Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s time at NBC is over as he's reportedly heading to Amazon and TNT in 2025
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s time at NBC is over.
According to The Athletic, Earnhardt Jr. will move to Amazon and TNT in 2025 and likely take the 2024 season off from broadcasting NASCAR races. Amazon and TNT will broadcast five Cup Series races each starting in 2025 as they join Fox and NBC as NASCAR’s TV partners when the new media rights agreement begins at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
Junior has been in the booth for NBC’s TV coverage since he retired after the 2017 Cup Series season. He said on his podcast earlier this year that his contract was up with NBC, and a spokesperson for the network confirmed his departure to The Athletic.
“Dale Earnhardt Jr. is beloved in the NASCAR world and has made numerous contributions to NBC Sports, from his work as an analyst on our NASCAR coverage to his experiences as a correspondent at major events like the Indianapolis 500, the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl and the Olympics,” an NBC Sports spokesperson told The Athletic. “We thank Dale and we wish him the best going forward.”
Junior’s move is a loss for NBC as he was by far their highest-profile analyst. The network will broadcast 20 of the 36 Cup Series races this season and will rely on analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte alongside play-by-play announcer Rick Allen barring the addition of another analyst to replace Earnhardt Jr.
Amazon and TNT will broadcast 10 races between the Fox and NBC portions of the Cup Series schedule in 2025. Fox will televise the first 14 races of the season, including two non-points events while NBC will take the final 14. Just nine of the 38 total races in 2025 will be on broadcast television.
Junior’s move to Amazon and TNT is a coup for both networks and also provides him the opportunity to stay in the NASCAR TV business while also calling fewer races than he does now at NBC. TNT is returning to NASCAR broadcasting after getting out of the business following the 2014 season. TNT had televised NASCAR races for 14 consecutive seasons before Fox and NBC took over the entirety of the Cup Series TV contract in 2015.
Amazon’s hire of Junior is similar to the moves it made when acquiring the NFL’s Thursday night slate of games. The company made a splash by hiring Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit to call games and clearly felt that a big name would add credibility to its foray into NASCAR next year.
