NASCAR CEO reveals Prime regrets over Cup Series TV deal

NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell has claimed that Prime is among the broadcasters who wish they had bought more Cup Series races in the last TV rights deal.

The Amazon streaming service has five races a year through the current deal, this year running from the Coca-Cola 600 in May through the Anduril 250 at Coronado Naval Base in June.

Fans have praised the Prime broadcast since its 2025 debut, enjoying its sharp race direction, strong announcing team, and the lengthy pre- and post-race shows that their status as a streaming service (compared to a linear TV channel, which has to cut off for other shows) allows.

Prime's strong streaming numbers (their post-race streaming show averaged 1m viewers this year, with an average race viewership of 2.29m) and positive reception have been a real bright spot of the current deal – and O'Donnell has claimed that the streamer 'wishes' it had bought in on more than five races a year through 2031.

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NASCAR CEO: Prime wish they had more

“We’ve got contractual obligations obviously, but what I can say – I don’t think I’m giving away any trade secrets – is if you talk to Prime, they wish they would have bought more,” O’Donnell told the Sports Business Journal when quizzed on the possibility of Prime picking up more races before the end of the rights cycle.

"If you talk to Turner, they wish they would have bought more. That’s a good thing – that’s great for us.

“I’ve talked to Eric Shanks at Fox, I’ve talked with folks at Amazon, I’ve talked with Turner, and all of them are really happy with what’s going on right now and feel the momentum in the sport. Our job now is to really show that growth.”

On the flip side, the reception to Fox's coverage continues to be at best lukewarm from many parts. O'Donnell, perhaps predictably, defended the long-time NASCAR partner, saying they took 'a lot of that energy' brought by Prime and Turner into their season-opening coverage.

“If you look at last year," he said, "any time you have a new broadcast partner come into the sport, there’s changes or they potentially up the game or do something different – and everyone takes a little bit of that and says, ‘What can I do?’

"So you look at Amazon, and what they did, and Turner, and I thought going into the beginning of this year, Fox took a lot of that energy and delivered for us on the 500.”