When Amazon Prime rolled out NASCAR streaming for the first time, fans were all in. From the Coca-Cola 600 to the Great American Gateway 400, Prime delivered with post-race coverage, a sharp double-box format, and extra features that kept viewers engaged. The results spoke for themselves; an average of 2.16 million viewers tuned in each race. But things have looked very different since NASCAR’s coverage shifted back to NBC.

Now, right in the thick of the playoffs, the part of the season fans live for, TV viewership has taken a nosedive, and the fan base hasn’t been shy about voicing its frustration. Still, one NASCAR veteran isn’t buying all the criticism and has stepped up to push back on the growing noise.

Clearly, NASCAR is facing a stubborn itch it just can’t scratch: TV ratings. Throughout the 2025 season, audiences have been drifting away, and the Cup Series playoffs have felt the burn hardest. Viewership for Cup Series races has slipped over 13% from last year, and playoff events, this supposed crown jewel meant to draw eyeballs, plunged nearly 17%. And with a whirlwind of talks about the role of TV in deciding the 2026 NASCAR playoff and the dipping viewership, Kenny Wallace is here to reassure the community to sit tight.

Wallace, during a “Sit Down with Kenny” episode, rolled no punches, saying, ” NASCAR has already announced that they’re gonna change the point system. And next year, the racing is going to be different. They’re going to give you 3 or 4 races to determine the champion. What the f— don’t you understand? I said.”

Well, Wallace is making a point here. As per The Athletic reports, NASCAR started its round of surveys back in February, where the agenda was to gather feedback on the future of its current sport format, and surprisingly for us, only one person advocated for eliminating NASCAR’s playoff system.

But now that months have passed, and in the most recent meeting last week, numerous influential committee members spoke in favor of scrapping the playoffs and returning to the full-season points format NASCAR used until 2003, which crowned a champion simply by total points accrued over the entire schedule of races.

And while Kenny is speaking from a long-time NASCAR insider point of view, the EssentiallySports’ Lucky Dog on Track readers have been at the receiving end of it all. In fact, many have even pitched solutions. Here’s a look at what could be the best replacements for the playoff format to help NASCAR reclaim its place as America’s favorite motorsport.

If we go by Wallace’s update and look at NASCAR’s effort on that front, NBC Sports’ addition to the Cup Series schedule hasn’t reversed the trend, either, which NASCAR was hoping for. At Watkins Glen, it dipped to 1,850,000, marking the Cup series’ third-lowest audience of the year and the smallest on the USA Network since 1.03 million watched New Hampshire in 2023.

Far from that, Richmond averaged just 1,390,000 viewers, and Gateway followed suit with even more disappointing numbers: a 0.82 rating and 1.525 million viewers, down sharply from both last year’s race at Watkins Glen and the June 24 event at the same track on FS1. Hence, sharing an analogy on the same lines, Wallace didn’t mince words.

“This reminds me of a friend I had. I said, ‘Oh, you sure you b—- a lot?’ Because yeah, I just, I just want to b—-. Let me b—- for a little bit. I said, ‘Charlie, is that what you want to do? You just want to bitch?’ So, that’s what I would say to all of you. Get the b——- out of your system,” Kenny Wallace added.

There’s a dip in ratings even with one of NASCAR’s top drivers like Denny Hamlin, who gave a good show, leading 75 laps to claim his first Gateway victory. And, the ratings for the Enjoy Illinois 300? They are a stark reminder that spectacular wheels don’t always translate to TV audiences.

And, it doesn’t end here. Another debate about how TV has a hold on deciding which direction the NASCAR playoff system should take is also heating up. Jeff Burton sounded off on it.

Adding to the queue is the NASCAR analyst and reporter Jeff Gluck, who has confirmed that NBC has no say in the changing playoff system. But Kenny Wallace wants the community to give NASCAR a chance.

“I’m with Jeff Burton, and a lot of us agree that, you know, you gotta earn everything right now. I know another Charlie said nobody likes the car. I’m like, ‘OK, well, they’re gonna change that.’ It gets to be where it’s exhausting. I said OK, so really what the deal is, Everybody just wants to keep this. Yeah, I guess so. But I want the automatic ball to strike count starting tonight on the first baseball game. So in the end, everybody, you all are gonna get what you want. You’re just gonna get it next year. Not right f—— now,” he added.

Moreover, even Burton has now shut down the narrative by saying, “I hear that all the time… I’m in these meetings, and NASCAR takes all the information from all the people… and they make a decision. TV is not when… this format that we are currently racing under was created. I was in every damn meeting. TV didn’t make this decision…” But as hope prevails, last weekend’s New Hampshire race faced similar problems.

Did TV viewership take another hit recently?

New Hampshire stands as a glaring example of NASCAR’s growing dilemma. While the grandstands were packed with passionate local fans, that same fire didn’t translate to national viewership. Last fall, NASCAR’s playoff races boosted steady midtier TV numbers, solidifying its space as a beloved American motorsport with millions of viewers.

But this fall, the combination of broadcast shifts and fierce competition from the NFL raised alarms about NASCAR’s national visibility. And the fans are urging NASCAR to take things more seriously. 

A shift away from traditional TV broadcasts to cable networks and streaming platforms like Amazon Prime has only added to the confusion. The latest ratings for the Cup Series race at New Hampshire exposed the depth of the decline. 0.70 rating and 1.2 million viewers, a far cry from the 1.0 rating and the 1.88 million viewers for last year’s race. To make matters worse, the dip mirrors a broad trend, including a drop from the 1.79 million viewers in last year’s fourth playoff race at Kansas.

When comparing this year’s New Hampshire race to the same event in 2024, NASCAR nearly lost 600,000 viewers, a huge blow, especially given the sellout at Loudon. The 0.70 rating is one of the weakest for a playoff race in recent years, sparking serious concerns over the NASCAR community. Typically, the postseason draws a larger audience, making this downturn all the more worrying.