The television and radio rights to broadcast NASCAR on television and radio are one of the most expensive rights of any American sport, with the current television contract with
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
and
NBC Sports being worth around .
In the early days of the sport, sports programs like
CBS Sports Spectacular and
ABC Wide World of Sports
''ABC's Wide World of Sports'' is an American sports anthology television program that aired on ABC from April 29, 1961 to January 3, 1998, primarily on Saturday afternoons. Hosted by Jim McKay, with a succession of co-hosts beginning in 1987 ...
would air video highlight packages of
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
races. These packages were typically 15 to 30 minutes long that were cut from film of the entire race. This is similar to video packages created by
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ...
. For major races, like the
Daytona 500,
ABC Sports
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Televisi ...
would show it live for a certain number of laps at the beginning and come back to it to show the end of the race. There had been a few races shown in their entirety in the 1970s, but these were always recorded and shown days or weeks later.
In 1979,
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...
televised the entire
1979 Daytona 500
The 1979 Daytona 500, the 21st annual event, was the second race of the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. It was held on February 18, 1979. Sports pundits consider the 1979 Daytona 500 to be the most important race in stock car history.
Th ...
live from start to finish. When
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
came along in 1981, more races began being shown live in their entirety. Since 1992, all NASCAR races have been shown from start to finish, and all have been shown live since 1997. Until 2001, race tracks struck individual agreements with networks to broadcast races, but NASCAR wanted to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport and announced in 1999 that television contracts would now be centralized; that is, instead of making agreements with individual tracks, networks would now negotiate directly with NASCAR for the rights to air a package of races.
Television
English language broadcast networks (over-the-air)
Current
*
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
: 2001–present
*
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
: 1979–1981, 1983–1985, 1999–2006, 2015–present
Former
*
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
: 1960, 1964, 1975–2000
*
ABC: 1961–1992, 1994–2000, 2007–2014
Spanish language networks
*
Fox Deportes
Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español and stylized in all caps as FOX Deportes) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States ...
: 2013–present
*
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...
: 2015–present
*
Universo
Universo is a Legion of Super-Heroes supervillain in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Comics universe. He was created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan, and first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #349 (October 1966).
Pre-Zero Hour
Universo first ...
: 2015–present
English language cable/satellite networks
Current
*
FS1
Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...
: 2013–present
*
FS2
Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century Cit ...
: 2015–present
*
Fox Business Network
Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenu ...
: 2016–present
*
CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
: 2006, 2015–present
*
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
: 1982–1985, 2016, 2022–present
Former
*
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
: 1981–2002, 2007–2014
*
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
: 1994–2002, 2007–2014
*
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%).
The channel was originally la ...
: 2007–2010
*
ESPNEWS
ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...
: 2011–2014
*
ESPN Deportes
ESPN Deportes (, ''ESPN Sports'') is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications ...
: 2013–2014
*
FNN-
SCORE: 1988
*
Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
: 2001
*
FX: 2001–2006
*
NBCSN: 2015–2021
*
Prime
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
: 1990–1991
*
Speed
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (ma ...
: 1998–1999, 2003–2013
*
SportsChannel America
SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC.
Operating from March 1, ...
: 1990
*
TBS: 1983–2000
*
TNN: 1983, 1986, 1991–2000
*
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
: 2001–2014
*
Viewer's Choice: 1988–1990
*
Jefferson-Pilot
Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsi ...
: 1985–1987
*
Mizlou
Mizlou Television Network, Inc. or Mizlou Communications, Inc., is a former sports broadcast television network. It was active from 1962 to 1991, and in 1992 it was re-established as Mizlou Television Network, Inc., which is now based in Tampa, ...
: 1982–1985
*
MRN TV: 1979–1980
*
SETN: 1984–1988
Early years
One of the earliest telecasts of a NASCAR race was the
1960 Daytona 500
The 1960 Daytona 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series stock car race that was held on February 14, 1960, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. It was the 5th race of the 1960 season, and was won by Junio ...
, parts of which was presented as part of ''
CBS Sports Spectacular'', with announcer
Bud Palmer.
