NASCAR's credit rating upgraded by S&P Global amid new TV deal

NASCAR received some good news on the financial side this week, which was much needed after their battle with Mother Nature went sideways.

According to Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, NASCAR’s credit rating has been upgraded amid their new television deal that was announced earlier this year. Additionally, the strong attendance the sport is receiving helped with the matter, as well.

Check out the announcement below, as Stern shared it to X, formerly known as Twitter, ahead of the sport’s opening weekend.

.@SPGlobalRatings has upgraded @NASCAR's credit rating on the back of the racing circuit rapidly paying back the debt it took on to acquire ISC, amid strong attendance and continued big media payments. pic.twitter.com/sM0Tc9DGyw

— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 17, 2024

As you can see, this all means the future of NASCAR looks healthy from a financial standpoint, which should in-turn help the product on the track and everything in-between. It’s certainly a promising situation for the sport, as they look to grow entering a new era.

NASCAR’s been making some sound decisions lately, and it’s now reflected in their credit rating. Hopefully we can have an exciting, safe and memorable Daytona 500 to celebrate the news, as the race prepares to be run on Monday evening after some rain messed up the plans for Sunday.

NASCAR postpones Daytona 500 to Monday afternoon due to rain

Moreover, the Daytona 500 has officially been moved back to Monday. NASCAR felt that they couldn’t get a window for Sunday and made the decision with plenty of time to spare. 

This set up a doubleheader on Monday with the Xfinity Series race set to take place at 11:00 AM. It will be followed by the Daytona 500 at 4:00 PM. There was just too much rain in the area on Sunday for NASCAR to reasonably wait around for a window. 

What could have been such an exciting weekend gets a wet blanket thrown over it. It’s a shame, but the forecast for Monday looks tremendous.

Coming off the heels of the Netflix series, NASCAR has now had to alter two race weekends in a row. First starting at the Busch Light Clash. That race was moved up and entire day and on just a few hours notice. It went well, but there was an obvious hit to ratings and attendance at the race. 

Now, the biggest event on the calendar suffered by getting pushed to Monday. NASCAR will go two days without racing action on the track. The Daytona 500 this year will look a lot like the 2012 edition when the race was pushed back to Monday. Matt Kenseth came up with the win in that one.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.