Imagine if you will, the Super Bowl has ended, the teams make it to the field with the media, and just after they interview the Quarterback, “Welcome to your local news.” Well, that’s what NASCAR fans received last night following the Championship race at Phoenix.

NASCAR fans have been treated like the redheaded stepchild by NASCAR’s broadcast partners for the past few years, from goofy cartoon drivers that fans have vocally hated for a while, to cutting to commercials during celebrations, to a flat lack of pre- and post-race coverage.

Sunday night, NBC showed the champion, Kyle Larson, and his victory celebration. He was interviewed, and boom, a commercial before the broadcast moved to another sport. The only heads-up many fans received that the Post-Race coverage would move to the Peacock app came just moments before the broadcast cut.

You even got NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Christian Eckes to respond on X, “Uh… where’s the post-race coverage? Who won the race? Anything?” None of the major sports networks were even on-site in Phoenix, and none covered the race.

I personally have Peacock, so that’s not a problem; however, I made the mistake of not realizing that they would be on Peacock. That’s my bad. But what about those fans who do not have it? This is the Championship of all things. Now I understand that NASCAR is not in control of every aspect of the broadcast; after all, they sold those rights for $7.7 billion last year. However, they should be able to enforce a minimum standard.

You’d never see an NFL or MLB game cut within minutes of the game ending; you sure as hell wouldn’t see that for a playoff or championship game. So why do we get the short end of the stick?

Image Credit: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images