NASCAR icon Richard Petty dubs Amazon Prime’s broadcasting debut as the "best coverage" he's ever seen 

Richard Petty isn't exactly new to race day TV. He's watched it evolve over eight decades. But after tuning in to Amazon Prime's first run of exclusive NASCAR Cup Series coverage, the King had a surprising verdict.

Speaking a day after the Cup race at Pocono Raceway, Petty reflected on Prime Video's five-race stretch on the Richard Petty Family Racing show. Sitting alongside Hall of Famer crew chief Dale Inman, the former NASCAR champion said:

"I think they did a super job… the new deal was probably the best coverage that I've been able to see. Of course, I've probably watched more of it on TV because I hadn't been going to the races like I used to. But, the big deal is they had some new tricks, new deals on the screen, new coverage." (14:15 onwards)

Those words carry weight. Richard Petty has been NASCAR's eyewitness to its evolution from dirt tracks to billion-dollar digital deals.

Signed in late 2023, NASCAR's new media rights deal, worth a reported $7.7 billion over seven years, marked a seismic shift. For the first time, streaming giant Amazon Prime Video was given exclusive rights to air five Cup Series races. What followed was a tech-forward presentation that impressed even NASCAR's seasoned viewers.

Richard Petty (R) speaks to Fox Sports broadcasters during the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington - Source: Getty

Prime's 'Burn Bar' was the talk of the garage - a sleek, intuitive graphic showing live fuel consumption in real time. Paired with NFL Films-style pre- and post-race packages, broadcast-quality pit-lane audio, and Carl Edwards and Corey LaJoie's studio chemistry brought a level of immersion rarely seen in NASCAR coverage.

The post-race shows especially received a noticeable uptick in engagement, with fans praising the depth and lack of broadcast commercials. Something Petty noted, too.

"I mean they was even telling how much gas, mileage and stuff the people were getting. So it's getting more and more sophisticated and it's a lot easier for the people at home to keep up with it than it is for the people at the racetrack," Petty added. (14:50 onwards)

While the broadcast brought the NASCAR on Prime team praise across the garage, the numbers tell a mixed story. At Charlotte (Coca-Cola 600), there were 2.72M viewers, which was the 3rd-highest non-Fox race of the season. Nashville caught 2.06M eyes, the lowest for the race since 2021 (as per Blackbook Motorsport).

Through three races, viewership was down 21% compared to 2024's Fox/FS1 equivalent. However, Amazon's audience skewed over six years younger, averaging 55.8 years of age. Next in Michigan, 1.77M spectators tuned in for a season low, down 16.2% from 2024, while Mexico City broke the streaming platform record last week with a viewership of 2.1M.

Sunday's race at Pocono was the final chapter of Prime's five-race slate this year. The baton now passes to TNT Sports, who begin their run with the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, next weekend.

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Richard Petty unimpressed by race, even as Chase Briscoe delivers a thrilling win at Pocono

(L-R) Bubba Wallace Jr., Richard Petty and Ryan Blaney before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400. Source: Getty

On paper, Sunday's race had all the makings of a classic. A nail-biting finish, a new winner, strategic tension as fuel tanks ran dry. But for Richard Petty, it didn't quite deliver. Despite the 11 lead changes and seven cautions at Pocono, most of the day's frontrunners stayed up front, with little drama deeper in the field.

Chase Briscoe flawlessly executed in the final stretch of the race to beat Denny Hamlin to the line by 0.682 seconds. However, looking back at the Great American Getaway 400 in his Richard Petty Family Racing podcast, Petty said:

"It was good for the winners and them runs, that run good. As far as from a spectator standpoint, there were some highlights in it, but not enough good highlights or good racing for me to call it a good race." (17:26 onwards)

His longtime crew chief and co-host, Dale Inman, also echoed Richard Petty's sentiment:

"I'll go along with what Richard said. It wasn't up to the same level as what we've seen in the past two or three weeks."

The stoppages were mostly strategy or stage-related. Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin won Stage 1, and most of the top ten finishers began in the top 20. However, the finish was far from predictable. In the final 34 laps, Briscoe held off Pocono's all-time winningest driver and managed fuel consumption in a season-defining win.

Even if the overall race lacked fireworks, the ending certainly didn't. And for Amazon, it was a polished signoff on a five-week streaming experiment that may well shape NASCAR's next decade.