The NFL siphons views out of any program that isn’t the NFL, but NASCAR has been especially unlucky in competing against the football behemoth in 2025.
In incredibly unlucky fashion, the last three NASCAR Cup Series races have gone head-to-head against an NFL game being held just miles away.
The race at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 28 was held just 20 miles away from a Kansas City Chiefs game against the Baltimore Ravens. The race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL on Oct. 5 was held just 15 miles away from a Carolina Panthers game against the Miami Dolphins, while Sunday’s (Oct. 12) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was, once again, held just 20 miles away from a game — this time the Las Vegas Raiders game against the Tennessee Titans.
It’s been a brutal three-week stretch where fan attendance has been impacted alongside TV ratings, and it comes in the midst of a season where TV viewership is down just under 18% from 2024. Not a single playoff race has cracked two million viewers, and the series is desperately looking for any momentum it can get.
With yet another ratings crisis, is it time for NASCAR to stop competing against local NFL games or stop competing against the NFL entirely? Or is there still a way for NASCAR to coexist with football in the fall?
The TV Deal Holds Far More Blame Than the NFL
Does NASCAR lose part of its audience against the NFL each fall? Yes, but NASCAR has been running against the NFL for its entire history. Stock car racing had thrived in September, October and November for decades, so now isn’t the time to pull the plug.
If any move was made to shorten the season, it should be replacing the Clash and the All-Star Race with points races, ending the season two weeks earlier and keeping the season at 36 points races. Anything beyond that would be an overreaction.
As for the NFL home games overlapping with NASCAR weekends? It sucks, but there’s not much that can be done about it. The 2026 NASCAR schedules are already out; the NFL can’t even begin crafting its 2026 schedule until regular season play ends in January. And if a race and a football game are on the same day, shifting the time of the NASCAR race to avoid a conflict would leave it in a suboptimal timeslot to garner viewers.
No, the real culprit of the struggles is NBC’s portion of the 2025-31 media rights deal. The entire 2025 season is already down to eight points-paying races on network TV (down from 20 in 2024), but the number of playoff races on network TV has been cut in half from six to three.
We’ve had seven straight playoff races on cable, and none of them have sniffed two million views. We have prestigious races like the Southern 500 and the Bristol Night Race (which should be held before football season, but I digress) broadcast on USA Network, and it’s only this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway that NBC begins carrying the rest of the season. And by this point, it might be so late into the year that Talladega — typically the most-viewed race of the playoffs — might not even move the needle.
Speaking of USA, the dissolution of the now-defunct NBC Sports channel (that is actually coming back soon) has hit NASCAR especially hard. No one looking to watch sports will flip the channel to USA, so it’s zero surprise that the playoff ratings are as poor as they’ve been.
Having six (or more) playoff races on NBC like last year won’t fix every problem, but it would certainly help. The least-viewed NBC playoff race last year still earned 2.3 million viewers, which is far higher than the most-viewed race of the 2025 playoffs so far.
Unfortunately, the series is somewhat stuck in the new media deal, but if there’s ever an opportunity for NASCAR to get all of its fall races back on network TV, it needs to immediately jump on the opportunity. Easy accessibility is the key for NASCAR to weather the NFL season, and if NASCAR ever pulled the plug on racing in the fall, it probably wouldn’t find itself in position to compete against the NFL ever again. -Stephen Stumpf
NASCAR Should Stop Trying to Compete With the NFL With This Simple Trick
It’s absolutely asinine in the year 2025 to think that NASCAR’s viewership is ever going to catch that of the NFL ever again. While the NFL has experienced record growth in new markets in recent years, NASCAR can’t seem to keep its own entertained for a full season.
That hurts me to say, but it doesn’t take a mathematician to know that it’s true. Just this weekend, NHRA topped NASCAR viewership simply because it had an NFL lead-in.
So why doesn’t NASCAR land itself an NFL lead-in? Well, that answer is a bit more complicated if you don’t know what’s going on in the world of professional football at the moment, so let me lay it out. For starters, in most markets, the NHRA got a lead-in of the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Carolina Panthers game. Any NFL game does well in the ratings, but the Cowboys are one of the most-watched teams in the league.
