SAXTON: New doc on Earnhardt Sr.

Prime Video greenlit several sports documentaries as part of the inaugural Amazon upfront presentation , including a four-part documentary series on NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The history of the Earnhardt family is the history of NASCAR—you can’t tell the story of one without the other—and at the center of the Earnhardt family was Dale Earnhardt Sr., the most influential figure the sport has ever known.

A charismatic, working-class hero to millions of fans, Earnhardt spent the better part of two decades as the most visible figure in stock car racing, breaking through the confines of the sport’s regional fan base to mainstream notoriety, racking up millions in endorsement deals from Coca-Cola to Wheaties, and appearing on daytime TV and late-night talk shows. From one generation to the next, racing would bring the Earnhardt family together, but it wasn’t always an easy road. Now, with unparalleled access and never before seen archival material, the Untitled Earnhardt Documentary promises a profound, revealing, and definitive account of a historic American family.

Presented by Prime Video, the Untitled Earnhardt Documentary is produced by Imagine Documentaries, NASCAR Studios, and Everyone Else, in association with Dirty Mo Media. The series is executive produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein, and Justin Wilkes of Imagine Entertainment; Matt Summers and Tim Clark of NASCAR Studios; and TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay, and Tony Mayhoff.

In-season NASCAR tourney

NASCAR announced it will hold a first-of-its-kind in-season tournament for the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025. The seeding for the bracket-style head-to-head event across TNT Sports’ full five-race schedule will be set by results from the final three races that will air on Prime Video.

“With the launch of our new media rights partnerships in 2025, we were excited to partner with Prime Video and TNT Sports to collaborate on fan engagement concepts that drive storylines in our sport and innovation from a production perspective,” said Brian Herbst, NASCAR SVP, Media and Productions. “The idea of an in-season tournament has been discussed within the NASCAR industry and as we started to focus on adding promotional elements that drive interest throughout the season, we were excited by the opportunity to leverage the marketing weight of Amazon and TNT Sports to bring this concept to life.

“Having head-to-head driver matchups for each one of TNT’s NASCAR Cup Series races will add a compelling fan engagement element across media platforms like TNT, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and NASCAR digital platforms.”

All drivers are eligible for the seeding races which will take place during the final three races of Prime Video’s coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series. The top 32 drivers based on the seeding events, will become eligible for the in-season tournament competition. Bracket seeding will be established by best finish in each race over the three races with the tiebreakers determined by the next-best finish, followed by season points position.

The tournament kicks off with the first event in the TNT Sports portion of the NASCAR Cup Series season. Drivers will compete head-to-head with the higher finishing driver of each race advancing over five rounds. The winner of the tournament will receive a $1 million prize.

“It’s never been a better time to be a fan of motorsports, and this new first-ever in-season tournament will bring a new competitive dynamic to NASCAR’s summer race weekends,” said Craig Barry, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, TNT Sports. “TNT Sports has always been at the forefront of creativity and innovation, and NASCAR is a perfect partner to bring this vision to life across our networks and platforms.”

“We’re excited to be part of NASCAR’s first in-season tournament next season,” said Charlie Neiman, Head of Sports Partnerships, Prime Video. “This tournament will showcase the league’s ability to drive innovation and engage fans with increased competition during a key part of the NASCAR schedule.”

In November 2023, NASCAR reached new seven-year media rights agreements for the NASCAR Cup Series with four best-in-class distribution partners – FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video and TNT Sports, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery – to deliver live coverage of all 38 NASCAR Cup Series races, beginning in 2025 and extending through the 2031 season.

Prime Video and TNT Sports will evenly split a series of 10 midseason races. Both also own the exclusive rights to select practice and qualifying sessions for the NASCAR Cup Series schedule through 2031.

NASCAR’s first fully direct-to-consumer partner, Prime Video will stream practice and qualifying live for the first half of the season through their last race of the midseason series with the exceptions of the Busch Light Clash, DAYTONA 500® and NASCAR All-Star Race™, which remain on FOX Sports.

TNT Sports will initiate its coverage with the next five midseason races, all part of the NASCAR Cup Series in-season tournament, simultaneously broadcast live on TNT and streaming on the B/R Sports Add-On on Max. Practice and qualifying for the remainder of the season will stream on Max and air on truTV.

