Today, NASCAR fans are very excited after hearing the latest news from NASCAR. This is because today, NASCAR made an announcement that will make the next NASCAR season even more exciting. According to the announcement, we will have a NASCAR In-Season Bracket Tournament in 2025 with the TNT Sports portion of the 2025 Cup Series.
The previous three races, broadcasted on Prime Video, will establish the seeding for the tournament as the governing body experiments with the new concept in the inaugural season of its significant seven-year media rights agreement.
With the introduction of our new media rights collaborations in 2025, we were thrilled to join forces with Prime Video and TNT Sports to work together on fan engagement ideas that shape narratives in our sport and drive innovation from a production standpoint,” stated Brian Herbst, NASCAR SVP, media and productions, in an official statement.
For their part, pay per head software providers are already working on a bracket platform for auto racing. This is because this will be a new auto racing opportunity for gamblers.
NASCAR In-Season Bracket Tournament will bepart of the TNT sports portion of the Cup Series
All drivers are eligible for the seeding races, and the top 32 drivers from those races, shown on Amazon’s Prime Video, will earn a spot in the in-season tournament that commences with TNT Sports’ initial race. Seeding will be determined by the best finish in the three Prime Video races, with tiebreakers decided by the next-best finish, followed by the season points position.
Drivers in the in-season tournament on TNT Sports and Max will compete head-to-head, with the driver finishing higher advancing over five rounds. The champion of the in-season tournament will receive a $1 million prize.
The newly announced format, revealed on Monday, will involve organizing the top 32 drivers into a bracket similar to the March Madness tournament. The outcome of each head-to-head matchup will decide which driver progresses to the next round in the subsequent race.
The seeding process will be determined by the best performance of each driver in the three races leading up to the tournament. In the event of a tie, the second-best finish will be taken into account, followed by their position in the season standings.
“It’s an exciting time to be a motorsports fan, and this groundbreaking in-season tournament will bring a fresh competitive element to NASCAR’s summer race weekends,” remarked Craig Barry, executive vice president and chief content officer, TNT Sports. “TNT Sports has always been a leader in creativity and innovation, and NASCAR is an ideal partner to bring this vision to life across our networks and platforms.”
Charlie Neiman, head of sports partnerships at Prime Video, expressed enthusiasm about NASCAR’s upcoming in-season tournament. Neiman highlighted the tournament as a platform to demonstrate the league’s commitment to innovation and increased fan engagement during a crucial part of the NASCAR schedule.
Media Agreement for the in-Season NASCAR Tournament
As part of the media rights agreement, Prime Video and TNT will share coverage of 10 midseason Cup races. Additionally, both platforms have exclusive rights to certain practice and qualifying sessions in the Cup Series until 2031.
Amazon’s Prime Video and TNT Sports will be joining FOX Sports and NBC Sports in broadcasting all 38 Cup Series races from 2025 to 2031.