In the ensuing years, but before 1979, there were three main sources of NASCAR telecasts:
*
ABC's ''
Wide World of Sports'', the sports anthology program, provided coverage of select NASCAR
Winston Cup
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
races in the 1970s. In 1971, it presented a 200-lap race at
Greenville-Pickens Speedway
Greenville-Pickens Speedway is a race track located in Easley, South Carolina, just west of Greenville, South Carolina. The track hosted weekly NASCAR sanctioned races. Several NASCAR touring series have raced at the track in prior years, includi ...
in its entirety, the first such broadcast of a NASCAR race. Throughout the 1970s, ABC presented portions of the
Daytona 500,
Southern 500
The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...
, and other important races.
*In the late 1970s, ''CBS Sports Spectacular'' aired some races; like ''Wide World of Sports'', they were taped and edited.
*''
Car and Track'', a weekly auto racing show hosted by
Bud Lindemann
Gordon "Bud" Lindemann (born August 22, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois – November 14, 1983) was a pioneer in motor sports broadcasting.
Early history
Lindemann graduated from high school in 1940. He joined the United States Coast Guard during Wo ...
, recapped all of NASCAR's top-series races in the 1960s and 1970s in a weekly 30-minute syndicated show.
The following table is a list of races from
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
's top three series that have been
broadcast partially or in their entirety on television during the 1960s.
1979–2000: Flag-to-flag coverage
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...
President
Neal Pilson and motor-sports editor
Ken Squier believed that America would watch an entire stock car race live on television. On February 18, 1979,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
presented the first flag-to-flag coverage of the
Daytona 500.
Richard Petty won NASCAR's crown-jewel race for the sixth time, but the big story was the post-race fight on the track's infield between
Cale Yarborough and
Donnie Allison
Donnie Allison (born September 7, 1939) is an American former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned from 1966 to 1988. He is part of the "Alabama Gang", and is the bro ...
, who crashed together on the final lap while leading.
The race drew incredible ratings, in part due to the compelling action both on and off the track, and in part because a major snowstorm on the
East Coast kept millions of viewers indoors.
As time passed, more Winston Cup races ended up on TV.
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
broadcast its first race in 1981, from
North Carolina Motor Speedway (its first live race was later in the year at
Atlanta International Raceway
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series s ...
), and
TNN followed in 1991. All Cup races were nationally televised by 1985; networks struck individual deals with track owners, and multiple channels carried racing action. Many races were shown taped and edited on ''Wide World of Sports'' and syndication services like
Mizlou
Mizlou Television Network, Inc. or Mizlou Communications, Inc., is a former sports broadcast television network. It was active from 1962 to 1991, and in 1992 it was re-established as Mizlou Television Network, Inc., which is now based in Tampa, ...
and
SETN, but almost all races were live by 1989. By 2000, the last year of this arrangement, six networks televised at least one Cup series race:
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
,
ABC,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
,
TNN,
TBS, and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
.
Also, a growing number of races in the
Busch Grand National Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
and
NASCAR Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
were made available for broadcast, and some track owners even threw in support races in lesser series. Likewise, Winston Cup qualifying aired on ESPN2 or regional sports network
Prime Network
Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, ope ...
.
NASCAR wanted to capitalize on its increased popularity even more, so they decided that future deals would be centralized; that is, the networks would negotiate directly with NASCAR for a regular schedule of telecasts.
2001–2006: Fox, NBC, Turner Sports
On December 15, 1999
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
,
FX, NBC and
Turner Sports
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS, TNT, AT&T SportsNet, and TruTV. ...
agreed to pay
$2.4 billion for a new six-year television package, covering the Winston/Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series schedules.
*Fox and FX would be responsible for covering the first half of the season. All Busch Series races during that part of the season would also be on Fox/FX. NBC and Turner would partner to cover the second half of the season, which beginning in 2004 would include the
Chase for the Cup
The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Si ...
. Originally, Turner's broadcast outlet for its NASCAR coverage was to be
TBS as it had been for every other race Turner had broadcast before. However, Turner Broadcasting opted to rebrand its sister network
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
as a drama-heavy network and decided to move the NASCAR coverage there in March 2001 as they felt it fit the new branding better.
