NASCAR plans talks with NFL to avoid Daytona/Super Bowl clash
02/15/2025 11:34 AM
The future of the Super Bowl is on NASCAR's radar.
Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development and strategy, told a small group of reporters Saturday that they would be watching and talking to the NFL about the date of the league's biggest game. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has continuously floated the idea of expanding the schedule, potentially pushing the Super Bowl to Presidents Day weekend — which is traditionally when the Daytona 500 runs.
"We're keeping tabs on it, for sure," Kennedy said. "(And) having a lot of conversations with our partners, have a couple of conversations with the NFL as well. We're going to be talking about next year's date this weekend and (there are) not really any big changes, which I think is going to be helpful. But long term, it is something that we're mindful of because we don't want to go up against the Super Bowl."
Super Bowl 59, played Feb. 9, averaged a record 127.7 million viewers when the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. The number came from television and streaming options.
The Daytona 500 is the most-watched race during the NASCAR season. Sunday is again sold out, the 10th consecutive year it has done so. It will have a record $30 million purse.
FOX earned 6 million viewers for last year's Daytona 500, which ran Monday because of rain. The most-watched Daytona 500 in the last 10 years was the 2015 event, which earned 13.3 million viewers.
NASCAR starts its season with an exhibition event, the Clash, which, for the last few years, has been held the weekend before the Super Bowl. Cup Series teams then get Super Bowl weekend off before traveling to Daytona for the season-opening event.
"We've talked about: do you go the weekend before? Do we keep it the weekend after?" Kennedy said. "I think we lean toward the latter of trying to come out of the Super Bowl and go to the Daytona 500. So, we'll stay close to them because it has an impact on this date. But then, as you think of the season in totality, you talk about off weeks when we end FOX and start Amazon and the other broadcast partners. We have to be mindful of that as well."
Sunday’s race will be broadcast in 26 languages in more than 190 countries and territories. It will be available on FOX and radio partners MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in the U.S.
