With NASCAR’s media rights split between multiple broadcasters and streaming platforms, keeping track of where to watch each race has become a sport of its own. Fans now need to navigate a maze of networks, apps, and exclusive deals just to follow this full cup series season. And now NBC is caught in the crossfire. As streaming continues to reshape live sports coverage, questions over access, accessibility, value, and convenience are becoming just as heated as the on-track rivalries.

NASCAR’s broadcast game has entered a brave new era, and NBC is firmly in the driver’s seat for the back half of the season. Under a sweeping seven-year media rights deal spanning 2025 to 2031, NASCAR will divide coverage among four partners: Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon Prime Video, and TNT Sports. As part of this new structure, Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream five midseason races starting in 2025, while TNT Sports will air another five through TruTV and its Max streaming platform. Amazon and TNT will also handle practice and qualifying sessions during their respective portions of the schedule, marking the first time NASCAR races will appear exclusively on streaming services.

NBC Sports will handle the final 14 Cup Series races, adding four of them live on its main network and streaming the rest via USA Network. Moreover, fans prefer to click rather than channel surf, and so the network allows them to access action via Peacock or the NBC Sports app, even without extra fees, provided they authenticate through their TV provider. NBC wants fans online, and they are dangling coverage in every direction. However, here is the twist: while the streaming revolution is real, the numbers tell a mixed story. Yes, Peacock and the NBC Sports app extend reach and convenience, but some of NASCAR’s biggest home stretches will haul in more eyeballs than the digital alternatives.

Four Cup Series races, including Daytona and Phoenix, are simulcast on Peacock, but 10 more are locked behind USA Network’s cable signals. It is a delicate balance; NBC wants to grow. It is streaming-based yet still leans heavily on linear TV’s legacy power. However, things reached the boiling point just before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

A fiery fan hit peak frustration when the weekend’s worthy Daytona race popped up on The CW and not NBC. Retweeting that post, Jeff Gluck noted that the Daytona race is being streamed on the CW in Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Daytona Beach. But that may just have been the start of an already bigger scoreboard.

NASCAR’s average viewership through week 28 dropped to 2.639 million per race, down a staggering 17% from 2024. Even Amazon’s early streaming races have seen mixed engagement in trial runs during exhibition coverage, hinting at challenges for the upcoming shift. Streaming options like Prime Video followed suit with their own dip; the Pocono race drew 1.87 million viewers, 22% fewer than when it was on the USA Network last year.

All this paints a portrait of NASCAR at a turning point. Traditional TV’s grip is loose, streaming services are rising, but viewership is slipping across both. NBC’s playing a high-stakes game, juggling cable network and digital access in hopes of future gains even while grappling with today’s numbers. Throw in The CW’s patchwork affiliate rollout and fans watching their race banished from the grid, and it is clear that NASCAR’s broadcast landscape is anything but diminishing these days. And the NASCAR community isn’t taking this lightly.

Fans slam NBC bumping NASCAR’s regular season finale in favor of preseason football

If there is anything that is clear, it is that fans didn’t hold back in expressing their frustration over NBC’s handling of the regular-season finale broadcast. One fan admitted, “Could be really ignorant on this, but isn’t that a bad sign for how NBC/their affiliates view the regular season finale?”

The sentiment reflected a larger concern that the network scheduling decisions were diminishing the importance of one of the most popular races. If you ask Austin Cindric, he is going to tell you, Daytona 500 may be bigger, but here, “here it’s all-out.” With 20 drivers scrambling for a win here, it is a race you’d hate to miss.

Another viewer zeroed in on the execution of NBC’s pre-race coverage, expressing disappointment that it failed to deliver the hype it promised. The segment has received its share of praise over the years. It’s 30 minutes or so of setup leading to the race has earned favors. This season, they came in with improved graphics, too. But this 400 Daytona was not it for fans.

“What’s the point of a pre-race show when we can’t hear what they’re saying? This is just worst than Fox,” they wrote, pointing out how basic broadcast issues were damaging the fan experience. The comparison to FOX wasn’t made lightly; the network has hardly ever been a favorite thanks to its excessive commercials, lack of booth chemistry, and graphics, among others, all pointing out just how much some were pushed with NBC’s coverage. For those, the frustration came from what they saw as misplaced priorities.

One fan imagines a different reality, saying, “In an alternate universe, week 18 football is being bumped for the preseason NASCAR race.”

Another chimed in with confusion over whether the cup series would be sidelined at all, remarking, “I understand regular season but preseason games getting chosen over Cup races I really don’t understand even with the current ratings landscape.” The implication was clear: fans of NASCAR were being treated as a second-tier program. The NFL preseason has drawn about 5 million viewers over the weekend, and it isn’t helping the NASCAR party.

Ultimately, many see the network strategy as financially motivated. As one comment bluntly put it, “Every year they do this, NBC just wants more people to pay for Peacock.” For these fans, the shift wasn’t just about sports scheduling; it was about being pushed toward a streaming service to access what they felt should be easily available. Frustration wasn’t only about missing part of the race; it was about feeling that the sport they love was being sidelined for a short-term profit.