Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to host the 26th and final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season this Saturday night, and two playoff spots remain up for grabs heading into the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
While NBC's portion of the broadcast schedule is well underway, having gotten started at Iowa Speedway to start the month of August three weekends ago, the Cup Series has yet to see a race actually shown live on NBC this year.
The races at Iowa, Watkins Glen International, and Richmond Raceway were all shown on USA Network, the NBCUniversal-owned alternate channel during NBC's portion of the schedule which effectively replaced NBC Sports Network once NBC Sports Network shut down at the end of 2021.
As a part of NASCAR's new media rights deal, a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal which went into effect ahead of the 2025 season, NBC dropped from 20 to 14 races to conclude the season, much like Fox dropped from 18 (16 points races) to 14 (12) to begin the season to make room for Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports. Prime and TNT covered five races each.
In 2024, 10 of NBC's 20 races were actually shown on NBC, and the other 10 were shown on USA Network. But that is no longer an even split in 2025. While USA is still responsible for 10, NBC itself is now only responsible for four.
And the first of those four is finally scheduled to take place this weekend.
Coke Zero Sugar 400 not being shown on USA Network
For the first time in the 2025 season, a Cup Series race is actually set to be shown live on NBC, that being this Saturday night's 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Following this race, fans will have to wait nearly two months for another race to be shown live on NBC, as the first seven races of the playoffs are all set to be shown live on USA Network.
Beyond this weekend, NBC is not responsible for airing a race until the middle race of the (semifinal) round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 19.
It is then responsible for the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 26 and the Championship 4 title decider at Phoenix Raceway to wrap up the 2025 season on Sunday, November 2.
Note that whether a race is shown live on NBC or USA Network, the broadcast booth remains the same.
Leigh Diffey is the lead announcer, having come over from IndyCar to replace longtime lead man Rick Allen during the 2024 season, and he calls races alongside color commentators Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, both of whom have been with NBC since the start of the previous media rights deal in 2015.
Tune in to NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 23 for the live broadcast of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!