It was a milestone moment. When Amazon Prime joined forces with NASCAR, the stock car world moved to uncharted territory. Fans were disillusioned by the coverage for years, but the tech giant brought a highly polished product, even if it was for just five races this season. Fans loved it, and it even got newer audiences, who’d never tuned into a race before, hooked onto their TV screens. To add the cherry on top, they attracted an average of 2.16 million viewers per race.

From getting the privilege to stream the inaugural Mexico City race to the most-awaited and storied Coca-Cola 600, Amazon had the perfect stage to outshine its TV competitors. However, those numbers also exposed a sharp trade-off: while Prime’s coverage attracted younger viewers, it lost substantial viewership among older demographics. Over its first three races, Amazon Prime averaged 2.27 million viewers, a drop of approximately 21% compared with the equivalent races on FOX the prior year.

Alex Strand weighs in on Amazon Prime’s unique approach

With streaming sites functioning differently from cable, the viewers in the 55+  age group faced difficulty. The decline was steep, down approximately 40% from 2.03 to 1.212 million. For instance, the final Amazon Prime race at Pocono drew 1.87 million viewers, a 22% decline compared with that event’s 2.4 million audience when it aired on the USA network previously.

Still, Amazon’s approach reframes that loss as part of a longer game, as Alex Strand of Amazon Prime dropped the reasoning. Speaking to Racing America, he said, “And one of the things we kept saying to each other, we said, okay, if someone watches the race one week, and then they decide, hey, we’re going to go to next week’s race, and we lose a viewer because they’ve decided, it looks so awesome, they want to go to the next race, that’s a big win for us.” 

Strand is all for fans trading their couches for grandstands. He stands by the fact that Amazon Prime was able to propel fans to purchase the next races’ tickets because of how good the stream was. Viewers were treated to 70+ camera angles, mic’d-up pit boxes, drone flyovers, and Dolby 5.1 sound that made every throttle burst feel like it was happening in their living room.

Moreover, Amazon Prime changed the game. They used technology to tighten the bond between fans and the sport. Even if you missed the start, the rapid recap feature zipped you through the highlights in minutes. And if one wishes to rewatch a jaw-dropping pass, the ‘Key moments’ segment helps the fans jump straight to every flashpoint as it happens. AWS even powered Steve Letarte’s Burn Bar, an AI tool that tracks real-time strategy and tire wear, turning race telemetry races into pure drama.

He added, ” One thing that this sport has that none of the other majors have access, it’s unreal the kind of access you get. And one of the things we’d said was, if we’re going to go do this sport, we need to be on site, we need to be in the mix, and we need to show off that access to people at home. And so it was near the top of our list to say, everyone’s there, everyone’s in person, and we want to make sure everyone at home feels like they’re in the middle of it.” 

Just take the Charlotte Motor Speedway, for example; it reported a sold-out crowd for the 66th running of the Coca-Cola 600, continuing a four-year streak. They got to watch Ross Chastain dominate the race, starting from the rear and claiming the victory in live action! The event attracted fans from all 50 US states and 12 foreign countries. Moreover, the Coca-Cola 600 drew an average of 2.72 million viewers with a peak of 2.92 million, marking it as the third most-watched NASCAR race of the season, which was not aired on FOX.

Pocono Raceway experienced its third consecutive sellout for the NASCAR Cup Series race. The event attracted fans from all 50 states in the USA and 13 international countries. But on the flip side, The Great American Getaway 400 attracted just 1.87 million viewers, a 22 percent decline from the previous year’s broadcast on the USA network. But Strand was more than okay with these numbers at hand.

However, ever since the NBC and USA Network took over, the streams have been drawing fewer eyeballs. It all came down to the TV strategy adopted at last weekend’s South Point 400, and fans were not having it.

USA Network takes a big hit after dwindling Vegas viewership

NASCAR has spent much of the 2025 season grappling with a rating slump, one that’s only worsened as the fall stretch began. Week after week, new reports show Sunday’s race is pulling in fewer viewers than the year before, even as the playoffs approach their highest-stakes finale. Last weekend’s race wasn’t just a standalone disappointment for NASCAR and USA Network; it stung even more when stacked against another motorsport.

The South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway had just 1.717 million viewers, a steep 25% drop from last year’s race, while the NHRA drag racing broadcast pulled in 1.872 million. Granted, NHRA had the advantage of airing on over-the-air FOX with a massive NFL lead-in of 7.2 million viewers. Still, the optics were tough: plenty of fans simply stayed tuned after football, giving drag racing the edge over the NASCAR’s Vegas show.

The ratings dip is also leading to fresh scrutiny on NASCAR $7.7 billion media deal, which splits coverage between four networks—including TruTV, which handles much of the practice and qualifying.

Such a fragmented schedule has left many casual fans unsure where to watch each race. And with the Cup Series shifting back to NBC for the final three playoff rounds, there is growing concern that Formula One’s race at COTA this weekend could chip away even further at NASCAR’s shrinking viewership.