NASCAR insiders react to Prime Video Coca-Cola 600 broadcast, fan response

Two NASCAR insiders shared their thoughts on Prime Video’s coverage of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic praised Prime Video for its broadcast work on one of NASCAR’s biggest races of the year.

“People across my feed have just been raving,” Gluck said. “Even when NBC took over and everybody’s really excited about them coming in, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen my social media feed rave about a NASCAR broadcaster to that level. People were just thrilled with the product that they got from every facet, it seemed like.

“…It was such a high-quality product, and you could tell that they put a lot into it, and it was just really great. I also think it’s very important in a sense for NASCAR to see that the fans do like something and will all love something when it’s worth loving. There’s a narrative in NASCAR that the fans hate everything, they’re so cynical and they’ll complain about everything. There’s a lot of complaints, but when you see something like you saw with the Prime broadcast the other night, people just genuinely loved it.”

NASCAR’s Prime Video broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600 was ‘professional’

Bianchi also praised Prime Video in its NASCAR debut. “I thought they did a great job overall,” he said. ” I did see some criticisms and everything, but I think that largely it was very positive, overwhelmingly positive.

“It was a very professional broadcast. It is how a big-league sport should be handled and broadcasted. It’s really great to see that NASCAR has a post-race show. It’s been something that fans have kind of lamented for a long time. I know FOX and NBC have had shorter post-race shows in recent years. To have an extended one like this, where you bring on the winning driver and the owner and all these things really allowed you to tell your story.”

Prime Video will broadcast the next four races before handing it off to TNT. The broadcast team is headlined by NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards. Earnhardt is in the booth with Steve Letarte and Adam Alexander, and Edwards works the pre- and post-race show with current NASCAR Cup Series driver Cory LaJoie and host Danielle Trotta. According to the new TV rights deal, NASCAR will stream races on Prime Video through the 2031 season.