USA Sports held a Zoom teleconference Wednesday afternoon to detail its branding and broadcast plan as it gears up to take the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season home with coverage for the final 14 races of the year.
Those that spoke with media included the USA Sports booth of Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, Hall of Famer and analyst Dale Jarrett, along with USA Sports Executive Producer and SVP of Sports Production Jeff Behnke and Lead NASCAR Producer Rene Hatlelid.
One of the key topics Behnke tackled was establishing the USA Sports brand as its own entity now under parent company Versant Media.
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“All 14 (races) will be branded USA Sports,” Behnke said. “Daytona, Talladega, Martinsville, and (Homestead) Miami will all air on NBC, but that is the only branding that you will hear or see when we first come on the air. It will all be USA Sports, whether it’s mic flags, billboards, wardrobe by announcers, at-track branding on the track and the infield grass, pit walls, everything. All 14 races is USA Sports.”
Behnke also unveiled the on-air talent for the 2026 season.
Marty Snider, Brad Daugherty and Jarrett will be on the USA Sports Pit Box for a pre-race show with a driver guest before each race. Along with Snider, Kim Coon, Dave Burns and Trevor Bayne will serve as pit reporters for the 14-race window and Behnke also unveiled the debut of the pace-car analyst that Bayne will take part in for select races.
“Trevor Bayne will be live at select races, reporting live from inside of the pace car,” Behnke said. “We couldn’t have you know pulled this off without the help of Elton (Sawyer, Senior Vice President of competition at NASCAR) and his entire team. More to come on that, but having Trevor live inside of a pace car at select races we think is going to be really game-changing and really create some new experiences for the fans.
A new documentary titled “NASCAR Americana” will also debut on USA Sports after the Cup Series Iowa Race on Sunday, Aug, 9 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The documentary will break down the symmetry between NASCAR and the United States and consist of three one-hour episodes.
This will also mark the first season of USA Sports tackling The Chase after the 12-year run of the NASCAR Playoffs.
Letarte, who competed in The Chase behind the pit wall, added how his analysis will change with The Chase from previous years in the booth of only covering the playoffs.
“It frees us up because we get to give our opinion on what the cutline is,” Letarte said. “So when the cutline was determined by the system and drivers were officially eliminated, while that was dramatic, it was also definitive and and you could make it in a graphic. Where now I believe that the concept of being cut or eliminated now comes down to the magical question: ‘Jeff, how far back can someone make a run? Leigh, can this guy get here?’ And I think it opens up to to generate whatever narrative we believe as experts and what we feel from the garage, and we can take the momentum, both positive and negative, right? Someone could look good in the standings, but we may not feel they have positive momentum. So I think it’s a much more open narrative of conversation as The Chase continues.”
Diffey, play-by-play announcer, is excited for the opportunity to tell the story of the race to make The Chase, along with the 10-week battle leading up to crowning a Cup Series champion in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We kind of get two bites at the cherry because we get those last four (regular-season) races, but we have to tell the story of who’s going to make The Chase,” Diffey said. “It’s great to have The Chase again, right? And then we have to have the accuracy and the authenticity and the enthusiasm of crowning a champion and that drive towards a champion. You want to do everybody justice, so that’s not lost on us. We feel very spoiled and we feel very honored to have this portion of the season.”