NBC Sports Focuses Production Resources on Four Drivers Contending for the Cup Series Championship

NBC Sports Focuses Production Resources on Four Drivers Contending for the Cup Series Championship A NASCAR champion will crowned at NBC at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Friday, November 8, 2024 - 11:54 am

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An eventful NASCAR season comes to a close this weekend as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship revs into Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock) to crown a champion.

NBC Sports will take a unique approach to covering this race with a full field on the track but only four drivers still running for the championship: Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron. The network will emphasize production resources on the contending drivers and has also assigned pit reporters to each one (Dave Burns with Reddick, Marty Snider with Blaney, Kim Coon with Byron, and Parker Kligerman with Logano.

We pride ourselves on our storytelling, says NBC Sports producer Rene Hatlelid, and that goes beyond the driver - not only does a driver win, a team wins, a crew chief wins, it takes an entire team. It's more of a team sport than people understand.

The broadcast crew will roll out an impressive complement of resources to cover the track and pit row, including 12 hard cameras, four of which will each have the responsibility on isolating one of the four title chasers. Additionally, there will be 10 robotic cameras, five handheld RFs, 1 RF Steadicam, a pair of jibs (one at the pre/post stages and one atop Rattlesnake Hill to capture the beauty and vista of the track and surrounding area), three cameras on the Peacock Pit Box, and a helicopter overhead. The front bench will also have access to 28 in-car cameras sprinkled between seven cars in the race (four of which are the Championship Four).

Hatelid pointed out that while much of the attention for fans heading into this weekend is the battle between the four drivers gunning for the Cup, there's a still a full field of drivers to cover.

It's important to find a balance, she says. At the end of the day, every driver is ending their season, but some drivers are ending careers, some are changing teams, some entire teams are ending. There are a lot of storylines to pay off and it's important to tell those stories and put a button on everyone's hard work. The Championship 4 are the most important, but stories like Martin Truex Jr. retiring, Stewart-Haas going away, Denny Hamlin once again missing the championship, and Reddick's regular-season championship are all examples of stories we plan to touch on as well.

This weekend is also a fork in the road for NASCAR. 2025 will officially begin NASCAR's next $7.7 billion rights deal that will see incumbent broadcasters FOX and NBC welcome new partners in TNT Sports, Prime Video, and The CW. This season, though, has the auto racing giant riding high into a new era. Phoenix closes the book on what's been a big year for NASCAR. Not only did the auto racing organization officially open its new $53 million, 58,000-sq.-ft. production facility in Concord, NC that has placed a greater emphasis on remote-based live production, but television ratings also ticked up 2% overall even despite its biggest race, Daytona, was hit with a 27% ratings dip when that race was marred by rain delays.

For NBC Sports, NASCAR's playoff format despite some controversy has proven to be a winner. Ratings for the races in the playoff schedule are up 6% so far from last year.

It's been an incredible season for us, says Hatelid, who noted she's excited to crown a champion in her hometown of Phoenix. We've had an awesome run of close finishes and historic moments. The competition in the Playoffs has been awesome and we've seen great viewership with five consecutive races and seven of eight with year-over-year gains heading into Phoenix. We were really proud of the Stage Two embeds with the race teams and the stories we were able to tell about the various team members, and we showed more than 600 live green flag laps from the Superspeedway races at Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega, and I think both of those resonated really well with the viewers.

NBC Sports presents the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship from Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., this Sunday, Nov. 10, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock with a special edition of Countdown to Green beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

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