In 2025, NASCAR’s media landscape looks busier than ever. Amazon Prime Video entered the mix, sharing broadcasting rights alongside longtime players like FOX and NBC. It’s a bold attempt to modernize how the sport is consumed, with streaming aimed at reaching younger, digitally native audiences. But while the packaging is shiny and new, some old-school veterans believe the soul of NASCAR’s media coverage was lost over a decade ago.
One of them is NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, who didn’t hold back recently when asked about the sport’s evolving TV footprint. Martin pointed a finger directly at FOX’s 2013 decision to shut down something that is known as the heartbeat of NASCAR culture. More than just a broadcast network, it was a 24/7 motorsport hub that kept fans engaged. Its disappearance, Martin argued, marked the beginning of NASCAR’s disconnect with its most loyal base.
Mark Martin misses the days when NASCAR had a home
In a recent appearance alongside Kenny Wallace on the Kenny Conversation, Mark Martin didn’t mince words. The topic? NASCAR media presence, or more specifically, what it’s lost. Wallace, a former FOX sports analyst himself, brought up Speed Channel, the dedicated motorsport network that aired everything from practice sessions and qualifying to weeknight shows like Trackside, WindTunnel, and NASCAR Race Hub. It was motorsports’ home base. But in 2013, FOX pulled the plug on Speed and rebranded it to Fox Sports 1, a general sports network. To Martin, that move cut the legs out from under the sport’s momentum.
Mark Martin went on to reminisce about the good old days, saying, “Yes, I think it did, you know, I think it was an important part of our sport. You know, we had rabid fans. Up until this point, we had fans that would watch practice, would watch the pre-race show, and would watch the show till it went off after the race. Then during the week, you had Speed Channel all during the week—you know you could every night—you know you would have RPM Tonight.” His words echoed what many fans have said for years. Speed didn’t just broadcast NASCAR; it lived it.
Indeed, Speed Channel was more than just a broadcaster; it was a cultural hub. NASCAR-related programming dominated Speed’s lineup and generated some of its highest ratings. It was at its peak in 2006, when Speed reached over 70 million households and delivered over 1.5 million viewers for NASCAR coverage. Shows like NASCAR Victory Lane and Inside Nextel Cup allowed fans to connect with drivers and insiders in a way modern coverage struggles to replicate. Its decline coincided with NASCAR’s decline. Racing media outlets and fan forums like r/NASCAR link Speed’s shutdown in 2013 to a subsequent drop in TV ratings and race day engagement.
However, there is more to the story than just the disappearance of Speed. What that channel did was highlight race winners and put them in the national spotlight for a week, while dissecting the next race to come and the championship implications. Now, with the playoff format, Mark Martin feels wins don’t mean that much anymore, because the pain of losing is considerably reduced in the regular season.
ATLANTA – MARCH 05: Mark Martin, driver of the #5 Hendrickcars.com/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, gets out of his car after qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 5, 2010 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Mark Martin reflected on how the playoff format has changed what winning the race means today. He said, “And back then, winning a race was different. Big, big. It’s big now because it puts you into the playoffs, and that’s a whole different story. But it’s a different back then, you were just a bad mofo if you won a race. Now you’re not as bad of a mofo because if you were running 20th and had nothing to lose, you could throw a Hail Mary and win a race. When you were running 20th back then, you couldn’t throw a Hail Mary because you couldn’t afford to finish 35th.”
The championship implications of finishing 35th in today’s NASCAR are minuscule compared to the pre-playoff era. Back then, winning a race did not guarantee a playoff spot, and simultaneously, a DNF from a race put you in a huge points hole. No driver wanted to dig out of this hole, so the strategies to secure a win were more carefully planned, without risking a wrecked race car or a DNF. Now, drivers can risk it all, and if it doesn’t come off, they can snatch a win next week and lock themselves in regardless of last week’s result.
But Martin wasn’t dismissing the playoff format; he admitted the logic behind it, but suggested the excitement of weekly storylines has diminished. He added, ” So the theory of the playoff system and the ‘win and you’re in’ and all that is sound—I get it. Also, I think people are tired of it. You know, it changed things so much. But it was built on a sound theory, you know?”
However, to Martin, NASCAR’s biggest mistake was not moving to streaming or tweaking its playoff rules; it was losing its rhythm. When FOX axed Speed, it took away the one place where NASCAR lived every single day. And in doing so, they may have also silenced the heartbeat of its fan base. The 40-time cup race winner says, ” But I think you’re right—I think this: you won a race, there were big stories all week. Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night—following right up to the race weekend. That was important.”
As NASCAR cashes in on this new era of streaming and showbiz, the real question is whether the soul of the sport can keep pace with the spectacle. With Pocono up next and TNT ready to jump in, all eyes are on NASCAR, not just for racing, but to see which version of the sport shows up on screen. What do you think led to the decline of NASCAR after the 2000s? Let us know in the comments!
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