"Pretty damn good","Not a home run": Fans react as viewership numbers emerge from NASCAR on Prime for Coca-Cola 600

Fans have had a mixed reaction to the reported figures from the first NASCAR Cup Series race ever to be broadcast on Amazon's streaming service. Prime Video is set to broadcast five races per season in a seven-year deal signed at the start of the 2025 season.

The debut event for this partnership was the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, marking the first time in NASCAR history that a Cup Series race was broadcast exclusively via streaming. The broadcast featured a variety of innovations as the race was produced in 1080p HDR using 70 cameras, including more than 40 in-car cameras, pit box cameras, and live drones for the coverage of the race.

The broadcast team included and will continue to include well-known NASCAR personalities such as Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Steve Letarte. The viewership for the event was reported by Austin Karp, a longtime editor and writer for Sports Business Journal, who also reports TV viewership numbers for major sporting events. He tweeted on X(formerly Twitter):

"Hearing early viewership for 1st-ever @NASCAR Cup Series race to exclusively stream (Coke 600, @PrimeVideo) got around 2.6 million viewers 2024, Fox, 3.1M, cut short by rain 2023, Fox, rainout Sunday 2022, Fox, 3.9M 2.6M right around what Cup Series cable TV races get"

Fans compared Prime Video's viewership numbers to traditional cable, with some even branding it a win for cable television and traditional media.

X user, Randy Cadenhead, said that the viewership numbers were underwhelming and stated:

"Well, that certainly was not a home run"

Randy Cadenhead

@RandyinPO

Well, that certainly was not a home run 🤷‍♂️

Another fan reacted to the viewership number and pointed out that Prime Video has twice as many subscribers as cable channels and speculated that the rest of the races won’t even reach that number.

"But but Prime has 2 times more subscribers than cable channels. 😏 It was a great broadcast, but that should shutup the Prime Fanboys saying Prime could blow away cable channel viewer numbers. The rest of the Prime lineup may not even get 2.6 mil because many more tune in for 600," wrote the fan.

Will Dorado

@DaFleetCaptain

But but Prime has 2 times more subscribers than cable channels. 😏 It was a great broadcast, but that should shutup the Prime Fanboys saying Prime could blow away cable channel viewer numbers. The rest of the Prime lineup may not even get 2.6 mil because many more tune in for 600

Meanwhile, a lot of the fans have praised the broadcast and said that these were good numbers for a race after it was exclusively streamed on Prime.

"For the first ever race only offered on a streaming service I’d say that’s pretty damn good, considering how many “fans” I saw crying for weeks saying they will never watch on prime lol", one user penned.

Another fan said:

"2.6M being above the average cable viewer number is a big win for streaming. It was honestly one of the best broadcasts nascar has had in years and I really hope this means more races on prime as they treated to very well."

One appreciated the production of the broadcast and wrote:

"With the fantastic production they put together for the race, I don’t even care about the ratings. It was an awesome race and awesome broadcast."

As per the deal between NASCAR and Amazon, the streaming platform will also broadcast the races at Nashville Superspeedway, Michigan International Speedway, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and Pocono Raceway.

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Ross Chastain scripts NASCAR history with his Coca-Cola 600 triumph

Ross Chastain made NASCAR history at the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 by becoming the first driver in 56 years to win a Cup Series race from the official last-place starting position. Forced to start 40th after crashing in practice and switching to a backup car, Chastain overcame early setbacks and a multi-car incident to secure his first win of the season for Trackhouse Racing.

His achievement echoes Bobby Allison’s 1969 feat at Richmond, who was the last driver to win a race from the last position. But Chastain’s victory stands out in this regard, as he started last, not due to a penalty, but because he failed to post a qualifying time.