2025 … marked the season that TNT Sports returned to NASCAR after a decade away. As part of the new media rights deal, TNT shares the latter half of 10-race summer stretch with Amazon Prime.
TNT Sports wasn’t simply launching another season of coverage. It was following a production that had fundamentally reset expectations.
“Yeah, they set the bar,” Craig Barry, TNT Sports’ Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, told Forbes when asked whether Prime’s success increased the pressure on TNT.
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“I felt like NASCAR was in need of the most attention after the first season,” Barry said. “There was still an opportunity there to build a better product.”
That improvement wasn’t about borrowing ideas from Prime.
Instead, Barry said TNT doubled down on becoming more…TNT.
Rather than reinventing how races are covered, the network focused on how its talent interacted with one another. The pre-race and post-race shows were redesigned with a dedicated set. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton joined the lineup alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Letarte and Jamie McMurray.
Another key addition came behind the scenes with a new race director.
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“I don’t want them looking at the monitor, seeing the highlights or hearing the sound bites before we go on the air,” Barry said. “I want them reacting honestly and authentically in real time. I don’t want them talking at the fan. I want them talking with the fan. If they can feel like they’re sitting on the couch watching the race with Dale or Marty or Jimmie or Jeff or Jamie, that’s the holy grail.”
— Forbes —