Prime Video Hits the Gas on First Season of NASCAR Cup Series Action

Prime Video Hits the Gas on First Season of NASCAR Cup Series Action On the agenda: pre/post-race shows, 70+ cameras, double-box ads, Key Moments, Rapid Recaps By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.

Friday, May 23, 2025 - 2:27 pm

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Waving the green flag on a seven-year NASCAR Cup Series rights deal this weekend, Amazon Prime Video aims to institute the same level of technological innovation that it brought to NFL Thursday Night Football and its other high-profile sports properties. That said, Prime Video's production team remains focused on one goal above all else: telling the story of the race itself.

We are there to cover the race and cover it as we see it, says Amazon Prime Video Senior Coordinating Producer Alex Strand. That's our identity. What we're really trying to do is say, How do we cover the story of the race? What is that story of the race that day?'

While storytelling remains the core tenant of Prime's coverage, technology and data play a major role in telling that story - both inside and outside of the live linear broadcast. Among the key innovations viewers can expect on Prime's five Cup Series races in the coming weeks: a new double-box commercial format, Key Moments race highlights, and Rapid Recaps of in-progress races.

Covering the Race: In-Car Cams, Pit-Box Views, Live Drones Beginning with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway this Sunday, Prime Video will produce each race in native 1080p HDR with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound, deploying 70+ cameras at each race - all connected by up to 10 miles of fiber-optic cable.

The gear includes 40+ custom in-car cameras with mics (including specialized POV cameras from NEP Specialty Capture) and cameras in selected pit boxes to give the viewers new insights into the race experience. In addition, a live drone will be deployed on selected races to capture unique angles and the atmosphere of the track.

We could not be more excited to be starting with a crown-jewel [race], says Strand. We think it's a huge responsibility, and we're excited to bring that to fans. We spend a lot of time making sure that we are delivering the core expectation. Viewers are trusting you to bring in the sport that they love, and we take that very seriously.

Prime Video is deploying Game Creek Video Peacock One mobile units for its five NASCAR Cup Series productions this year, as well as GCV edit and robo trucks. In addition, Prime - as all NASCAR rightsholders do - relies on NASCAR Productions SRT trailer for additional connectivity and has also partnered with NBC Sports Group for additional broadcast support.

Following the success of its Emmy Award-winning TNF Prime Vision alternative stream, Strand and his team are also looking for new ways to visualize data within its NASCAR coverage.

Obviously, he says, we're pretty data-centric in our Thursday Night Football coverage. We think that data can tell cool stories around sports that we love or enhance the way you look at it and help teach you something you didn't know before.

How do we take something that is very complex to understand and simplify it? he continues. [We do it by] not dumbing it down but making it accessible both to hardcore longtime fans and people who might just be picking it up for the first time. We think, from what we've done on Thursday Night Football, we can thread the needle and hit both of those at the same time.

Though not sharing specifics, Strand says the Prime Video production and data-analysis teams are working with analyst Steve Letarte on a new feature. We also think it's important to show it in a simple way, so we see a lot of opportunity with NASCAR. It's data-centric to begin with, and we are working on some things now. We've been in the lab with [Letarte] for about four months on a particular feature we're hoping to bring to everybody during our coverage.

In the booth will be race-caller Adam Alexander, NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Letarte, a Daytona 500-winning crew chief. Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and reporters Kim Coon and Marty Snider will be on pit road to provide real-time updates on drivers, tactical decisions, and other critical developments as races unfold.

Beyond the Race: Pre/Post Shows Play Major Role in New Identity' In addition to covering the race itself, Prime is producing full trackside pre/post-race shows for each broadcast. Remote support will be provided from Prime's LAX 35 facility in Culver City, CA, where several operators will remotely control machines located in the onsite trucks.

Danielle Trotta hosts the pre/post-race coverage with analysts Edwards and current Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie. Again taking a cue from its widely praised onsite studio show for TNF, Prime Video's extensive wraparound coverage will feature candid conversations and exclusive interviews with drivers fresh off the track, in-depth analysis, previews and breakdowns of the races, and developing storylines that help bring viewers closer to both the action and the personalities behind the wheel.

One of the things we're excited about, says Strand, is post-race and being able to sit back and spend time talking about the day - and the race we just saw. I think what we're able to do in our post-race window is going to be a big part of our identity. It's something unique that we have the ability to do as a streamer. We don't have to get off-air for another event. We'll stay on, and we're going to talk about what we saw.

Viewer Experience: Fans Won't Miss a Thing NASCAR on Prime viewers won't miss a moment of the action on the track, thanks to the streamer's decision to use a double-box commercial format during its broadcasts. The end-to-end live cov

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/05/23/prime-video-hits-the-gas-on-fir...
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