Comcast in late 2014 announced a 10-year deal to re-brand what was then known as the Nationwide Series from 2015 through 2024 for roughly $200M in totalGetty Images

Comcast’s Xfinity telecommunications brand is in discussions with NASCAR over a new sponsorship deal that would start in 2025, but it’s still possible that this could be the last year of the Xfinity Series entitlement.

In late 2014, Comcast announced a 10-year deal to re-brand what was then known as the Nationwide Series from 2015 through 2024 for roughly $200M in total. At the time, NBC Sports had just signed on with NASCAR for a 10-year, $4.4B media rights agreement, and Comcast had launched Xfinity in 2010 as a new name for its traditional TV/internet/phone business, giving the company a need to market the service with a national platform.

Now, as the end nears for the initial Xfinity Series entitlement, Comcast VP/Branded Partnerships & Activation Matt Lederer says the company is actively evaluating a new sponsorship agreement with NASCAR, but the company is “not trying to look at what Year 11 looks like but really, how does this become Year 1 of a new deal?” 

Asked if the Xfinity Series asset will be a necessity for a renewal, Lederer suggested that it won’t be, though they’re still working through negotiations. “It’s a little too early for us to give a really good answer on that, but I would say that as we’ve learned the sport over the last 10 years, we’ve learned the ecosystem of NASCAR has a lot of tentacles and there’s a lot of ways to engage with the fanbase,” he said. “The Xfinity Series for us has been the gold star across all those areas, but it’s a little too early to say what a new deal would look like.”

Since its deal began, Xfinity has become one of the most well-known brands in NASCAR through its near ubiquitous presence, particularly in the secondary series but increasingly through all parts of the sport including the premier Cup Series. In 2021, Comcast rounded out its NASCAR presence by having Xfinity become one of NASCAR’s four premier partners, making it the official cable service provider of the sport and giving it exposure at the Cup level. It also has added a team deal with Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing.

However, starting in 2025 NBC won’t air the Xfinity Series anymore, as NASCAR signed a deal with Nexstar Media Group to have The CW air the entire secondary series season for $115M a year. That means the synergy there now between NBC airing Xfinity Series races and Xfinity title sponsoring the series won’t be the same next year. 

While declining to give specifics metrics, Lederer said Xfinity’s key performance indicators like brand awareness and brand favorability have grown and have “never stopped growing” over the first nine years of the partnership. The brand has continually kept adding new activations or different product focuses over the years; for example, as broadband has become a more important business for Comcast, Xfinity has activated its high-speed internet and mobile services in recent seasons. To that end, Xfinity Mobile was the primary sponsor of 23XI Racing’s No. 23 Toyota driven by Bubba Wallace for Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Lederer: “We’ve both had a strong relationship over the last 10 years and I’ve said it many times, it’s been an extremely beneficial partnership to our brand and business and a very valuable partnership for the business and brand of NASCAR. … And what I would say is we’re really confident and optimistic that NASCAR is doing all the right things to capitalize on all the changes going on within the racing industry as a whole, and we appreciate the changes that have been made over the last few years and the direction of the team and (NASCAR President) Steve (Phelps) to further engage fans fans, find new fans – that’s fantastic and we share that optimistic view. Right now, we’re engaged with NASCAR to explore what a potential continued relationship could look like across the sport as a whole.”

Xfinity works with GMR Marketing on its sports marketing.