Netflix releases first trailer for new sports series, 'NASCAR: Full Speed'

NASCAR is taking the next steps towards improving their popularity, as the first trailer for their Netflix series has been released.

Due to the success of Netflix’s Formula 1 series Drive to Survive, many motorsports fans have been clamoring for NASCAR to have a similar show. Alas, it looks like it’s finally coming to fruition, and NASCAR fans won’t have to wait long to fire it up.

Netflix released the first trailer for the show, titled NASCAR: Full Speed, on Wednesday. It drops on Jan. 30, just in time for fans new and old to get excited about The Clash and the Daytona 500 to follow.

The race to the finish is just the beginning. NASCAR: Full Speed, a Netflix Sports Series, pulls up January 30. pic.twitter.com/48ax1UUr0g

— Netflix (@netflix) January 10, 2024

“The race to the finish is just the beginning. NASCAR: Full Speed, a Netflix Sports Series, pulls up January 30,” Netflix posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

NASCAR has been making some awesome moves to improve their popularity, and this show with Netflix is the next in the long line of them. The sport hasn’t been afraid to take chances, and it’s worked out to their benefit in the past couple of seasons, and it’s hard to envision this not being a success.

Additionally, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic provided some extra context into how the show will work, including the drivers we should expect to see in the series.

“The new NASCAR Netflix series will be five episodes of 45 minutes each,” Gluck posted on X. “The listed ‘featured drivers’ are Blaney, Byron, Chastain, Hamlin, Wallace, Larson, Bell, Logano and Reddick.”

We can’t wait to fire this show up when it drops later this month. It’s almost time for NASCAR season to truly get into the groove, and anticipation will continue to grow, in part due to Netflix’s series.

NASCAR surprisingly popular with Gen Z according to new poll data

Moreover, the news comes after it was revealed that NASCAR is actually relatively popular among Gen Z. While it isn’t the most popular sport among the generation, it has some legs.

A new report detailing Gen Z’s social media, entertainment, and technology engagement shows promising results for American motorsport. 

Morning Consult recently conducted a research project that combined the results of two surveys. The first was conducted Oct. 16-19, 2023, and featured a total of 2,207 U.S. adults, 1,0002 of whom were Gen Zers. The second survey was conducted on Nov. 2-8, 2022 with a sample of 1,000 Gen Zers. 

There are some obvious results from this polling. The NFL is still king, even among Gen Z. 54% of those surveyed confirmed they were “casual” or “avid” fans of the league. The second with 50%, was the NBA. 

Just one percentage point below college basketball is NASCAR. 36% of respondents replied they were casual or avid fans of NASCAR, putting it above the UFC, NHL, and Formula One among American Gen Zers.

While polling data can be off, margins of error exist and the polls used in this research have an unweighted margin of error of +/- 3.0%. In other words, NASCAR could be as high as 39% or as low as 33% among Gen Z as a whole. 

If you told NASCAR executives more than a third of Gen Z are fans of the sport, I think they’d happily take that.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.