The benefit of getting that NFL lead-in game just doesn’t outweigh the costs that would be required to plan for such an event and make it happen on the ground level. The easy answer to stopping competition with the NFL is out of the question, then. So what next?
There’s a very simple trick that could solve this entire equation: shortening the season. That might be taboo to some race fans. But in reality, NASCAR has one of the longest professional sport seasons in the country and requires some of the most strenuous travel and spending circumstances across any professional landscape. It just doesn’t make all that much sense.
Not to mention the fact that it waters down the product year in and year out. Think about this: how many tracks that currently host two races a year consistently result in both races being good? Very, very few, and in some years, none at all. It takes away from the grandeur of any event when you can just simply see the same thing a few months earlier or later for half the price.
If NASCAR wants to stop competing with the NFL, it needs to do just that and stop holding races during NFL season. Competing with things like the NBA in the spring and the NFL in the fall is a double-edged sword. If the season started at the same date and ended just before the NFL regular season starts, all that would be competing against NASCAR would be preseason NFL games. The most exciting part of the NASCAR season (the end of it) would occur with essentially zero competition, which should, in theory, be a dream scenario for anyone with an office at NASCAR HQ.
With viewership trending the direction that it is, NASCAR is very obviously making a play at trying to appease the fans that still tune in by upping the horsepower on select tracks next season and potentially changing the playoff format. However, that fan base is still dwindling due to something nobody can control: age.
If NASCAR truly wants to engage the younger fan, these two changes are a great step in the right direction. But the best way to get the attention of the younger demographic is a) being the only game in town at a given moment (which also means you’re the only gambling opportunity of the moment, sorry to say it), and b) building the schedule in a way that doesn’t require them essentially giving up 36 of their weekends a year. No young person is going to pick that, no matter how cool we make the Winston era seem to them.
Sure, they’ll buy the t-shirts and they’ll wear the hats, but they won’t be watching on Sundays when it counts, because the chances are most of their friends are watching and gambling on the NFL. NASCAR says it wants to engage the younger fan but refuses to do the one thing that would truly capture their attention — be the only thing that can capture their attention. It will be the organization’s Achilles heel if it doesn’t remedy the situation sooner rather than later. -Tanner Marlar
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for multiple automotive news outlets, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host, and a PhD. student at a premier college of media and mass communication. Tanner began working with Frontstretch in 2022, covering the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Personally, the season as currently constructed is watered down. Too many tracks which are quite similar in size and configuration. I wouldn’t mind a bit if the season wrapped up a little earlier in the year.
The era where NASCAR flourished while running alongside the NFL was much different. It was either pre-internet, or in the early days of internet and streaming.
Now, there are myriad options at most people’s fingertips. In the US, football is the only programming I can think of which seems immune to increased options making pieces of the pie smaller. Though baseball is having a popular post season this year, it’s overall share has been declining for decades. Basketball is the same, albeit with a more recent decline. Sitcoms, news programs, and pretty much everything else has declined as well.
The era of water cooler television is mostly over. Competing against the giant which has managed to buck the trend seems to be a mistake, unless you’re OK with lower ratings. Sure, being exclusively on broadcast TV would help a little. Being commercial free as F1 is would also help a bit. But I don’t see either overcoming football’s ability to dominate ratings.
A better product on the track would be the best way to put more eyes on NASCAR.
Poor product; poor presentation.
I would hate to shorten the season (or the races) any more than they already are. A few years ago, we used to end the weekend before Thanksgiving. Now we end the first weekend of November, and cut out a couple off-weeks.
NASCAR should work with the NFL and try to not get games in the same city as the races.
I bet the suits in Daytona believe that their ratings will catch up with the NFL. I bet Hell freezes over first. There will be more NFL viewers watching their home team game than watch Brian’s product every Sunday.
Yep, iroc didn’t cut it the first time
Look at all these answers. Why are we watching any Nascar then.
