The CW Bursts Onto NASCAR Xfinity Scene With High-Energy Pre-Race Show, Reimagined Graphics Package

NASCAR Productions assembles race coverage via world-feed model

The Great American Race in Daytona waved the green flag on the 2025 NASCAR season two weekends ago, and the motorsports organization’s up-and-coming stars’ battles in the Xfinity Series began with the United Rentals 300. New to the NASCAR broadcasting circuit this year is The CW, which aims to break the traditional mold with a modern approach to its graphics package while recruiting a slate of on-air talent who will both educate and energize fans on race day.

“When we started working on this project,” says Jason Wormser, SVP, sports, The CW, “we knew we needed our coverage to be different. What is most important for us is to tell the stories that are unique to this series — not just the front running teams but drivers throughout the grid. There are a lot of interesting characters in the Xfinity Series, and it is our charge to get them in front of our viewers.”

Having aired eight races in 2024, The CW will produce the NASCAR Xfinity Series through the 2031 season.

Eight-Race Rehearsal: Final Races of 2024 Provide Test Run Before Official Debut

Before formally debuting in the Florida sunshine, The CW went on a test run as NASCAR neared the end of its 2024 season. Under a partnership with NBC Sports, The CW collaborated with NBCSN to air the final eight races of the Xfinity calendar. Wormser and his team met every single driver and team to introduce themselves to the starting grid and gain information on the participants they would be covering. The eight-race stretch began with the regular-season finale at the Food City 300 in Bristol, TN, on Sept. 20 and included seven playoff races every Saturday from Sept. 28 to Nov. 9.

The dress rehearsal was paramount in setting The CW up for success this year. “We had eight races to tell the NASCAR audience that this is where you come starting in February,” says Wormser. “[NBC and NASCAR] were incredible in terms of their professionalism, and [NBC Sports VP, NASCAR Production,] Jeff Behnke and his team were magnificent. We gained a lot of knowledge, and I think we wouldn’t be where we are today without having those eight races.”

In the booth, Adam Alexander, Jamie McMurray, and Parker Kligerman take fans through the action.

The test races not only gave Wormser and his crew an idea of what it takes to televise them from a technical perspective but also offered the broadcaster a chance to develop an engaging plan for studio programming to bookend the action on the track. NASCAR Countdown Live, the network’s premier pre/post-race studio show, was onsite in Daytona and at the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 in Atlanta last weekend, but many of the show’s graphic and design elements were produced before the start of the season.

“We kept asking how we can establish ourselves [from the rest] on the air,” says Wormser. “We put a premium on our on-air announcing team. It’s young, fresh, and full of energy. We wanted to establish Adam [Alexander] as our lead voice of the series to the audience and welcome everyone into our coverage. I thought it was important to have Adam open the show on the beach in Daytona because that’s where the concept for NASCAR began over 75 years ago. That first week turned into a great foundation for a successful season.”

NASCAR Countdown Live, hosted by Carla Metts, sets the table on race day.

Pre-race host Carla Metts leads the studio show, and Alexander is joined in the booth by analysts Jamie McMurray and Parker Kligerman. The on-air talent team is rounded out by pit reporters Dillon Welch and Kim Coon. The broadcast crew was assembled through a collaboration between Wormser and the NASCAR Productions duo of Senior Coordinating Producer Keith D’Alessandro and Managing Director, Internal Productions, Matt Roper. A long list of talent was considered, but these professionals were the ideal team to break down racing while bringing fun and energy to the production. On a week-to-week basis, the Xfinity Series allows both studio and commentary teams to adjust as they go along. It is up to Wormser and The CW Executive Director, Sports, Jonathan Biles to balance feedback for it and for other shows under their aegis.

“It’s important for us to give out notes and watch our shows neutrally so everybody gets proper feedback,” notes Wormser. “We’re seeing if we’re telling the right stories, being editorially correct, and what we can improve on.”

Along with support by D’Alessandro and Roper, the show is driven by NASCAR Productions Pre-Race Coordinating Producer/Senior Director Jeff Politsch.

Standing Out: Horizontal Leaderboard Headlines Graphics Package

One of the biggest standouts of this new season has been a reimagined graphics package. In The CW’s first season in a seven-year partnership with the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the broadcaster wanted to infuse its color palette of black and “hot sauce” orange into a large chunk of the marketing material. With Two Fresh Creative helping develop the opens and promotional graphics, the branding of NASCAR and The CW were tied together in a perfect way.

A horizontal bumper replaces the traditional vertical pylon as the televised leaderboard.

“We needed to engage with race fans and be able to present these drivers in a way that had never been done before,” notes Paul Catalano, VP, sports marketing, CW Sports. “These drivers are bold, so we wanted to be bold with our creative.”

Outside of opens and promotional material, the most notable difference between The CW and other networks broadcasting NASCAR races is the horizontal leaderboard. Positioned at the bottom of the screen and created by |drive| Studio, which was in charge of design concepts shown during the race, the slab acts more like a real-time ticker than a vertical pylon on the left side of the screen does.

