NASCAR and Netflix is teaming up for what both parties hope will become the stock car version of Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
Filming has already started for a documentary set to air in early 2024 that chronicles the dramatic conclusion to the NASCAR Cup Series season — a 10-week elimination playoff that encourages both aggression and desperation in equal parts.
There will be five 45-minute episodes with production handled by NASCAR Studios and Words + Pictures, the studio behind Super League: The War for Football and Countdown: Inspiration 4 Mission to Space.
Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. will serve as an executive producer alongside NASCAR’ executives Ben Kennedy and Tim Clark. Connor Schell and Libby Geist, who served as executive producers behind The Last Dance and OJ: Made in America will also serve in that capacity for the NASCAR Netflix documentary.
Jackie Decker and Tim Mullen will serve as showrunners.
Related: High stakes for everyone in NASCAR’s regular season finale
Formula 1: Drive to Survive has been a driving force in the explosion of popularity for that discipline within the United States. It has been an unfiltered, and occasionally overly dramatized, behind-the-scenes look at Grand Prix racing over the past five seasons.
NASCAR attempted to replicate this type of programming last year with the Race for the Championship miniseries on the USA Network but it failed to reach the same level of fanfare as Drive to Survive. This go-around seems to be taking a different thematic approach and getting on Netflix also has parallels to the Formula 1 production.
The Cup Series Playoffs are set to begin on September 3 at Darlington Raceway, and this Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway will conclude the regular season and determine the Round of 16 cast.