*As part of the new contract, the Daytona events were split evenly between the networks. Fox would air the Daytona 500 in every odd numbered year during the contract, with NBC covering the then-Pepsi 400 those years. NBC would then, in turn, air the Daytona 500 in every even-numbered year with Fox receiving the Pepsi 400.
*The network in charge of Daytona 500 coverage would also have the rights to air the events during
Speedweeks
Daytona Speedweeks presented by AdventHealth is a series of racing events that take place during January and February at Daytona International Speedway. Traditionally leading up to the Daytona 500, in 2021 it concluded with the Daytona road cour ...
, which consisted of the
Budweiser Shootout
The Busch Light Clash is an annual pre-season NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event held in February before the season-opening Daytona 500. The event was held each year at Daytona International Speedway since the race's inception in 1979 until 20 ...
,
Daytona 500 pole qualifying, the
two qualifying races held after pole qualifying, and the
season opening Busch race.
ESPN retained the rights to the Truck Series through 2002 under a separate contract. Beginning in 2003, Speed Channel bought out the rest of ESPN's contract and became the exclusive broadcast home of that series.
Initially, practice and qualifying sessions would alter between Fox Sports Net and FX during the Fox/FX portion of the season and between TNT and CNNSI during the NBC/TNT portion of the season. By the end of 2002, Speed had replaced Fox Sports Net and, due to CNN/SI shutting down in the spring of 2002, a deal was arranged with NBC/TNT to move most practice and qualifying sessions to Speed as well using NBC/TNT's production team and Speed graphics.
The centralized TV deal caused consternation among many longtime NASCAR fans. The biggest criticisms include an increase in commercial breaks, emphasis on the more popular drivers and teams to the exclusion of others, and the de-emphasis of actual racing coverage in exchange for more fluff and
hype.
2007–2014: Fox, ESPN, Turner Sports
Late in 2005, NBC announced that they no longer wanted to carry NASCAR races on their schedule. ABC/ESPN took the opportunity to regain the series. On December 12, 2005, NASCAR announced its next TV contract: eight years, $4.8 billion with Fox/Speed Channel, ABC/ESPN, and TNT. This time, the deal bundled the Truck Series in with the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series:
*Fox broadcast the first 13 Cup races along with the
Sprint Unlimited every year, and as a result gained exclusivity for the Daytona 500. The package ran through the first weekend in June and (usually) the race at
Dover International Speedway
Dover Motor Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway and later Dover International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware. The track has hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race each year since 1969, including two per year ...
. Due to schedule adjustments, the package ended in 2010 with the
Coca-Cola 600
The Coca-Cola 600, originally the World 600, is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on a Sunday during Memorial Day weekend. The first race, held in 1960, was also the first on ...
and in 2011 with the
spring Kansas race.
*TNT, which split from former partner NBC, gained rights to six races including the
Coke Zero 400
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway. First held in 1959, the event consists of 160 laps, , and is the second of two major stock car events held at Daytona on the Cup Series c ...
at Daytona. Their coverage began with the June race at
Pocono Raceway and continued with the first race of the year at
Michigan International Speedway
Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is a moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than approximately south of the village of Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track ...
, the lone race at
Sonoma Raceway
Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southe ...
, the Coke Zero 400, and the first race of the year at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...
. Originally, TNT’s sixth and final race was the race at
Chicagoland Speedway
Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has also hosted the Indy ...
, but after that was moved to later in the season TNT picked up the race at
Kentucky Speedway. The Coke Zero 400 was presented with limited commercial interruptions until 2013. The Kentucky race replaced the race at
Chicagoland Speedway
Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has also hosted the Indy ...
in 2011.
*ESPN networks broadcast the remainder of the Cup schedule, beginning at the
Brickyard 400
The Brickyard 400 was an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Moto ...
; From 2007 to 2009,
ABC carried coverage of the last race before the Chase at Richmond and all
Chase for the Sprint Cup
The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Si ...
events, although in 2010 (following NASCAR's shift to standardized start times for races), only three races were aired on ABC, and the majority of coverage was allotted to ESPN networks.
