NASCAR Could Stream on Max, Prime Video as Part of Next Broadcasting Deal

As larger sports leagues like the NBA dominate headlines regarding where their broadcasting rights will be sold next, sports fans shouldn’t forget NASCAR. The auto-racing league will see its rights go up for sale after the 2024-25 season, and who will land them is very much an open question.

• NASCAR is still looking to sell a third package of Cup Series races in its next broadcasting deal.
• Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon have both been in contention and could reportedly split the package between them to stream on Max and Prime Video.
• The NASCAR Xfinity Series agreed to an overall deal with The CW this year, encompassing both broadcasting and streaming of races.

Will Any Future NASCAR Races Be Streaming Exclusives?

There are still lots of unanswered questions about NASCAR’s next broadcasting deal, but there was at least a sliver of clarity offered this week. According to a report from NBC Sports, NASCAR President Steve Phelps says that while NBC and Fox were expected to remain the main broadcast partners for his league after 2025, there could be multiple new partners in the equation as well.

“We are going to have an additional partner and we may have two additional partners,” Phelps said during a Monday webinar. “That’s kind of where we’re trying to figure out in these last few weeks — what that’s going to look like, but we already know we’re going to have more partners.”

Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon have been frequently reported as having an interest in some NASCAR rights. Now, it appears they may be closing in on splitting a package of 10 or so Cup Series races per season between them. Any races that go to Amazon would stream on Prime Video, while those that WBD gets will air on TNT and stream simultaneously on Max.

NASCAR may potentially have planned to move a much larger package of races to a streaming platform when it began negotiations earlier this spring. But Amazon’s interest in pursuing the NBA has it taking great care with its sports budget, which could explain why it would be willing to split a package of 10 races with WBD.

One thing that Phelps’ words made absolutely clear in the seminar was that NASCAR would not be leaving linear television anytime soon.

“I think what I would call hedging our bet is a smart thing for us to do as a sport,” Phelps said. “No one has any idea what’s going to happen with streaming and what’s going to happen with cable. We do know that broadcast television is going to be around for the foreseeable future at 125 million homes. That’s not going to change.”

Will The CW Try to Land Any Cup Series Races?

A report from this summer indicated that a third, unidentified bidder was also interested in the small package of Cup Series races. That third bidder has yet to reveal themselves, but it could be The CW, which struck a deal earlier this year to begin airing NASCAR's Xfinity Series starting in 2025. Xfinity Series races will also stream for free on The CW app.

Having a package of Cup Series races as well would help The CW round out its live sports offering even further, and would serve as the perfect complement to its Xfinity events. The CW would be an attractive proposition for NASCAR as well since it would be able to distribute that package of races on linear TV and via streaming on The CW app at the same time.

There are still lots of variables left to be resolved in this equation, and Phelps said during the webinar that more details would likely be available on NASCAR’s next broadcast deal by the end of 2023. Prime Video and Max both seem to be firmly in the running to host some NASCAR races after 2025, but they may still have competition from a shadowy third party.