Netflix Offends Racing Community as Shocking Delay to ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’ Sparks Outrage

Although it wasn’t as elaborate or in-depth as Drive to Survive, the five-episode feature NASCAR: Full Speed was received well by the fans. This was the first time that NASCAR drivers were seen in a different light, and this left fans wanting more.

Well, NASCAR certainly paid attention to this positive response and confirmed that they will return with the second season. For those who watched the races this year, the odd presence of a boom mic around the drivers was a clear indicator of Netflix’s crew filming the second iteration. This year the maiden season came out in January, thus it became a perfect pre-season marketing campaign for NASCAR to attract new viewers. However, the same isn’t true for the second season and it’s speculated release date.

Going by the latest reports, the second season of NASCAR Full: Speed is scheduled to be released in April 2024. This is a month or so after the Cup Series gets underway, with events like Clash at Bowman Gray and the Daytona 500 already wrapped up. Well, it’s hard to know what the exact date of the release is, but the executive producers of the show, Tim Mullen and Jackie Decker, shared an update about the same.

“Yeah, the Netflix schedule is a little bit thicker this time in February, so the next iteration of the show, season two, will drop in April.” Tim Mullen was quoted saying this What’s on Netflix. Adding to this, Decker chimed in, stating, “We’re truly following the final ten races of the year. Last season, we had some great, great characters, and some great storylines came from that, and it’s the same again this year, which is in March or April of next year.”

Well, the NASCAR fans were let down with this massive delay and took to social media in shock and disappointment.

An April release of NASCAR: Full Speed isn’t something fans expected

We all know that NASCAR is trying its best to attract more eyeballs toward the sport. For a long time, the drivers have been restricted to just racing, and fans haven’t been able to connect well with their favorite stars. The Netflix series offered the new fans just that, but knowing that there’s hype and interest within the community for the second season, an April release didn’t make sense to this fan. “That doesn’t really help promote the start of the 2025 season with an April release.” All one has to do is take a look at Drive to Survive’s success. Each time, the show came out right before the F1 season started. The push remains crucial in bringing new viewers to the sport and getting existing fans excited about the new season.

The last edition covered only the playoffs part of the season. But despite the season being bundled in just five episodes, the fans liked the unfiltered and honest version of the drivers. For fans who were used to consuming NASCAR content on Speed Channel and movies based on NASCAR, this series was the next big thing. While Netflix hasn’t dropped the teaser for the new season yet, fans were quick to make their predictions just based on this delay. “The sequel isn’t off to a good start here.” Perhaps one of the things the show wants to cover is the 23XI lawsuit. Given that it’s a major part of the sport, Netflix would not want to miss such an interesting story and may choose to delay release.

Three months of the off-season is indeed a perfect time to float a documentary series that helps promote the sport. Apart from silly season drama, there’s hardly anything for the fans to tune into. Therefore, the decision to release the second edition late in April, when the season is already up and kicking, is beyond the race fans. Sharing what an ideal time to drop the NASCAR: Full Speed season would be, a user on Reddit added, “For real… January would be perfect.” 

Well, NASCAR’s plan to put their heroes in front of the young audience is certainly working in their favor. Drive to Survive certainly helped F1 expand its audience base, and NASCAR is hoping for similar results. But, now that the tentative release date for the second season has dropped, NASCAR might lose the momentum they had generated with the first edition. “Jesus Christ. My sister who was not a fan. Watched the first season. She ended up going to the 500 and started following the sport. The Netflix series should end just before the clash.”

Now we all know that most of the fans are at odds with the current playoffs. Joey Logano winning the championship has certainly fueled the conversation about bringing meaningful changes to the format. It might be far-fetched to think that NASCAR is behind stretching the release date of the Netflix documentary to mitigate the slow and unhappening regular season. But that is exactly what this race fan believed: “A show about the 2024 playoffs, that runs right into the part of summer that sets up the 2025 playoffs. So much for doing more to legitimize the regular season.”

What do you think should be the ideal date to release NASCAR: Full Speed Season 2?