*ESPN networks held exclusive rights to the Nationwide Series across the entire season, with races on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC.
*Speed Channel moved two of its Truck Series races to Fox from 2007–09; usually, they were scheduled to be the California race and the spring race at Martinsville. From 2010 to 2013, all CWTS races were on Speed; Fox returned to the series in 2014 with its telecast of the Talladega race.
*Qualifying sessions for Sprint Cup races aired on Fox for the Daytona 500, Speed/FS1 for the next 18 races, and alternating between Speed/FS1 and ESPN/ESPN2 for the remaining 17 races.
*NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions were broadcast by Speed/FS1 for the first 19 races and alternated between Speed/FS1 and ESPN2 for the remaining 17 races. Speed/FS1 was guaranteed at least one session each weekend during the ESPN portion of the schedule.
*Nationwide Series practice and qualifying alternated between Speed/FS1 and ESPN2 throughout the entire season.
*On the pay-per-view front,
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...
premiered
NASCAR Hot Pass at the 2007 Daytona 500. The package consists of four channels, each dedicated to a particular driver with team communications among the driver, crew chief, and spotter. From 2007–08, Hot Pass also had separate lap-by-lap announcers and color commentators for each channel. In 2009 NASCAR Hot Pass became free, although without announcers, and on January 7, 2013, it was discontinued all together.
NBC and FX no longer carried NASCAR as a result. NBC was paying $2.8 billion for six years of
Sunday night telecasts of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
starting in 2006. Both the new NFL and old NASCAR deals overlapped in 2006, which forced some postrace coverage at NBC races to air on
CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
. FX stopped airing sporting events from 2006 to 2010. (It did show the ninth inning of a rain-delayed
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
game between the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
and the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
when it conflicted with the start of the
2008 Subway Fresh Fit 500
The 2008 Subway Fresh Fit 500 was the eighth race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup season and ran on Saturday, April 12 at Phoenix International Raceway for 312 laps in Avondale, Arizona. The race was broadcast on television by Fox starting at 8:53 PM ...
, as well as other games which overran into the starts of NASCAR races. Beginning in 2010, Fox's MLB games during NASCAR Saturdays were shifted to early in the afternoon.)
The new contracts increased the amount of coverage from each weekend's races. When the 2007 season began, all practices for NASCAR Cup Series races were televised, whereas only the final practice ("happy hour") was carried before. In addition, all Nationwide Series final practices and qualifying sessions were also shown; before, a few qualifying sessions were not seen and only a handful of practices were seen. Most, if not all, truck series time trials are also broadcast.
From 2007 to 2010, average race viewership fell from 7.85 million at its height to 5.99 million in 2010, according to the ''
Sports Business Journal''.
Starting in 2013, Spanish-language network
Fox Deportes
Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español and stylized in all caps as FOX Deportes) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States ...
airs select NASCAR Cup races either live or delayed.
In August 2013, Speed was replaced by
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...
, and Fuel TV by
Fox Sports 2
Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century Cit ...
. All Truck Series races remained on Fox Sports 1, while practice/qualifying sessions and regional series races alternated between Fox Sports 1 and 2 depending on scheduling. For North American markets outside of the United States, coverage of some NASCAR events carried by Speed at the time remained on an international version of Speed (now
Fox Sports Racing
Fox Sports Racing is a motorsports-oriented cable network owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of Fox Corporation. The network launched on August 17, 2013 as a replacement of the former cable network Speed for North American markets outsi ...
) that operates in the regions.
In 2014, the Sprint Unlimited moved to Fox Sports 1. Also, owing to the increased viewership of qualifying sessions under the new "group" knockout format, and being the first
restrictor plate
A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to li ...
race under the new system, coverage of qualifying for that year's
Aaron's 499
The GEICO 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race is usually held in April or May. The 1997 event stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run with an average speed of ...
was moved to Fox, marking the only other race besides the Daytona 500 to have a qualifying round televised on broadcast television.
Broadcasters
The broadcast teams for each package during this period are as follows:
*Fox retained most of the same announcers that have worked for the network since 2001:
Mike Joy
Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadcast ...
