NASCAR’s been taking a beating in the ratings game lately, and the numbers are tough to swallow. The 2025 New Hampshire playoff race pulled just 1.29 million viewers with a 0.70 rating on USA Network, a gut-punching 28% drop from last year’s 1.88 million and 1.0 rating. It’s not a one-off; the Cup Series is averaging 2.52 million viewers per race, down 13% from 2024’s 2.916 million. Playoff races, the sport’s supposed crown jewel, are tanking hardest, some dipping below 2 million.

The culprits are piling up: the NFL’s Sunday stranglehold, a playoff format wearing thin, Next Gen car grumbles, and a schedule that’s got fans scrambling to keep up. It’s a perfect storm, and NASCAR’s feeling the chill. The NFL’s pulling 17.5 million viewers a game, while younger fans ditch cable for streaming, leaving NASCAR fighting for scraps. The sport’s long season, 36 races, no breaks, burns out even diehards, and moving races to obscure channels isn’t helping.

Denny Hamlin, never shy with an opinion, has zeroed in on the root issue: greed. Recently, he called out NASCAR’s chase for TV dollars over fan reach.

Hamlin calls out the TV deal greed

On Actions Detrimental, when Jared asked about NASCAR’s ratings slide, Hamlin didn’t sugarcoat it: “Just not good. I don’t know. I mean, we signed the deal that we signed. We obviously lost a significant amount of network races in this TV deal. In each one of the TV deals that we’ve signed over the last few years or the past few agreements that we’ve had, we’ve always just taken the most amount of money. It’s not been about what’s going to put us on in most households. We were the guinea pigs to get Channel X off the ground, Channel Y off the ground.”

The proof’s in the numbers: Pocono’s 2025 race on Amazon Prime drew 1.87 million, a 22% drop from 2.4 million on USA Network the year before. New Hampshire’s 1.29 million was a 31% plunge. Hamlin’s beef? NASCAR’s $3.8 billion Fox/NBC deal through 2031 prioritizes cash over fans, sticking races on channels many can’t access.

“It’s just you’re asking so much of your fans to just keep chasing you around all these different networks … I agreed with them. There are a lot of things I think that there’s,” he said. Fans are fed up, races bounce between USA, FS1, and Prime Video, forcing subscriptions or cable hunts. Eric Estepp pointed out how Pocono’s Prime move and New Hampshire’s dip show network switches kill consistency.

Forum posts after Loudon echoed the exhaustion, with fans griping about tracking races across platforms. The 36-race grind doesn’t help, especially when it’s up against the NFL’s tighter, high-stakes season.

“I’m very steadfast that there’s only so many sports eyeballs … when the NFL has taken such a lion’s share of those eyes right now. Record-setting every single week … if football is not on, then I think that you’ve got a legitimate shot … but going head-to-head, it’s just it’s going to be a tough road,” Hamlin added.

The NFL’s 17.5 million viewers per game crush NASCAR’s sub-2 million lows, and the long season leaves fans burned out. Hamlin’s fix isn’t explicit, but his frustration screams for smarter scheduling, maybe ending before football’s fall takeover, to grab those eyeballs back.

Hamlin comes clean on Kansas clash

Hamlin’s ratings rant connects straight to his Kansas heartbreak, where he nearly had the Hollywood Casino 400 locked up. Leading on the final lap, he tangled with Bubba Wallace, driver for his own 23XI Racing, in a desperate bid for a Round of 8 spot. “Obviously, I got really close to the 23. If I had to do it all over again, I think I’d run a little bit lower to allow a space between us so I don’t get so tight and then try to turn the wheel more.” Hamlin said post-race.

His power steering was gone, making every move a fight, and the contact spun Wallace, letting Chase Elliott snatch the win. “I’m trying everything I can, and obviously, really difficult and just super disappointing that I couldn’t finish this one out,” he said. The clash was messy. Wallace, 26 points below the playoff cut, needed the win too, and their pit road hug didn’t hide the sting.

Hamlin’s “no one will accuse me of laying over” mindset mirrors his TV deal gripes: he’s all-in, whether battling for a win or calling out NASCAR’s greedy missteps. The Kansas loss, like the ratings dip, shows a sport at a crossroads, Hamlin’s fighting for relevance on the track and for a NASCAR that puts fans first. X posts lit up, torn between his drive and the sport’s fading draw, as the Roval looms for both him and Wallace.