Circle Tracks

The NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday at Martinsville drew 2.394 million viewers according to the Sports Business Journal. This number is a slight decrease from last year, the race being held on the same weekend at the same track, which drew 2.422 million viewers. The 2026 edition did feature most popular driver Chase Elliott returning to victory lane after a spirited duel through traffic ...Keep readingView the full article

There is no direct comparison since this was the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen to take place during the spring but the Go Bowling at The Glen on FS1 earned an average of 1.928 million viewers and a 1.06 rating according to Nielsen’s Big Panel + Data metric. This is the lowest rated race of the season, won by Shane Van Gisbergen, this race barely dropping below Bristol’s ...Keep readingView the full article

There were countless emails, text messages and documents unsealed on Friday as part of the build-up to the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust lawsuit trial set to begin on December 1. They included NASCAR commissioner, then president, Steve Phelps telling president, then chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell that ‘a knife’ needed to be put into ‘this trash ...Keep readingView the full article

The racing at Watkins Glen International will look a bit different this weekend, as NASCAR introduces some new track limits. No longer will we see the entire field driving off into the Turn 1 runoff on starts/restarts, as NASCAR has made some significant changes there and to the exit of the Carousel. They're essentially building a new wall via tire packs to keep the racing line closer to the ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin's father, Dennis Hamlin, has died after injuries sustained in a house fire in Stanley, North Carolina, on Sunday. Hamlin's mother, Mary Lou, 69, is currently being treated at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center and is listed in critical condition. The fire's cause is still under investigation. Still reeling from a tragic December 18th plane crash that claimed the life ...Keep readingView the full article

The emotion afterwards was palpable. On pit road, immediately after the race, newly crowned NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Jesse Love was in tears at earning a major career accomplishment. On the other end of the spectrum, Connor Zilisch was in tears because he was denied a championship that surely would have been his under any other format. "I feel like emotion is part of the sport," ...Keep readingView the full article

After over a year of back-and-forth litigation and a trial that lasted nine days, a settlement has finally been reached in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports vs. NASCAR antitrust lawsuit. The two parties appeared outside the courthouse with 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan and NASCAR CEO Jim France standing shoulder-to-shoulder. They've also released a joint statement, which reads as ...Keep readingView the full article

With it becoming more and more likely that the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust lawsuit and countersuit will proceed to a trial by jury scheduled to begin on December 1, the process for what that will look like is starting to be agreed upon. For one, both parties agreed to three preliminary rules on Monday and they are as follows as directly pulled from a joint ...Keep readingView the full article

Attorneys representing both parties in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR lawsuit and countersuit concluded a second consecutive day of settlement talks without any announced agreement. Upon leaving the Western District of North Carolina courtroom in Charlotte on Wednesday, both parties declined comment. There is a scheduled session for oral arguments on Thursday morning in ...Keep readingView the full article

Things could always change, of course, but it seems as though the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust lawsuit and countersuit is destined for a trial by jury come December. The two parties met in court on Thursday following two days of settlement mediation overseen by Judge Kenneth D. Bell. The judge, who has overseen this case for over a year now opened this session by ...Keep readingView the full article

For the third time this year, NASCAR and Formula 1 were more or less competing for the same eyeballs on Sunday and the television ratings for both arrived on Wednesday afternoon. The Cup Series, after a stretch of poor viewership numbers on USA Network, returned to over-the-air NBC on Sunday and the Yellow Wood 500 drew 2.556 million viewers for a race that began at 2 p.m. ET. The Formula 1 ...Keep readingView the full article

Ryan Blaney won the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway but it was also a victory for the NASCAR industry at large. That was inarguably the best race in the five-year, nine-event history of the seventh-generation car at the one-mile track in Avondale, Arizona. Goodyear’s continued efforts combined with NASCAR’s first race using the 750-horsepower package with this car on an oval ...Keep readingView the full article

All told, the NASCAR and IndyCar Series combined event over the weekend at Phoenix Raceway was a television ratings victory for all involved. The Cup Series race on Sunday drew 1.841 million viewers on FS1. This is up from the 2.82 million that watched the same race in the same television window and network last year. The race peaked at 3,516,000 viewers during the 7:00-7:15 p.m. quarter hour ...Keep readingView the full article

