Key technical upgrades for 2025 embrace modified Peacock Pit Box
NBC Sports’ protection of NASCAR’s Cup Series heads into the playoffs this upcoming weekend for the Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington, NC. The first postseason race begins Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.
“It has been a great season thus far, although, for many of us, our season began in May as our group handled race production for the five Cup Series races that aired on Prime Video,” says NBC Sports Senior Producer Rene Hatelid. “We’ve had some wonderful racing and nice drama heading into the playoffs, and the passion and dedication this crew has for this sport is unmatched.
“The history of this track and the playoff implications make it a must-watch,” she continues. “It’s a grueling race where drivers fight it out every single lap, and that’s an element we plan to showcase throughout the race.”
In 2025, NBC Sports’ protection of the NASCAR Cup Series on NBC and USA Network has been “focused on the grit and toughness that it takes for these drivers to compete week in and week out in one of the toughest racing series in the world,” Hatelid says.
“NASCAR is as safe as it can be,” she provides, “but this is a dangerous job, and these drivers are doing things no normal human could do in their daily drive. Our new open and interstitials this year showcase many of the drivers hanging out in bars that you’d find anywhere in the U.S., talking with legends like Richard Petty. Combined with some incredible racing highlights, [it balances] the toughness of what these guys do in the car with their relatability.”
The manufacturing vans in NBC Sports’ onsite broadcast compounds have been constant week to week all through 2025, in accordance with Matt Hogencamp, director, distant technical operations, NBC Sports. Game Creek Video Peacock 1 A and B, Edit 1, and Robo 1 have been readily available, together with NEP SRT 3 for integration with NASCAR Productions.
The tools deployed varies from week to week, nonetheless. “Since we cover everything from a half-mile oval in Bristol to a 3-mile road course in Watkins Glen, the setups are very different,” he explains. “That’s one of the exciting things about covering motorsports. Each week presents a new set of challenges and new opportunities. We will adjust the number of hard cameras, robotic cameras, specialty cameras like drones or cable cams, field audio equipment, and more.”
This yr, the broadcaster added “spy cams” on pit packing containers, pit overheads, and the spotters stand each week. Hatelid says the precedence is “to emphasize these special views” this season and seize some impactful moments.
One of the important thing upgrades for 2025, Hogencamp notes, has been to the Peacock Pit Box, which was first built-in into NBC Sports protection in 2018. The improve added two high-density, narrow-pitch LED screens to the pre/post-race set.
One display is a slim banner board used for branding; the opposite, the scale of a 65-in. tv display, is utilized in a brand new preshow section with NASCAR analyst Steve Letarte known as “Over the Wall.” “The point is to emphasize the grit and determination of the pit crews,” Hogencamp says. “These LEDs allow us to put our announcers on pit road and give video support on a screen that can stand up to daylight.”
For this weekend’s Darlington — one of the extra normal tracks on the technical aspect, per Hogencamp — NBC will deploy 75 cameras, together with 24 in-car cameras throughout six automobiles. Among further gear are 4 RF handhelds within the pits, seven hard-camera build-ups, and 4 pit-stop cameras (together with two Proton items that present HDR native feed from a digicam concerning the dimension of a pair of cube). Fletcher additionally will deploy 14 robotic cameras. Sony HDC-4300’s shall be used for a majority of NBC Sports’ cameras; Sony HDC-5500’s, for the hand held items and 4 super-slo-mo arduous cameras.