Could Disney-Fox deal mean more NASCAR races on FOX?

The “new FOX” will need more prime time programming without a studio to provide it with programming, which could mean more NASCAR on the network.

The entertainment world is still abuzz about the proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox and other Fox assets by Disney. There are plenty of ways the deal can and will shake things up in movies and TV, but could it also have an effect on NASCAR — and a beneficial one for its fans, at that?

It just might. The Los Angeles Times (via Jayski) offered up its take on what FOX, the broadcast network, might look like once it is untethered from the 21st Century Fox TV studio. The answer? More news, reality shows and sports.

FOX Sports has big money contracts with the NFL and MLB, but it’s also a broadcast partner of NASCAR through the 2024 season. The Times believes the “new FOX” will lean more heavily on those sports leagues for its programming, particularly when it comes to prime time.

For NASCAR fans, that could mean more races on the network instead of FS1. Not necessarily for the Cup Series, where the races are primarily on Sundays the first half of the season (the half that FOX broadcasts) and many of them aren’t in prime time anyway.

But FOX Sports also has season-long broadcast rights for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which often races on Friday nights with the occasional Thursday and even one Wednesday. Those races have traditionally been on FS1. Could they move to the main network if it’s suddenly strapped for programming?

Next: 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule, start times

It’s too early to know for sure, but it sounds like something that at the very least is within the realm of possibility. In a decade of slow but sure declines in TV ratings, NASCAR could use some good news on that front, and there’s a chance the mega-merger that is being talked about for so many other reasons could be a bit of that.