Three of NASCAR’s four crown jewel events are in the books for 2025, with only the Southern 500 remaining. But, it’s still not time to shut the book on the Brickyard 400. So, who were the biggest losers from NASCAR’s weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
For the record, we are not starting the week off by going after Sam Mayer. In fact, it’s the opposite. Mayer, who is just 22 years old, is having a career season with a new team. With 12 races left this season, he is four top fives and seven top tens away from matching career best stats. The problem here comes from the fact that Mayer did not win this past weekend and has yet to win this season.
Saturday, he led 32 laps, the most he’s led in a single race this season, but could not seal the deal. While he had a great point day, Mayer remains winless in the 2025 season. In the past, fans were more likely to recognize greatness in consistency, but in the playoff era, Mayer’s great efforts this season remain overlooked without a trip to Victory Lane.
We have officially had years in a row of a Richard Childress Racing driver named Austin wrecking a Joe Gibbs Racing driver. This time, Austin Hill had nothing to show for his wrecking of Aric Almirola at Indianapolis, aside from a FIVE LAP PENALTY. Furthermore, unlike Austin Dillon’s incident with Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano last season, there is no need for investigation from fans, no onboard cameras, no radio calls, just the sight of his white gloves headed for the rear of the No. 19.
Hill, at 31, is still a full-time Xfinity Series driver. Despite his 13 career wins and a shot at three straight seasons with four wins, he does not look destined for a long Cup Series career. While this is likely due to some outside factors, his on-track actions throughout his time with RCR probably aren’t helping him make friends with any interested teams. This is not the first time Hill is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, and, by all means, it might not be the last. If NASCAR acts on his actions, it probably won’t happen next weekend.
Much like last season, while one of his drivers made a controversial move on track, Richard Childress stood by his team. Not only did he do this in his usual ‘old-school’ mentality, RC went ahead and dropped the “blue collar” line and insinuated that NASCAR was going to “give them trouble.”
This is a tough look for a team that has continued to fall out of the good graces of NASCAR fans throughout the past decade. This disappointment started as on-track frustration and grew again when Tyler Reddick left. It has grown exponentially these past two seasons, with Hill and Dillon’s run-ins. The fact of the matter is that while fans constantly point out that RCR needs help in the garage, they need to help themselves on track first.
Fan support is still there, but something has to change within the culture of the team first.
It has been one day since Bubba Wallace last won a NASCAR Cup Series race.
For those unfamiliar with this joke, no doubt posted on social media hundreds of times yesterday, it is a reference to a group of individuals online who would respond to almost any NASCAR post with “It has been __ days since Bubba Wallace last won a NASCAR Cup Series race.” Even then, if one were to point out other drivers’ losing streaks, such as Chase Elliott or Kyle Busch, the goalpost would be moved, with them citing his rain-shortened win at Talladega, or his win in another car at Kansas in 2022.
But here we stand, Bubba Wallace, despite the efforts of Kyle Larson, and the weather, is once again a NASCAR Cup Series winner, cut and dry, no asterisks, no outside factors, just clean as can be. Though most cite many reasons for their dislike of Bubba, it’s hard to hate the guy. He has come so far from the driver who lost his ride 12 races into the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and found a cold streak throughout the middle portion of this season. This win could be just the beginning for a driver who is, mind you, 31 years old.
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A few years ago, I looked at the racetracks preserved on iRacing that no longer exist in real life. After digging deeper, I expected to find one common reason they all shut down. Instead, each one tells a completely different story — from booming cities and land value spikes to ownership changes, broken promises, and even mysteries that still don’t have clear answers.
Some tracks were pushed out by urban development. Some lost the one person fighting to keep them alive. Others faded due to declining support — or were never meant to last forever in the first place. No two closures are the same, and that’s what makes this deep dive so fascinating.
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NASCAR’s documentary series “Full Speed,” which used to live on Netflix, had its first two seasons look back at entire playoff runs. But now, NASCAR is shifting the series to Amazon Prime Video for its third season, and the scope of the series will also shift to new storylines.
Dropping on March 5, the new season is aimed at zooming in on one event: the 2026 Daytona 500. Instead of a multi-episode run, this time it’s a single-episode documentary that goes all in on one race.
The film will follow big names and storylines from the Daytona 500. It will spotlight the winner, Tyler Reddick, and lean into driver storylines around the weekend. That includes Kyle Busch trying to get his groove back, Brad Keselowski clawing his way back after a broken leg, Connor Zilisch being pushed as the next big thing, and Noah Gragson bringing chaos wherever he goes.
Some fans might question the move away from Netflix, especially after Season 1 pulled in 3.4 million views in the first half of 2024. Then in 2025, the docuseries clocked 900,000 views after its early May release and added another 200,000 between July and December.
But with Prime Video stepping in as one of NASCAR’s broadcast partners, moving the series lines up with a bigger play to keep content under one roof.
Amazon has already dipped into NASCAR storytelling with projects like the docuseries Earnhardt about Dale Earnhardt. Moving Full Speed to Prime follows the same playbook. And for fans who still haven’t seen previous installments, the first two seasons are also heading over to Prime Video.
However, Reddit fans are divided in their opinions about the decision. Some fans actually get why NASCAR changed the format and platform, while a chunk of fans think leaving Netflix is risky because Netflix is where casual viewers stumble into shows. Others push back, pointing out that Prime actually has a massive reach in the U.S. and strong marketing muscle.
While one fan commented, “Makes sense. I highly doubt they were gonna make a new season around a points format they don’t use anymore,” another stated, “Idk the semantics and numbers and everything behind it so I’m probably talking out of my ass….buttttttt….at what point does nascar take the less money for the exposure. You need to be on Netflix, people watch Netflix. People don’t watch Amazon video as much. Who’s gonna watch this that isn’t a nascar fan already. You have a higher chance of getting people lost on Netflix than lost on Amazon Prime Video.”
One fan commented on the news, saying, “100%. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix. AP is a train wreck for videos especially now with their ad program with videos. I steer clear because Netflix is still ad free.” Another fan supported NASCAR’s move, saying, “Prime actually has slightly more subscribers in the USA and in my opinion is better at marketing. It’s a lateral move.”
Another backed NASCAR, stating, “Most NASCAR fans will find some way to be on prime in the month of June. I think they are counting on people watching it then if they have not already seen it. Similar to the Earnhardt documentary that dropped in June last year.”
Another fan comment implied something less glamorous yet very real, pointing out that the Netflix seasons didn’t see a surge in viewership. The first season did okay, but later numbers dipped: “Netflix didn’t seem to work that well for the 2 playoff seasons.”
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NASCAR driver/owner Brad Keselowski says that he plans to race the entirety of Sunday’s DuraMax Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, despite his ongoing recovery from an injury suffered this past offseason.
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