The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is year number one of the sport's new seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast rights deal, which includes not only existing partners Fox and NBC but also new additions Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports.
Fox still led off the season, but instead of being responsible for 18 races, it was responsible for 14, including both exhibition races (preseason Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium and All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway).
Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports then took over for five races each. Now NBC's coverage is set to begin with this Sunday afternoon's Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway.
NBC loses six races on 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule
NBC had been responsible for the final 10 races of the regular season and the entire 10-race postseason. But to make way for Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports on the new-look broadcast schedule, NBC, like Fox, also lost a number of races.
In total, NBC lost six races, while Fox only lost four. NBC is set to be responsible for the final four races of the regular season, plus the entire four-round, 10-race playoffs.
The big loss for NBC was the Chicago Street Race, which has been one of the more popular events on the calendar since it was added to the schedule on Independence Day weekend back in 2023. This year, that race was a part of NASCAR's inaugural in-season tournament and shown live on TNT Sports.
The Brickyard 400, which hosted the tournament finale last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was also a major loss for NBC.
It is also worth noting that last year's 20-race NBC slate was divided up evenly between NBC and USA Network. USA Network took over as the NBCUniversal-owned alternate network during NBC's portion of the broadcast schedule after NBC Sports Network shut down at the end of 2021.
But while USA Network is still set to air 10 races this year, including Sunday's race at Iowa, NBC itself is only set to air four. Those four are the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway and the final three races of the playoff schedule at Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway.
Similarly, the majority of Fox's 14 races were actually shown on Fox Sports 1, nine of 14 to be exact, while in previous years, the number of races shown on Fox itself outnumbered those shown on the alternate channel.
Leigh Diffey replaced Rick Allen as lead announcer for NASCAR on NBC during last season, and he is set to continue to serve in that role alongside color commentators Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte.
Tune in to USA Network at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 3 for the live broadcast of the Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol from Iowa Speedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series action!