NASCAR: Dale Jr.'s return race confirmed for 2025 Cup season

With the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule having been confirmed, so has the broadcast schedule in what is set to be year number one of a new seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal which features not only current partners Fox Sports and NBC Sports but also Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports.

Including the two exhibition races, Fox is currently responsible for the season's first 18 events, while NBC is responsible for the final 20, including the entire four-round, 10-race postseason.

Both Fox and NBC are set to drop to 14 races next year, with Fox's races still set to be split up between Fox and Fox Sports 1 and NBC's races still set to be split up between NBC and USA Network. USA Network replaced the now defunct NBC Sports Network starting in 2022.

Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports are each set to be responsible for five races as well.

With Fox still set to lead things off and NBC still set to wrap things up, the five-race stints for Amazon and TNT are set to take place in the middle of the year.

The final race on Fox's portion of the 2025 schedule is the second of the two exhibition races, that being the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, May 18.

As a result, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is set to make his long-awaited return to the booth on Sunday, May 25 for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner moved to the NBC Sports booth after retiring from full-time Cup Series competition at the end of the 2017 season, joining lead announcer Rick Allen and color commentators Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte.

But after his sixth season in the booth in 2023, he confirmed that his contract with NBC had expired, and a return for 2024 was not a guarantee. As it turns out, he did not come back at all in 2024, instead opting to sign with both Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports for 2025.

Adam Alexander is set to serve as the lead announcer, and Letarte is set to join Earnhardt as an analyst.

Fox and NBC still have work to do when it comes to solidifying their broadcasting talent for the 2025 season. NBC recently replaced Allen with Leigh Diffey, who had been the voice of IndyCar's NBC coverage. With IndyCar set to move from NBC to Fox for 2025, NBC did not want to lose one of their top men, and that meant shifting him to the NASCAR side early.