NASCAR is putting the petal to the metal on its new deal with The CW. The racing league’s Xfinity Series was due to shift its races to The CW as its primary broadcast home starting with the 2025 season, but this week it announced that the final eight races of the 2024 Xfinity season will exclusively air on the channel instead of current broadcast partners like FS1 or USA Network.

• NASCAR Xfinity races on The CW begin Friday, Sept. 20, and continue through the season’s end.
• Races will still be produced by NBC Sports, and will feature analysis from Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte.
• The NASCAR Cup Series will air on Fox, NBC, TNT, and Prime Video starting in 2025.

The announcement from NASCAR and The CW teases a partnership between that channel and NBC Sports, which airs a large portion of Xfinity Series races on NBC or USA Network. NBC Sports will produce the eight races appearing exclusively on The CW to end the season, and its longtime NASCAR analysts Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte will cover announcing duties for the races.

Initially, NASCAR was not due to start airing any races on The CW until 2025. That channel first agreed to become the new broadcast partner of the Xfinity Series in July 2023, and fans will be able to watch events live at no cost on The CW digital app as well as on linear TV.

“As The CW prepares to be the new broadcast home of the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025, we want to thank our partners at the league and at NBC Sports for welcoming the network into the NASCAR broadcast family and for the early opportunity to showcase these thrilling final eight Xfinity Series races of the season,” said Dennis Miller, President, The CW Network. “We can’t wait to give racing fans an early preview of all the exciting action the NASCAR Xfinity Series has to offer on The CW and we look forward to establishing the network as a new destination for live motorsports.”

Check out a schedule of races currently slated to appear on The CW in 2024.

Why Did NBC Sports Agree to Allow The CW to Air These Races?

NASCAR had to have the approval of current rightsholders before shifting this package of races to The CW. NBCUniversal clearly agreed to sub-license these races to The CW and even did so enthusiastically with its pledge to produce the races and provide on-air talent for them.

As NBCU is set to lose the rights to the Xfinity Series anyway, it may have decided to get what is likely to be considerable licensing fees from The CW for this bundle of races was better than simply airing them on its own channels and then saying goodbye to them.

Besides, it’s not as if NBCU is bidding farewell to all of its NASCAR rights. It will still get a package of NASCAR Cup Series races beyond 2025 when the racing league’s new broadcast deal takes hold. That agreement will see the NASCAR Cup Series event stream on Peacock as they do today, as well as Prime Video and Max, as well as air on linear channels Fox, FS1, TNT and USA Network in addition to NBC.

However much NBCU is getting from The CW to send this group of races to that channel in 2024, it’s undoubtedly a good move for fans. It allows viewers to enjoy races without fear that they’ll be paywalled on a cable channel, as viewers in most parts of the country can get The CW just by using an over-the-air antenna.