NASCAR President Steve Phelps hints at one or two additional broadcast partners in 2024

NASCAR President Steve Phelps provided some interesting insight into NASCAR’s broadcasting future next season.

Speaking with NBC Sports’ Dustin Long, Phelps dropped an interesting nugget. Evidently, NASCAR may be expanding their broadcasting reach in 2024, as the NASCAR President explained they may have multiple additional broadcast partners.

“We are going to have an additional partner and we may have two additional partners,” Phelps said. “That’s kind of where we’re trying to figure out in these last few weeks — what that’s going to look like, but we already know we’re going to have more partners.”

Alas, that would be fascinating to see how it works, with FOX and NBC already along for the ride. Perhaps NASCAR is looking into the streaming world. It’s something Phelps explained that the sport is looking into.

“I think what I would call hedging our bet is a smart thing for us to do as a sport,” Phelps added. “No one has any idea what’s going to happen with streaming and what’s going to happen with cable. We do know that broadcast television is going to be around for the foreseeable future at 125 million homes. That’s not going to change.

“What we do know is that the cable universe has declined. So what does that look like in two years, five years, seven years? Don’t know, but we better make sure that we have distribution points that will allow us to be successful moving forward, to have as many eyeballs as we can, while not insignificant, also getting paid. The revenue is significant that comes from these media rights or from these media partners.”

The ways sports are being broadcast is changing, and Steve Phelps isn’t letting NASCAR get left behind the times. We’ll see what major changes are to come to NASCAR in the near future.

NASCAR’s Steve Phelps doesn’t expect an increase in horsepower

Continuing, Steve Phelps also delineated that he’s not expecting there to be a change in horsepower anytime soon in the Cup Series. It’s something fans and drivers alike have been wishing for, but it seems like it’s not coming to fruition. 

“I don’t think the answer is more horsepower because more horsepower is expensive,” Phelps said. “If you ask a driver what’s going to solve it, they’re always going to say ‘Give me more horsepower.’ It’s a thing. I’m not a driver, but I’ve listened to enough drivers and that’s their solution. 

“So the question is is that really what it is? I don’t know. I think there’s some gearing things that we’re looking at as well. Some shifting things.”

Even if there’s no change in horse power, Phelps’ comments make it seem like there’s something on the horizon. What it may be is a mystery, but NASCAR likes to keep their racing fresh. 

Perhaps Steve Phelps will sing a different tune if the driver’s reaction is strong enough. Regardless, we’re hoping for some improved racing on the track in 2024, especially when it comes to passing at certain tracks.