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Fans on social media are nothing short of excited for NASCAR to return to NBC next weekend at Nashville. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, Larry McReynolds, and others are stepping aside for the likes of Rick Allen, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Letarte, and others. What can the fans expect from NASCAR on NBC?
While NBC has not officially released their full commentary team yet, it seems that the NASCAR on NBC broadcast team will remain largely the same from the previous year. Rick Allen returns for his ninth season as the play-by-play commentator alongside Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is about to begin his sixth season in the booth, meaning NBC will once again run a four-man booth.
The main person that may be in flux this season is pit reporter/analyst Parker Kligerman, who now runs full-time in the Xfinity Series. Aside from that, it seems that NBC will use pretty much the same crop of pit reporters such as Dave Burns, Marty Snider, Dillon Welch, and Kim Coon. Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, and Brad Daugherty seemingly will return as well primarily serving as pre/post-race analysts.
NBC seems to be thinking that continuity will breed success. Fans on social media seem to generally like NBC’s coverage, so it’s hard to stray away from what works.
It also may be interesting to see if any other NBC talent from their coverage of IndyCar such as Leigh Diffey and Kevin Lee will be used at any point this season. Particularly after the IndyCar season ends in mid-September. NBC could also bring in some of their other talent such as Jack Collinsworth or maybe even Mike Tirico as well for some sort of hosting duties for one of NBC’s big, pre-football season events.
NBC has always been creative in how it approaches its’ NASCAR broadcasts, most notably bringing on guys like Mike Bagley to put together a “radio style” call on road courses. NBC was also the first NASCAR broadcast crew to use a four-man booth on a consistent basis.
Will NBC return to the “radio style” call on road courses this year once again? I don’t see why not. It provides a breath of fresh air to a broadcast and it allows NBC commentators to have an eye on each part of the race track at all times.
What will be most interesting to watch is how NBC runs their commercial breaks. FOX has received significant criticism for the amount of full-screen commercial breaks it took during their portion of the 2023 season. Do FOX and NBC tend to differ?
Jayski has put together commercial statistics for NASCAR races, and here we can compare last season’s Championship race and this years Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway. According to Jayski, NBC ran 38 minutes of full-screen commercials in a 181 minute broadcast in the Championship race last season (21% commercials). By comparison, Jayski reports that FOX ran 43 minutes of commercials in a 167 minute broadcast at Auto Club this year (26% commercials).
Obviously that is just one example, but it will be interesting to see if that trend continues this year. Could NBC put in more sponsored segments during the race to lessen the amount of time in full-screen commercials? Or will NBC simply put out less or more commercials than FOX?
Of course, putting NASCAR on TV is no good if you do not know where to watch the race. Which races be on network TV, and will any be on Peacock? Our very own Cody Williams broke down the entirety of the NBC broadcast schedule for the final 20 points races of the Cup Series season.
Now, I do not want to steal Cody’s thunder, so I will just mention the highlights. In short, 10 Cup Series races will be on the big NBC, with the remaining 10 on USA. The final six races of the season will be on NBC, meaning 10 of NBC’s first 14 races will be on USA.
Three races will also be simulcast on Peacock. However, NONE of those races will be exclusive, so all 20 races of NBC’s package will be on traditional television.
In the Xfinity Series, there will be four races on network NBC: Road America (July 29), Michigan (August 5), Kansas (September 9), and Homestead (October 21st). The rest will all be on USA, so, again, no races will be on Peacock exclusively.
It seems that NBC is not too keen on changing much with their NASCAR coverage this season. To be honest, there is not much that needed drastic fixing anyway. NBC has found its’ groove with its’ NASCAR coverage, and why would they try too much different with a new TV deal on the horizon?
If you liked NASCAR on NBC last season, then you will probably enjoy this season. If you did not enjoy NASCAR on NBC, then you probably will not enjoy it.
