If you were glued to the USA Network for that wild finish at Phoenix, you might want to grab your remote and get ready to move. The Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway was a total mess of crashes and tire blowouts, but it was also the last time we see a race on USA Network this year.
NASCAR announced that the championship hunt is heading to the NBC broadcast network for the final three weekends of the 2026 season. This change is part of a massive seven-year media deal that runs from 2025 through 2031. While the money involved is huge, the way we find the races is getting a lot more complicated.
The New Way to Find the Race
NBC Sports secures rights to the last 14 Cup Series races each season, including playoffs, says reporter Dustin Long of NBC Sports. This package is a mix of different channels. Per reports, the deal sends 10 of those races to the USA Network, while four races air on the NBC broadcast network.
The new structure for the 2025-2031 period also brings in other players. According to Yahoo Sports, the new plan gives Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports five midseason races each. This is a big drop from the old deal where Fox and NBC had 18 and 20 races respectively. NASCAR President Steve Phelps explained the logic behind this spread. “We want to meet race fans where they are, or potential race fans where they are,” Phelps said, as quoted by NBC Sports’ Dustin Long.
The money behind this move is massive. According to reports, the seven-year deal is worth a reported $7.7 billion. When factoring in the CW’s package for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the annual average reaches $1.1 billion. That is a huge jump from the previous 10-year deal that averaged about $820 million a year, per reports.
I get why NASCAR wants to chase new viewers on streaming apps, but it feels like a headache for the fans who have been watching for decades. It is getting harder to know which channel to flip to on a Sunday afternoon. One week it is cable, the next week it is a streaming service, and then it is broadcast TV. It is like a coach changing the entire playbook in the middle of the fourth quarter without telling the players.
The math shows the sport is growing, but the accessibility is shrinking. We are seeing more platforms share the load. While the $7. question much harder to answer. If you miss the announcement, you might miss the race.
The good news is that we do know where the finish line is. The next race at Talladega Superspeedway is set for October 25 at 2 p.m. ET. According to reports, you can watch the three remaining races on NBC and stream them on Peacock.