The Big Lead

NASCAR: Full Speed Season 2 on Netflix details emerge

By J.P. Hoornstra

Feb 16, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron (24) reacts after winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Feb 16, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron (24) reacts after winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images
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Last September, it was reported that a second season of NASCAR: Full Speed would premiere on Netflix in 2025. In a new interview this week with Austin Karp and Molly Cahillane on the Sports Media Podcast, NASCAR's Tim Clark offered up some details about what to expect.

"It’s a little bit of a continuation of the theme from Season 1," Clark said. "Season 1, a smaller group of drivers stole the show. You will see everything from drivers competing for the championship and going all the way through. More variety and more depth to who those characters are, that’s the play for Season 2."

The series is a perfect marriage of sport and medium. Not unlike the NFL, NASCAR's inventory is limited to a weekly event (in the case of the top series, there will be 36 races in 2025). But while the NFL effectively serves up a head coach and multiple players to reporters every week throughout the season, NASCAR teams are typically on the road between races. Their non-gameday media exposure is limited.

As a result, getting to know the drivers, crew chiefs, and the sport's other key players is a challenge. (Trust me, I've tried.) Clark acknowledges this inherent limit to his sport.

"If you’re going to watch a sporting event on Sunday you have to care about what led up to Sunday," he said. "You’ve got to care about who’s piloting that car, or who’s making that car go faster. Who they have at home. How they got to where they are."

Enter NASCAR: Full Speed, for which Cahillane said the majority of Season 1 viewers "had never seen a NASCAR race before."

Netflix's gradual inroads into sports programming has been fascinating to watch unfold, particularly as live-event rights packages come up for grabs. Many have speculated about whether Netflix could be in play for UFC or even a Major League Baseball package. That makes sense; the reporters on the trail are following the big money.

Series like Full Speed might not draw nearly the same number of viewers as a live race, but count me among those rooting for more investment in documentary-style look-ins at athletes and their lives outside the arena.

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