NASCAR President Steve Phelps vowed that fans will know where Cup races will air in 2025 despite the series having more broadcast partners than this past season.
Phelps also discussed the cost and value of the Chicago Street Race and what NASCAR has invested in fan amenities at tracks it owns during a session Tuesday at the Fifth Annual Race Industry Week sponsored by Racer.com, epartrade.com and Speed Sport.
Phelps was not asked about the antitrust lawsuit that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR and NASCAR Chairman Jim France. NASCAR and France both submitted a motion to dismiss the case Monday. NASCAR stated in its document that the “complaint is a misguided attempt to dress up private business frustrations in antitrust garb.”
In 2025, NASCAR Cup races will air on USA Network, NBC, Fox, FS1, Amazon Prime Video and TNT. Xfinity races will air on the CW Network. Truck Series races will air on Fox and FS1.
Prime Video will air five races, including the Coca-Cola 600, marking the first time Cup races are exclusively streamed. TNT also has five races, including the Chicago Street Race. NBC and USA Network will air the final 14 races of the season, including all 10 playoff races.
Prime Video, Max and truTV will air practice and qualifying for Cup during the season except the Clash, Daytona 500 and All-Star Race. Those practice and qualifying sessions will remain with Fox Sports.
On concerns from fans about where they can watch Cup races in 2025, Phelps said: “I do believe these five media companies are going to … promote the sport more than it has ever been promoted and that’s really important. We need to make sure that race fans know where to go. I’ve heard that from a lot of folks that say, well, they’re not going to know where to go.
“We are going to have a megaphone and blast where these opportunities are for race fans to go and watch our races, starting with Fox and then FS1.
“Just consider the first part of the year. You’re going to have Fox promoting with the NFC Championship Game, promoting the (Daytona) 500 and the Clash (at Bowman Gray). Then at the Clash, you’re going to have (Fox) promoting the Daytona 500. The following week at the Super Bowl, which Fox has, they’ll be promoting the Daytona 500.
“Warner Brothers Discovery with … the product on Max that’ll be a subscription product, they’ll be promoting that significantly with the in-car cameras … and that content that will come through there. You’ll have the CW promoting the Xfinity race and the Daytona 500 and then you’re going to have Amazon talking about practice and qualifying because it’s going to be on week two when we go to Atlanta, (practice and qualifying is) going to be on Amazon.
“So you’ve got all (this) massive promotion that is going to happen, and I think that’s a good thing for the sport. The only one that won’t be promoting (early in the season) of our five media partners is going to be NBC. They’ll certainly pick up the slack when it’s their turn to do that, and they do such a great job with promotion and obviously does such a great job with their production value as well.”
Also, NASCAR’s schedule has had numerous changes in recent years. The Clash was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for three years before moving to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The 2025 season marks the first Cup race in Mexico City. The 2025 season also marks the third year of a three-year agreement to have the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series race on the streets of Chicago.
“Chicago financially is, we’ll just say it’s a difficult race for us, but, you know, it costs $50 million, and we, unfortunately, didn’t sell $50 million worth of tickets and sponsorship and that’s what it is. But was it a smart decision for us? I believe it was. I think it actually helped us with both Amazon coming on board and Warner Brothers Discovery (TNT).
“We heard from both their CEOs that that was the case because this is a sport that was willing to invest in itself and drive innovation that leads to growth. That’s what we’re going to continue to do, whether it’s the schedule or anything else, frankly.”
As for fans at the track? Phelps talked about the investment made at tracks owned by NASCAR, which includes Daytona International Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway, among others.
“How do you create things that are unique and different for new fans and long-term fans alike,” Phelps said of a goal for NASCAR. “And that’s what we are going to continue to do because we’ve invested a lot of money.
“You look at our facilities, each of our facilities is hardwired with high-seed opportunities for internet … because if you don’t have connectivity at a racetrack, you’re missing something, whether it’s phone calls or texts or whatever it might be. The ability to send video across your device to family and friends, whether it’s social media or otherwise, is an important thing for us, but it’s expensive.
“We spent $50 million at our 12 race tracks to put it in, permanent fiber, so there was strong connectivity. That’s what the fans expect. They’re getting it at other facilities as well that are stick-and-ball sports. So, we’ve got to keep up with what is happening there and make sure that we are investing into things that make for a more compelling experience.”
