NASCAR insider evaluates TNT Atlanta broadcast coming off of Prime Video stretch

The NASCAR on TNT broadcast made its debut last night. The Atlanta race delivered and so did the overall production. TNT had a pre- and post-race show for the Quaker State 400 and it felt like another great show for fans overall.

Prime Video wowed everyone for the last five weeks. TNT Sports is picking right up with its NASCAR coverage. It is like a mix and match of The CW and the Prime Video broadcasts. Down to the broadcasters and personalities on the show.

Jeff Gluck of The Athletic gave his take on the TNT broadcast after the Atlanta race. Coming away from streaming, there was a bit of a let down.

“For me, the TNT broadcast overall, I mean, it was the same booth as Prime,” Gluck said on The Teardown. “And aside from the full-screen commercials and stuff, which now you’re like, oh man, I miss that already with Prime. But like I thought, it was okay, it was good. I think if we hadn’t just come off of Prime’s coverage. It would have been like – if you had just gone normally like, ‘Oh, here’s TNT’s coverage.’ You’d be like, ‘Oh, wow, this is great, okay, awesome.’ I think Prime set sort of an impossible standard to live up to. But it had elements of Prime.

“They had a really, really long post-race show, it felt like. They had a good booth, and it was an exciting race, the coverage was fine. So, it’s almost like Prime light, in a way. I don’t know if that’s insulting to them, but it was fine, I was happy with it.”

The NASCAR on TNT broadcast wasn’t groundbreaking. It didn’t have to be. All it had to do was deliver a good race, and it did that.

NASCAR on TNT debuts with Atlanta thriller

If you’re TNT, you couldn’t ask for a better NASCAR race for the debut of the new media deal than what they got on Saturdya night. Atlanta was electric. Even with the massive wreck in Stage 2 with 23 cars involved. The stakes were high with so many winless drivers in the front of the field.

TNT did a great job of capturing the energy at the track. It really did feel like the Prime Video broadcast we had gotten used to, but with more commercials. And you can’t really blame cable for having to play ads, that’s the whole thing.

Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are a great trio. They called a great race. With Chase Elliott getting the win in front of his home crowd, the night had a storybook ending.