NASCAR’s recent seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights agreement, effective from 2025 through 2031, represents a significant investment in the sport’s future, involving partnerships with FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video, and TNT Sports.
The 2025 season commenced with the Daytona 500, which, despite a nearly four-hour rain delay, averaged 6.761 million viewers on Fox, peaking at 7.959 million. This marked a 13% increase from the previous year’s Monday race but fell short compared to the 2023 Sunday race’s 8.17 million viewers.
Subsequent races have shown promising trends. The Shriners Children’s 500 Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway garnered a 1.43 rating with 2.818 million viewers on FS1, an 18% increase from FS1’s average Cup telecasts in 2024. This event was the most-watched Cup race on FS1 since 2021, peaking at 3.386 million viewers.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series has also experienced notable viewership. The season opener at Daytona attracted 1.8 million total viewers on The CW Network, peaking at 2.2 million, making it the most-watched Xfinity Series season opener since 2020 and the most-watched race since April 2022.
These figures suggest that NASCAR’s substantial media rights investment is yielding positive outcomes, with both the Cup Series and Xfinity Series experiencing significant viewership increases.