,
Larry McReynolds
Lawrence Joseph McReynolds III (born January 10, 1959) is a current NASCAR crew chief and current racing analyst on Fox Sports as well as a columnist on Foxsports.com. In the past, he has served as an advisor to Petty Enterprises, and as a mi ...
, and
Darrell Waltrip in the booth, pit reporters
Steve Byrnes
Steven Patrick Byrnes (April 14, 1959 – April 21, 2015) was an American television announcer and producer.
After graduating from college, he began his career as a sports producer, covering several NFL teams. In 1985, he began his involvement ...
,
Dick Berggren
Richard Berggren (born May 27, 1942) is a motorsports announcer and magazine editor from Manchester, Connecticut in the United States. He is commonly seen wearing a trademark flat cap.
Academia
Berggren described himself as "the worst student" ...
, and
Matt Yocum
Matthew Yocum (born April 8, 1968) is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for CBS as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2021. He most recently worked in tha ...
; and prerace hosts
Chris Myers
Chris Myers (born ) is an American sportscaster. He has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Triple Crown, the Olympics, and the Daytona 500.
Early life and care ...
and
Jeff Hammond.
Krista Voda
Krista Voda Kelley (born May 31, 1974) is an American sportscaster who covers auto racing as the play-by-play announcer for the ARCA Menards Series on MAVTV. She previously worked for ''NASCAR on Fox'' and '' NASCAR on Speed'' from 2003 to 2014 ...
replaced
Jeanne Zelasko as the fourth pit reporter; with the expansion of Fox’s baseball coverage to a full season, Zelasko was no longer available due to her responsibilities as then-studio host.
*The ESPN/ABC team: the original team consisted of
Jerry Punch
Gerald Punch (born August 20, 1953) is an American auto racing and college football commentator working for ESPN, as well as a physician. Punch also does local radio spots in Knoxville. Punch is currently a Principal Investigator for an award- ...
as the lead, with
Rusty Wallace
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...
and
Andy Petree
Joseph Andrew Petree III (born August 15, 1958), is a former NASCAR crew chief, driver, team owner, and broadcaster who has worked as the rules analyst for ''Fox NASCAR'' and the Vice President of Competition at Richard Childress Racing. After ra ...
as booth analysts.
Allen Bestwick
Allen Bestwick (born September 24, 1961) is an American sportscaster. He is the lead play-by-play voice for University of Connecticut women’s basketball telecasts for SNY, the lead track announcer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the l ...
moved over from NBC/TNT as the lead pit reporter, joined by fellow former NBC/TNT pit reporter
Dave Burns, ESPN’s then-lead NASCAR reporter
Mike Massaro, and IndyCar pit reporter
Jamie Little
Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting duty for the 2007 and 2008 I ...
. Punch was eventually replaced by
Marty Reid as the lead and
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champi ...
replaced Wallace as an analyst. Bestwick and Wallace were moved to being studio host and analyst for ''NASCAR Countdown'', while Punch moved back into his familiar role as lead pit reporter. Bestwick would later be promoted to replace Reid as the lead broadcaster.
*TNT kept
Bill Weber
William Weber (born May 8, 1957) is a former television sports commentator best known for his work on TNT and NBC NASCAR broadcasts. Weber was also the lead announcer for Champ Car World Series events and other auto racing series on NBC. He is ...
as lap-by-lap announcer and
Wally Dallenbach Jr. as analyst. After some speculation,
Kyle Petty
Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver, and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash d ...
was revealed as the second analyst for the network's coverage on February 7, 2007. He continued his role as an active NASCAR driver for two seasons before retiring from driving.
Benny Parsons
Benjamin Stewart Parsons (July 12, 1941 – January 16, 2007) was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, ...
