NASCAR’s modern television era effectively began when Fox Sports took the helm in 2001, introducing animated gophers, in-cab cameras, and split-screen commercials to a national audience. The network’s aggressive production style helped spark record ratings, but it also invited scrutiny for missed restarts, flat audio mixers, and most recently, a series of on-air flubs that drew headlines after the 2024 GEICO 500 and this season’s ARCA opener at Daytona. Those stumbles created what critics now shorthand as “Fox-like behavior,” a label that resurfaces whenever broadcast missteps distract from the racing.

Against that backdrop, NASCAR in late 2023 signed a 7-year rights package worth a reported $7.7 billion, slicing the schedule among four partners: Fox keeps the opening stretch, NBC retains the playoffs, while Amazon Prime Video and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports enter the rotation for 5 and ten races respectively beginning in 2025. Executives pitched the split as a hedge against cord-cutting, noting Prime’s success with the NFL and TNT’s deep NBA pedigree. Former star Carl Edwards, returning as an analyst for Prime’s Coca-Cola 600 debut, recently called the mix “a respectful blend of old-school television and a new-age streaming.”

TNT’s broadcast of the In-Season Challenge at Sonoma represents a significant shift in NASCAR’s media landscape. As the third race in the mid-season series, TNT is responsible for live coverage this Sunday, simulcast on both TNT and streaming via the Max app and truTV’s “AltCast.” However, technical complaints have emerged from viewers across North America and Canada. Multiple outlets report issues including muffled commentary, excessive engine noise, and subpar visual quality, often described as pixelated or blurry-like, even on high-refresh-rate TVs. The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck posted on X, asking, “I’m seeing quite a few posts from you all about having trouble hearing the broadcasters. I’m watching on the multicast on Max and it’s fine…if you’re having problems, drop which service you’re using to watch in the replies below.”

Warner executives touted fresh features, including driver-focused multiview feeds, expanded radio chatter, and an analytics crawl, to differentiate the product during the mid-summer window. The on-air team, announced in May, pairs veteran play-by-play voice Brian Anderson with Cup champions Jeff Burton and Larry McReynolds, aiming for a familiar cadence as TNT rebuilds its motorsports brand. Fans, already adjusting to a patchwork viewing map that now stretches from broadcast to cable to streaming, expect seamless production regardless of platform. Right now, they are not very pleased.

Viewers sound off on TNT’s Sonoma broadcast

While fans remain divided, one fan replied, “Yes, sound mix isn’t coming out right via @TSN_Sports here in Canada , and the refresh rate sucks – the cars look flurry/pixelated and my tv normally kills that . 120&240hz . Really noticing it today . Not sure why it’s so off.” The overarching consensus is that the broadcast is not meeting expectations for a marquee race. Despite streaming on high-end TVs with 120Hz or even 240Hz refresh rates, some Canadian viewers noticed glaring issues. The continued pattern of TSN Sports broadcasts, even with other sports like hockey, suggests that the compression or broadcast pipeline is struggling to handle the intense demands of live motorsport coverage, affecting both audio fidelity and emotional clarity.

Another fan noted, “I’m watching on Max. Broadcasters do seem a little quiet but it’s being overpowered by engine sounds so I don’t mind much.” These problems coincide with an increased focus on driver or multiview cam functionality, a new feature launched by TNT Sports on Max and timed to the In-Season Challenge. This trend isn’t isolated to NASCAR. Discussion across Reddit and Facebook notes that some broadcast teams lean into engine ambiance to enhance immersion, even if it means critical commentary momentarily fades into the background. For many viewers on Max, this trade-off was acceptable, as it helped maintain the realism of live racing coverage.

Other fans noted bizarre sounds playing, even louder than the roar of engines. “I can hear what I assume is a helicopter almost as loud as the cars/commentators,” one fan wrote. Some fans pointed out that ambient crowd and helicopter sounds are often intentionally amplified to enhance the broadcast atmosphere, but when this isn’t properly balanced, it can overpower feed audio. This could be indicative of a significant mix imbalance rather than a rare broadcast anomaly.

Another fan voiced out their frustration, saying, “This is FOX like Behaviour , they should’ve hired the NBC folks or even better, Give it to fu—- prime.” Even popular figures have praised Prime Video’s broadcast as smoking anything Fox has done in the last 20 years, underscoring the perception that fans might be better served by handing the reins entirely to the newer, more polished streaming partners.

While no formal comparison is needed, the sentiment among viewers is clear: the glaring glitches in Sonoma’s coverage are prompting calls to hand over future broadcasts to more reliable partners. As similar complaints have been coming from multiple people stating, “This is really weird, I just hear engine sounds, announcers r barely audible,” this, in turn, just ruins the experience for fans who wish to enjoy their weekends watching their favorites race. Until the audio-video sync and mix issues are resolved, fans tuning in for the Sonoma race may find the groundbreaking tech overshadowed by inconsistent broadcast quality.