NASCAR Ratings at world Wide Technology Raceway Dip Amidst NFL Season Kickoff
Madison,Ill. – The NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday drew a 0.82 rating and 1.525 million viewers on USA Network, a decrease from the 1.8 million who tuned in for the second round of the playoffs at Watkins Glen last year. the numbers arrived during the opening week of the National Football League season,which saw record viewership across both CBS and FOX.
The dip in NASCAR viewership comes as the sport navigates a challenging television landscape. CBS averaged 23.9 million viewers during its 4:25 p.m. ET national window on Sunday, a 27-year high, while FOX averaged 17.9 million, its best in a decade. These figures create a difficult comparison for NASCAR, especially when competing directly wiht NFL games.
Despite the year-over-year decline, NASCAR’s broadcast partner, USA Network, highlighted positive trends. Viewership for the gateway race was up 23% compared to the same weekend last year at Atlanta (September 7, 2023) and up 9% compared to the 26th race of the 2023 season at Bristol (September 20, 2023). The race peaked at 1.160 million viewers between 9:45-10:00 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at gateway on The CW Network also performed well, attracting 989,000 viewers. This was the second race this season to fall just short of one million viewers, following last week’s Portland race which drew 733,000 viewers due to a late-night West Coast start time and competition from college football.