, who was an NBC/TNT analyst, died on January 16, 2007 and it is unclear if he would have returned to the booth in any event, as he had reportedly talked about retirement after 2006 and had personally nominated Petty as his replacement prior to his death. TNT retained its pit crew was well, with Matt Yocum and Marty Snider joined on a permanent basis by former secondary pit reporters
Ralph Sheheen and
Lindsay Czarniak
Lindsay Ann Czarniak (born ) is an American sports anchor and reporter. She currently works for Fox Sports as a sideline reporter for NFL games. After spending six years with WRC-TV, the NBC owned-and-operated station in Washington, D.C., Cza ...
. McReynolds, a booth analyst for Fox, is the pre-race analyst. Weber also continued as host of the ''Countdown to Green'' pre-race show. Marc Fein joined McReynolds on a new "pre-pre-race" show called ''NASCAR on TNT Live''.
Bill Weber was forced to leave TNT shortly before the 4th race of TNT's schedule. Officially, Turner says it was due to a personal matter; however ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'' reported that it was due to an incident at a hotel the night before the race. Ralph Sheheen stepped in as announcer for the last 3 races on TNT in 2009. Adam Alexander filled in on pit road for the last 2 races, before moving to the announcer booth for 2010 and beyond. Sheheen returned to pit road, where he remained until the end of TNT's contract. The ''NASCAR on TNT Live'' show was discontinued and morphed into an hour-long ''Countdown to Green'' which was hosted by Alexander.
2015–2024: Fox and NBC
On October 15, 2012, NASCAR and the Fox Sports, Fox Sports Media Group (FSMG) announced a new $2.4 billion eight-year deal, a 30% increase from their previous deal. On July 23, 2013, NASCAR and the NBC Sports Group announced a new $4.4 billion ten-year deal. 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. 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.
NASCAR Cup Series
*The first 16 points races will be broadcast by Fox. Ten races, including the Daytona 500, will be broadcast on Fox with six races on FS1.
*The final 20 points races, including the NASCAR playoffs, will be broadcast by NBC. Nine races will air on NBC and 11 would air on NBCSN until the end of the 2021 season. NBCSN ceased broadcasting a few weeks later, and their schedule of races would move to USA Network, USA beginning with the 2022 season.
*As part of the deal, Playoff races airing on NBC will be lead-ins to ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (after local news and ''NBC Nightly News'', except for the final race of the season, when SNF follows the race).
*The Busch Clash will alternate between Fox (2015–2016) and Fox Sports 1, FS1 (2014, 2017–2024).
*The Bluegreen Vacations Duel races, now in primetime, and Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, NASCAR All-Star Race will air on Fox Sports 1, FS1.
*Practice and qualifying rights will belong to the network group broadcasting the race.
*All races will be live-streamed online.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
*The first 14 races will be broadcast by Fox. From 2015 to 2018, four races were broadcast on Fox and the other 10 races aired on Fox Sports 1, FS1, but since 2019 all races air on FS1.
*The final 19 races will be broadcast by NBC. Four races (five in 2020) will be broadcast by NBC and the other 15 races (14 in 2020) would air on NBCSN until the end of the 2021 season. NBCSN ceased broadcasting a few weeks later, and their schedule of races will move to USA Network, USA beginning with the 2022 season.
*Practice and qualifying rights will belong to the network broadcasting the race.
*All races will be live-streamed online.
Other rights
*Fox Sports will continue to be the exclusive broadcasters of the
NASCAR Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
. All Truck races will also be on the Fox Sports app.
*NBCSN, USA Network will also broadcast the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, ARCA Menards Series East and NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series.
*Telemundo and Universo (TV network), Universo have Spanish-language broadcast rights for national series and Toyota (Mexico) Series events.
* NBC will also have rights to the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony and season ending banquets.
ESPN and TNT will no longer broadcast NASCAR for the foreseeable future. The new contract succeeded a partnership with Turner Sports and ESPN which it was paid by $4.8 billion that was covered by the previous contract which was eight years that began in 2007.
Historical Race Network Table
Below is a table (1988–present) of each points race and the network upon which it was broadcast (Note: this reflects the networks upon which each race was predominantly shown, and does not reflect in-race movements and pre-emptions due to time constraints or other commitments):
NASCAR Cup Series
Radio
Current broadcasts
Currently, two separate networks cover NASCAR races on radio:
*Motor Racing Network, MRN: Founded by
Ken Squier and Bill France Jr. in 1971, it covers all NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series events at tracks owned by International Speedway Corporation, ISC, as well as Dover International Speedway, Dover, Nashville Superspeedway, Nashville, and Pocono Raceway, Pocono. It also covers all events of the NASCAR Truck Series, Truck Series.
