TNT Sports is getting set for its second season airing NASCAR races, and it is the latest broadcaster to eliminate full-screen green-flag commercials.
TNT today revealed a number of changes to its 2026 coverage. In addition to cutting full-screen green-flag ads, HBO Max viewers can isolate driver-radio communication from engine noise on in-car cameras and use race alerts to jump from the in-camera feeds to the main race feed for the best view of race action.
Green-flag full-screen commercials have long been a complaint among NASCAR fans. Unlike most sports, there are no natural breaks during green-flag racing in NASCAR. That makes full-screen green-flag ads inherently disruptive because viewers are guaranteed to miss something. As a result, some, but not all, broadcasters are ending the practice. Fox and NBC continue to utilize full-screen ads, while Amazon’s Prime Video does not.
With such a short NASCAR schedule (TNT will only air five races), TNT will have to give casual fans a good reason to tune in. Prime Video has a similarly short schedule, but has been applauded for its coverage and has seen stronger viewership as a result.
On the other hand, NASCAR has had significant viewership problems on cable this year. Viewership was so weak on FS1 that NASCAR took the rare step of blaming industry-standard audience measurement company Nielsen. Nielsen made a change to its methodology in September 2025 that NASCAR said was unfairly hurting its viewership numbers. As a result, NASCAR announced it would only publicize viewership using the older standard.
NASCAR on TNT will have advantages over FS1. In addition to the lack of full-screen ads, fans can stream the races on HBO Max, which, unlike Fox’s streaming equivalent, features alternate viewing options such as in-car cameras.
TNT will also feature the same primary broadcast team as Prime Video, with Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte on the call.
This will be a good opportunity for NASCAR to test whether enhanced viewing options can help improve audience performance. If TNT’s coverage draws stronger numbers than FS1, it could suggest that presentation and viewing experience play a significant role in NASCAR’s cable struggles.
However, if even these improvements can’t match the audience numbers seen on Prime Video, NASCAR may have a more significant media-rights challenge on its hands, especially as the remainder of NBC Sports’ portion of the schedule will also air on cable via the recently spun-off USA Network.
About Manny Soloway
Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.