Denny Hamlin has built a reputation as one of NASCAR’s most outspoken stars, and his latest comments show why. On the Denny Hamlin NASCAR podcast Actions Detrimental, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 23XI Racing co-owner Hamlin didn’t hold back, blaming the NASCAR $7.7 billion TV deal for the sport’s crumbling audience.
With the NASCAR TV ratings 2025 decline hitting record lows, Hamlin argues that greedy media rights contracts have sacrificed accessibility in exchange for quick cash.
NASCAR’s Ratings Crisis
The numbers are grim. The regular season averaged only 2.64 million viewers, a record low, while the NASCAR playoffs 2025 ratings have tumbled even further. The NASCAR fall viewership drop is glaring:
Pocono (NASCAR Amazon Prime broadcast): 1.87M viewers, down 22% from 2024.
New Hampshire: 1.29M viewers, a 31% decline.
Playoffs so far: Down about 1.15M viewers compared to last year.
These struggles stand out even more in the NASCAR vs NFL viewership battle. While NASCAR scrapes together two to three million, the NFL dominates Sundays with an average of 17.5 million viewers per game.
Denny Hamlin on Actions Detrimental Podcast
Denny Hamlin’s frustration centers on how the sport has handled broadcast rights. “In each one of the TV deals that we’ve signed over the last few years or the past few agreements that we’ve had, we’ve always just taken the most amount of money… It’s not been about ‘What’s going to put us on in the most households,’” he said on the show.
Then he added: “We were the guinea pigs to get Channel X off the ground, Channel Y off the ground. And you’re asking so much of your fans to just keep chasing you around all these different networks.”
That blunt honesty captures what many already feel: NASCAR accessibility issues and the NASCAR channel-hopping problem are making it harder for casual fans to stick around.
NASCAR Fans’ Frustration
Fans online echo Hamlin’s concerns. Complaints about NASCAR Fox, NBC media rights, and the NASCAR TNT Warner Bros. Discovery deal are everywhere, with many blaming coverage that feels scattered and hidden behind logins and apps. Others point to deeper issues: Next Gen car criticism, NASCAR gimmicky playoffs, and the exhausting 38-race marathon that wears down attention spans.
To Hamlin, solutions exist if NASCAR is willing to try. He floated the idea of Saturday night NASCAR races as a way to avoid competing directly with NFL Sundays. “I’m just saying it’s not a school night,” he noted. “It definitely would be harder for those who travel, so you don’t want to just alienate them. I’m just brainstorming here.”
Another option he’s raised is a NASCAR short-season proposal. Ending earlier in the year, before football dominates, could keep the sport fresher and maintain fan engagement.
What’s Next?
For Hamlin, the argument isn’t about being controversial; it’s about saving the sport. NASCAR can’t afford to keep chasing TV dollars while ignoring the frustrations of its core audience. If the current trend continues, the glory of the NASCAR golden era viewership may be stuck in the past.
Whether his warnings spark change or just widen the rift between drivers and executives, Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast quotes have made one thing clear: fans are tired of being guinea pigs for television experiments.
Denny Hamlin Calls Out NASCAR’s Greedy TV Deals Amid Plummeting Fall Viewership