TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

01/07/2025

TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone By Brandon Costa

Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - 10:35 am

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After more than a decade away from the track, TNT Sports is once again airing NASCAR races - and it's anything but a retread.

The broadcaster returned to stock-car racing this past weekend with the Quaker State 400, the first of five NASCAR Cup Series races it will carry this summer. The race, held at Atlanta Motor Speedway, also was the green flag for NASCAR's first-ever in-season tournament, a five-race bracket challenge featuring 32 drivers and a $1 million prize.

NASCAR on TNT pit reporter Alan Cavanna checks the leaderboard during TNT Sports' production of the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Saturday night. (All photos: TNT Sports)

For TNT Sports, this brief but bold midseason run isn't just a return. It's a creative sprint.

We can throw all of our creativity at it, says Craig Barry, EVP/chief content officer, TNT Sports, and we don't have to pace ourselves. We have five weeks to make an impact. So that's the plan.

Talent-Driven Storytelling This new era of NASCAR on TNT is not a sequel to the broadcaster's previous run, which ended in 2014. Instead, it's a ground-up reimagining.

We've refined our philosophy, Barry explains. We understand our obligation to the hardcore fan, but we embrace our obligation to the casual fan.

TNT's race coverage features an unstructured, talent-driven approach, allowing the broadcast to unfold with a looser, more conversational tone. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., former crew chief Steve Letarte, and seasoned play-by-play voice Adam Alexander anchor the call, with pit reporting duties handled by Alan Cavanna, Danielle Trotta, and Marty Snider. Jeff Randolph, who produced NASCAR on TNT a decade ago, is back in the chair working alongside director Jonathan Bywaters.

Barry notes that the team intentionally avoided a traditional play-by-play structure, instead letting Earnhardt and Letarte guide the storytelling. The trio's chemistry came through clearly in Atlanta - even as chaos unfolded on the track.

It was an incredible race, says Barry. At one point, 18 or 20 cars had wrecked, and, in the middle of the race, Marty actually took a stroll through the garage while they were all trying to get their cars fixed. It was this incredible moment of access.

TNT DNA on Display Beyond the on-air team, the coverage itself carried a distinct TNT flavor: progressive, personality-driven, and unafraid to be different. It very much felt at the onset like a TNT show, says Barry. That's what we want.

NASCAR on TNT studio hosts Shannon Spake (center) and Jamie McMurray (right) interview Chase Elliot, winner of the Quaker State 400, during the postrace show on Saturday.

Technology is applied with purpose. Drone shots and enhanced audio, for example, were deployed throughout the race.

Barry emphasizes that TNT is not interested in gadgets for the sake of flash: Technology is not viable unless it pushes the narrative or the editorial forward. Most of everything we were doing was based on how to enhance coverage.

New Era, New Workflows Since TNT last covered NASCAR, production technology has, of course, evolved dramatically. According to Barry, TNT has significantly downsized its physical footprint at the track, thanks in part to streamlined workflows and tighter integration.

We used to have six units there for studio show and everything else, he notes. Now everything's done for us out of one truck. There's no delineation between the live race and the studio show. When we're hot, all the pit reporters are hot, the booth is hot, the studio set is hot, and all the cameras are hot.

TNT is also leaning heavily into its partnership with NASCAR's centralized production resources, drawing from NASCAR's deep well of operational experience. It's a great partnership, says Barry. They have an expertise in and around every track, and we tap into a certain amount of the resources that they provide.

Editorial Freedom for Talent At the heart of TNT's production philosophy is a free-form, unscripted environment for the talent. Barry and his team avoid over-formatting the show, instead empowering analysts to respond in real time to the action and talk with viewers rather than at them.

We don't editorialize the talent, he explains. We let them help drive the narratives, talking with us and not at us. When you're coming from a more traditional TV background, that's hard to get used to.

NASCAR on TNTpit reporter Danielle Trotta prepares to go on-air during TNT Sports' prerace coverage of the Quaker State 400.

Barry expects the broadcast to evolve as the team gets more comfortable in the format. I want to get it to a place where it feels like it belongs in the TNT family. We saw glimpses of that specifically in our prerace coverage, but I would like the entire race to differentiate itself.

As TNT Sports re-establishes itself in the NASCAR universe, the approach is clear: treat each race like a mini event, give talent the space to create, and let the storytelling evolve naturally. We're not trying to replicate the way it has always been done, he says. We're trying to do it the TNT Way.

Road Ahead: Chicago and Beyond Next up for TNT Sports is one of the most unusual events on the NASCAR calendar: the Chicago Street Race, airing Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Although street courses are nothing new, covering one in the heart of a major U.S. city - in front of a global audience - brings its own set of challenges.

It is a lot more challenging, says Barry. You'v

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TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge

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