The 2024 NASCAR silly season saw NASCAR pulling off an impressive marketing feat as they released a Netflix Documentary Series in the 2023 season. The “NASCAR: Full Speed” was released on January 31st and ended up being one success with record streams in week one.
It was a six-episode docu-series featuring Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney , Bubba Wallace, William Byron , and more. JGR veteran Hamlin was the true star of the show and his willingness to open himself to the Netflix crew made them build most of the storylines on him. Now recent reports from Sports Business Journal confirm that NASCAR had to send $5 million to make the series a reality.
NASCAR spent over $5 million to pull off the Netflix 'Full Speed' docu-series, per source, the latest indication that the racing company is opening its pocketbook to try to grow the sport. Adam Stern reports via SBJ.
It was money well spent as the racing fans got the opportunity to see their favorite drivers close with limited filters. The producer spent a good amount of time making the series as authentic as possible and it shows in the final results. Byron’s Logo obsession and 23XI Racing crew chief Bopttie Bakers’ epic one-liners were the highlights of the 2024 edition of the series.
The start of the 2024 season proved the series was perfectly timed
For every new fan that came into the sports because of the series, the start of the 2024 season he was everything they could hope for. The main character Hamlin won the first race of the year in LA. The Daytona 500 and second race at Atlanta, featured close finishes, clean racing, big wrecks, and everything that the show depicted.
This gave fans a lot to look forward to in the coming weekends. The viewership for both the Daytona 500 and the Atlanta race was impressive and better than last year’s numbers. NASCAR is hoping that this trend continues and gives the race fans the entertainment they are seeking.
The NASCAR fans have shifted their attention to the Las Vegas Cup race after two Superspeedway events and the Netflix fans will get a true understanding of how NASCAR works on normal tracks. It would be interesting to see how the race would play out and what would be the viewership numbers.
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