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[City, State] – [Date] – The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has concluded, revealing a notable 14 percent decrease in average television ratings compared to the previous year. This downturn, while statistically significant, aligns with internal projections made by NASCAR leadership, who anticipated a "reset" in viewership figures due to a strategic shift towards cable and streaming platforms.
The 2025 championship race at Phoenix Raceway, broadcast on NBC, drew an audience of 2.77 million viewers, a decline from the 2.9 million who tuned in for the 2024 season finale. Overall, the 2025 Cup Series averaged 2.476 million viewers. This follows a 2024 season that saw a modest one percent increase in average viewership, reaching 2.892 million.
NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps addressed the viewership trends during a recent "State of the Sport" press conference, attributing the decline to the deliberate move away from a heavy reliance on over-the-air broadcast television. "When the season started, because of the distribution changes to be less broadcast heavy and more cable heavy and streaming, we knew we were going to have a reset," Phelps stated. He elaborated that NASCAR had communicated these expectations to industry stakeholders, forecasting a viewership decrease in the Cup Series between 14 and 15 percent.
Despite the overall dip, Phelps highlighted positive aspects of the new broadcast model, particularly the inclusion of Amazon’s Prime Sports for five races during the middle of the season. This experimental venture, which also saw races on Turner Sports alongside traditional broadcasters FOX and NBC, was met with positive reception from fans and garnered an average of 2.16 million viewers across the five events. "Everyone just raised their game," Phelps commented, specifically praising Amazon’s production quality. He also acknowledged that while Turner Sports’ viewership figures were "slightly softer than we thought they would be," they remained within projected parameters.
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However, races broadcast on the USA Network, a cable channel, frequently struggled to surpass the one-million-viewer mark. Phelps acknowledged this segment of the schedule as being "a little softer than we had expected." He expressed optimism for future growth, stating, "The expectation moving forward, now that we have had the reset, is that we are going to grow. We’re going to grow because we have the best racing in the world, our stars are going to be more out there, we’re creating better content, all the things that make fandom." He concluded by reiterating NASCAR’s lack of concern regarding the current ratings, emphasizing that they are "exactly where we thought they’d be."
Team owner Brad Keselowski echoed this sentiment of managed expectations. Speaking to Motorsport.com, Keselowski acknowledged that the industry anticipated a period of transition in viewership habits. "I think NASCAR and everyone in the industry knew there would be some transition, but we didn’t know what it would be," he said. Keselowski expressed pleasant surprise at the performance of the Amazon streaming races, contrasting it with a degree of disappointment regarding the cable broadcasts. "I guess we’re fixed on this for the next six years so we’ll have to make the most of it," he added, referring to the long-term media rights agreements.
In contrast to the Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series experienced a significant boost in its television ratings, achieving its best performance in four years. This success is largely attributed to the strategic decision to move all Xfinity races to broadcast television on The CW Network. The series averaged over one million viewers per race throughout the 2025 season, with an exact figure of 1,034,000, representing a 10 percent increase from the previous year when races were primarily aired on FS1 and USA Network.
The Xfinity Series finale on Saturday drew an impressive 1,015,000 viewers, a notable achievement given the competition from college football and Game 7 of the World Series on FOX. Phelps specifically lauded this programming decision, stating that NASCAR had projected a "double-digit increase in Xfinity."
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, meanwhile, maintained its viewership levels, with distribution remaining largely consistent on FS1 and some broadcasts on FOX.
Phelps further elaborated on the viewership demographics, noting that while Cup Series ratings were down 14 percent as predicted, the FOX portion of the season was "really strong." He highlighted that the Xfinity Series "exceeded a lot of kind of experts’ opinions about what their audience would be." Regarding the shift to streaming, NASCAR surmised that the audience demographic for Amazon would skew younger, a prediction that proved accurate, with the average age of viewers being approximately six years younger. The commissioner also commended the consistently high production values maintained by traditional broadcasters like FOX and NBC.
The media rights landscape for NASCAR has undergone a significant transformation with the recent agreements, aiming to cater to evolving viewer habits and introduce new audiences to the sport. While the Cup Series navigates this adjustment period, the positive trajectory of the Xfinity Series offers a promising indicator for the broader health and adaptability of NASCAR’s media strategy. The focus now shifts to how the sport will leverage these new platforms and content strategies to foster long-term viewership growth across all its national series.
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