BZF was going to find new fans. That didn’t worked out. He did a great job of getting rid of the loyal fans. Look at the empty seats. Look at the TV ratings.
NASCAR is loathed by former fans and they’re loathed by most folks that don’t even follow the sport. Not a good position to be in.
IMO, nothing can be done to turn things around.
NASCAR has never competed with the NFL. Not even for a second.
Back in the 80s and 90s, I believe NASCAR had 30 to 32 races per season (before the push for new markets in the late 90s early 00s). Personally, I wouldn’t mind trimming the schedule back somewhere closer to 30. I get the extra track time for the Daytona 500, as I think they were trying to replicate the excitement and build up that leads up to the Indy 500. Being the first race of the season, I think it’s not a bad idea to give teams and drivers some extra track time before the big event to dust off the rust and get back in the groove. Thus, I think the novelty event a Bowman Gray needs to go away and bring all on track activity in February back to Daytona.
As for competing with other sports, NASCAR has been doing that for as long as I’ve been alive. I think NASCARs biggest challenge isn’t NFL, but is with changes in society and the manufacturers themselves that are in the sport. There aren’t many V8 cars left, and the ones that are typically are not “every man” transportation, or are varied enough it’s hard to race one against another (for example, the Corvette is in a totally different class than a Mustang). Muscle cars are on life support, as are gas powered sedans. I’m not advocating for electric racecars or SUVs, but the fact is “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” doesn’t really fit in today’s NASCAR world. What is on the track today is kind of a mishmash of stuff and maybe doesn’t really relate as much to most fans? Who goes out and puts their Camry up against a Camaro on the street? To wrap this rambling thought up, NASCAR needs to rediscover its identity, and in doing so needs to make sure its identity starts with something that resonates with its fans, because society has moved almost as far away from what NASCAR used to be as NASCAR has moved away from its own roots. I fear that gap is growing more every day.
Second thought on competing with other sports, I don’t know if they include after-event views on other platforms in the viewer ratings or not – but I don’t think they do. They need to rethink this, as fans with multiple sporting interests may record or stream content after the event for various reasons. I think it’s a mistake to dismiss those views – and it’s possibly an opportunity if NASCAR can figure out how to effectively market post race streaming to those viewers and prove value to sponsors with it. To me, I think there has to be money left on the table there. However they do it should be related to / compliment the live event feed so it is easier for the fan to find/know where and when the races can be viewed.
Then there is the car and the racing it provides. Many have discussed this since the current generation came out. NASCAR just needs to fix it and put the results back into the hands of mechanical engineers and drivers (sorry aero engineers!)
I completely agree that what largely made NASCAR explode in popularity in the first place (win on Sunday, sell on Monday) largely no longer exists for Ford/Chevy.
And I also agree that I don’t know how to fix it. Were they to switch to SUVs, I likely wouldn’t watch, as I find the concept of performance SUVs to be silly. (I know some disagree here.)
I love most forms of racing, and tried to get into Formula E along with F1/2/3/Academy. I just couldn’t do it. There’s something visceral about an internal combustion racing engine, and hearing nothing but gear whine and brake squeal from Formula E cars took all the excitement out of the event. I realize I’m no spring chicken, and younger generations may eventually embrace this style of racing.
So, I have no idea how to fix this problem. The European manufacturers are perfectly happy running WEC/IMSA/F1. The American manufacturers make few cars at all. Much of NASCAR’s remaining fan base would leave if it became Toyota vs. Honda vs. Nissan vs. Hyundai, not that any of those other than Toyota have shown any real signs of coming to NASCAR, despite the Honda rumors for over a decade now.
I could see high revving V6 engines gaining popularity, if this brought more manufacturers to the party, and somehow maintained/captured a larger fan base. In the 80s and early 90’s, what was the Busch series used V6 engines, and didn’t really suffer in popularity for it. Having said that, Honda no longer makes a V6 for the Accord. If the Japanese companies came to NASCAR, maybe Honda would bring the V6 back for a premium edition.
