NASCAR insiders react to Prime Video broadcast stretch coming to an end: 'Feel bad for TNT'

Prime Video’s time broadcasting NASCAR this season has come to an end to the disappointment of many fans. The streaming giant did a masterful job of presenting the product to fans.

In fact, just about every review has come up glowingly positive. And ratings have mostly been good, even despite some challenging circumstances.

“I don’t think there’s a negative thing to be said about Amazon and their coverage, honestly,” The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast. “I’ve talked to a lot of people and it just seems like across the industry, whether it’s drivers or exec team people or whomever, like everybody’s just glowing, offering rave reviews about the job that Amazon Prime did through their five races.”

Bianchi’s co-host on the show, Jeff Gluck, said that Prime Video “set a new bar for NASCAR broadcasting.” That’s pretty lofty praise.

Now, as the NASCAR circuit pivots to its next TV segments — five races on TNT, followed by 14 on NBC — we’ll get to see if anyone can meet that lofty bar. It won’t be easy.

“I feel bad for TNT, to be honest with you,” Bianchi said. “Because their coverage could be amazing next week and I still don’t think that it’s going to compare to Prime, or people are going to compare it unfavorably to Prime.

“And there’s going to be a difference next week in that there’s going to be a cap on what TNT can do post-race. Because the big thing that everybody’s talking about with Prime is the post-race show and their ability to go long and to have extended sessions, not only just with the winner.”

The post-race show has indeed been a big hit for NASCAR. Per Gluck, Prime Video reported that it retained 43% of its race audience for the post-race show at Pocono. That’s huge.

It signals to advertisers that there’s remarkable interest in the product. And that could incentivize television networks to lengthen the broadcast windows, potentially. At the very least, it’s a great sign of the sport’s appeal.

“Look at the post-race show tonight,” Gluck said. “I got a text from a buddy and it was just like, ‘This is like College GameDay. Frenzied out there. Huge crowd behind the desk.’ And I just think — they got (Brad) Keselowski up on the stage after finishing ninth or 10th and it was a disappointing day. He got up there to talk about it, right? And it’s like, ‘Man, this is such in-depth coverage.’ They hit every note.”

So where do things go from here, now that Prime Video is no longer on the call? The TNT crew will get to take a whack at it.

But make no mistake about it: Everyone is chasing Prime Video now. That’s the reality, according to Bianchi and Gluck.

“For those of us who may have a gripe or two about TV coverage and time in NASCAR, this is something you can point to and be like, ‘See, this is what we’re talking about. This is what we’re trying to tell you,'” Gluck said. “I think if Prime had the entire season, NASCAR as a sport would be viewed like far more favorably than it is right now.”