Bubba Wallace’s Ally and Tyler Reddick Enter a Debate as NASCAR’s “All Over the Place” $7.7bn Deal Divides the Two

After years of speculations, NASCAR’s future regarding its new media rights became clear to the world. The massive $7.7 billion agreement will come into effect from the 2025 season and bring in new partners Amazon Prime and Warner Bros., in addition to Fox and NBC. Since the announcement, various thoughts and opinions from industry stakeholders have been flowing in. The numbers spell more money for the teams but there have been certain concerns over the watching experience for the fans vis-a-vis streaming service providers.

Going over the deal specifications in the latest Door, Bumper, Clear podcast, Bubba Wallace‘s spotter Freddie Kraft and 23XI Racing‘s #45 driver Tyler Reddick found themselves at loggerheads.

Veteran spotter and Tyler Reddick disagree over NASCAR’s media deal

According to the new deal between NASCAR and its partners, Fox Sports and NBC will have the rights to 14 Cup Series races each per season. Amazon and Warner Bros. will broadcast 5 each. While the exact layout between these four companies is yet to be decided, some clarity has already been provided on the same. Regardless of the scheduling, the notion of having four different channels through which races are streamed has been met with some skepticism.

Explaining the reason for that in the podcast, Kraft said, “We are right back to being all over the place. What’s even worse, I think, is that I saw a chart about where to find it for practice and qualifying, and that was basically off-streaming! There’s no way to find any of that stuff. Or you gotta search for it. I don’t know.” While he did acknowledge the many benefits of the numbers that the deal brought in, it was the complex viewing experience that seemed to hit a bump for him. He continued, “It just seems like it’s gonna be a challenge finding some of the content you wanna watch.”

Tyler Reddick, who was a guest on the episode, listened to Kraft’s concerns and made his opposition clear. Claiming that NASCAR wouldn’t do something that would be tough for fans, he supported its move.

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Reddick bats for NASCAR with strong optimism over its decision

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One of the key reasons behind NASCAR aligning itself with streaming partners is that the series has been long trying to attract a younger audience. Doing so required accessibility beyond television and its new partners enable just that. But has the promotion made things more complicated for its core fanbase by this decision? Tyler Reddick doesn’t think so.

Responding to Kraft’s words, Reddick said, “I think the real die-hard fans, right? They are locked in and they are gonna know where to find every single thing. […] I am kind of spot on, I am optimistic about it. It might open the door for a lot more people to have access to it. It’s a pretty big deal so I don’t think NASCAR would do it if they couldn’t give people access to it.”

However, Kraft then brought up his father who was a veteran fan and someone who might not be able to figure out where to watch the qualifying sessions. Reddick subsequently had to acknowledge that there was a line between die-hard fans and veteran fans. The matter was quickly resolved on the podcast with the verdict that times are changing and fans are likely to adapt to the direction in which things are moving.

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