Side note, I miss the V6 Accords. They were absolutely wolves in sheep’s clothing, and are faster than the current turbo 4s atop the Accord lineup. I no longer drive like an idiot, but I still enjoy a spirited entrance ramp. Honda’s six speed manual mated to a V6 coupe was a joy to drive. When I recently moved on from my last Accord, I moved to a different manufacturer.
I, too, tried to watch Formula E when it started, and like you could not get used to the silence (relative to ICE machines). Something was just missing, and it was enough to really make it not as interesting to me. It’s weird to say that since the racing supposedly is what we’re there to watch, but take the sound away and it’s like watching action movies with only a single, low powered, paper cone speaker. lol
I recall back in the 90’s at a local dirt track near where I went to college somebody was running a built V6 in the “modified” class. It sounded weird compared to all of the V8s, but was still badass – and it was competitive. I’d watch V6s in NASCAR, although a lot of people would be up in arms over that suggestion.
Heh. As someone who worked more than two decades for an AV company, your analogy really hits the mark.
Unfortunately NASCAR is no longer must see tv. A kit car and overregulated races are simply not as exciting as racing was in its prime years of the 90s. You had the big rivalry of Earnhardt vs Gordon that put ppl in the seats and watching on tv
these days I have to go online to find out where they are racing and what channel to watch. I used to know but it’s too complicated.
I agree with your point on the lack of rivalries. Aside from Logano, Busch and Hamlin these drivers are incredibly vanilla…and those 3 don’t seem to be overly liked.
Your second point I disagree with. At NASCAR’s peak in the 90s races were on CBS, TNN, ESPN, ABC, and TBS…they were hard to find. The difference was the race was appointment television so it was worth looking up. Practice led to qualifying, qualifying led to the race…storylines were developed.
Now they basically show up and race, no build up, no excitement. Shortening the weekend may have saved money on the front end but as viewers leave it’s going to bleed money on the back end.
I doubt ending the season earlier would do much to help the ratings. Unless you do away with NASCAR altogether, you’re always going to be competing with something, there’s just to many other options today. End it by Labor Day you’ll be up against when baseball starts heating up as it heads into their playoffs. Though not a hugh draw, you’re still going up against pre-season football. Indycar finishes their season now around Labor Day, and whether NASCAR cares to admit it or not, there’s still interest in Indycar and it may be growing. To say people lose interest in NASCAR because the season’s to long and has to many races ignores the fact baseball’s season lasts 7 months and 162 games. Basketball is 7 months too, and plays 82(?) regular season games. And like NASCAR, they also both go up against the NFL .
NASCAR’s problem with viewership is NASCAR, not the NFL. They agreed to have so many races on USA, they agreed to races on Prime and they chose to move Cup and Xfinity practice and qualifying to streaming. Not having practice and qualifying readily available to the broadest viewership possible is a mistake. If someone stumbled onto Cup qualifying on Saturday, it might just be enough to draw them into Sunday’s race. I think limiting practice to a few minutes before qualifying hurts viewership too. The viewer today has a short memory, if you want to keep people interested you need to keep your product in front of them. You need to make it easily accessible. F1 runs practice Fridays, practice and qualifying Saturday and races on Sunday with I think decent viewership for all. The fact there’s no daily or even weekly racing talk or news show on any of the major cable channels hurts NASCAR (and all racing) too. NASCAR made it harder for people to watch practice, qualifying and races this year, and now can’t figure out why they’re losing viewers?
If they’re really worried about competing against the NFL, move the fall races to Saturday afternoon or evening (and not at a southern track near a big college football fan base). If you’re worried about having Cup races at tracks near NFL games, schedule some of the fall races at tracks like The Glen, New Hampshire, Richmond, Daytona, etc. They may be in a football team’s market, but at least they’re a couple hours away from the nearest stadium.
NA$CAR is up against the F1 race at COTA on Sunday. I wonder how many viewers Brian’s product will get in the US, or Spain, or England or anywhere the F1 show goes?
Do you want more eyeballs? Put more races on network TV. Not every fan has cable TV