With NASCAR’s summer creak coming to an end, it’s time to look ahead to 2025.
Yes, we still have 14 Cup races remaining in 2024. Those race weekends will be the final ones with the current TV deal, signed in 2013.
Next year a lot of things are going to change.
Where you see races will change. How you watch them will change, and who will be on those broadcasts will change. We’ll start with the NASCAR Cup Series.
As you know, the NASCAR Cup Series will be split between four different media entities starting next year. They are FOX Sports, Amazon Prime Video, Warner Bros. Discovery (via TNT and Max) and NBC Sports.
Of the four, FOX Sports will see the least change for 2025. The existing booth of Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick will be back next seasons. As of this writing, it is the only confirmed NASCAR broadcast booth for next season.
Outside of the booth, things are a little less certain. In addition to NASCAR, FOX Sports has acquired rights to IndyCar starting next year. There is a non-zero chance that one or more people currently on FOX NASCAR broadcasts could end up on the IndyCar side.
For instance, Jamie Little, prior to working on NASCAR broadcasts, was a pit reporter with ESPN for their IndyCar coverage.
For Amazon Prime Video and Warner Bros. Discovery, the only person that we know for sure that will be on those broadcasts is Dale Earnhardt Jr. He has signed a multi-year deal that will see him serve as a booth analyst for Cup races on both Amazon Prime Video and TNT/Max, which amounts to 10 races a year.
Amazon Prime Video will also have rights to practice and qualifying sessions starting after Daytona. Since we don’t currently have a schedule for 2025, it is unclear where this will be.
At NBC Sports, nothing has been announced as of yet in regards to who they will have in the broadcast booth. Leigh Diffey is scheduled to take over the play-by-play role for Cup races later this month and will be on the call for the remainder of the season.
More than likely, Diffey will keep the role for 2025 if he chooses to stay. His current booth mates, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, have undetermined plans for 2025. There have been rumors that Letarte would leave and join Earnhardt Jr. at either Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery, or both, but nothing is concrete.
For the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it will be fully exclusive to The CW as part of a seven-year deal worth $115 million a year. The move will actually start early as the final race of the regular season and this year’s playoffs will also air on the channel.
For those races this year, Rick Allen will be calling those events with Burton and Letarte alongside. For next year and beyond, it is unclear. There have been some rumors linking Adam Alexander to the play-by-play role next year and that would make a fair amount of sense since he’s served as the play-by-play man for Xfinity races with FOX Sports for the past couple of years.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be exclusive to FOX Sports once again in 2025. In this case, who ends up on those broadcasts could end up being a mix of FOX Sports’ Cup broadcast personalities and some exclusive people.
Viewing-wise, there will be fewer Cup races on over-the-air TV as compared to 2024. This year has 20 of the 36 races on over-the-air TV, plus the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. Next year, that number will only be nine (five on FOX, four on NBC). The rest will be split between cable networks FOX Sports 1, TNT and USA Network, along with Amazon Prime Video. This is the opposite direction of where IndyCar is going since their full 17-race season will air live on FOX.
The whole Xfinity Series season will be available over-the-air in most of the country on The CW, although there are a few affiliates that are only available via cable providers in small markets. The Truck season as of now will air in full on FS1, although FOX Sports likely can move a race to FOX if they choose to do so.
Monetarily, it will definitely be more expensive to watch the Cup Series in 2025 due to the need to pay for Amazon Prime Video. As of this writing, a subscription to Prime Video costs $14.99 a month, or $139 a year. There are discounts available for students (via Amazon Prime Student) and those on government assistance (Prime Access).
Max also requires a subscription.
The other races will either require a digital antenna and/or a pay TV subscription.
Also, another potential option for streaming has been unveiled. That is Venu Sports, a new streaming option that is a joint venture between ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery for sports fans. Users of the service would get access to their local ABC and FOX affiliates (if they opt-in to the service), ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN+, FOX Sports 1 and 2, ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, TBS, TNT and TruTV.
