribute 14 Cup races each, with five and four races on their broadcast networks respectively. Fox Sports[16] will continue to air early season spring races including the Daytona 500, while NBC will continue to show late-season fall races including the entire NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Amazon Prime Video will stream five Cup races in the early summer, as well as practice and qualifying for the first half of the season except for the Clash, Daytona 500 and All-Star Race. TNT will show the remaining five Cup races in the late summer, which will also be streamed on the Bleacher Report Sports Add-On on Max. Practice and qualifying will air on TruTV and Max for the second half of the season. It was also announced that Fox Sports would continue its arrangement with the Truck series from the previous media deal.
2024
On February 29, 2024, The Athletic reported that Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose contract with NBC expired after the 2023 season, would reportedly be leaving NBC for Amazon and TNT's new NASCAR coverage in the next TV contract that starts in 2025.[17]
On May 7, 2024, it was officially announced that Earnhardt Jr. would make the move from NASCAR on NBC to Amazon and TNT's new NASCAR coverage, presumably continuing as a color commentator.[18]
On May 13, 2024, NASCAR announced that they would hold a mid-season bracket challenge for Cup Series teams that would take place during TNT's five races. The top 32 drivers from the three previous races who would be seeded in the bracket for the start of the tournament based on their finishes in those races. The driver who wins the bracket challenge will win $1,000,000.[19]