“We went into our creative process wanting to take a fresh approach to what the other networks have done,” says Catalano. “We felt like race fans wanted a new outlook on how a race could be broadcast. As the ‘new network on the block,’ we wanted to make a statement, and we had to come in big and make the Xfinity Series feel like an event. I think we accomplished that.”

Showcasing the starting grid, the horizontal leaderboard incorporates each driver’s name and car.

In previous years, The CW borrowed the graphics package of the lead national network covering that specific sport. For example, ESPN provided its graphics package during The CW’s first season of ACC college football in 2023. This year, the creative identity came from within the walls of The CW alongside recommendations from NASCAR Productions.

“We believed that, by moving away from the vertical pylon to our horizontal ‘bumper,’ we could give our viewers much more of a cinematic and panoramic experience of watching our races,” adds Catalano. “As we continued to develop it and in talking with our partners at NASCAR Productions, it became clear that we were moving in a direction that would forever change how NASCAR fans watch racing.”

Driver headshots are used to visualize the Top 5 in the race.

To highlight the drivers on the track, the horizontal leaderboard incorporates driver headshots and a side view of the respective car on the track. In addition to adding these stylistic choices, Catalano was adamant on integrating kinetic energy in the final version to show a wealth of information: racing order, lap time, lead lap, stage number, and more.

“The design of its modules can collapse or expand according to what information we choose to display,” he explains. “We could take up three modules for a driver profile, two modules to promote a CW show or event, and do a full takeover for a sponsor who wants the added exposure for their product.”

Aerial cameras are important to The CW’s NASCAR telecasts, including this one at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

From a graphics perspective, this package was an all-hands-on-deck project, with many internal staffers involved. Among them: SVP, Brand Creative, Rich Browd; Creative Director Elton Gamez; and Graphic and Motion Designer Marc Kazlauskas.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t extend my congratulations to the entire marketing team here at The CW,” says Catalano. “In all my years, I have never been prouder of a collaboration than with this one.”

Battle Cams to High-Flying Aerial: NASCAR Productions Supplies Tech, Ops Expertise

The CW is leaning heavily into its studio programming in its inaugural season, but, for live race coverage, the team will rely on the technical and operational know-how of NASCAR Productions. On race day, fans will see a world feed assembled by NASCAR Productions and comprising cameras from the national network covering the NASCAR Cup Series on Sundays.

In-car cameras, a motorsports staple, are heavily used for The CW productions.

That network can be a longtime broadcast partner — FOX Sports or NBC Sports — or a newcomer — Amazon Prime Video or TNT Sports. The CW relies on NASCAR Productions to streamline the process of incorporating their feeds, complicated by the schedule: FOX Sports will be lead domestic broadcaster for the remaining 11 races in the first half of the season, Prime Video will exclusively stream five races May 25–June 22, TNT Sports will broadcast five races June 28–July 27, and NBC Sports will conclude the year with 14 races, including 10 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Working with NASCAR Productions Coordinating Director Roger Vincent and Coordinating Producer Kaleb Combs and, during FOX Sports’ current run in the driver’s seat, FOX Sports VP, Studio and Event Production, Frank Wilson, Wormser emphasized four pillars of the live production: aerial-camera coverage, a robust graphics package, access to radio communication of all teams in the field to broadcast a live radio edit during major moments in the race, and super-slow-motion feeds.

“I fought for those four [pieces] on our end so the viewer at home has that expectation of what we’re going to bring to the broadcast,” Wormser says. “They’re the most important technical elements that we had to make sure that we presented this series in the right way.”

The shows will also include the customary POV cameras deployed during a typical NASCAR production, including in-car and out-of-car cameras on a handful of vehicles on the track. Another crucial piece of gear on race day is the Battle Cam: a hard camera dedicated to covering the jockeying for position on the grid and highlighting one-on-one duels.

Selected races, including the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 in Atlanta, will have exclusive coverage from the Battle Cam on The CW’s website.

Sports To Fill Up the Calendar: The CW Sees Growth on Sundays, Weeknights

The CW’s Sports Division has made ample progress over the years, from games of ACC college football and basketball to live shows of WWE NXT, and is eyeing more media deals to fill up the calendar. For example, The CW recently signed a deal with Grand Slam Track. The weekly schedule is already packed, but Wormser sees certain windows where there is room to make an impact.

“We want to build a portfolio for Sundays since we’re light [on that day],” he explains. “We’re also very bullish on weeknights. Sports and live events are driving viewership, so we’re going to keep adding.”

Just past his first anniversary in this role, Wormser brings considerable experience to the table after many years at NFL Network, ESPN, FOX Sports, and others. His industry knowledge combined with the broadcaster’s appetite for growth is a mixture to accelerate The CW’s further expansion into sports.

“The CW is marking a path in sports production that meets the challenges of the business in these rapidly changing times,” he says. “We have a very tight, dedicated team and terrific production partners, allowing us to execute our goals for high quality and an enjoyable experience for the viewers.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series on The CW continues this weekend with the Focused Health 250 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX, on Saturday, March 1.