Remember the golden era of NASCAR broadcasts when directors tracked the most compelling battles regardless of position and commentators conveyed genuine excitement that made viewers feel like they were trackside? There was a time when personalities like Darrell Waltrip, Ken Squire, and Barney Hall would add their touch of magic, making the stories more compelling.

That era seems increasingly distant in 2025, as FOX’s NASCAR coverage now features untimely commercials, outdated production quality, and a streak of blunders. They missed the fly past at the Daytona 500, and the FOX cameras, for some reason, couldn’t find angles to cover the battle between Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch at COTA. This treatment has reached a point where fans are waiting for FOX to end their stint, allowing NBC to take over. But something changed last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR Texas broadcast came as a refreshing surprise to many viewers who had grown accustomed to frustration. This rare positive reception follows a season where Richard Petty himself called out the broadcast team directly from the booth at Darlington, lamenting that “there was a lot of racing going on in the back of the field, not at the front” that television viewers completely missed. Mike Joy’s suggestion that fans should “come to buy a ticket” if they wanted to see the full race only fueled viewer discontent. But no one saw the FOX broadcast go uninterupted as the final laps were being run, and it wasn’t the only positive.

As the climax started to peak in the Wurth 400 race, many were expecting FOX to throw the commercials and interrupt the racing. Well, surprisingly, viewers not only watched all the race-related incidents break free, but the last 40 laps weren’t interrupted by the commercials at all. And this became a talking point when one fan shared this update on Reddit: “The broadcast went about the last 40 laps commercial free.” It was a shocker for the fans who had been accustomed to the pain of watching NASCAR on FOX. But what exactly led to this turnaround, and will this be the norm going forward?

Fans Decode FOX’s Texas Turnaround

While the Texas broadcast earned some goodwill, fans quickly identified the likely reason for the improvement: “More than likely for it going commercial free was because the race was on FS1 and not FOX,” one fan commented, highlighting the network distinction. Thanks to the exclusive media rights deal IndyCar signed with FOX, out of the 14 Cup races, nine of them are going to air on FS1. Clearly, the big FOX has made its preference when it comes to deciding between the two motorsports series.

The timing of cautions also played a significant role in the broadcast quality. “There were also a bunch of cautions in the final stage which allowed Fox to show a bunch of commercials,” another fan noted. Usually, the network has a planned window to air the commercials, which usually comes during the caution or wrecks. With a total of 12 caution flags, stage breaks and multiple race-related incidents, FOX had enough real estate to spread the commercials before the race reached it’s peak.

This strategic approach to commercial placement was further explained by another viewer: “It’s clear that FOX front loads commercials in the first two stages to get the last several dozen laps commercial free especially if it’s on FS1. They also cram a ton of ads in the popular races like Talladega and Daytona.” This comment reveals how FOX’s broadcast model operates differently for high-profile events versus regular season races, with the network “obviously planning for more cautions at Talladega and had to run an ad with eight to go to meet their quota.”

Some fans found themselves unexpectedly satisfied with the Texas broadcast. “It could’ve been all the cautions, but I was satisfied today. Didn’t really feel like commercials distracted from the action all that much,” wrote one viewer, adding that dual-screening with F1 during the first two stages might have influenced their perception. Another fan offered a pragmatic explanation: “Last week they expected to have a bunch of wrecks with time for ads during cleanup, and instead they got a clean race and had to cram in the ads that companies paid for at the end. This week they had a parade of yellows and got through all their obligated ads, so they could run the rest without ad breaks. It doesn’t have to be a nefarious conspiracy.”

One of the paint points for many viewers was that the FOX cameras only focus on the leaders and not the whole race. But that changed in Texas. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski’s day was well documented. Then they also covered the progress made by Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek, who had a good points day, ending the race inside the top 10. And this change was observed by the fans as well: “Direction was 100% better this weekend.”

The fans who have watched races on FOX know that they cannot get carried away with one good race for the viewers. With some able to crack the real reason for a decent day’s coverage at Texas. “Last week went green for an unexpected amount of time. The ads were sold. They had to play. That’s how television works.” Was this a one-off event, or has FOX’s broadcast finally turned a corner for good? We will have to wait for the next race weekend to find the answer to this question.