While the current portion of the NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule is now considered USA Sports' portion of the calendar, rather than NBC Sports' portion, there is no change as far as which channels the races are shown on.
After the new seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal went into effect ahead of the 2025 season, the season-ending portion of the broadcast calendar was reduced from 20 races to 14, and while 10 races remained on USA Network, NBC saw its tally dropped from 10 to four.
That is still the case this year, even after Versant Media split from Comcast and NBC in late 2025; Versant is the parent company of USA Sports, and USA Sports is aiming to establish its brand as its own entity.
Gateway NASCAR Cup playoff race not being shown on NBC
USA Network kicked off its coverage at Iowa Speedway in early August, and after three straight races were shown live on USA, NBC aired its first race of the year to conclude the regular season at Daytona International Speedway.
But USA Network took over again to begin the postseason at Darlington Raceway this past weekend, and the Cook Out Southern 500 was the first of seven consecutive races on USA's schedule to open up the playoffs.
This Sunday's 240-lap Enjoy Illinois at the four-turn, 1.25-mile (2.012-kilometer) World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway oval in Madison, Illinois is also set to be shown live on USA Network, although it's worth noting that the announcers remain the same whether a race is on USA or NBC.
Leigh Diffey is in his third year as the lead announer after replacing Rick Allen in 2024, while Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton are both in their 12th seasons as analysts.
Upcoming races on USA include the next five on the schedule at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kansas Speeedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway.
After that, NBC is set to take over for the remainder of the season. The season's final three races at Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway are all set to be shown live on NBC to wrap up the year in late October and early November.
Tune in to USA Network at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 13 for the live broadcast of the Enjoy Illinois 300 from World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Don't miss any of the action from one of just two tracks on the playoff schedule that did not host a regular season race!
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