After hosting the NASCAR Cup Series championship finale each year from 2020 to 2025, Phoenix Raceway has moved back into an early playoff date for the 2026 season.
Sunday's 312-lap Freeway Insurance 500 around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) Avondale, Arizona oval is the seventh of 10 races on the new Chase postseason calendar, making this the earliest playoff race Phoenix has ever hosted; it had hosted the season's penultimate race before it was moved into the season finale slot in 2020.
Because this year's Phoenix race is so early, it will also not be shown live on NBC.
Phoenix NASCAR Cup race not being shown on NBC
The races during USA Sports' portion (formerly NBC Sports' portion) of the broadcast schedule remain split between USA Network and NBC
But when that portion decreased from 20 races to 14 to make way for Amazon Prime Video and TNT as a part of NASCAR's new seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal in 2025, NBC saw its race tally drop from 10 to four, while USA Network's remained at 10.
USA Sports' portion of the schedule began in early August at Iowa Speedway, but just one of the 10 races contested since has been shown live on NBC, that being the late August regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
The playoffs began with six straight races shown live on USA Network, and that streak is set to extend to seven this weekend. But Sunday's race is the final race of the year set to be shown live on USA Network.
NBC is set to air each of the season's final three races from Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway over the next three weekends.
Note that whether a race is shown live on NBC or USA Network, the broadcast booth remains the same, with Leigh Diffey as the lead announcer, a role he's held since 2024, and both Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte as analysts, just as they've been since 2015.
USA Network's live coverage of the Freeway Insurance 500 from Phoenix Raceway is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 18. With the final three races of the 2026 season set to be shown live on NBC, begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action!
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