The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is the second season of the sport's seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Fox, NBC, Amazon Prime Video, and TNT Sports.
Fox once again opened up the season with 14 races (12 points races), down from 18 (16) under the previous 10-year agreement, which included only Fox and NBC.
Prime Video and TNT were then responsible for five races each, with TNT's portion of the schedule having wrapped up with the conclusion of the In-Season Challenge tournament at Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weekends ago.
This year, what was once considered NBC Sports' portion of the schedule is officially now considered USA Sports' portion of the calendar, even though, like every season since 2022, some races are set to be shown on NBC and the others are set to be shown on USA Network.
USA replaced NBC Sports Network as the alternate channel during NBC's portion after NBCSN's initial shutdown post-2021.
Versant Media is the parent company of USA Sports, and Versant split from Comcast and NBC in late 2025. USA Sports is aiming to establish its brand as its own entity, and that effort includes its upcoming 14-race Cup Series slate.
As we start a new week, there’s a new direction for @nascar viewing starting this weekend at @iowaspeedway … remind yourself and your NASCAR-watching mates … it’s here now … @NASCARonUSA @usasports pic.twitter.com/sT7QqLejql
— Leigh Diffey (@leighdiffey) August 3, 2026
NASCAR Cup race at Iowa not being shown live on NBC
Having said that, channel-wise, everything has remained the same from 2025. Four races are once again set to be shown live on NBC, which is still down from 10 under the previous media rights agreement, while the other 10 are set to be shown live on USA Network.
NBC isn't actually set to air a race until the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway in late August.
USA Sports' portion of the broadcast schedule is set to get underway with Sunday's Iowa Corn 350, which is the first of three consecutive races to be shown live on USA Network. The others include next weekend's race at Richmond Raceway and the following weekend's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Aside from the Daytona race, the other three races set to be shown live on NBC this season include the final three races of the 10-race "Chase" postseason at Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway this fall. All the others are set to be shown live on USA Network.
The USA Sports broadcast booth remains the same from 2025, when it was officially the NBC Sports booth. Leigh Diffey is set to return for his third season as lead announcer after replacing Rick Allen in 2024, while Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton are set to be back for their 12th seasons as analysts. The booth is set to consist of the same trio whether a race is shown live on USA or NBC.
Letarte also called all five races on Prime and all five on TNT.
USA Network's live coverage of the Iowa Corn 350 from Iowa Speedway is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 9. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from the Newton, Iowa short track, along with the rest of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's action!
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