The first year of NASCAR’s new television rights agreement, set to commence in 2025, will feature some mid-season flair, with the announcement Monday of a first-of-its-kind in-season tournament for the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025.
Seeding for the bracket-style head-to-head event, which will take place across TNT Sports’ complete five-race schedule, will be set by results from the final three races that will air on Amazon’s Prime Video.
“With the launch of our new media rights partnerships in 2025, we were excited to partner with Prime Video and TNT Sports to collaborate on fan engagement concepts that driver storylines in our sport and innovation from a production perspective,” said Brain Herbst, NASCAR Senior VP of Media and Productions. “The idea of an in-season tournament has been discussed within the NASCAR industry and as we started to focus on adding promotional elements that drive interest throughout the season, we were excited by the opportunity to leverage the marketing weight of Amazon and TNT Sports to bring this concept to life.”
“Having head-to-head driver matchups for each one of TNT’s NASCAR Cup Series races will add a compelling fan engagement element across media platforms like TNT, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and NASCAR digital platforms.”
All drivers are eligible for the seeding races, which take place during the final three races of Prime Video’s coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025. The top 32 drivers based on the seeding events, will become eligible for the in-season tournament competition.
Bracket seeding will be established by the best finish in each race over the three races, with tiebreakers determined by the next-best finish, followed by season points position.
Although specific tracks have yet to be announced, the tournament will begin with the first event in the TNT Sports portion of the NASCAR Cup Series campaign. Drivers will compete head-to-head with the higher-finishing driver of each race advancing over the five rounds.
The winner of the tournament will receive a $1-million prize.
“It’s never been a better time to be a fan of motorsports, and this new first-ever in-season tournament will bring a new competitive dynamic to NASCAR’s summer race weekends,” said Craig Barry, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, TNT Sports. “TNT Sports has always been at the forefront of creativity and innovation, and NASCAR is a perfect partner to bring this vision to life across our networks and platforms.”
In November 2023, NASCAR reached a new seven-year media rights agreement for the NASCAR Cup Series with four top-of-the-line distribution partners — FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon Prime Video, and TNT Sports, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery — to deliver live coverage of all 38 NASCAR Cup Series races, beginning in 2025 and extending through 2031.
“We’re excited to be part of NASCAR’s first in-season tournament next season,” said Charlie Neiman, Head of Sports Partnerships, Prime Video. “This tournament will showcase the league’s ability to drive innovation and engage fans with increased competition during a key part of the NASCAR schedule.”
Prime Video and TNT Sports will be evenly splitting a 10-race stretch in the summer, with both also owning the exclusive rights to select practice and qualifying sessions for the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
NASCAR’s first fully direct-to-consumer partner, Prime Video will stream practice and qualifying for the first half of the season, except the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500, and NASCAR All-Star Race, which remain on FOX Sports.
TNT will begin its coverage at the halfway point of the season, with five NASCAR Cup Series events, and practice and qualifying sessions through the end of the season. Those races will be simultaneously broadcast live on TNT and streamed on the B/R Sports Add-On on Max. Practice sessions will be aired on Max and TruTv.
Additional details, including the schedule for NASCAR’s first-of-its-kind bracket tournament, will be coming at a later date.
Photo Credit: Meg Oliphant, Getty Images