Future of Stewart-Haas Racing in doubt

Noah Gragson was the only SHR driver to make the all-star main event, something for the organization to at least feel good about. With Stewart-Haas Racing’s plans for 2025 in limbo and drivers and crew members indicating the real possibility of the team selling all four of its Cup charters, even the drivers admit to having no idea what’s happening.

Stewart-Haas Racing Chief Operating Officer Joe Custer politely declined comment Sunday afternoon on the SHR team plans for 2025. Custer, father of SHR’s Xfinity Series driver Cole Custer and who has worked with team co-owner Gene Haas for decades, is the team executive who has primarily been at the track this year.

This situation is not a surprise. SHR has been a team in transition all year. It lost major sponsors Smithfield (which left the sport) and Busch Light (which went to Trackhouse Racing and Ross Chastain after the retirement of Kevin Harvick). Its deal with Ford Motor Company for support also ends after this season and there has been no announcement of any renewal — typically those announcements are made by this time.

According to team employees, SHR executives have indicated they hope to let them know in the next couple of weeks of their plans. It is possible that the team keeps its two-car Xfinity program (where Custer and Riley Herbst currently drive) as well as its business of supplying Xfinity cars to other teams (such as Sieg Racing).

AND: NASCAR charter prices have been on an upward trend the last several years, but that march could be halted – at least temporarily – if Stewart-Haas Racing unloads several of them over the coming months as expected, according to industry executives familiar with the matter. The assets, which are NASCAR’s version of franchising for teams, have risen from being worth just a couple million dollars in the opening years of the system to the most recent sale — a purchase last year by Spire Motorsports from Live Fast Motorsports — being for a number that approached $40M last year.

With the possibility SHR could sell as many as all four of its charters, supply has shot up in the charter market at the same time that teams have yet to strike a new revenue sharing agreement with NASCAR

Those factors are depressing prices at least temporarily, sources said. SHR could sell each charter for between $20-30M apiece, industry sources familiar with charter market dynamics said in recent weeks. Still, the same people said that fresh record highs for charters can still be established in the coming years as an improved revenue sharing agreement between the team and NASCAR Holdings gets locked in during the coming months and as the remaining charters that are available for purchase become more scarce.

Rainouts at Grandview

Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., has suffered through a number of rainouts and is hoping rain does not show up for the following scheduled events.

The second weekend of June will see two shows beginning on Friday, June 7, featuring the Outlaw Racing Series Enduro and Outlaw Racing Series Vintage Cars in action along with the Xcel 600 Modifieds starting at 7 pm. Pit gates open at 2 pm, with grandstand gates opening at 5 pm. Grandstand admission will be $10, with children ages 12 and under admitted for free. Pit admission is $30 for the Friday event.

On Saturday, the program will be sponsored by A.D. Moyer Lumber Co. and will feature the T.P. Trailer Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman in another NASCAR double header starting at 7:30 pm.

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The second Thunder on the Hill Racing Series event of the season is up next on Tuesday, June 11 featuring the 17th annual Jesse Hockett Classic Eastern Storm for the USAC National Championship non-wing Sprint Cars.

The ever popular USAC National Sprint series will be joined by the 358 Modifieds for a fantastic two-division program starting at 7:30 pm.

Weekend number three features Macmillan Oil Company of Allentown night on Saturday, June 15 which includes both the T.P. Trailer Modifieds and T. P. Truck Equipment Sportsman in action at 7:30 pm.

Macmillan Oil Company of Allentown (MOCA) is your local motor oil and industrial lubricant distributor servicing the greater Lehigh Valley area for almost 100 years. Visit their website at MOCAoils.com.

On Saturday, June 22 the Outlaw Racing Series Vintage division cars will join the T.P. Trailer Modifieds and T. P. Truck Equipment Sportsman for a rare triple-header show starting at 7:30 pm.

The final weekend on Saturday, June 29 will see more double-header action with the NASCAR sanctioned T. P. Trailer Modifieds and T. P. Truck Equipment Sportsman in action prior to the Independence Holiday weekend.

Ernie Saxton is an auto racing contributor for MediaNews Group. He co-founded the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, served as public relations director for Grandview Speedway for 47 years, and is in multiple halls of fame for his promotion and journalism related to the sport. He has announced races at more than 100 tracks, and he is the only person to have announced a race at Madison Square Garden. Email him at [email protected].