Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced in 2024 that his contract with NBC had expired at the end of the 2023 season, his sixth season in the NBC Sports broadcast booth as a driver analyst for NASCAR Cup Series races.
The 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner and two-time Daytona 500 champion opted to remain on the sidelines when it came to the broadcast booth last year, but he later confirmed the rumors that he would be returning in 2025.
A new media rights deal was announced by NASCAR featuring existing broadcast partners Fox and NBC, as well as two new partners in Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports.
Fox's season-opening portion of the schedule decreased from 18 races (16 points races) to 14 (12) while NBC's season-ending portion decreased from 20 races to 14. Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports were each given five races in between.
And Dale Jr. is set to call NASCAR Cup Series races for both new partners, starting with the Coca-Cola 600.
The 50-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native is set to make his return to the Cup Series broadcast booth for this Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Joining him in the booth are lead announcer Adam Alexander and analyst Steve Letarte. Letarte worked with Dale Jr. as his crew chief, most notably when they won the 2014 Daytona 500 together, and he also worked with him from 2018 to 2023 during Earnhardt's time in the NBC booth.
Letarte is also still with NBC as an analyst alongside Jeff Burton and lead announcer Leigh Diffey, who replaced Rick Allen last year.
Additional races on Amazon Prime Video include the upcoming races at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 1; Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 8; Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday, June 15; and Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 22.
TNT Sports' portion of the broadcast schedule is scheduled to get underway with the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 28, and it also includes the races at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, July 6; Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, July 13; Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 20; and Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 27. These five races are the five races of the first ever in-season tournament.
NBC is then set to take over for the remainder of the year, beginning with the race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, August 3. NBC's races are split between NBC itself (four races) and USA Network (10), much like Fox's were split between Fox (five) and Fox Sports 1 (nine).
Amazon Prime Video is set to provide live coverage of the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 25.