*Performance Racing Network, PRN: Covers all NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series events at tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports (with the exception of former Dover Motorsports tracks) and Circuit of the Americas.
*Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, IndyCar Radio Network: Covers the Xfinty Series and NASCAR Cup Series races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is produced in a joint venture with PRN.
From 2002—2006, all races were heard on XM Satellite Radio, XM channel 90 across the continental United States. In 2007, national satellite radio rights moved to Sirius Satellite Radio, Sirius channel 90. Among the programs on ''Sirius NASCAR Radio'' are a weekly program co-hosted by TV pit reporter
Matt Yocum
Matthew Yocum (born April 8, 1968) is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for CBS as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2021. He most recently worked in tha ...
and Tony Stewart, and a morning drive time show formerly hosted by David Poole of ''The Charlotte Observer'' and Marty Snider of NBC and TNT. ''The Morning Drive'' is now hosted by MRN turn announcer Mike Bagley and MRN lead writer Pete Pistone. PRN's Jim Noble and Richard Childress Racing museum curator and former fueler Chocolate Myers, Danny "Chocolate" Myers host the afternoon show called ''Tradin Paint.'' Longtime MRN turn announcer Dave Moody (sportscaster), Dave Moody hosts ''SiriusXM Speedway''. PRN pit reporter and turn announcer Brad Gillie co-hosts the ''Late Shift'' with Kenny Wallace. He's also the regular host of the weekend show ''Press Pass''. Pat Patterson, also PRN turn announcer, hosts the weekend show ''The Frontstretch''.
Following the merger of XM/Sirius merger, XM and Sirius, ''Sirius NASCAR Radio'' is heard on the XM through the "Best of Sirius" package on channel 90.
Both networks also have affiliation deals with hundreds of local radio stations. Many stations sign with more than one of these networks to ensure coverage of the entire season. However, for Indianapolis, if there is a conflict between the INDYCAR Radio affiliate and the radio station that carries NASCAR races, the INDYCAR Radio affiliate has first choice of carrying the race.
International broadcast
In 2020, NASCAR created a worldwide television feed for broadcast outside the United States. Graphics are provided by either Fox Sports or NBCSN depending on who is producing the race in the US. International broadcasters include Nippon Television, NTV, The Sports Network, TSN, Premier Sports, Sportsnet, The Score Television Network, The Score, Bell Satellite TV, Speed (TV network)#Latin America, Speed Latin America, Fox Sports Latin America, Vrio Corp.#DirecTV Sports, DirecTV Sports Latin America, TelevisaUnivision, Fox Sports Australia, AB Moteurs, ESPN America, Eurosport, V Sport Motor, Ziggo Sport Totaal, Sport TV, StarHub, Abu Dhabi Sports, Fox Sports Asia and American Forces Network.
Nascar Trackpass also provides coverage of all Cup and Xfinity Series races for most countries, commercial-free and using NASCAR's worldwide graphics.
Broadcast networks
These are the broadcasters for the 2022 NASCAR season:
Announcers
References
External links
Fox SportsNBC SportsRPM.ESPN.comMotor Racing NetworkPerformance Racing NetworkIndianapolis Motor SpeedwaySports Media Watch: NASCAR RatingsBackseat Drivers Fan Council rates the media – how did we do?Nascar in HD
{{Professional sports on television in the United States
NASCAR mass media,
NASCAR on television,
NASCAR on the radio,
History of sports broadcasting
CBS Sports
Fox Sports original programming
NBC Sports
NBCSN
ESPN
ABC Sports
Wide World of Sports (American TV series)
SportsChannel
Turner Sports
USA Network Sports
Mizlou Television Network
Prime Sports
Speed (TV network)
Spike (TV network)
Showtime Networks
Sirius Satellite Radio channels