“Greed Gets You Nowhere”: Fans React as $7.7B Media Deal Fails NASCAR NASCAR’s $7.7B media deal sparks mixed reactions from fans, raising questions about viewership, accessibility, and the sport’s fut

The rumble of an engine has always been NASCAR’s signature, but today, a different, more ominous sound echoes in the garages: the silence of diminishing ratings. The most-viewed NASCAR races historically were concentrated in an era defined by free, over-the-air television. For instance, the infamous 1979 Daytona 500 was the first to be broadcast live. By 2008’s Daytona 500, the viewership saw exponential growth. But the same can’t be said for the 2025 NASCAR $7.7 billion media rights deal.

Denny Hamlin echoed the issue, “Just not good…We obviously lost a significant amount of network races in this TV deal… we’ve always just taken the most amount of money. It’s not been about what’s going to put us on in most households.” Hamlin also highlighted the consequences, pointing to Pocono’s 1.