Everything We Know About NASCAR on TV In 2025
What’s Happening? The 2025 NASCAR season will look quite different to many fans than any other. Two brand new TV…
On Thursday, IndyCar announced a landmark media rights deal with FOX featuring all races on network TV beginning in 2025. NASCAR is also set to return to Fox for the 2025 season, so will there be any conflicts or scheduling issues between IndyCar and NASCAR?
NASCAR has not released the 2025 schedule yet, so the best we can do is compare the 2025 IndyCar schedule to the current 2024 NASCAR schedule. With both the Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series on FOX networks, we will include those series alongside IndyCar. For any NASCAR race weekend scheduled on a Fox network in 2025, we have the channel for the 2024 NASCAR race listed.
| Date | IndyCar (2025) | 2024 Cup Series Weekend | 2024 Truck Series Weekend |
| March 2nd | St Petersburg | Las Vegas (FOX) | Las Vegas (FS1) |
| March 23rd | Thermal Club | COTA (FOX) | COTA (FS1) |
| April 13th | Long Beach | Texas (FS1) | Texas (FS1) |
| May 4th | Barber | Kansas (FS1) | Kansas (FS1) |
| May 10th (Saturday) | Indianapolis Road Course | Darlington (FS1) | Darlington (FS1) |
| May 17th-18th | Indianapolis 500 Qualifying | *All-Star Race a North Wilkesboro (FOX OR FS1) | *North Wilkesboro (FS1) |
| May 25th | 109th Indianapolis 500 | *Coca-Cola 600 | Charlotte (FS1) |
| June 1st | Street of Detroit | Gateway | Gateway (FS1) |
| June 15th | Gateway | Iowa | NO RACE |
| June 22nd | Road America | New Hampshire | NO RACE |
| July 6th | Mid-Ohio | Streets of Chicago | NO RACE |
| July 12th-13th | Iowa Doubleheader | Pocono | Pocono (FS1) |
| July 20th | Streets of Toronto | Brickyard 400 | Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (FS1) |
| July 27th | Laguna Seca | NO RACE (Olympic Break) | NO RACE (Olympic Break) |
| August 10th | Portland | Richmond | Richmond (FS1) |
| August 24th | Milwaukee | Daytona | Milwaukee (FS1) |
| August 31st | Nashville | Darlington | NO RACE |
A good indicator of how Fox will handle these conflicts is to compare how the current IndyCar TV partner, NBC, handles them. NBC has only two IndyCar races that directly conflict with NASCAR Cup Series time slots this season.
The first is the Toronto race on July 21st, on Peacock, and the same day as the Brickyard 400 on NBC. The second is the season finale at Nashville on NBC, which runs simultaneously to the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at Watkins Glen on USA. Only the season finale received the best time and network slot. This makes sense because NASCAR routinely pulls in well over 2, 3, and sometimes 4 million viewers per race, whereas IndyCar often hovers around 1 million viewers except the Indianapolis 500.
It’s also worth noting that NASCAR always gets the prime, late afternoon slot over IndyCar on most days both series race, except Nashville, once again, and Labor Day weekend when NASCAR races at night in Darlington, a Labor Day tradition. With NBC in charge, IndyCar typically had to work around NASCAR, not the other way around.
The one weekend in 2025 that could look interesting is the All-Star Race weekend. With Fox broadcasting both days of Indianapolis 500 qualifying, will that affect the schedule for the All-Star Race? Something like the All-Star Heat Races or the Truck Series race could come directly after Indy 500 qualifying coverage, or NASCAR could just be relegated to FS1 in that scenario. The actual All-Star Race should not conflict based on the race typically being a night race.
It seems Fox is not keen on forcing the Cup Series and IndyCar races to directly conflict, as Eric Shanks told the media that he informed Jim France the two would often “Be leading in and out of each other.”
With FOX having only five races on network TV in 2025, it will be interesting to see if the new IndyCar contract determines which NASCAR races get on network TV. Could we see the Kansas, Darlington, or Texas weekend switch to FOX from FS1 for a smooth transition from IndyCar to NASCAR?
However, the series most affected by this is the Truck Series. IndyCar races will certainly get priority over the Truck Series in terms of time slots if the two conflict, but IndyCar and the Truck Series rarely race on the same day.
One interesting note is that the IndyCar Milwaukee weekend moved up to the same one as the Truck Series 2024 Milwaukee weekend. Could we see an IndyCar/Truck Series Doubleheader weekend?
Where the Truck Series is most affected, however, is through booth talent. If Marshall Pruett’s report holds true, and Adam Alexander moves to cover IndyCar, he likely won’t be available to cover the Truck Series for at least half the season. This allows someone like Jamie Little to take a more prominent role in the Truck Series booth. Maybe FOX could move Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick around to cover some Truck Series races as well.
What’s Happening? The 2025 NASCAR season will look quite different to many fans than any other. Two brand new TV…
It will also be interesting to see what kind of overlap there will be between analysts and pit reporters. Could there be some flip-flop between NASCAR and IndyCar, and how much talent FOX brings in from NBC?
Time will tell, but ultimately, FOX will likely handle IndyCar/NASCAR conflicts the way NBC handles them. What the booth looks like will be the biggest thing for NASCAR fans to watch.
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