The service was announced back in February as launching this fall at an undetermined date. Last week, pricing for the service was announced at $42.99 a month. Viewers who would like to check it out would be able to sign up for a seven-day free trial once the service launches. If you stay beyond the seven-day trial, that price would be good for the first year. The service will also be available as part of app bundles with Max and/or Disney+.
The very minimal (at the moment) website doesn’t indicate how this will all work for viewers. Once they’re given the green light to launch, expect apps for Apple iOS devices, Android devices, Rokus, Amazon Fire TV sticks and smart TVs in addition to the website.
Of course, that would assume that the service is able to launch at all. As of now, there are multiple legal issues surrounding the service.
FuboTV filed an antitrust lawsuit against Venu Sports shortly after the venture was announced in February. They allege that all three co-owners of Venu Sports “…have engaged in a years-long campaign to block Fubo’s innovative sports-first streaming business resulting in significant harm to both Fubo and consumers. The complaint alleges that the forthcoming launch of a sports-streaming joint venture steals Fubo’s playbook and is the latest example of this campaign.”
They’re referring to the three parents of Venu Sports as a “sports cartel” that was prohibiting them from creating sports-centric packages to sell to consumers. Now, they’re trying to do that for themselves.
In reality, Venu Sports is a “skinny bundle,” an offering that has been pitched over the years as a more cost-effective offering to the traditional cable or satellite subscriptions. Effectively, something in between the traditional setup and outright a la carte offerings where people pick and choose the individual channels they want.
Cable and satellite operators, as well as FuboTV, have not typically been allowed to offer such bundles due to must-carry rules in their contracts with content providers. It’s one of the reasons why you’ve likely heard about the contract disputes that come up seemingly every few months these days. Spectrum cutting all of the Disney-owned channels off for 12 days last year is one example. They ultimately came to a deal, but viewers permanently lost eight channels, the most notable of which being Freeform and FXX.
The United States Department of Justice is planning on reviewing the service’s terms in order to make sure that it doesn’t violate antitrust law. With fall being only seven weeks away, it is unlikely that the service will be ready for the start of the NFL season.
We’ll ultimately have to see what happens with Venu Sports. My guess is that they’re ultimately able to launch, but not quite when they want to. It will probably be available by the start of next season, but the service would only cover 22 of the 36 Cup points races, plus the Clash and the All-Star Race.
That’s all for this week.
Next weekend, the summer break is over! The NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled to be back in action at Richmond Raceway with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as primary support. TV listings can be found here.
We will provide critiques of the Cup and Xfinity races from Richmond in next weekend’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday here at Frontstretch. It should be noted that Debby could play a role here. If the storm exits the Richmond area early enough Saturday and doesn’t cause flooding in the immediate area, then it might not affect things too much. If it doesn’t, all bets are off.
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Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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I have a Prime Video (only) subscription for 8.99 a month that includes ads.
oh my gosh….too much to keep straight and track of. guess i won’t be watching much nascar next year. my budget it tight so no additional service providers are going to be purchased.
I think a lot of long time Nascar fans going back decades are close to joining you by choice.
I think NASCAR will regret this slicing the broadcast up to more providers. It will be too confusing and expensive for many long time fans and I doubt it will bring in new ones. I also expect more “booth” broadcasts will be poor studio productions just like FS1 truck races.
NASCAR has to sell the product in little pieces now. What we watch on television is nothing more than a 4-6 hour infomercial. The ads matter more than the cars running in the background.
If Nascar is trying to chase this lifelong fan away from the sport, they’re succeeding in grant fashion. I’m already paying all I can afford. Goodbye Nascar for next year.
I’m not forking out extra funds for Prime so I won’t be watching those races. I’ve already given up on Trucks and will probably do the same with Xfinity. NA$CAR needs to spread the Cup races around to more pay per view platforms so I can watch even fewer events.They do know how to attract viewers. Ya, right.