NBC will not broadcast the NASCAR playoff race in New Hampshire live

After Saturday night's Bristol Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first round of the four-round, ten-race 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is complete. Twelve drivers are still in the running for the championship going into this weekend's round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

In the first year of the sport's new seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights agreement, the Mobil 1 301, which takes place on Sunday on the four-turn, 1.058-mile (1.703-kilometer) "Magic Mile" track in Loudon, New Hampshire, is the eighth race on NBC's share of the broadcast schedule.

The Bristol race was the halfway point of NBC's 2025 schedule, which had been reduced from 20 races to 14 as part of the new agreement to accommodate Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports in addition to Fox and NBC.

Only one of the first seven races, though, was broadcast live on NBC. Similar to how Fox's races are split between Fox and Fox Sports 1, USA Network essentially replaced NBC Sports Network as the alternate NBC channel by airing live coverage of the first three races at Iowa Speedway, Watkins Glen International, and Richmond Raceway.

The first three races of the playoffs at Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and Bristol were also broadcast live on USA Network; the only race broadcast on NBC thus far was the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

NBC will also not broadcast the round of 12 opener live

To kick off the playoffs, USA Network will broadcast live coverage of seven straight races, including the Mobil 1 301. The full three-race round of 12 will be live on USA instead of NBC, much as the round of 16. Next weekend's race at Kansas Speedway and the next weekend's race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval are also part of the quarterfinal round.

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway event is scheduled to air live on USA to kick off the round of eight, while all subsequent races will be live on NBC.

The Championship 4 title decider at Phoenix Raceway, the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway, and the middle race of the round of eight at Talladega Superspeedway are the three events that NBC will broadcast to conclude the season.

Whether a race is broadcast live on NBC or USA, Leigh Diffey is the primary commentator during NBC's segment of the program. Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton are among the analysts in the broadcast booth.