Remember the Las Vegas race just a few weeks ago? Denny Hamlin won, and the renowned ‘NASCAR villain’ elicited cheers instead of boos from the grandstand. It marked his 60th Cup race trophy and punched his ticket to the Championship 4 for the first time since 2021. Despite these factors, NHRA was more popular that weekend – beating the Las Vegas race’s 1.717 million viewers with 1.872 million.

This marked only the latest evidence of NASCAR’s problem with viewership in 2025. Waves of criticism have hit the sport and its broadcast partners, emanating from both the garage and the fan community. Now, the sport may have taken a detrimental step for its already dire TV state.

NASCAR just made it more difficult for fans

At the end of 2023, NASCAR signed a $7.7 billion media rights deal. It involved a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon Prime, FOX Sports, and NBC. As part of the bond with Warner Bros., $50.2 billion giant HBO Max provided streaming options for fans. According to the February 2025 update, all Standard and Premium subscribers had access to live sports, including in-car camera and audio action from NASCAR races. Only the cheapest tier, the Basic subscription plan, was barred from this exclusive access.

Now, however, access to NASCAR drivers’ in-car activity just got harder. The fans now need to pay more for the Standard plan, the lowest plan for access to in-car cameras. The new rates are $18.49 monthly, a $1.50 increase, and $184.99 yearly, or a $15 hike. Jeff Gluck updated on X, “It will now cost $185 a year to get the NASCAR in-car cameras. It’s worth it for me since I need those for covering races, but certainly a pricey add-on. 🫠”

NASCAR fans were already distressed due to NASCAR’s billion-dollar rights deal. As a result of collaborating with so many broadcast partners, viewing races became a tedious activity. This resulted in a drastic fall in views in races like New Hampshire. The 2025 Cup Series averages just 2.52 million viewers per race, down 13% from 2024’s 2.916 million.

With HBO Max’s new hike, it marks the third time the streaming service has raised prices since its launch. The company’s last increase for ad-free plans took place in June 2024, following its first-ever increase in January 2023. Max is not alone; in January, Netflix hiked its ad-free streaming from $15.49 to $17.49. Starting October 21, Disney also raised the monthly price of its Disney+ plan with ads by $2 to $11.99 per month. The no-ads Disney Plus Premium plan will increase by $3 to $18.99.

As NASCAR follows this trend of hiked prices, fans are far from happy.

Strong echoes of disapproval

Well, NASCAR fans have already been disadvantaged. In having to switch from one platform to another due to four broadcast partners, fans were overwhelmed. Now, a price hike left them even more disillusioned, so somebody declared, “Good Bye Max.” Besides, reporters like Jeff Gluck, Bob Pockrass, and others provide live updates on X and write detailed articles. So one fan fell back on that option instead of spending more money. “I canceled mine. The only pay wall im paying is the $1 deal for the athletic 😂”

All was not bad in 2025 – Amazon Prime’s 5-race debut particularly caught the attention of fans. From its double-box commercial format to comprehensive post-race coverage, the media partner introduced many attractive features. So one fan wants Prime to cover for HBO Max’s impending doom. “Tired of companies clearly making poor financial decisions and relying on their customers to bail them out. I hope it fails so Amazon Prime can pick them up.” 

Some other people suggested ways to ameliorate the situation. However, that would require active participation on NASCAR’s part. BSI, or Broadcast Sports International, could provide cheaper options to view drivers’ in-car cameras. “Should NASCAR move that in car option to another service? BSI provides the broadcasting infrastructure for the main camera feeds and in-car. They could simply….move it to a cheaper pay wall for the fans?” Earlier, the camera access was nothing extraordinary, as it was included in the NASCAR app. So one fan lamented, “🐂 💩…. These cameras use to be included in the NASCAR app subscription… money grab. Thanks NASCAR .”

Clearly, HBO Max’s latest move is eliciting nothing but boos from NASCAR fans. Let’s wait and see if there are further updates, positive or negative, in the new rates.