Remember the Las Vegas race just a few weeks ago? Denny Hamlin won, and the renowned ‘NASCAR villain’ elicited cheers instead of boos from the grandstand. It marked his 60th Cup race trophy, and punched his ticket to the Championship 4 for the first time since 2021. Despite these factors, NHRA was more popular that weekend – beating the Las Vegas race’s 1.717 million viewers with 1.872 million.

This marked only the latest evidence of NASCAR’s problem with viewership in 2025. Waves of criticism have hit the sport and its broadcast partners, emanating from both the garage and the fan community. Now, the sport may have taken a detrimental step for its already dire TV state.

NASCAR just made it more difficult for fans

At the end of 2023, NASCAR signed a $7.7 billion media rights deal. It in

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