At least for the time being, NASCAR’s identity is internal combustion engines that making loud noises and relate to a majority of the American consumer. While the Sanctioning Body continues development on a prototype race car that can adapt to any alternative fuel or power source, all four manufacturers that compete across the three national tours are content with the internal combustion ...Keep readingView the full article

In its first year being held at Dover Motor Speedway, the NASCAR All-Star Race now has a format to be contested under the shadow of Miles the Monster. And this one is going to be a marathon that requires a good bit of arithmetic. First and foremost, there will no longer be an ‘open’ race for drivers not already locked-in to race their way into the decisive segment of the event. With ...Keep readingView the full article

Practically every data point suggests a drastically different NASCAR Cup Series racing product at Darlington Raceway on Sunday and it’s a direction that drivers have encouraged for quite a bit. The first four years of this car being used at ‘The Track Too Tough to Tame’ came under the same rules package used at intermediate style tracks. That meant a 4” rear spoiler and a more ...Keep readingView the full article

The most unfortunate part of how everything went down on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race is that the bitter defeat of Denny Hamlin superseded any kind of celebration for Kyle Larson. Hamlin led 208 laps of a race that was scheduled for go 312 but was extended to 318 due to overtime as a result of William Byron crashing after suffering a tire failure. Larson ...Keep readingView the full article

Carson Hocevar has been quite busy in recent weeks. At Talladega Superspeedway, Hocevar became the 208th different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race in the sport's history, and celebrated with one of the most memorable burnouts in years -- hanging out of the car while driving along the frontstretch.  One week later, the 23-year-old rising star won the Texas Truck race and earned pole ...Keep readingView the full article

Overall, year-to-year, the NASCAR Cup Series experienced a 14 percent drop in television ratings for the 2025 season. To wrap up this season, the Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway drew 2.77 million viewers on NBC, down from the 2.9 million it drew last year. Last year, overall, the NASCAR Cup Series drew 2.892 million, which was a one percent increase from the 2023 season, while ...Keep readingView the full article

Maybe it’s ‘hell yeah,’ and maybe it’s something else but Tim Clark is working tirelessly to reintroduce the Sanctioning Body and simultaneously remind the world what its sporting values are in an ever-changing landscape. That was part of a conversation held last week in New York City as part of the Autosport Business Exchange that invited leaders of various global motorsports entities ...Keep readingView the full article

On the whole, the 2025 NASCAR season was a memorable one for a lot of reasons. There was pretty good competition on the big tracks during the summer months, continued progress on short tracks with the fourth year NextGen and the culmination of a 15-month legal process that made it all the way to trial. Kyle Larson emerged the champion for the second time in his career, while the entire ...Keep readingView the full article

The battle over the future of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway property continued this week with a pair of noteworthy developments from the coalition assembled to preserve motorsports in Downtown Music City. Most notably, a lawsuit was filed by former racer Neil Chaffin challenging an anti-speedway group's efforts to put a de facto motorsports ban on the ballot on November 3. Specifically ...Keep readingView the full article

A new five-part documentary series looking behind the scenes of the 2023 NASCAR season is coming to Netflix. The streaming platform has announced the release of NASCAR: Full Speed following the increasing success of its Formula 1 documentary series Drive to Survive. The series follows the action of the NASCAR Cup Series, which has been described as one of the most challenging and dangerous ...Keep readingView the full article

In a unexpected announcement on Monday morning, Nick Sanchez revealed that he will not return to the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet in 2026. "Over the weekend, I was informed hat I will not be driving the No. 48 for Big Machine Racing in 2026," Sanchez said in a statement. "I'm grateful to Scott Borchetta, Patrick Donahue, everyone at Chevrolet and the whole team. I am proud of all we have ...Keep readingView the full article

Both AM Racing and Nick Sanchez are in a place they didn't expect to be entering 2026. After a solid first year with Big Machine Racing, winning a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Atlanta, Sanchez was suddenly let go in the middle of the off-season in a decision that left him and many watching surprised. "Unfortunate timing and circumstances, but it's strictly business," said Sanchez ...Keep readingView the full article