Folks, coverage of NASCAR by FOX Sports has always been very questionable. Long ads, missing out on important moments of the race, and really bad camera angles: They had it all. But, the new media deal has taken the ball out of their hand in the complete sense. The new partners, Amazon and The CW, will cover the race much better than Fox, right? Well, with the current plans of the Xfinity Series’ primary broadcasting partner, things look so concerning that nobody can miss out on the action!

“I hope they do not.” This was the short and crisp 5-word response that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had for the major Xfinity Series shake-up. NASCAR’s second tier of racing is viewed as the best for many reasons. Unlike the Cup Series, Xfinity still uses the old car, which is easier to pass in. The high level of drama and wrecks also makes Xfinity races more entertaining. However, The CW, which replaced NBC Sports as Xfinity’s primary media partner, seems to go against the common consensus of fans.

NASCAR has been around for 76 years, hence the emphasis on traditional systems is especially strong. Those systems include the on-track presence of the media, covering live races. But standing here in 2025, The CW is planning to change that tradition. And the community is not so much in favor.

Evolving with the times

Well, the concept of a remote set-up was not so popular until the COVID-19 pandemic set in. In 2020, people locked themselves up inside their homes globally to avoid getting infected. Similarly, NASCAR also adopted remote broadcasting methods to limit the presence of people on the track. Now, Nexstar Media Group’s The CW is planning to implement the same strategy even without a pandemic. Last year in September, they announced they would call some 2025  races remotely from NASCAR’s $53 million, 58,000-square-foot production facility. Presently, that plan is growing wings after the broadcast partner unveiled Studio 43, a state-of-the-art production facility.

The multi-million dollar investment debuted during the Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Studio 43 is large enough to accommodate car shoots and multiple sets. But the real deal is its 57-foot-long, 14-foot-high XR wall, packed with more than 23 million pixels and camera-tracking technology. It allows for hyperreal virtual environments, making the on-screen experience nearly indistinguishable from reality. According to a recent X post by Adam Stern, NASCAR Productions executive Mike Zylak threw the ball in The CW’s court. Zylak said, “Now it just depends on what the CW wants to do. In May, they will be (in the studio), but in June, they will be back on the road.”

This may be the first step in a futuristic revolution of the sport. With the help of the XR studio, the CW will also use the NASCAR Production Facility to implement a remote broadcast booth for the live Xfinity Series telecast. The production philosophy caters to each track’s location, timing, and other factors. Mike Zylak shed light on how it would not be an entirely remote set-up: “We can adapt pretty quickly as it’s just routing changes and making sure the right personnel are in the right places. The only people who travel are the talent and the personnel who go along with them, like the coordinators and producers that have to be at the infield.”

Despite the hybrid nature of this new switch-up, the NASCAR community is not at all on board. The sport’s diehard fans poured water on The CW’s endeavor, echoing Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s concerns.

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NASCAR fans boo at the ‘lazy’ initiative

It’s not just NASCAR. Remote broadcasts have been a long-time fear of all sports fans. The primary reason is the uncertainty involved when calling a race from a monitor. As a result, broadcasters cannot have as broad a view available to them as they would from a press box. So one fan emphasized the lack of perspective that The CW’s new initiative would entail. “That’s ridiculous and cheap. How can you get a true perspective calling a sporting event from a studio???? Who is watching the back of the field? Demand better!!!!” What is more, NASCAR presents difficulties for remote broadcasts due to the sheer unpredictable nature of 38 to 40 cars on a massive track. FOX Sports has come under fire several times, even without being remote, just for missing out on crucial details of a race. So one fan abandoned the idea outright: “Petition to ban calling sports events remotely.”

Then the location of the NASCAR studio confounded fans even more. The sport’s production facility is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where most of the Xfinity Series races take place. According to Google Maps, it takes hardly 25-30 minutes to reach the racetracks from the studio. So one fan wrote a scathing message: “So you’re telling me that these guys are going to call the race that’s at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a studio 10 MINUTES FROM THE TRACK?!?! Unbelievable.” All this extra effort might just end up costing NASCAR more, when officials are already present at the track either way. One fan said this multi-million dollar investment might not be useful like the sport’s $7.7 billion media rights deal. “NASCAR getting fleeced by another tv deal lol.”

The CW has performed amazingly in terms of viewership this season, though. Through the first 11 Xfinity Series races of 2025, the broadcast topped 1 million viewers. According to Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment at The CW, that marks a 28% jump from last year’s stats. So one fan lamented that the remote project might halt this remarkable progress. They wrote: “@TheCW_Sports needs to not be lazy and get to the track! They are carrying so much momentum right now, and doing studio coverage hurts the product! I hope they stop that quickly! #NASCAR”

Evidently, The CW’s new idea is plummeting in terms of fan responses. Let us see how the remote set-up turns out in the Xfinity Series.