By David G. Firestone
With Talladega behind us, let’s discuss NASCAR TV ratings. Specifically The Cup Series. Talladega did a big number, it always does. But, sadly, ratings are down. Way down. Specifically, on USA. Why? Well, as many NASCAR fans are willing to agree on, NBC’s coverage sucks. It’s always sucked, and unless NBC is willing to make some wholesale changes, it’s always going to suck.
Turner’s coverage isn’t great, but it’s light years better than it was. Ditto for Amazon, especially for their pre-race shows. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to have the segment explaining race strategy to a bar full of Temu Muppets? FOX is the best of all, and they understand it. NBC has been an anchor around NASCAR’s neck, going back to the NBCSN days. It’s not getting better.
So, what is NBC going to do? Probably nothing. NBC could spend the time and effort to actually make their coverage better. They probably won’t. NASCAR could force the issue with NBC, they probably won’t. Fans could lower their expectations, they probably won’t. Since nobody involved wants to actually listen to the fans and fix the issues, we will be in the same place we were when the TV deals were first announced.
When the fans are unhappy, TV ratings go down. When the fans are unhappy, ticket sales go down. When the fans are unhappy, merchandise sales go down. When the fans are unhappy, casual fans leave. When the fans are unhappy, profits go down. So, let’s try a new idea. Let’s try making the fans happy. Ask the fans why they are unhappy, and fix the problems. It works well in other areas, why not try this approach? It certainly hasn’t been tried yet.
Before the 2026 season, rumors were abound of a new playoff system. Many fans were hopeful it would lead to ends of the Chase, and stage racing. Sadly, the Chase was re-imagined not outright canceled, and stage racing still exists, despite fans almost universally hating the whole system.
In NASCAR’s attempts to fix what isn’t broken, and address the problems that never existed, it broke a lot, created even more problems, and lost tens of millions of fans and TV viewers. Way to go guys, way to go! If anything I was too optimistic! I seriously thought that they would at least try to address the issues. NASCAR didn’t. Look where we are all now as a result.
